For a while, it was little more than an oddity. But increasingly, it has become an alarming pattern with Daniel Bard, a reliever who is amidst one of the worst stretches of his career.

The alarm bells continued to sound on Wednesday, when the reliever was entrusted with a 4-2 lead in the top of the eighth inning. He promptly walked the first two hitters he faced while missing the strike zone with eight of nine pitches.

Aided by defensive miscues by both Bard (who threw wildly to first on a sac bunt attempt by Mark Teahen) and Kevin Youkilis (who botched a grounder, resulting in a single out at first rather than a force at the plate or a double play), those walks set in motion a three-run yield in the eighth that led the Blue Jays to a 5-4 victory at Fenway Park.

It marked the third straight outing in which Bard has given up runs, the second longest such stretch of his career. He has, in fact, been scored upon in four of five September outings, yielding a 17.36 ERA in the process.

On a day when John Lackey appeared ready to bring a measure of stability to the rotation in a gutsy effort, Bard underscored the prevailing instability at the back end of games for Boston. Right now, there appears little structure to the bridge to closer Jonathan Papelbon, a fact that has played a significant role in Boston’s September struggles.

The Red Sox, who had seemed almost unbeatable when ahead after seven innings just a month ago, no longer exude such security in the late innings. The team lost for the sixth time this year when ahead after seven innings.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE RED SOX

–Bard continued one of the worst stretches of his career. He showed little command with his fastball out of the gate, and at times, his velocity was down around 94-96 mph. He did not elicit a single swing and miss in his 21 offerings, and whether there is a physical issue in play or he is simply enduring a slump, the struggles of the Sox’ key setup man have unsettled the entire bullpen structure, at a time when everyone except Jonathan Papelbon and Alfredo Aceves appears to be struggling.

–Adrian Gonzalez left Wednesday’s game with left calf tightness prior to the top of the seventh, shortly after hitting a home run. While the severity of the condition is not yet known, Gonzalez’s injury comes at an inopportune time given the injuries that fellow middle-of-the-order sluggers David Ortiz (back spasms) and Kevin Youkilis (hip bursitis, sports hernia) are dealing with.

–Carl Crawford went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. It was the 6th time in 11 games this month that he’s struck out multiple times in a game.

–The Sox were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

–The Sox defense remained sloppy this month, with three more errors, including the miscue by Bard that eventually led to the game-winning run for the Blue Jays.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE RED SOX

–After enduring brutal outings in each of his last two starts, John Lackey – though clearly hobbled by having been pounded by a line drive off the shin in his prior outing against the Rays — delivered his best outing in some time. While he needed 115 pitches, he logged 5 1/3 innings, limiting Toronto to two runs while scattering seven hits, walking one and striking out four.

It was the first time in four starts that Lackey had more strikeouts than walks, and the first time in 10 games that he held his opponent to fewer than three runs. He also elicited 10 swings and misses, and showed both life and power on a fastball that topped out at 94 mph.

–Jacoby Ellsbury ripped a triple into the right-field corner to extend his hitting streak to 18 games. He also had a 19-game run earlier this year, making him just the second Red Sox player since at least 1919 to have two hitting streaks of 18 or more games in the same season. Prior to Ellsbury, the only other Sox player to accomplish the feat was Johnny Damon, who had 29- and 18-game hitting streaks in 2005.

–Adrian Gonzalez hit his 26th homer of the year, and his first at Fenway Park since July 7. However, after his solo homer in the bottom of the sixth inning, he was replaced by Lars Anderson in the field prior to the top of the seventh.

–Franklin Morales had one of his most impressive appearances as a member of the Sox. He entered the game with a runner on third and one outs with the Sox clinging to a 3-2 lead in the sixth. Morales promptly induced a fielder’s choice grounder on which Dustin Pedroia cut down the speedy Brett Lawrie at the plate (with Jason Varitek holding onto the ball despite a mighty collision), then picked off Adam Loewen at first base. It marked the third pickoff by Morales since coming to the Sox, a mark that ranks second on the team.