BOSTON — It was bad enough that Julio Lugo was in an 0-for-31 drought.

That’s why he began the night on the bench for the second straight game.

But Lugo was inserted as a pinch-runner for Dustin Pedroia in the eighth after Pedroia had lofted a two-out double into the left-field corner.

The Sox were down, 5-4. Kevin Youkilis was at the plate with David Ortiz in the on-deck circle.

On the 1-and-1 pitch to Youkilis, Lugo took off for third, trying to move up a base.

He was thrown out. Catcher Gerald Laird double-clutched a bit, and his throw to third baseman Travis Metcalf arrived on one hop. But it beat Lugo and Metcalf hung onto the ball when the two collided at the bag, so Lugo was out.

It was the first time in 21 stolen-base attempts that Lugo had been thrown out all year.

But he did not pick a good time to go.

Sure, there are several ways you can score from third that you can’t score from second.

In this situation, though, when you’re already in scoring position late in a close game, especially with the speed Lugo possesses, you have to make sure you can steal the bag, almost standing up. If you’re not sure about that, you don’t go and take the bat out of Youkilis’ hands, a guy batting close to .330, a guy who earlier in the game had clubbed a two-run homer.

Lugo was just trying to do something positive for the team to make up for his offensive woes. It wasn’t a wise gamble and it backfired. This has not been Lugo’s year so far.

Sox manager Terry Francona said he had not given Lugo a steal signal, that Lugo was running on his own.

“We have him in there for obvious reasons, to score on a base hit. I think it (the stolen-base attempt) took everybody by surprise. I think it may be a case of a player trying to do too much and maybe trying to do something that’s not there. Obviously we would like for ‘Youk’ to swing the bat there,” said Francona.

Catcher and team captain Jason Varitek sympathized with Lugo, to a point.

“He needs to play his game and let the good things come through just playing his game,” said Varitek.

Balls that got away

Twice in the last two games second baseman Pedroia, moving to his left for a sharply hit ground ball, has gone into a slide in an attempt to smother the ball rather than take another half-step and stay on his feet to make the play.

And in each case, the ball got away from him. Each play was ruled a hit, but each time there were consequences of the play that wasn’t made.

Kenny Lofton reached with two out and none on in the seventh Friday night when Pedroia was unable to corral his bouncer, ultimately hastening the departure of starting pitcher Tim Wakefield.

Then last night, with a runner on first, one out and the Sox ahead, 4-0, in the fourth, Pedroia again went down to his knees, this time in a lunging attempt to snare Frank Catalanotto’s bouncer. The ball deflected off Pedroia’s glove and rolled behind him, into the outfield, giving the runner at first an extra base.

The Rangers eventually scored four runs in the inning, tying the game at 4-4.

While Pedroia’s inability to cleanly field Catalanotto’s grounder was not the reason Texas scored four runs — Red Sox starter Josh Beckett gave up four more hits in the inning — it helped jump-start the Rangers’ flagging offense.

But, to give Pedroia his due, he had to go into a dive for Brad Wilkerson’s grounder to his left with two outs in the fifth and he came up with it, stealing an RBI single from Wilkerson and keeping the Sox’ deficit at 5-4.

Location trumps velocity

Velocity can be important, but location is even more important for any pitcher.

Check out last night’s first inning for example.

In the top of the first, Beckett was firing his fastball consistently at 96 and 97 mph. And his location was impeccable. Beckett retired the Rangers in order on only 11 pitches. He threw eight fastballs, seven of which were strikes, including a pretty two-seamer that started inside, prompting leadoff man Lofton to back away, and then tailed back over the corner for strike three.

Then there was the Rangers’ Robinson Tejeda. The tall, beefy right-hander was firing fastball after fastball, generally in the 94- to 96-mph range.

Tejeda, though, was all over the place with his heaters, and rarely in the strike zone. He walked the first two batters on a total of 11 pitches, all fastballs. By the time the inning was over, Tejeda had thrown 31 pitches, only 12 of which were strikes. Of those 12 strikes, only 7 were fastballs, the others being changeups and sliders.

The Sox reached him for two runs on only one hit, and he was lucky the damage wasn’t worse.

Tejeda’s inconsistency with his fastball hurt him in the second, too.

When he tried to slow down and harness his fastball, Alex Cora yanked his get-me-over 91-mph fastball into the right-field corner for a leadoff triple in the second. And with two outs, Youkilis crushed a 95-mph fastball down the middle about belt high into the Monster seats for a two-run homer and a 4-0 Boston lead.

Through two innings Tejeda had thrown 62 pitches, only 27 of which were strikes. Tejeda lasted four innings (101 pitches, 49 strikes).

So it’s probably not a coincidence that Tejeda had been 1-4 with a ghastly 9.58 earned-run average in his previous seven starts.

But outings can go quickly from good to bad, even for a certain All-Star selection such as Beckett. The Boston right-hander cruised through the first three innings, but then he, too, began throwing fat pitches, and the Rangers produced five runs on eight hits and a 5-4 lead over the fourth and fifth innings.

Sammy Sosa turned around Beckett’s 95-mph fastball for a tie-breaking solo homer in the fifth. Beckett was lifted after five innings, having thrown 92 pitches.

Catchers are on the ball

But Rangers catcher Laird registered a more unusual putout at the plate in the second inning.

With a runner at third and none out, Jacoby Ellsbury stepped into the batter’s box for his first big-league plate appearance. He checked his swing on the second pitch he saw and tapped the ball.

It actually bounced into the dirt a few inches to the left of the plate, in foul territory, but quickly spun into fair territory maybe a foot in front of the plate.

Laird jumped out and snagged the ball as Ellsbury stood glued in the box, thinking the ball was foul.

Laird tagged out Ellsbury, who never moved.

skrasner@projo.com