It's bad enough that the Red Sox have, inexplicably, stopped hitting altogether, going from averaging better than eight runs per game to managing all of two runs in the last 18 innings.
It's bad enough, too, that the Red Sox got their best outing of the season from a member of their starting rotation and ultimately wasted it, providing Corey Kluber with next to no support.
But what made Wednesday afternoon so galling, beyond the notion of being swept, at home, by the Pittsburgh Pirates, was how the Red Sox lost, 4-1.
In a seventh inning that was, literally and figuratively, a comedy of errors, the Red Sox virtually gift-wrapped two runs for the Pirates with poor fundamental play.
First, with Pirates catcher Jason Delay on second and no out, first baseman Triston Casas fielded a ball to his right and was determined to cut down the lead runner at third. But his throw to third was off the mark and late, as Delay slid in safely and Oneil Cruz, the batter, reached first. Instead of having one out and a runner at third, the Pirates had runners at the corners and no out.
Then, compounding things, Bryan Reynolds hit a fly ball to left. Masataka Yoshida attempted to throw home -- a poor decision in and of itself, since a throw to second would have stopped Cruz from moving into scoring position. Then, instead of cutting the ball off on the way home, third baseman Rafael Devers allowed the throw to go through, wide of its intended target.
By the time Kaleb Ort backed up the play and fired wildly to third as Cruz advanced two bases, and soon scored on a double by Carlos Santana.
"We made two bad decisions,'' said Alex Cora. "The one with Triston to third. If it's a one-hopper to him, oh yeah, he has (a play) at third, but it wasn't. And then the throw by Yoshida, you go to second, keep (the runner at first), they score one, we limit the damage. You're not going to throw him out (at the plate). We made the throw, we have to cut the throw, and obviously, with Raffy being the cutoff guy, nobody was at third.
"You make bad decisions, you put yourself in a bad spot and that's what happens.''
After the game, however, Casas not only defended his decision-making, but doubled down on it.
"I feel like we needed a big play to shut (down) their momentum,'' offered Casas. "I'm not saying I was trying to get it back in that one play. I knew the man at the plate (Cruz) was the fastest man on the field and I knew the catcher was running at second base. I anticipated a ball to my right, possibly throwing to third and trying to get that out to prevent a guy getting to third with less than one out. That was the thought process behind it.
"I knew it was going to be a tough play. I thought just where we were in the game, it would be a good play to try to take a shot and cut him down at third and keep the double play in the order and try to get out of the inning on the next pitch.''
Asked if he had to do it again, whether he would try the same throw, Casas responded: "Absolutely. Where we were, I felt like that was the right decision.''
It's hard to know which was worse on Casas's part: the poor execution and decision-making he showed on the field, or the stubbornness after the game in defending his poor thought process.
Some credit goes to Pirates starter Mitch Keller, who was allowed to reach 107 pitches in his second start of the year. Keller allowed four hits in that span and walked just two and never allowed the Sox to get anything started.
But the Sox offense looked listless, too, and had only one hit and just one baserunner in scoring position through the first six innings.
In failing to play smart, fundamentally-sound baseball, however, they made things worse. Just for good measure, the Sox allowed a double-steal in the ninth inning, meaning opponents are a perfect 14-for-14 in attempted steals through the first half dozen games
All of which left the Red Sox with a 2-4 mark on their initial homestand against two teams that hardly qualify as world-beaters.
"We didn't play good baseball,'' admitted Cora. "We didn't. Obviously, the running game, we've got to do a better job. We showed some flashes of good stuff. But overall, like today, that wasn't good. When you're not scoring runs like the last couple of days, you've got to be on point. Even when you're scoring runs, you've got to play better defense. I think we just made bad decisions.''
Execution is going to be spotty at times, for even the best teams. Teams sometimes struggle to find their offensive footing early in the season. And it's not unusual for some starting pitchers to struggle the first time through the rotation.
However, the Red Sox have enough problems without inviting more of them. On Wednesday, as they packed for their first road trip of the season, there was the realization that the end of their homestand had seen them try the impossible: trying to beat their opponents, while also beating themselves.