Cranston East started the baseball season with two consecutive league victories. The streak ended with a thud on Thursday when the Thunderbolts blew a late 2-0 lead against Johnston and lost 6-2, but for a team that’s still feeling things out, it was a decent start.

“If you said a week ago we’d be 2-1 after three games, we’d take that,” head coach Mike Walsh said after the Johnston loss. “Are we happy with how things went today? No, but we’ve got to look at the overall picture.”

The picture got a little cloudier Monday with a 7-2 loss to Lincoln, and the upcoming stretch is difficult. The ’Bolts were set to play rival Cranston West on Wednesday, with results unavailable at press time, and they’ll play two-time defending champion Bishop Hendricken next Tuesday.

But for now, the positives from the first few games remain. Senior Anthony Perry has pitched well, Alex Figueiredo took a shutout into the sixth against Johnston and the offense has been doing enough to win.

“We’re still working on some things,” Walsh said. “Realistically, we still have to see where we are on the mound. We had a single game, then another single game. This is the first time we’re playing back-to-back and it kind of shows us where we’re at. We’ve got some things to figure out going forward.”

For much of Thursday’s game, East seemed destined for a third straight win. Harold Corniel singled and stole second base in the third inning, then came around on a base hit by Figueiredo. In the fifth, Alex Whitney reached on an error and Alex Corvese plated him with a double.

“We’re trying to do the little things right now,” Walsh said. “I say we don’t have a three-four-five hitter, we just have a bunch of solid hitters. Combined, anybody can do whatever and do a job. We’re not striking out much, we’re putting the ball in play.”

Meanwhile, Johnston managed just two hits off Figueiredo through five innings. East’s defense didn’t make an error and Nick Croft made a diving snag of a line drive to start an inning-ending double play in the fifth.

But the wheels came off in the sixth. Figueiredo walked Joe Bongiovanni on four pitches then hit Korey Fijal with the first pitch of the next at-bat. Corvese came on in relief but didn’t have any more luck. Nick Raposo greeted him with an RBI single and James Picchi smacked an RBI double.

Mike Caparco followed with a bunt single on a suicide squeeze, with the go-ahead run coming home. Caparco later scored on an infield fly that dropped in, and Steve Pennacchia added a two-run single to make it 6-2.

East put two men on in the seventh with the top of the order due up, but reliever Ryan McKeon worked out of the jam to preserve the victory for the Panthers.

It was a disappointing finish for East, but Walsh expects Figueiredo to go deeper into games as the season wears on and hopes his bullpen will take strides.

“I think Alex is going to be fine,” Walsh said. “Give him two weeks, and he’ll probably throw seven. It’s just a process.”

East returned to action Monday against Lincoln, took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first but lost it in the bottom half and never recovered. Perry – who had a solid outing in a win over St. Raphael – was touched up by a strong Lincoln lineup this time.

After their game against West, the ’Bolts will host North Providence on Saturday at 12 p.m.