David Ortiz shows his disgust after grounding out in the fifth inning last night. The Sox DH is hitting only .250 against left-handers this season.

The Providence Journal / Bob Breidenbach Bob Breidenbach

BOSTON — David Ortiz has been left looking feeble at the plate against left-handed pitchers more often this year than the last few seasons.

Entering last night’s game, Ortiz, the Sox’ designated hitter, was batting a paltry .250 against lefties. Even more disturbing, though, is the lack of power that Ortiz, a left-handed batter, has been showing against southpaws.

A year ago, for instance, Ortiz batted .278 against lefties, but he clubbed 18 homers and knocked in 44 runs in 205 at-bats. This season, Ortiz had zero homers and only 13 RBI against left-handers in 104 at-bats.

Tuesday night, Ortiz waved feebly at a slider down and away for a strikeout against Kansas City left-hander Jimmy Gobble in the fifth. Ortiz had been 3-for-6 in his career against Gobble, including a double and a homer and four RBI.

And while Ortiz says part of his slippage in power numbers against lefties is attributable to the fact they don’t mind pitching him out of the strike zone and walking him, he admits there’s another reason — David Ortiz, himself.

“I’m not focusing like I normally do,” adding he has had a tendency to open up too soon, leaving him unable to reach the outside pitch and, if he does get to it, he has no power to drive the ball.

“That’s not helping me do what I want to do,” said Ortiz. “But it’s not over yet.”

Last night, facing Kansas City left-hander Odalis Perez, Ortiz hit three routine bouncers to the right side, though he did receive a charitable base-hit call when one of them was bobbled.

Then, in the seventh, with a man on first and one out, Ortiz had a chance for some revenge at Gobble’s expense. But Ortiz swung and missed the first two pitches, sliders in. He took a slider way outside for a ball and then flailed and missed another down-and-away slider for a strikeout.

Ortiz had one last at-bat last night — against right-hander Octavio Dotel. And he drilled a two-out single to center in the ninth, after which Alex Cora pinch-ran for him.

Ramirez takes a step back

One night after being scorched for playing too shallow in left field, Manny Ramirez was positioned noticeably deeper in the first inning from where he normally stations himself.

And don’t you know, the Royals’ leadoff batter, David DeJesus, sliced a liner toward the left-field wall. Ramirez was able to race back and make a nice backhanded catch, to the obvious enjoyment of the fans and to Ramirez.

Had he been playing in his “comfort zone” in shallow left, DeJesus would have had a leadoff double.

DeJesus tested Ramirez again in the third. But again, Ramirez was able to go into the left-field corner and haul in DeJesus’ second bid for extra bases.

Then again, Ramirez isn’t in the lineup for his glove. He’s counted on for his bat, and last night he went 2-for-4, including a solo homer into the first row of the center-field bleachers in the fifth. Over the first seven games of the homestand, Ramirez is 10-for-26 (.385) with one double, two homers and eight RBI.

But with a chance for a walk-off homer, Ramirez popped up to second with a runner at first and two outs in the ninth, as the Sox were forced to swallow a 6-5 defeat to the lowly Royals.

Pedroia misses an opening

Had Dustin Pedroia been more aware of the Royals’ infield shift with Ortiz at the plate in the first inning, he might have claimed an extra base.

Pedroia was running at first base with one out when Ortiz stepped into the batter’s box. Kansas City shifted on Ortiz, with shortstop Jason Smith on the second-base side of the bag and second baseman Mark Grudzielanek swung over in the hole. Third baseman Alex Gordon was only a few steps away from second base on the shortstop’s side.

Ortiz hit a grounder to the right side. The ball went off Grudzielanek’s glove and rolled away from him on the infield dirt.

Pedroia was intent on beating a throw to second base, so he was running hard to the base. There was no play on him because the ball was bobbled.

But Smith was covering the bag, which meant there was no one covering third base. Red Sox third-base coach DeMarlo Hale tried to get the attention of Pedroia, who had stopped at second, waving him toward third.

By the time Pedroia realized the base was unguarded, so did the Royals, with catcher Jason LaRue and Perez starting toward third. At that point, it was too late for Pedroia to move up a base.

It wound up not mattering. Ramirez popped weakly to third and Kevin Youkilis took a called third strike.

Royals take their hacks

The Red Sox pride themselves on grinding out at-bats. They have a lot of veteran players who know how to work the pitcher.

The Royals are at the opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to that category. At least they were in the three-game series that came to a close last night.

On Monday night, the Royals sent 30 batters to the plate, and 16 of those appearances ended in three or fewer pitches. On Tuesday night, that ratio was 23 of 40, including 10 one-pitch at-bats (5 of which were hits). Last night, 19 of the 36 plate appearances ended in three or fewer pitches, including seven on the first pitch, two of which were hits.

skrasner@projo.com