It could not have been a nicer day for the Red Sox' opener.
There were blue skies, a light breeze and plenty of sunshine. Fenway Park was dressed up for the start of the 2022 schedule, with the traditional bunting throughout the ballpark and lots of attention focused on a newly conceived right field pavilion. A giant American flag was unfurled, covering The Wall from top to bottom.
There was a touching tribute to the late Jerry Remy, as well as a remembrance of others in the baseball world who had passed since the Sox last assembled in October. Again, the Fenway production staff, which regularly rises to the occasion, hit all the right notes.
In addition to being the home opener, a de facto holiday for many in New England, it also coincided with the 75th anniversary of the debut of Jackie Robinson, a bit of history to which the Red Sox paid tribute in pre-game ceremonies, culminating with the return of Mo Vaughn, the last Red Sox player to wear Robinson's No. 42.
Vaughn, joined by his young son, helped deliver the ceremonial first pitch, and the day was off to a magnificent start.
Then the game began and everything came undone. Byron Buxton, the very first hitter, hit a routine pop-up to shallow left and Xander Bogaerts and Alex Verdugo couldn't agree -- or didn't communicate -- who would handle it, with the ball dropping in for a gift leadoff double.
It was all downhill from there. The Twins got a run in the first, three more in the second and two more in the fifth, and ran off with an 8-4 win that wasn't as competitive as it might seem. The Sox had only one run in the first seven innings, and when they finally stirred in the eighth, managing three runs off hard-throwing Jhoan Duran, they quickly gave two of the runs right back in the top of the ninth.
The late afternoon injection of hope was short-lived.
Along the way, the sell-out crowd searched for a reason to get excited. A single baserunner was enough to stir optimism, but each time, that was dashed.
Starter Nick Pivetta, who seemingly alternates between unhittable (five starts last season in which he pitched at least five scoreless innings and gave up two hits or fewer) and unmanageable on the mound, looked out of sync in his brief two innings of work. Two takeaways from the outing neatly summed up his poor start. First, he needed 54 pitches to record just six outs as the Twins forced his hand at the plate and drove up his pitch count early. Two, Pivetta's fastball was regularly clocked at 92 mph, a good three mph off its usual readings.
Both Pivetta and Alex Cora attributed the dip in velocity to some poor mechanics. Until Chris Sale returns sometime in June, Pivetta is slotted in as the Red Sox' No. 2 starter and he needs to be better than he's been in his two starts, both Red Sox losses. It wasn't just that Pivetta spotted the Twins a 4-0 lead; he also left the bullpen with seven innings of relief to clean up after him. It was fortunate for the Red Sox that they had been off Thursday and the bullpen was fresh, but with no days off again until May 2, they won't always have that luxury.
Behind Pivetta and five Red Sox relievers, the defense was suspect. After the bloop double that fell in, Bogaerts couldn't get to a ground ball with the infield in on the grass, resulting in two more runs. A two-base error by the normally sure-handed Kike Hernandez didn't result in any damage, though from an aesthetic standpoint, it fit in with the other misplays.
The afternoon was one to forget for Bogaerts, and his struggles weren't limited to the field. He was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and is now just 2-for-18 since Opening Day with eight strikeouts. Naturally, some have suggested that his funk at the plate could be tied to his stalled contract talks. Could Bogaerts be impacted by the Sox' reported comically woeful contract extension (four years, $90 million)?
Alex Cora maintained it was simply a matter of a hitter being out of sorts.
"He's off-balance, chasing pitches,'' said Cora. "Offensively, he's searching.''
Cora then noted that, were this skid to happen at any another point of the season, it would barely be noted, and that's probably the case. But an unsigned and possibly unhappy Bogaerts might be allowing his contractual uncertainty to effect his play. Even if this isn't the case, expect it to be a theme throughout the season.
Sometimes, a slump is just a slump. And sometimes, it's a symptom of something else.
And sometimes a loss, is just a loss. But when it happens in a setting like Friday's, with the prospect of a successful season and summer being promised, it stings a little more.