BOSTON - For one night, at least, they could convince themselves that they had been the victim of some tough luck.
And indeed, there was plenty of that at work for Red Sox hitters in the team's 2-1 loss to the Texas Rangers.
Leadoff hitter Mookie Betts had two hits in five plate appearances, but could have easily been 5-for-5 with three hard-hit balls run down in center by Texas outfielder Leonys Martin.
Twice, Hanley Ramirez hit the ball on the screws -- once, resulting in a line-out to perfectly-positioned second baseman Tommy Fields, with two on and two out in the seventh. Even the final out of the game was scalded, but resulted in a forceout at second.
It was that kind of night.
"You'd like to see one or two of those fall,'' lamented Mike Napoli, who continued to show signs of life at the plate with his second straight two-hit night. "But there's nothing you can do. They were positioned good and (we) hit some balls hard.
"You've got to keep swinging. You can't change your swing. Just go up there and hit it hard. Hopefully, something good happens. You've just got to continue having good at-bats. You can't control where the ball goes.''
So, yes, Wednesday night, they were unlucky. Fair point.
Boston Red Sox
But the previous 25 games or so? That's not misfortune; that's an underperforming offense.
For a while, the offense's failures were camouflaged by the team's other issues: starting pitching.
But in the last week and a half, the pitching has been vastly improved. Joe Kelly gave the Red Sox their seventh quality start in the last 10 games. For those 10 games, the Red Sox have pitched to a 3.11 ERA.
Not that it's gotten them much. They're now losing games 2-1 instead of 7-1. There are no style points or consolation prizes given far losing in more competitive fashion.
And for all the bemoaning of bad luck Wednesday night, it wasn't just the hard-hit balls that were caught. Some of it was also the poor situational hitting, as was the case in the sixth when, with the bases loaded, the Sox needed only a fly ball to the outfield to score the tying run. Instead, Brock Holt struck out.
Holt was the guilty party in the fourth, too, when a hit of any sort could have produced a run with baserunners at the corners. But Holt popped our meekly to third.
But the "we wuz robbed'' narrative carried the day in the clubhouse and the interview room.
"We had a number of good at-bats,'' maintained John Farrell. "The ball's just not falling right, now... You can't steer it after you hit it. We squared some balls up and they didn't fall.''
Again, true. And also again, largely beside the point.
The fact is, this offense hasn't produced past the first two weeks of the season. In a more focused sample size, the Sox have scored two runs or fewer 10 times in the last 15 games.
Perhaps, it will begin to turn soon. Napoli looks better, and so does Shane Victorino, who had two hits off the bench. That, coupled with the expected callup of Rusney Castillo could jump start things and yield the kind of scoring that everyone expected as a matter of routine.
Still, there are troubling patterns. The season-long inability to deliver the big hit with runners in scoring position continues. Over the last two night, the Sox have stranded two-dozen baserunners.
These were problems a year ago, but the addition of Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval, coupled with return to health by Napoli, Victorino and Dustin Pedroia was supposed to fix them.
Instead, it looks disturbingly like it did a year ago.
"You just have to keep going,'' insisted Napoli. "It is what it is - baseball.''
For now, losing baseball.
And bad luck doesn't have much to do with it.