Uncontrollable factors were at play in fourth

TORONTO -- Had Julio Lugo managed to come up with the scorched ball that went just beyond the glove of the grounded shortstop, it likely would have meant a double play, getting the Red Sox out of the fourth inning with no damage done, and with 22 fewer pitches thrown by Daisuke Matsuzaka.

But it would be unfair to go back to that moment -- the shot scored a hit for Lyle Overbay -- as the one that sank Matsuzaka in his third start in the major leagues, his first both on Canadian soil and against an American League East opponent. Or, at least, to go back to that moment and Lugo.

Matsuzaka, dominant through three innings, had impressive stuff, including a fastball that was entirely under control. Until it wasn't. Until he allowed two hits and three walks. Until two Blue Jays scored and, with the Sox bats somnambulant, decided the game.

That being the case, did that missed opportunity get to him? Did it unnerve him just enough for those two walks, the second of which brought home the winning run in Toronto's 2-1 victory at Rogers Centre?

"As a pitcher in that situation, to have a grounder going to shortstop, that's sort of what I had expected to happen," Matsuzaka said through interpreter Masa Hoshino. "But I also noticed the runner overlapping with the shortstop, so it was not an easy play to make. To answer your question, those two consecutive walks being the result of what happened, I guess I can't argue against the fact that that is how it appears."

Essentially, that's maybe, maybe not.

"He had temporary amnesia for a couple minutes," said manager Terry Francona. "I mean, he was so good before and after. He just, for about four or five hitters there, just lost his touch. That was a long inning. It was a shame because he was so good, like I said, before and after."

Before: Matsuzaka allowed one hit (a single) over three innings, striking out four.

After: Matsuzaka allowed no hits over two innings, striking out four.

"He certainly didn't command like he can," Francona said. "It was like night and day from the other innings."

It was just that fourth inning, one that started with a strikeout of Adam Lind. Then came a close play at first on an infield single by Vernon Wells, a walk by Frank Thomas in an at-bat Matsuzaka said he was "overly conscious of," followed by that Overbay single, a walk to Aaron Hill, and then the walk to Gregg Zaun that forced in the eventual winning run. It was Matsuzaka's first extended run of pitching from the stretch this season.

"He lost his release point just for those hitters and ran the pitch count up," pitching coach John Farrell said. "After that, he was not going to give in, and continued to make tough pitches, even in counts when he had three balls -- particularly with Zaun, where we walked in a run -- but he locked back in and he cruised through the next two innings."

In his second straight loss, Matsuzaka allowed just two runs over six innings, bringing his ERA up slightly to a quite respectable 2.70, as his record sank to 1-2, the result of two consecutive pitching duels. He did become the first pitcher since Fernando Valenzuela in 1981 to record 10 or more strikeouts in two of his first three major league games.

But no, it was not the same Matsuzaka who wowed the army assembled to watch him in his first start in Kansas City. Though, at the beginning and at the end, he wasn't far off.

And though Matsuzaka was "politicking" to be kept in the game, according to Francona, the 105 pitches he threw gave the manager ample reason to cut his night short, even down by just a run. Perhaps, Francona said, Matsuzaka would have won that argument if it were later in the season.

Yet there were good signs. Even as he took responsibility for the loss -- "I lost a little bit of control there and put myself in a tough spot," he said -- he talked about his responsibility not just in terms of the personal reward. Just as a manager would hope. Good pitching and, what's more, a perfect response.

"Even if I pitched well and the team does not win, I'm definitely not happy with that result," Matsuzaka said. "We had come here having won a few games in a row and I'm very disappointed that we couldn't keep that streak going. The weight of that loss, as a team, weighs upon me much more heavily than my own loss."

Amalie Benjamin can be reached at abenjamin@globe.com.