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When the Red Sox returned from Houston, they had reason to feel good about themselves. When they bludgeoned the Astros in Game 3, they had reason to feel ecstatic.
Now, that hardly seems like the same series. And in many ways, it isn't.
In the span of a few days, the Astros have gone from being a demoralized team dangerously thin on pitching to a team that has re-set so well they're going home with a chance to advance to the World Series.
And the Red Sox? Somehow, they've lost the plot -- to say nothing of their ability to score runs. From 21 runs in Games 2 and 3 combined, they've managed just three in the last 18 innings, all three coming on two swings of the bats.
Gone are the long innings, the extended rallies, the precise game plans against individual pitchers, the hard contact all over the field.
In their 9-1 thumping by the Astros, the Red Sox were an overmatched bunch at the plate. Until the ninth inning, not counting the three hits they had, the Red Sox managed to hit the ball into the outfield a grand total of three other times. The rest of the time, they were pounding Framber Valdez's sinker into the grass for 15 outs of the 24 outs the lefty recorded.
It's as if the Red Sox have collectively bumped their heads, unsure of what's happened in the last two games and are fuzzy on the details.
Weren't they in control? Weren't they the ones that had the Astros up against the wall? Huh?
"You know, we came back to Boston exactly where we wanted to be,'' said starter Chris Sale. "We were 1-1. And we just kind of pissed two games away. That's tough anyway you cut it. Doesn't matter -- you've got to take at least one of those.''
Much of the lineup barely resembles itself. Kiké Hernandez, who was the hottest hitter in the game as recently as Monday, has cooled considerably, with just one hit in his last 10 at-bats. Hunter Renfroe, who led the team in homers and RBI from the All-Star break until the end of the season, is in a deep rut, with just one hit in 14 at-bats including seven strikeouts. Kyle Schwarber, who had been a dynamic on-base machine, reached base just once in the last two games while going 0-for-8. J.D. Martinez is hitless over the last two games with five strikeouts.
Small sample sizes? You bet. But those can end your season in a hurry if you're not careful.
"I just know from my standpoint, from the hitting standpoint, they've just honestly been executing pitches — been really executing pitches,'' said Martinez. "They haven't left anything over the plate, just nibbling. Going through my at-bats, I was thinking I don't think I got one pitch that I could have done anything with. That's a credit to him and his execution.''
Indeed, Valdez was so efficient that he needed just 93 pitches over his eight innings of work. He walked just one, stayed out of the middle of the plate and essentially dared Red Sox hitters to swing early in the count. It proved to be a failed strategy.
If there's any consolation, this series has already demonstrated how quickly a team's fate can turn around. The Red Sox went from an unstoppable juggernaut to being dominated at the plate in the span of less than 48 hours.
In the early innings, with the Astros clinging to a 1-0 lead, it looked like a big swing could get the crowd into the game and turn the series on its side. But before the Red Sox could generate anything -- their lone run came on a garbage-time homer from Rafael Devers in the seventh -- the Astros took the fun out of it with a five-run sixth. At a time when any lead suddenly looks imposing for a slumping lineup, 6-0 looked positively insurmountable.
Still, If it can happen once, it can happen again. A two-game winning streak can send them to World Series, More of the same Friday night, on the other hand, will send them on their separate ways for the winter.
"We knew it wasn't going to be easy,'' said Martinez. "Not with a team like that over there.''
Actually, they could have been forgiven for feeling it was going to be easy. It seemed it when the Red Sox hitting three grand slams in the span of 11 innings, when they were averaging 10.5 runs per game, and when the Astros looked like they were going to be adding Park League pitchers to their roster mid-series.
It doesn't look the same way now. Things have changed.
Alex Cora said he anticipated no lineup changes. It's ride-or-die time with the guys who looked unstoppable earlier this week.
"We know we can hit,'' said Cora. "Two bad games doesn't mean that all of a sudden we're not a good offensive team.''
It does, however, mean that one more game will mark the end of the 2021 Red Sox season.