A lost ballgame is almost always a letdown.

But less than 24 hours after Tanner Houck’s complete-game shutout “Maddux”, it was even harder to stomach a 5-4 finale (and series) loss to the Cleveland Guardians in which the Red Sox failed to capitalize on free base-runners and upped their already-MLB-leading error total to 20 through their first 20 games of the season.

The game began with solid Red Sox pitching, though that’s been the case for nearly every one of their games. That the Sox are only 10-10 on the season – and 3-7 at Fenway Park after their first homestand – despite their starting rotation entering the day with MLB’s best ERA speaks to how much improvement is needed in other areas of their game.

Brennan Bernardino opened with a pair of 1-2-3 innings and the Sox got on the board first thanks to leadoff man Jarren Duran, who drew a walk and promptly stole his MLB-leading seventh base of the year. He quickly advanced to third on Triston Casas’ single and scored on Wilyer Abreu’s force-out for a 1-0 lead.

Carlos Carrasco owned a career 8.29 ERA in nine games (seven starts) against the Red Sox, but after a shaky first inning, Cleveland’s veteran starter ended up pitching a strong 5 ⅔, holding the home team to four hits, two earned runs, three walks, and five strikeouts. He and the visiting defense gave Boston several chances to increase their lead early on, but the lineup couldn’t capitalize. The Sox left the bases loaded in the bottom of the first; in warmer weather, Pablo Reyes’ inning-ending flyout to the left-field warning track would’ve been an RBI wall-ball or grand slam. They only managed one base-runner apiece in each of the following four frames stranded a runner apiece – who’d reached on a pair of infield errors, walk, and double – in each of the following four frames. Overall, they were 2-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base.

Not that Boston’s defense fared much better. The Sox were already leading the Majors when miscues by David Hamilton and Reyes upped the error total to 20, including 12 since Trevor Story’s injury in Anaheim. The pitching staff owns one of the best runs-allowed marks in the Majors, but it would be significantly better without 26 unearned runs. There are four players on the roster with three errors apiece, including rookies Abreu, Hamilton, and Ceddanne Rafaela.

Alex Cora had been hoping for a big outing by Cooper Criswell, but thanks in part to the sloppy defense, the right-hander only lasted 2 ⅓ innings. By the time the manager came out to the mound to make a pitching change, the Guardians had a 4-1 lead (though only one run was earned).

Joe Jacques, recently recalled from Triple-A to fill Garrett Whitlock’s spot on the roster, struggled in his 1 ⅔ innings, hitting a batter to load the bases and allowing an earned run on three hits before capping off his outing with a pair of swinging strikeouts.

“We pitched okay today,” Cora said. “Berny was good. Coop was off a little bit, I think as far as like, command, he was off. Joe didn’t do the job there.”

The Boston bats showed a bit of fight in the bottom of the sixth. Reese McGuire’s two-out single finally knocked Carrasco out of the game, and Rafaela snapped an 0-for-7 skid, greeting Cade Smith with a single of his own.

All-around, Duran was the uncontested star of Thursday’s show. In the top of third, Andrés Giménez singled to left to drive in Cleveland’s first run, then found himself out at second to end the inning thanks to Duran’s throw. And with two on and two out in the sixth, the leadoff man torched a 101.9 mph line-drive to deep center for a triple and pair of RBI, then scored on a balk to put the Sox within one. Overall, he reached base three times, extended his hitting streak to four games, and either scored or drove in all of Boston’s runs.

Justin Slaten took over for the top of the seventh and brought an end to four consecutive innings of Cleveland scoring. The rookie also worked around a two-out single to escape the top of the eighth, and Chris Martin followed with a 1-2-3 ninth, punctuated by an inning-ending double play.

But after almost battling all the way back in the sixth, the home team went quietly, 1-2-3 in each of the remaining three innings.

“We fought really hard,” Duran said. “Just didn’t go our way. It happens, it’s baseball, but we’re gonna get back on the horse and go to work.”

“It’s hard,” Cora admitted. “It sounds repetitive, and people might say like, he’s full of (expletive), but we need to play better defense, that’s the bottom line… two routine plays we don’t make and then we don’t turn a double play and we lose by one.”

“They’re good defenders, they are,” he continued. “Just, we’re not making plays right now.”

And that, more than anything, is why they’re not winning, either.