McAdam: Red Sox hit the road and find it doesn't hit back

For almost the past month, since reporting for testing and intake, the Red Sox had a bubble of their own of sorts -- Fenway Park.

First came workouts, then intrasquad games, then the start of the regular season.

Ah yes, the regular season. Of course, there's nothing regular about any of this, and for the Red Sox, who, after a thrashing of the Baltimore Orioles on Opening Night, there hadn't been anything enjoyable about it, either. The Sox executed a face plant for the next four games, being both easily outscored (29-11) and obviously outclassed.

Some change would do them good. Fenway was becoming stale, and the ugly sameness of the losses -- fall behind early, produce token offense, allow more runs late -- was wearing them out. Some players openly pined to get away from home.

"I think it was actually nice leaving Fenway,'' said manager Ron Roenicke. "We had been there for so long. So it was probably a nice thing for them to feel a little different atmosphere.''

Their first assignment wasn't an inviting one. Not only was it a return date with the New York Mets, who had just embarrassed them the previous two nights, but as luck would have it, they got to face Jacob deGrom, who is in the running for best pitcher in the game.

But there were the Red Sox Wednesday night at Citi Field, scrapping away and, with help from Nathan Eovaldi, their lone dependable starter, staying with the Mets pitch-for-pitch.

The Sox fell behind again, but this time just be a manageable run. They soon pulled even, and in the fourth, they actually went ahead. Even in the empty Citi Field, you half expected the sound of trumpets to mark the occasion. For the first time in 40 innings, dating back to last Friday, the Red Sox had a lead.

It didn't last. In fact, after giving it up, they fell behind again. But they kept coming. A solo homer from Christian Vazquez tied it again, and in the eighth, they went ahead once more, this time for good though Brandon Workman nearly undid everything in the ninth with a self-imploding high wire act.

Ultimately, they held on, and never before have you seen a team so happy, so relieved, to win in the sixth game of the season.



"This was a huge win for us,'' noted Eovaldi after the Sox had emerged victorious in a 6-5 nailbiter. "We definitely haven't started out the way we wanted to. Having a win against deGrom is a big deal for us and we were able to rally together.''

The key work there seemed to be "together'' -- in every sense of the word. On the field, it required the work of six pitchers total. Six different position players each scored one run.

But there was something else different, too. For the first time since they reconvened in the first week of July, the Red Sox actually spent time with one another in the lead-up to the game. They traveled together, on a charter, then on buses from the airport to their Manhattan hotel. They then traveled via bus to the ballpark and once at Citi Field, did something they hadn't done since March -- they shared the same clubhouse.

At Fenway, to honor the concept of social distancing, Red Sox management came up with idea of housing the players in the luxury suites that ring the third level of the ballpark. That way, their exposure to one another was limited.

From the standpoint of health and safety -- paramount during a pandemic -- that was good. But in terms of building chemistry and bonding, well, those things understandably had to take a back seat.

On Thursday, five weeks after they gathered, six days into the start of their season, they were, finally, a team.

"One hundred percent,'' agreed Eovaldi. "We're staying apart, we've got the masks, but we were all together in the clubhouse. I think that's what we missed the most. It's nice having the suites and everything, but I feel like we never see each other then. And again, we had the flight (Tuesday) night, we're coming to the field together ... things like that.''

Some of that newfound unity seemed to bring with it a sense of purpose on the field. They executed a couple of tricky double plays on the field, and Mitch Moreland, of all people, took advantage of two wild pitches by deGrom to score a big run.

Meanwhile, Roenicke made moves with some urgency. In the eighth inning alone, in the span of two spots at the bottom of the lineup, he used three reserves from his bench with two pinch-hitters and a pinch-runner.

Just win baby.

"I think we need to do what we can to win games,'' acknowledged Roenicke. "Get that good feeling back, guys will relax, we'll start playing better baseball. So whatever we can do to try to get some wins, I felt we needed to do.''

Six more games remain on the trip, the last five of which are against the Yankees and Rays, the class of their division. It remains to be seen if the Red Sox will enjoy their travels as much a week from now.