The comebacks have been so frequent, so amazingly common-place, that when they don't happen, you find yourself surprised.
Trailing from the third inning on, the Red Sox went out with a whimper in their 5-3 loss to the Kansas City Royals on Friday. Sure, there was the eighth inning homer from Rafael Devers that brought them to within two. But they never really stirred after that, and the ninth inning was as perfunctory as it gets, with the Sox putting up little resistance against Kansas City closer Greg Holland.
So, no -- no magic in the late innings this time.
At one point last week, two Red Sox wins in a row were of the walk-off variety. Then, the next two victories that followed, both of them 10-8 slugfest comeback specials in Atlanta, the Sox got a go-ahead three-run homer in the eighth and a come-from-behind pinch-hit grand slam in seventh to grab thriller wins.
Instead, as the Red Sox saw their three-game winning streak snapped, the game turned several times in the early innings. Had either or both gone differently, perhaps the outcome would have changed, too. Sometimes, games can be won in the early innings instead of late.
But on this night, there were two signs in the early going that this would not be the Red Sox' night. Both of them centered around Christian Arroyo, who made things all the more strange, since Arroyo has been associated with so many game-changing moments in the month of June. Before Friday, he had four homers in the month and every one of them either tied the game or put them ahead.
The first came in the third, with the Sox already up 1-0. Arroyo was at third and Alex Verdugo at first when J.D. Martinez hit a ball to third baseman Kelvin Gutierrez. With Arroyo having already taken his secondary lead off the bag, he froze for an instant when the ball was hit, worried that it may have been a catchable line drive.
When Gutierrez fielded the ball on a hop, Arroyo broke for the plate, but inexplicably, stopped again just for a second. As Gutierrez fired to second to force Verdugo out, Arroyo continued to the plate. But Royals second baseman Nicky Lopez, spying Arroyo heading for home, eschewed the chance for a double play and instead came home.
Arroyo, not expecting a play at the plate, was close enough that he couldn't slide, but no so close that he was safe. What should have been a routine run on a double play instead, resulted in an out at the plate.
"It was kind of an awkward play,'' Arroyo would recall. "The last thing I wanted to do was to take off on contact and get doubled up at third. I kind of looked back and (Gutierrez) took a look at me and I kind of took a step back. Then, as soon as he threw to second, I took off. Lopez just made a good play. I talked to (Alex Cora) and Will (Venable bench coach) and they said there's not much you can do. Once the ball's hit, you either just take off or stay, but in that situation, I was trying to sneak a run and Lopez just made a good play.
"Not much else to say. Hindsight is 20/20, but I wish I would have stayed at third and given us an opportunity to score me from third. But that's just part of the game.''
Two innings later, Arroyo was in the middle of another critical play. On this one, however, he was a mere bystander.
In the top of the fifth, with runners on first and second and no out, Arroyo was ahead in the count 3-and-0 against the second Royals pitcher of the night, Kris Bubic. With the fourth pitch of the at-bat, Bubic missed the plate and Arroyo leaned down to remove a shin guard, naturally assuming he had earned a walk. But home plate umpire Jim Wolf ruled the pitch a strike.
Behind 3-and-1, Bubic made his next pitch. Again, the pitch was a ball, again Arroyo bent down and again Wolf called a strike.
With the count full, Arroyo had to take a more defensive stance and swung at the next pitch, resulting in a force play at second on Danny Santana and Arroyo reached on the fielder's choice. The Sox later got a run when, after two outs, J.D. Martinez snaked a ball through the infield to score Marwin Gonzalez, but after a walk to Xander Bogaerts re-loaded the bases, Devers fanned, stranding three.
How the inning might have unfolded differently had Arroyo taken first on a walk, giving the Sox the bases loaded with no out, is, of course, unknown. But with the team's 2-3-4-5 hitters due, there stood a good chance that it could have resulted in a big inning. Instead, the Sox got a measly run out of their opportunity, then didn't score again until Devers smashed a solo homer in the eighth.
"It was ball four for a strike, then ball five for a strike,'' said Arroyo. "It's just frustrating because that changes the whole outlook of the game. (We should) have had bases loaded, no outs and we're down (by two runs) at the time. With our offense, who knows? We could put up a six-spot there and it's a totally different game.
"I'm not going to say that that was the entire game, obviously. But it was frustrating to have those calls against me personally. Part of the game, though. It is what it is.''
And on this night, for a change, it was not to be for the Red Sox. Instead, twice for Arroyo, it was what might have been.