We understand it will take him some time.

Clay Buchholz is coming back from a stress fracture in his back that cost him more than half of last season. But the team is dying and Buchholz, slotted No. 3 in the rotation, can’t seem to put it together.

Buchholz allowed five homers to the Yankees in Friday’s 6-2 loss. He has to come up big for this team to work. The Red Sox have always believed he had No. 1 starter ability. So far, he hasn’t shown it.

Oh, there were encouraging signs when he settled down in his last outing and got through seven innings, but there was no carryover. Red Sox pitchers have to beat the best. Instead, they’ve been beaten by the best.

Buchholz, who had a 2.33 ERA in 2010, is now sporting a 9.00 ERA after his six-plus-inning, nine-hit outing on Friday.

In the old days, a pitcher would be sent to Pawtucket to work on some things, but as a former 17-game winner in the majors, Buchholz will be allowed to work it out in the big leagues.

Manager Bobby Valentine and pitching coach Bob McClure mentioned after the game that Buchholz is still building arm strength.

“I was just mentioning, watching the game again, that he made a lot of good pitches in between the bad ones, and the bad ones they didn’t miss,’’ McClure said. “He just centered some. If he gets away with a couple of mislocated balls, then it’s probably a different story. Some are mislocated. I think he’s still building his arm strength. I still think he’s going to be really good. I’m still looking for a little more sink and movement.’’

We all know what Buchholz is when he’s right. He’s a pitcher. He relies on more than his fastball. He has a lot of movement on his two-seamer and curveball.

Buchholz repeated yesterday that he’s healthy. The back is old news. In spring training, the Sox watched him closely to make certain there were no setbacks. There were not, but Buchholz didn’t pitch well. He looked understandably rusty.