The COVID outbreak, which has wreaked havoc with the Red Sox roster, began 10 days ago.
For a time, the Red Sox managed to stay ahead of it. When they lost Kike Hernandez and Christian Arroyo in Cleveland, it didn't stop them from taking two-of-three at Progressive Field.
When the scourge continued at Tropicana Field, with the bullpen as the primary victim, the Sox dropped the first two games of the series to the Rays, but not because they were short of bodies; they were simply outplayed by a deeper, stronger ballclub. And to their credit, the Sox rallied over the final two games at the Trop, behind superior starting pitching, to gain a series split.
It was the same deal for the start of the current homestand, with two wins in two tries.
On Sunday, the Red Sox finally, ultimately, had no response to the latest assault from the virus.
Some testing irregularities within the clubhouse had put the Red Sox on notice a few days ago, and they had time enough to scratch both Kutter Crawford and Connor Seabold from their scheduled starts at Worcester, anticipating that they might be called upon for duty with the parent club. Seabold got the green light to start Saturday for the WooSox, but with Nick Pivetta in COVID limbo, the Sox turned to a rested Crawford.
It didn't go well.
The Indians knocked him for two runs in the first, another in the second, and a leadoff homer in the third. When a walk followed a tape-measure homer by Franmil Reyes, Crawford was mercifully lifted.
His MLB debut had been nasty, brutish and short.
When Alex Cora came to relieve him, he first told Crawford to look around and take in the moment. It seemed an odd instruction, given that Crawford had barely had more outs recorded (six) than runs allowed (four, with another that would eventually be charged to him still to come).
"I wanted him to actually take a deep breath and enjoy the situation,'' said Cora, attempting to bring some perspective to what had to be a disappointing experience. "It's Fenway Park, it's Sunday afternoon...there's nothing better than that. There's only one MLB debut and it doesn't matter if it's a good one or you struggle. It's still something that you dreamed about as a kid. So I wanted him to take a deep breath and look around and see the whole thing. He probably didn't do that before the game or during the game. With time, I know he's going to contribute.''
It's that sort of sentiment that endears Cora to his players. Rather than express displeasure that the rookie was about to put his team behind 6-0 in the third inning, Cora chose to leave a far more positive impression with the rookie: You got here. Today didn't go the way you hoped. But you'll be back and be better for it.
Who knows what went wrong? Crawford insisted he wasn't overwhelmed by the experience and maintained that the game hadn't sped up on him.
Still, it's hard to believe that the game would have been as lopsided by then had Pivetta been able to make his scheduled start. In 26 starts for the Red Sox this season, Pivetta had allowed six earned runs in a start just once.
Until Sunday, COVID had cut a swath through the team's bullpen and wiped out the middle of the diamond, taking two middle infielders, one center fielder and a fourth player who toggled between second and center.
For the past week, the Sox have largely covered themselves with players from their minor league system. By shifting Alex Verdugo to left and alternating their DHs in left, the outfield was made nearly whole. And though not much is expected offensively from the new double play combo of Jonathan Arauz at short and Jack Lopez at second, the two have made the vast majority of plays in the field and even chipped in with their bats on occasion.
In recognition of the limitations of Arauz and Lopez, the Sox have taken to playing a brand of small ball, asking the two to move runners over - a modest enough ask.
But starting pitching is different altogether. You can make do with a few replacement-level position players at the bottom of your lineup for a time -- and the Sox have. There is, however, no hiding from a hole on the mound.
The Sox asked someone who had not pitched above Double A until six weeks ago to get major league hitters out, and on his first try, Crawford couldn't. No shame there -- it happens to the best of them early in their careers.
But more and more, you hear evaluators talk about the gap in talent that exists between Triple A and the big leagues, and if you doubted their assessment, you merely had to watch the first two innings and part of the third to see their point.
That's not Kutter Crawford's fault, or that of anyone else, really. Blame it on COVID, which finally landed a haymaker Sunday that the Red Sox couldn't handle.