You could say the tone had been set in the first four innings.
Though they had scored only one run each time, the Red Sox had, after all, loaded the bases in the first and fourth innings. They had also tacked on another run in the third, and with Wade LeBlanc chased in the fourth, it was clear that the Red Sox bats were having one of their nights.
The Padres, on the other hand, struggled to solve Andrew Miller in his Red Sox debut, striking out five times in the first five innings while the tall lefty induced ground ball after ground ball, often weak.
Somehow, though, Orlando Hudson found the one big mistake Miller made, while the Sox just missed the ones made by LeBlanc (David Ortiz was vocally frustrated with some of those missed opportunities during his fourteen pitch first inning at-bat. He would eventually single to left to bring in the first run of the game). With two men on for Hudson's blast, the Red Sox found themselves in a tie game.
That lasted about one inning thanks to the at times dominant efforts of Corey Luebke. But then came the seventh. It started off well enough, with Adrian Gonzalez doubling off the Monster to bring Dustin Pedroia home and put the Red Sox up 4-3. But after Kevin Youkilis flew out, things really got out of hand. The Padres decided to intentionally walk David Ortiz to get to J.D. Drew (pinch hitting for Darnell McDonald). But then they walked Drew too, and found the bases loaded.
Their answer to the situation? To hit Marco Scutaro and Jason Varitek, giving the Sox the 6-3 lead. From there, it was just a matter of four more hits and another walk to bring home seven more men, all with two outs. By the time the dust had settled, it was 13-3. The teams tacked on a few more runs to make it a 14-5 final score, but the game had been over long before that.
After all, it's not often that you score ten runs and lose. Just ask the Red Sox--they're 6-0 in such games this month.