McAdam: As Red Sox begin road trip, they've improved but more work remains

Wednesday's matinee win for the Red Sox gave them a three-game sweep as they move on to play a four-game series against a rebuilding team from the AL Central.

If any of that sounds familiar, it should. And it should give pause to anyone who's convinced that the Red Sox are finally, definitely heading in the right direction.

It was only 10 or so days ago that the Sox went into Tropicana Field and took three straight from the Tampa Bay Rays. But they then negated that progress by coming home and dropping a doubleheader to the thoroughly mediocre Detroit Tigers.

Any momentum the Sox had created for themselves was nearly erased with those two disheartening setbacks to the Tigers.

There's a lesson in there for the Sox, as they traveled to Chicago to play a White Sox team struggling to get to .500: any forward progress can be quickly negated unless the Sox go into Guaranteed Rate Field and win three-of-four in their weekend series.



By beginning the season as poorly as they did (6-13), the Sox have forfeited the right to pick up a game here and there. They need a sustained run of dominance to again make themselves factors in the AL East and splitting series -- even on the road -- won't get them where they need to go.

To their credit, the Sox aren't about to declare themselves whole just yet, even after winning eight of the last 12.

When the Sox won the opener Monday night, Alex Cora was quick to tap the brakes and ensure that nobody went overboard.

"It's just one game,'' he cautioned. "I'm not going to get caught up in 'we're getting better' or 'we will be better,' '' said Cora. "It was just one day. We played good today.''

And, to be fair, they followed that with wins Tuesday night and again Wednesday afternoon. They got terrific bullpen work (Tyler Thornburg excepted) in all three games, the best start of the year from Rick Porcello Tuesday and did what they had to do to score enough runs.

On Wednesday, that meant some unconventional approaches. Andrew Benintendi, the team's leadoff hitter, put down a sacrifice bunt with no out and Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez soon due at the plate. On another occasion, the Sox used two walks, a stolen base, a hustle infield single and a sacrifice fly to give themselves a three-run sixth.

"Situational hitting was good,'' concluded Cora. "And that's how it sparks -- you start doing the little things.''

The last five homers they've hit have been solo shots. They managed nine runs Monday without hitting the ball out of the ballpark. Whatever it takes.

Paramount, of course, has been the resurgence of the starting pitching, which has been almost uniformly excellent for the better of the last two and a half weeks. No longer clawing back from early-inning deficits, the Red Sox know that on far more nights than not, their starters will give them a chance.

Of late, the bullpen has been dominant, too. Take Thornburg (still trying to find his footing) out of the equation and Red Sox relievers tossed 14.1 innings over the last four games and yielded a single run. On Wednesday, from the third through the eighth, two baserunners reached base against the Boston bullpen.

Still, there are plaudits for a team still four games under the break-even mark, no praise for a team kept out of the basement only by the grace of the Baltimore Orioles.

More must be done -- and soon.

Mitch Moreland, wielding a hot bat with two homers and four RBI in the last two games, was also modest in his assessment. Sweep or no sweep, he wasn't about to get carried away.

"Ahhh…it's a good start,'' said Moreland of the sweep, measuring his words carefully. "We got three under our belts there. It's good momentum for us to go on the road.''

Momentum, but nothing more. The Red Sox will have to earn the rest of it. And they only have to go back a week to see how quickly that can be squandered.