The Braves’ Scott Thorman slides home safely on a sacrifice fly to center by Kelly Johnson in the third inning of last night’s game in Atlanta. The Red Sox’ catcher is Jason Varitek.

AP / Gregory Smith

ATLANTA — Was it only two starts ago that Curt Schilling came within an out of a no-hitter? It sure seems like longer.

For the second straight start, Schilling was far from near-perfect last night, crushed for six runs on 10 hits in just 4 1/3 innings as the Red Sox began their most demanding trip of the season with a dispiriting 9-4 loss to the Atlanta Braves.

Staked to a quick 1-0 lead by the first of two Coco Crisp homers, Schilling proceeded to allow six unanswered runs from the third through the sixth. He failed to record a single strikeout for the first time in a start since July 1, 1993 — 348 starts ago.

In his last two starts following his gem in Oakland, Schilling is 0-2 with a 10.61 ERA. He’s allowed 19 hits in 9 1/3 innings.

“It’s embarrassing,” said Schilling, 6-4. “I never gave us a chance. You want to walk around the clubhouse and apologize to your teammates and manager. There’s no excuse for the game to play out like it did.”

Pressed to explain the cause for the back-to-back outings, Schilling shrugged.

“It’s not any one thing,” he said. “But what I’m doing is not working. It’s a combination of things, but it comes down to execution. To pinpoint any one thing would be wrong.”

Asked if he was bothered by physical issues, Schilling avoided a direct answer.

“It’s not any one thing,” he repeated. “These last two outings have been just terrible. I’m better than that.”

The key sequence for Schilling came in the fourth when, after hard-hit singles from Edgar Renteria and Chipper Jones, Brian McCann doubled to left-center, scoring Renteria and sending Jones to third.

Schilling next got Andruw Jones (flyout to right) and Jeff Francoeur (infield popup), and with pitcher Chuck James on deck and first base open, the Sox made the logical decision to intentionally walk Scott Thorman.

“If Thorman gets a hit with the pitcher on deck,” said manager Terry Francona, “I’m kicking myself. I thought it was the right thing to do.”

But James foiled the strategy when he dumped a single into shallow left, scoring Jones.

“I wanted to badly to step off and bring Manny (Ramirez in left) in about 15 or 20 feet,” said Schilling. “(James) has done that a few times this year. But that’s how it goes.”

In the fifth, a three-run blast to left by McCann broke the game open and spelled the end of Schilling’s outing.

“It was supposed to be a slider, down-and-in,” said Schilling. “But it just backed up, right over the middle (of the plate).”

Not that the Sox offered much in the way of run support. After breaking out for 20 runs in their weekend series with the Giants, the Sox managed just four runs, the first three of which were produced by solo homers. The final Red Sox run came in the ninth, courtesy of a wild pitch from Macay McBride.

The homers by Crisp in the span of six innings exceeded his total for the season coming into last night and represented the first multi-homer game of his career.

Crisp sandwiched two singles around his homers, giving him a 4-for-4 night and boosting his average from .233 to .247.

J.D. Drew, who played one season here, drilled his fifth homer of the year leading off the seventh, giving the outfielder three homers in his last three starts in National League ballparks.

Drew had two homers against Arizona on June 8.

But the middle of the Red Sox’ order fizzled against James and three Atlanta relievers. Kevin Youkilis, Manny Ramirez and Jason Varitek, the 3-4-5 hitters last night, went a combined 2-for-11 with five strikeouts.

“If that happens,” said Francona, “most nights you’re going to have an uphill battle. When a pitcher shuts the middle of your order down, that’s usually a pretty good formula for winning.”

The Sox managed to load the bases against McBride, forcing the Braves to bring in closer Bob Wickman, who notched his 13th save by getting Mike Lowell to ground out to short.

Meanwhile, the Braves kept piling on after Schilling departed.

Kyle Snyder got the final two outs in the fifth, but an error by Dustin Pedroia to open the sixth paved the way for another Atlanta run.

Mike Timlin yielded a two-run homer to Thorman in the seventh.

smcadam@projo.com