Plenty went wrong for the Red Sox in their 4-10 start, but while most of the attention was directed at a pitching staff that gave up runs by the handful along with the injury to Jacoby Ellsbury, there was an overlooked component to the stumble out of the box.

The Red Sox roster was constructed with an understanding that there was an impressive consolidation of talent at the top of the food chain. A year ago, the Sox had three players who ranked among the top 10 AL MVP candidates (Jacoby Ellsbury, Adrian Gonzalez, Dustin Pedroia). Those three, along with David Ortiz and, depending on how he rebounded from surgery, Kevin Youkilis, virtually ensured that the Sox would be competitive.

But the Red Sox’ version of the Big Three did not live up to that billing through the season’s initial days. Ellsbury, of course, was lost for several weeks with his shoulder subluxation. But while the loss of Ellsbury was unquestionably devastating, the fact that it occurred in tandem with the virtual disappearance of Gonzalez made it all the more disruptive for the Sox.

Prior to Tuesday night, when the Sox erupted for 18 hits in an 11-2 win over the Twins, Gonzalez was hitting just .267 with a .299 OBP, .417 slugging mark and .715 OPS. He had two homers and 10 RBI, but aside from a go-ahead two-run homer in a game against the Tigers in the first weekend of the season (a game that the bullpen eventually torched), he had seemed to make surprisingly little impact at the dish. In situations where the game was within one run or tied, he was hitting just .185/.200/.370/.570.

Indeed, Gonzalez looked surprisingly out of sorts. The fact that he entered Tuesday having walked just three times (4.5 percent of plate appearances), while striking out on 13 occasions (19.4 percent) offered a good indication that something was amiss.

“I think it’s a very underrated part [of the Red Sox’ struggles],” one talent evaluator said of Gonzalez’ slow start.

That being the case, while the 4-for-5 game for Mike Aviles and the continued absurdity of David Ortiz’ great start (a 2-for-4 night with a homer now has him hitting .444 with a 1.200 OPS) headlined the Red Sox win on Tuesday, the bigger development may have been Gonzalez’ night. After entering the night 2-for-16 with five strikeouts in his prior four games, the first baseman went 3-for-3 with a walk to improve his line to .302/.338/.460/.798. He also drove in a pair of runs.

Perhaps that was the signal that he is ready to get hot. A year ago, after all, Gonzalez’ numbers looked very similar to the ones that he carried into this April 24 contest. Through April 23 of his first year with the Red Sox, Gonzalez was hitting .263/.344/.388/.732. He had three hits last April 24, and hit .349/.419/.571/.990 with 26 homers and 107 RBI the rest of the way.

The fact that he put up such numbers despite playing with a surgically repaired shoulder that eroded his power in the second half was little short of remarkable.

“I think it speaks a lot to how talented a hitter he is. He made adjustments in his swing and maybe did a little more guessing than usual just because that shoulder did limit him so much,” hitting coach Dave Magadan said. “He’s going to find a way to get hits, to be productive. That’s how good he is. The second half of the season, he had half the amount of strength in the shoulder he had in the first half and he still put up good numbers. He found ways to drive in runs in other ways. He’s impressive.”

Gonzalez suggested that the trajectory of his shoulder and the fact that it was fatigued in the second half of the year was “as expected.”

“I think it held up pretty good with the circumstances of having a very tight window with the surgery and the start of the season and everything else,” he said.

Still, his early-season struggles were all the more surprising given that this spring he was completely healthy. During spring training, he enthused that a great deal of uncertainty had been lifted from him by the fact that he was healthy.

“Coming off shoulder surgery there’s a lot of doubts -- how the shoulder's going to respond, how the shoulder's going to feel. There’s always that tendency to baby your shoulder because you don’t want to get hurt from a swing,” Gonzalez said. “All those things are gone this year. I don’t have to worry about any of those things. I can focus on playing the game. Being healthy is a great feeling.”

A year ago, despite the fact that he couldn’t hit for power in the second half, Gonzalez ended up among the American League leaders in virtually every offensive category, with career highs in average (.338), OBP (.410), OPS (.957) and RBI (119). That being the case, season-opening slump notwithstanding, it is intriguing to wonder whether Gonzalez is capable of more this year, whether he can improve on the numbers that ranked him among the handful or so of the most impactful hitters in baseball last season.

“He set the bar pretty high last year and it could be a little bit unfair to hold him to that and improve on his numbers that he had last year,” Magadan said. “But he’s going to find a way to drive in his runs. The average is going to be wherever it ends up and the home runs, but his main goal is to be a run producer. There’s no question in my mind he’s going to do that.”

The Red Sox would love to see the first baseman simply approach the considerable bar that he set in 2011. If his career track record is any indication, then in all likelihood, it is a matter of when, not if, for Gonzalez to get hot and stay there for an extended stretch of the year.