BOSTON -- The entire 18-3 defeat to the Texas Rangers was tough to take for the Red Sox, but the worst might have come in the eighth inning with Mark Melancon on the mound.
Melancon faced six hitters and every one scored. He yielded three homers and a double and allowed two walks.
It's not as though Melancon's troubles were limited to Tuesday night, either. In four appearances so far this season, he's compiled a 49.50 ERA, blown a save opportunity, lost twice and has allowed four homers to the last nine hitters he's faced.
Asked how concerned he was about Melancon, manager Bobby Valentine responded: "He's really concerned and I'm very concerned, obviously. He's not getting the swing-and-miss. It seems like he's searching right now and so are we."
Melancon had been used sparingly since the first series of the season, and Valentine said he had hoped to give Melancon two innings Tuesday night to instill some confidence in the reliever.
Melancon and pitching coach Bob McClure worked on the side Tuesday afternoon on correcting a few mechanical flaws, which, obviously, didn't produce better results.
"My side work was good today," maintained Melancon. "I was reaching out and extending and keeping the ball down. I wanted to take that into the game but sometimes, you don't want to outthink yourself out there. You have to do what you know how to do and not worry about working on stuff in the game."
When it was noted to Valentine that Melancon has options remaining, Valentine wouldn't rule out a trip to the minors to get the reliever straightened out.
"At this point," said Valentine, "you have to consider everything."
That seemed to catch Melancon off-guard. Told of Valentine's remarks, the pitcher said: "I don't know how to answer that. I'm going to continue to work hard no matter where I'm at. I feel like something's going to click. Mentally, I feel good, physically I feel good. It's close, so I'm going to keep working hard."
Melancon was charged with a blown save and a loss in the first series in Detroit, then didn't pitch in Toronto. He came in for a mop-up inning in the home opener and promptly gave up a long home run to Ben Zobrist, the second batter he faced.
Tuesday was much worse. Never in his career had Melancon given up more than one home run in an inning; in the eighth inning, he gave up three in the span of six batters.
The first one, a three-run shot to Josh Hamilton, was one of the longest homers in recent history at Fenway, traveling about a third of the way up into the right field bleachers.
"I have to believe I'm going to get better," said Melancon. "My head's good. Going into the game, I was thinking, 'Be aggressive and get after it.' I wanted to stay down in the zone, throw strikes and get outs. Obviously, I'm missing location several times and that hurts.
"It might be that I'm opening up (in my delivery) and showing the ball too early. I've got to look at film and check it out."