McAdam: Signs of life shown by Red Sox in weekend sweep of Rays

No one should be celebrating a 9-13 record through the first three and a half weeks, nor feeling proud about being in fourth place in the American League East, just a game and a half in front of the wretched Baltimore Orioles.

But compared to where the Red Sox were when they left New York late Wednesday night, things have improved considerably.

As early as it is in the season, the Red Sox faced the real prospect of running themselves into the basement and out of contention had they been swept by the Tampa Bay Rays. Losing two-of-three would have been nearly as damning.

Instead, the Red Sox pulled off a sweep themselves, finishing off the Rays with a 4-3 win in 11th innings. All three wins were close, decided by one or two runs. All three came late, with the Sox scoring the go-ahead runs in the eighth, ninth and 11th innings. Twice, they went ahead to stay in their final at-bats.

That was a hallmark of the 2018 team, which never seemed to be out of games and played with a brashness and confidence that had them fighting until the 27th out.

And these wins did not come against a doormat. The Rays began the weekend at 14-5, the best record of any team in the league, having not lost a series all year. (Conversely, the Red Sox had yet to win one when the weekend began).

The Sox used an obvious formula in all three -- strong starting pitching, improved offensive approach and a propensity to take advantage of their opponents' mistakes.

It's not complicated, but watching the Red Sox through their first 19 games of the season, it would have been easy to forget that.

Each time, the starting pitcher gave the Sox a chance. In 16.1 innings provided by the rotation, the Sox allowed just three unearned runs, continuing a trend that began halfway through their first homestand. In their first 13 games, Boston starting pitchers had an atrocious 8.79 ERA and averaged less than 4.5 innings per start; in the last eight, that ERA sits at 3.21 while their starts have averaged 5.3 innings.

There's been improvement at the plate, though the Red Sox stranded baserunners left and right in Sunday's win, leaving 15 on while going just 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position. But the quality of the at-bats has generally improved.

"We're swinging at more strikes,'' said Christian Vazquez, who delivered the game-winning sacrifice fly in the top of the 11th off Tampa Bay's Jose Alvarado.

But perhaps a more accurate summation is the Red Sox are swinging at better strikes. Instead of helping out the opposing pitcher by flailing at pitches at the edges of the strike zones, designed to induce weak contact, the Sox are squaring up pitches over the heart of the plate and -- 2018 alert again -- doing damage.

They succeeded, too, in putting pressure back on opponents. In the top of the 11th, a bloop single from Rafael Devers and a walk from Michael Chavis, with the rookie exhibiting some good takes against Alvarado, set the stage. Then came a perfectly executed bunt from Jackie Bradley-- incredibly, just his third in 690 games -- to push both baserunners in scoring position. Finally, there was Vazquez.

Earlier in the week, the catching debate swirled around Sandy Leon, recalled from Pawtucket, and Blake Swihart, designated for assignment and eventually traded to Arizona. While that talk went on, Vazquez put his stamp on all three games.

He supplied a two-run homer in the fifth inning Friday and threw out a baserunner attempting to steal in the seventh. On Saturday, he entered as a defensive replacement in the bottom of the ninth and recorded the game's final out by picking off Tommy Pham at first. And Sunday, he delivered the game-winning run in the 11th.

Granted, there are issues still be fixed. The bullpen blew saves in three of the last four games and Matt Barnes, for the second straight game, allowed a game-tying solo homer in the eighth inning, a pattern that can't continue if he's to be the team's most-trusted high-leverage reliever.

And having executed a three-game winning streak for the first time this year, the Red Sox would need four more wins in a row and another sweep of Detroit this week at Fenway just to hail themselves back to .500, from where the real work would have to begin.

But faced with the prospect of falling hopelessly behind in the division, the Sox didn't blink, and moved themselves to within five games of front-running Tampa Bay. More to the point, they played their best baseball to date at a time when they needed it most.

"We know the type of team we have in this clubhouse,'' said Price, "and I think we showed that the last three days.''

That won't win them anything yet. But it does give them something that they couldn't necessarily claim when they arrived in Florida: hope.