BOSTON >> With a pair of runners in scoring position, Edouard Julien ranged to his left and went into a slide, looking to corral a ball hit sharply his way. It looked as if the second baseman got his glove on it, but just as quickly, it popped up out of his mitt and dribbled a couple feet behind him.

By the time he got the ball and spun around back towards home, he could do nothing but watch David Hamilton slide in, representing the second run the Boston Red Sox scored on the play.

The seventh-inning play, which would have been the third out of the inning and kept the score tied, was ruled a hit for Red Sox star Rafael Devers, though it could have been ruled an error. And with it, the Twins fell into a two-run hole from which they wouldn’t recover.

The Twins lost their fourth consecutive game on Friday night, this one a 6-1 loss to the Red Sox at Fenway Park that further spiraled out of control from them an inning later when reliever Jorge Alcala entered and gave up three runs on five hits.

“I was just trying to keep it in front,” Julien said. “I should’ve just stayed on my feet and made the regular play. It’s frustrating that we lose on that play. It was a bad inning for myself.”

In the top half of the inning, Julien, on a stolen base attempt, overslid the bag and was easily tagged out. He appeared to have second stolen and had he been able to stay on the base, the Twins would have had a runner in scoring position with the game still tied.

With the offense not scoring much — Minnesota scored a combined seven runs over its past four games — those plays become even more magnified.

“It hasn’t connected well for us to score runs over the last four games,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “You’re always going to end up talking about every play, all the little things when you’re fighting to score and win a one-run game and that’s where we’re at right now.”

The Twins’ (13-20) offense couldn’t muster much of anything on Friday night off Red Sox (18-16) starter Brayan Bello.

Minnesota catcher Ryan Jeffers hammered a slider over the Green Monster in left field in the third inning, providing the only offense of the night off Bello and tying the game at the time. It would remain that way until the seventh inning.

Bello worked into the seventh and allowed just four hits, an effort that was nearly matched by Twins starter Joe Ryan.

Fresh off an outing in which he struck out 11, Ryan turned in his second consecutive quality start. In this one, he worked six innings and allowed just one run — a bomb to Alex Bregman in the first inning — in his effort.

Ryan said he made a mechanical tweak with his lower half during his last start, so “it felt good just to keep that rolling.” But like so many strong starts the Twins have gotten from their pitchers recently, they were unable to capitalize on Ryan’s strong outing.

In each of their last four games, the Twins have been tied — or ahead — late. And all four have ended in the loss column.

“It’s tough,” Julien said. “It seems we’re always in there and at the end, we just can’t finish the game. I’m sure at one point it’s going to turn around.”