A Boston team made things harder on itself than it needed to be against a seemingly inferior opponent.
No, I'm not talking about the Bruins choking away a 3-1 series lead in a Game 7 loss at home to the eighth-seeded Florida Panthers last month. Nor am I talking about the Celtics falling short of a historic comeback with a Game 7 dud at home against the eighth-seeded Miami Heat on Monday.
I'm talking about the Red Sox, who less than 24 hours after the flatline at TD Garden, did their best C's impression in a 9-8 loss at home to the sub-.500 Cincinnati Reds.
Apologies for crossing sports, but here we go on this twisted comparison.
The Celtics fell behind the Heat after a pair of concerning, yet close losses at home. No biggie. They were still in the series, after all. Just get back on track in Miami. The 2-0 hole quickly became an insurmountable 3-0 deficit in the series as the C's stared down the daunting task of doing something no NBA team has ever done.
Although Brayan Bello struggled with his command and efficiency in just four innings of work, he left the game with the Red Sox trailing just 1-0. Justin Garza was a victim of bad luck and an error from teammate Kiké Hernández, coming out with a 3-0 deficit. But no big deal, right? The Sox began the game with three 1-2-3 innings through the first four, but they have had a quick-start offense at times. They could easily get hot.
But the molehill turned into a mountain when Joely Rodriguez couldn't sniff the strike zone. A pair of walks bookended a double to load the bases in the top of the seventh. Boston appeared to have a chance to get out of it after getting a forceout. But Rodriguez walked in a run. He eventually threw a strike, but Jose Barrero took it for a 333-foot, 106.5-mph ride over the Green Monster, cracking it open to 9-0 with his first career grand slam.
"I mean, Garza threw the ball well, and Joely walked three guys and he was behind in the count," Alex Cora said. "If you do that at this level, then you're going to pay the price. ... There was a lot of traffic. We didn't turn a double play with Garza at one point. We didn't play good defense there. But with Joely, he was all over the place."
The Celtics gave the Heat inches, and they took miles, as they should. Cora said after Rodriguez "walked three guys, [the Reds] did what they're supposed to do."
Everyone at the Garden came away knowing who Caleb Martin is on Monday. The roleplayer averaged 9.6 points per game in the regular season. He had 19.3 in the Eastern Conference Finals, putting up 25 in Game 1, 21 in Game 6 and 25 in Game 7.
Everyone at Fenway came away knowing Barrero. The young utility man, sticking as a full-time big-leaguer for the first time in his career, came on in place of the injured TJ Friedl in the sixth, finishing 2-for-2 with a walk and the four RBI from his grand slam, terrorizing Boston just as the unheralded Martin had done the night before on the parquet.
But there was a sign of life. A three-run bottom of the seventh at least got the Sox on the board.
The Celtics went back to Boston for Game 5. At least they'd have the gentlemen's sweep. Next thing you know, there's Game 6 back in Miami.
There the Red Sox were in the bottom of the ninth, with the bats still hot. Step aside Derrick White, it was Raimel Tapia and Reese McGuire's turn to be the role-player turned hero as the stars struggled to gain traction until it was nearly too late. Could they actually pull it off?
The Red Sox' Game 7 equivalent came to Triston Casas at the plate with two gone in the bottom of the ninth, the tying run at third and the winning at second. After a rough start (both personally and for the team) and all the effort put into a comeback, would it be the exclamation point?
Well, no.
It wasn't quite as spectacular of a flameout as the Celtics, but there was the ever-disciplined Casas, chasing a slider low and away to end it.
"He was a little more aggressive today than usual," Cora said of Casas, who is riding the ups and downs in his first full season in the majors. "I think he's still working on his thing. We've been talking about this for, like, the last five days. We're not going to go with the rollercoaster, like the 0-for-4s or the 3-for-4s. The approach is the same, and we trust this kid."
The swing-and-miss sealed a valiant comeback attempt gone by the wayside after the hometown team spotted itself a huge hole earlier.
"We started making adjustments a little too late, and the game got fast on us," Rafael Devers said via a translator. "They beat us today, but we'll get back tomorrow and try to get a win tomorrow."
The Celtics may be off to Cancún, but at least the Sox' efforts weren't in vain on Tuesday.
"I believe so," Alex Cora said if there is momentum to take, offensively. “I think we were short to the ball and hit line drives. We were trying to hit too much. I think we’re getting caught up sometimes in hitting the ball in the air and I think [later in the game] it was a very simple approach. We put the ball in play, and good things happened. Hopefully, we can take that going into tomorrow and keep getting momentum offensively.”
They're back at it against Luke Weaver's 5.45 ERA on Wednesday. He's made it at least five innings in five of seven starts but has surrendered at least four earned runs in five of seven starts. The Reds had to reach five relievers deep into the bullpen on Tuesday.
There are positives to take from the late offensive spark, as Cora said, especially against a shaky starter and a bullpen that Boston proved it can hit.
"That's very positive [to get to their bullpen]," Devers said. "They threw a lot of pitches and we got to see a lot of pitchers today. That's something that's very good for us. We'll see tomorrow how many runs and how many pitchers we'll see, but it was a good thing to see the closer [Alexis Diaz] today."
Perhaps the loss on Tuesday helped set up a win on Wednesday.