The Red Sox were dead, dead as a doornail.
For seven innings, they never sniffed a hit. The closest they came was a grounder into the shortstop hole. Their lone baserunner came on a leadoff walk in the fourth.
In the visitor's dugout, New York Yankee starter Domingo German was being given a good leaving alone by his teammates, honoring the time-honored baseball tradition of ignoring a pitcher with a no-hitter in progress.
The Red Sox not only were without a hit as the eighth inning began; they were without hope.
Then the soft parade of baserunners began. First, a double by Alex Verdugo to start the eighth and bring an end not just to German's bid for history, but also, his afternoon. Then, another double, then two more singles, and a double again.
With each ball in play, with each advancement, Fenway Park grew louder, the momentum in the stands matching that of the home team on the field.
There was something vaguely familiar to the whole scene. Shutout for seven innings....some well-placed hits....a dugout coming alive...
Where had we seen this before?
Oh, right. Saturday, less than 24 hours earlier. Same inning. Nearly the same score.
This time, however, it was the home team doing the rallying and the visiting team nervously watching a lead slip away.
The Red Sox had been on the other side of this. They had watched the Yankees dink and dunk their way to a four-run eighth, and absorbed one of their more dispiriting losses of the year. With a chance to perhaps figuratively put the Yankees away for good, they had instead watched the Yankees kick the dirt off themselves and steal a win back Saturday.
So did the Red Sox wallow in that defeat, allow it to sap their resolve, suffer some crisis of confidence?
They did not. Instead, they gave the Yankees their own taste of bitter defeat.
And as stunning as the Red Six 5-4 victory was as it unfolded. Not that a team that's been no-hit for seven innings should be expected to suddenly, out of nowhere, string together five hits in a row. But there was a lesson for anyone who's been paying attention since, say, the sixth game of this season: Do not count this bunch out.
Because from the first week of the season, the Red Sox have been a study in resiliency. Losses do not attach themselves to this team. Instead, they're easily brushed off, like lint.
"I know people get caught up in one game, or losing a series and all that,'' said Alex Cora. "We don't. We don't. We show up every day and play. Yesterday, they took one from our hands and today we did the same thing (to them). It's testament to who they are. They don't get down on themselves.''
Every manager might like to think the same about his players. Every manager might think his team rebounds.
But with Cora, it's not just wishful thinking.
It started when they were ignominiously swept by Baltimore in the first series. With fans aghast and talk radio howling, the Red Sox went out and took the next three from the defending American League champion Tampa Bay Rays. That set the foundation.
The rest of the season has been more of the same.
A soul-crushing 1-0 walk off loss at Tampa? No problem. The Red Sox came home and took three straight from the Yankees.
A dispiriting series in Houston, with their offense shuttered? No biggie. The Sox went to New York and swept the Yankees again.
A 12-inning loss in Oakland in which the Sox had taken the lead in the top of the inning only to give it back in the bottom? They followed that with a 1-0 shutout the next day against the A's.
Time after time, just when you think they might suffer a hangover, the Red Sox rouse themselves early from bed, eager to start the day fresh.
"It's a 162-game season,'' said Kike Hernandez. "Things are going to go our way and things are not going to go our way. The hardest part about the big league season is how long it is and how big of a mental grind it is. If you don't learn how to turn the page quickly, things are not going to go well and it's going to start escalating. I think it showed after the first series of the season. We've been talking about this all year -- we're not going to quit. We're not going to give up, regardless of what's happened in the game or what's happened in the last few days.
"It kind of sounds repetitive, but this is who we are...Our expectations are to win every single game. Obviously, we're not going to do that. But that's the motto in here. We're trying to win every ballgame. We're in first place for a reason: we're a really good team.''
With, he could have added, very short memories.
