It’s no secret the majority of Boston’s best hitters skew left-handed, a disparity that grew more pronounced after Trevor Story was lost for the season in April.

That’s often been an issue whenever the Red Sox have to face a left-handed starting pitcher, and Wednesday night was no exception.

Coming off an explosive performance Tuesday in which they scored 11 runs within the first two innings, the Red Sox couldn’t do anything against Oakland lefty JP Sears, managing just a solo home run by Rob Refsnyder in what wound up being a 5-2 loss to the Athletics.

Red Sox starter Nick Pivetta also endured an uneven performance, looking utterly dominant at times while losing his command at others.

Entering Wednesday the Red Sox had posted the third most strikeouts (272) in MLB against left-handed starters while ranking below league average in most other major offensive categories. Those trends held against Sears, who came in with a 5-7 record and 4.74 ERA but who shut down the Red Sox, especially through the first five innings.

By the time he left with two outs in the sixth, Sears had allowed four hits, two walks and one run on the Refsnyder solo shot while striking out eight. His 114 pitches were tied for the third most in a game by any MLB pitcher this season, just one off the season-high of 115 thrown by Toronto’s Chris Bassitt on April 9 and Philadelphia’s Zack Wheeler on June 27.

Sears also benefitted from a rare mistake by Red Sox third base coach Kyle Hudson, who sent Jamie Westbrook home on a double by Ceddanne Rafaela that resulted in Westbrook getting easily gunned down at the plate.

Meanwhile, Pivetta found himself having another Jekyll and Hyde performance.

After flirting with a no-hitter last week in Miami, Pivetta posted two scoreless innings out of the gate before running into trouble in the third. He allowed a pair of singles, walked Brent Rooker to load the bases and then walked Shea Langeliers to drive in a run. Then Lawrence Butler struck with a two-run double to put Oakland up 3-0, but Pivetta recovered to strike out Zack Gelof to end the inning and strand two runners in scoring position.

It wound up being the first of eight consecutive strikeouts for Pivetta.

From the last out of the third into the seventh, Pivetta made the Athletics look helpless. His eight straight strikeouts tied a franchise record, one he matched earlier this season and that was originally set by Roger Clemens in 1986, and he ultimately retired 12 straight batters before he finally ran out of gas with two outs in the seventh, allowing a single to Max Schuemann and an RBI double to JJ Bleday.

Pivetta finished with four runs allowed over 6.2 innings. He allowed six hits and two walks while striking out 10 on 105 pitches.

The Red Sox did get a couple of golden opportunities but weren’t able to capitalize. In the first Sears walked two men to load the bases with two outs, but Romy Gonzalez grounded out to end the threat. Then in the bottom of the seventh four straight Red Sox batters reached safely against the Athletics bullpen, loading the bases before Tyler O’Neill legged out an infield single to score a run and make it 4-2.

That brought Rafael Devers to the plate with a chance to do some real damage, but the Red Sox slugger grounded out to shortstop to end the inning.

Josh Winckowski allowed a Tyler Nevin sacrifice fly in the eighth after loading the bases with nobody out, but even with a manageable 5-2 deficit the Red Sox couldn’t get anything going. They went quietly in the bottom of the frame and then got devoured by Oakland’s All-Star closer Mason Miller, who struck out Wilyer Abreu to end the game on a 103 mph fastball.

Boston ultimately went 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position while stranding nine men on base.

As a result, the Red Sox (50-41) have now lost for just the second time in the club’s last nine games. Boston will look to take the rubber match and the series Thursday, when newly minted All-Star Tanner Houck (7-6, 2.68) takes the mound against Oakland’s Luis Medina (2-3, 4.37).