Wilyer Abreu, left, and Rob Refsnyder have helped the Red Sox hold it together while they deal with a number of significant injuries. Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press
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PITTSBURGH — The Red Sox arrived in Pittsburgh bruised and battered. They left town even more beat up.
But for three days, that mattered little. The walking wounded head to Cleveland with brooms in hand after sweeping the Pirates in a three-game set at PNC Park.
A reeling team that had just finished a brutal 3-7 homestand didn’t have Tyler O’Neill or Rafael Devers for any of the three games, lost Triston Casas for what seems like it could be a significant amount of time, and used a reliever as a starter Sunday while installing a Triple-A catcher as the designated hitter. But with great pitching, timely offense and respectable defense, the Red Sox were able to get back on track and reach three games over .500 at 13-10.
“Every win is equal but it is nice playing good baseball when your best players are down,” said outfielder Rob Refsnyder. “I’m sure not many people were expecting us to do much this series. Unfortunately, now Triston’s down and Triston has been one of the best players in all of baseball for a long time, going back to the All-Star break.
“We knew going into the year that the core of the team was going to be some young guys and rookies. They’re learning on the go, and I think they’re doing a really good job adjusting and making those necessary adjustments.”
As bad as things have gone for the Red Sox – Casas is the 13th player to hit the injured list this season, Devers has only played in 13 games and the defense, at times, has looked far from a major league product – the team has managed to hold its head above water.
The Pirates, losers of six straight, were complicit in how the weekend went with virtually zero offense, poor defense and a handful of baserunning mistakes. But the Red Sox deserve a lot of credit for not folding in the face of a massive amount of adversity and what’s objectively a ton of bad luck.
On Sunday, Refsnyder was hitting third, Pablo Reyes was starting at first base for the first time in his big league career, Tyler Heineman was the designated hitter and Bobby Dalbec, who is 1 for 30 with 18 strikeouts, was again in the middle of the lineup. A reliever-turned-opener (Josh Winckowski), former carpenter (Cam Booser), Yankees castoff (Greg Weissert), Rule 5 pick (Justin Slaten) and late spring pickup (Chase Anderson) had to cover all nine innings. Of the 15 players who took the field, none are making more than $1.85 million this year. That the list of unavailable players included Devers, Trevor Story, Lucas Giolito, Nick Pivetta, O’Neill, Liam Hendriks, Garrett Whitlock, Casas and, apparently, Masataka Yoshida, mattered little in a 6-1 win.
“That felt good in a sense that we used everybody,” said Red Sox Manager Alex Cora. We set the lineup in a certain way and it actually worked … We wanted the lefties to give (Martín Pérez) a different look and they did a good job.
“It’s good for everybody. It was a total team effort. We know where we’re at roster-wise right now. Casas down, Raffy and Tyler didn’t play in this series. The boys did a good job. Having Ref back meant a lot, in the lineup, in the clubhouse, defensively. He did an outstanding job and the rest of them were amazing.”
A few players stood out in Boston’s “total team effort” over the last three days. Outfielder Wilyer Abreu, who has come alive recently after a slow start, reached base four times, had three hits and drove in two runs. His OPS rose from .559 to .830 over the course of the series. Ceddanne Rafaela stabilized the defense at shortstop, moving there from center field. Jarren Duran continued his strong start to the year by getting on base, running and scoring twice. Dalbec and second baseman Enmanuel Valdez also were clean in the field.
Cora thinks the inexperience of the Red Sox, who are carrying 19 players with three or fewer years of service time on their 26-man roster, has helped the group shut off the noise about injuries and depth issues.
“They don’t know any better, to be honest with you,” Cora said. “They just show up every day willing to work. The coaching staff has done an amazing job. You see the work we put in. It’s a little bit different than in the past. More specific.”
That the Red Sox have a winning record (and plus-18 run differential) through 23 games is a surprise considering the casualties. It doesn’t track with an offense that has sputtered for days at a time and a defense that has, for most of the last couple weeks, lacked basic fundamentals. But despite the preseason expectations, the club’s pitching has keyed the above-average start. The Red Sox held Pittsburgh to just three runs over 27 innings.
“The pitching, that has been the constant,” Cora said. “We were really good on the mound.”
Pitcher Tanner Houck allowed three hits, struck out nine and didn’t walk a batter in a complete-game shutout against the Guardians on Wednesday in Boston. Houck threw just 94 pitches. Charles Krupa/Associated Press
It’s no small thing that Kutter Crawford and Tanner Houck look like early All-Star candidates, Brayan Bello is rounding into form, and Pivetta and Whitlock were solid before going down with injuries. Piching coach Andrew Bailey has been effective. The Red Sox lead baseball with a minuscule 1.73 rotation ERA through 23 games, nearly a half-run better than the second-place Phillies. Red Sox starters have averaged 52/3 innings per start, even with the club using short-stint starters (Brennan Bernardino and Josh Winckowski) in two of the last four games.
“When you have great starting pitching, you feel like you’re in any game,” Refsnyder said. “Our starters have been phenomenal. It has been fun watching them go out and do their thing. They work really, really hard behind the scenes, too. It’s really fun watching those guys go out every night and pitch well.”
The schedule is about to get tougher. After Monday’s off day, the Red Sox will visit the Guardians, who just bludgeoned them for four days in Boston, then come home to face the 13-9 Cubs and 10-12 Giants, who were widely picked as preseason postseason contenders. Then comes a trip to Minnesota and Atlanta, and two visits against projected playoff teams. It won’t be much of a surprise if the record comes crashing down to earth, somewhere near the perceived talent level. Until then it’s more than fair to say the resilient Red Sox are exceeding expectations.
“It’s a good bunch,” Cora said. “It’s a good group that cares about each other. Chemistry goes a long way. And we have some good players, too.”
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