I got my answer to this.
"The two-step is probably because the first save attempt items are not locked at the time the save is started, so it flags an error when it can't be saved after being locked mid-operation. The second attempt it doesn't bother trying because it sees that it is locked when making the list of items to save; therefore, no error."
Thanks to David Schenken
BTW, not only did I need an answer to this, but I also thought I would test out the PTC/user vs. PTC Community response times. PTC Community wins this round by about 2 hours.
Yes I am as surpised as anyone. No more negative waves directed to PTC Community from me.
To be fair to PTC/user, Mike Foster also came up with the answer to my problem.