BOSTON — The irony was impossible to miss. Before Wednesday’s game at Fenway Park, the finale of the Rockies’ nine-game road trip that stretched two countries, three cities and the limits of patience, Michael Cuddyer received a shipment of bats.

“Reinforcements finally arrived,” Cuddyer said of the 34-inch, 32-ounce Louisville Sluggers.

Problem is, he’s the one Rockies player who didn’t need any help over the past 10 days. Cuddyer belted a pair of home runs Wednesday, extending his graffiti spray of the team’s record book, but the rest of the lineup was little more than an inconvenience to Red Sox starting pitcher John Lackey.

Relying on a fastball from the past, Lackey tied his career high with 12 strikeouts in Boston’s 5-3 victory, providing the exclamation point on a sojourn deserving of an expletive.

“Obviously this doesn’t go the way we wanted,” said Cuddyer, who extended his hitting streak to 23 games, tying Dante Bichette’s team record, while reaching base for the 42nd consecutive game, a new club standard. “It’s up to us to go home and take care of business.”

Awful is an apt description of what transpired on the 2-7 trip. Of course there were plausible explanations, though none comforting after Colorado fell below .500 again just two games shy of the season’s midpoint.

The Rockies picked the wrong stretch to get hurt and not hit.

The Blue Jays were scalding, Jordan Zimmermann and Stephen Strasburg were really good for the Nationals, and the Red Sox turned fastballs into an all-you-can-eat buffet, punishing Roy Oswalt one day after driving Juan Nicasio to what appears an inevitable Triple-A demotion.

On the micro level, it’s easy to make sense of the spiral. The Rockies, after all, averaged only 2.7 runs and were outscored by 17, allowing 30 hits in the Red Sox sweep. The Rockies are awful against the American League this season, going 3-12, which doesn’t bode well for October. But that’s a problem that concerns only those viewing through the deepest shade of purple-colored lenses.

The macro view is a bit more troubling, suggesting the upcoming stretch could define the season. After the makeup game with the Mets at Coors Field on Thursday, the Rockies enter a stretch of 16 consecutive games against National League West opponents. Teams in this division aspire to mediocrity, but eventually dog paddling won’t work.

Colorado is 4-8 since Troy Tulowitzki went on the disabled list and has 10 losses it its last 14 games. But the West works for the Rockies. They are 21-15 in the division, second only to the Giants, and a startling 13-5 at home.

The Rockies can’t lose ground, let alone lose many games. This is an opportunity to put a flag in the turf.

“It would be great to pick up some ground before the break,” said Oswalt, who blamed himself for the two-run third inning Wednesday that put a win out of reach. “You stay in there, then you have those final two months to make a run at this thing.”

If unable to shake the funk, the consequences could be far-reaching. Contention could become slippery, the trading deadline blurring lines between buying and selling.

Regardless, the Rockies’ offense requires a caffeine jolt that Coors Field provides as regularly as Starbucks.

The last nine road games provided sobering numbers. Tyler Colvin went hitless, part of an 0-for-23 stretch with 15 strikeouts that calls into question his roster spot. Josh Rutledge went 4-for-22. Dexter Fowler, who will have an MRI on his sore right wrist Thursday, had three hits. Carlos Gonzalez finished 8-for-39 … you get the idea.

“I had two RBIs,” said Gonzalez, shaking his head. “I have to get it going.”

The trip, mercifully, is over. Will the road to recovery begin?

NEW YORK AT COLORADO

Mets’ Jeremy Hefner (2-6, 3.89 ERA) vs. Rockies’ Tyler Chatwood (4-1, 2.22), 4:10 p.m. Thursday, no TV; 850 AM

Tyler Chatwood isn’t better because he’s older. He is better, in large part, because of his slider. It was a waste pitch a year ago until Chatwood, on the advice of Rockies pitching coach Jim Wright, changed the grip — moving to the side of the ball. “Now it has a tighter break. It’s a slurve anymore,” the right-hander said. As a result, Chatwood gets more swings and misses and has become less predictable. He hasn’t lost at home in four starts despite a .318 batting average against. He has had no issues with his right triceps since he was skipped once in the rotation. The Mets are 3-12 in games Jeremy Hefner has pitched in this season.

Upcoming Pitching Matchups

Friday: Giants’ Barry Zito (4-5, 4.40 ERA) at Rockies’ Jhoulys Chacin (6-3, 3.92), 6:40 p.m., ROOT

Saturday: Giants’ Matt Cain (5-4, 4.54) at Rockies’ Jorge De La Rosa (8-4, 3.19), 2:10 p.m., ROOT

Sunday: Giants’ Madison Bumgarner (7-5, 3.20) at Rockies’ Juan Nicasio (4-4, 5.31), 2:10 p.m., ROOT

Monday: Off

Troy E. Renck, The Denver Post