BOSTON — There was great anticipation as Bartolo Colon took the mound last night for his first start for the Red Sox.

He’s a veteran, an ace in the past, trying to shrug off recent arm troubles and recapture a little past glory. That’s why Boston took a chance on him when he was a free agent this spring.

He didn’t disappoint anyone last night.

Don’t let his pitching line fool you, either. The rotund right-hander turned in a very encouraging effort.

Yes, Colon gave up six hits and two runs in his five innings, which sounds ordinary. But those hits? Not one of them was well struck.

David DeJesus grounded an opposite-field single in the first; Joey Gathright threaded an opposite-field roller inside the third-base bag for a single in the third; Jose Guillen punched an off-the-fists RBI seeing-eye single up the middle in the third, and in Colon’s fifth and final inning, Gathright bunted for a hit, DeJesus looped an opposite-field broken-bat single to left and Alex Gordon dunked a broken-bat RBI single to right.

Colon broke two other bats and was able to jam several of the Royals. Red Sox outfielders did not have to make one putout behind Colon.

One of his fastballs made it up to 95 mph on the stadium radar-gun reading. He had several at 94, throwing most consistently at 89-92. Colon mixed in a couple of sliders in his 74-pitch outing.

His slowest slider at 78 mph got Guillen out front on a 2-0 pitch with runners at first and third, one out and Kansas City ahead, 2-1. Guillen, obviously expecting a fastball, popped up to second base for a key out.

Then Colon racked up his fourth strikeout on his final pitch, a 91-mph fastball that had good movement, a two-seamer that cut back in and caught the inside corner on the left-handed-hitting Mark Teahen.

Making the night even better, the Sox rallied for four runs in their half of the fifth and held the lead the rest of the way, giving Colon a win in his Boston debut.

Optimism abounds

Granted, Jon Lester was dominant in pitching a no-hitter Monday night in the first game of the series. Then Justin Masterson, called up from Double A for his second big-league start, was outstanding in permitting only one run in 6 1/3 innings Tuesday night.

And last night, Colon was solid in his first start for the Red Sox.

Certainly, each outing was cause for optimism about the Red Sox’ present and future starting rotation.

But before anyone gets too carried away, it should be pointed out that Boston wasn’t exactly facing the 1927 Yankees or the 2004 Red Sox. Lester, Masterson and Colon were pitching against the Kansas City Royals, one of the worst offensive teams in the American League.

The Royals entered last night’s game 14th — dead last — in runs scored this year. They were 12th in slugging percentage and 12th in on-base percentage, and Kansas City had been shut out 12 times, the league’s second-highest total of whitewashes. The Royals also were 14th in home runs, 13th in total bases, 14th in RBI, 13th in walks and 7th in strikeouts.

This does not serve to diminish what Lester, Masterson and Colon did in the first three games of the series. Just consider this information a dose of perspective.

Wrong decision

It happened quickly. First baseman Kevin Youkilis didn’t have a lot of time to react.

The speedy Joey Gathright dragged a bunt in his direction on the first pitch of the fifth inning. The ball was rolling on the grass, a little wide of the baseline.

As he approached the ball, Youkilis thought his best chance at the out was to grab the ball and tag Gathright.

Gathright, though, was past Youkilis, who lunged in an unsuccessful attempt to tag out the baserunner. So Gathright was safe.

Had Youkilis turned and quickly tossed to second baseman Dustin Pedroia, who was sprinting to the first to cover the bag, the Sox might have had Gathright. Later in the inning, Gathright tallied the run that gave the Royals a short-lived 2-1 advantage.

Beginning of the end

One pitch can ruin an entire outing for a pitcher.

Take Kansas City’s Brett Tomko, for example.

The veteran right-hander was cruising through 4 1/3 innings. He had a 2-1 lead. He got ahead of Jason Varitek at 0 and 2.

But then he threw Varitek a terrible 0-and-2 pitch, a hanging slider, thigh-high over the middle of the plate. Varitek crushed it into the Red Sox’ bullpen, tying the game at 2-2.

Tomko didn’t get another out. He was tagged for a double by Coco Crisp, uncorked a wild pitch, gave up a ringing tie-breaking single up the middle to Julio Lugo and was knocked out on a line single to left by Jacoby Ellsbury.

No harm done

Timing is essential in turning double plays.

The Red Sox’ middle infielders didn’t have that in the first inning and it cost them a double play.

With a runner at first and none out, shortstop Julio Lugo fielded Mark Grudzielanek’s hard hopper up the middle. His backhanded flip to Pedroia caught the Boston second baseman on the run as he approached the bag.

As a result, Pedroia’s momentum was going away from first base as he caught the ball. He was unable to stop and plant at the bag, instead having to throw on the run as he crossed the base to the shortstop side.

Pedroia bounced the throw, and Youkilis, uncharacteristically, was unable to come up with it. It would not have been a close play had Youkilis dug out the throw. So the Royals had an extra out in the inning, but still failed to score.

skrasner@projo.com