TORONTO -- By any measure, pitching has been the Red Sox' chief weakness through the team's first five games. The bullpen was directly responsible for two losses and a poor starting effort in another resulted in a lopsided shutout.
But the offense has been far from blameless. After Tuesday's 7-3 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, the Sox have scored three runs or fewer three times already.
Kyle Drabek, whom the Sox battered for 15 hits and 12 runs in two starts covering nine innings last year, was far more successful against them this time. Drabek limited the Sox to just three hits and a run in 5 13 innings.
"He threw a splitter that kind of cut and ran away when you thought it was going to come back over the plate,'' explained Kevin Youkilis. "He was spotting up pitches a lot better than last year. He was commanding the zone. He kind of went in and out and knew where the ball was going a little bit more than he used to.
"He got ahead and stayed ahead. He's got great stuff and when you have great stuff and command it, it's tough to hit.''
Until the ninth inning, the Sox were 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
They squandered a first-and-second chance with one out in the second and similarly wasted a one-out double from Cody Ross in the fifth. Ross, in fact, never advanced, much less scored.
But the Sox' biggest missed opportunity came in the sixth, when they scored their first run, managed to chase Drabek, and -- trailing by only 3-1 -- had runners on first and third with one out.
But Youkilis, who had earlier snapped an 0-for-12 streak with a sharp double to right, grounded into a 6-4-3 inning-ending double play against reliever Jason Frasor. Toronto scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth, and the game, essentially, was over.
Leadoff runners -- Ryan Sweeney, on a double in the seventh, and Dustin Pedroia, who reached on an infield single in the eighth -- were also wasted.
Not until the ninth did the Sox show any life. But it was far from enough.