Connor Wong tells the Aroldis Chapman story
Life was good for the Red Sox right up until the bottom of the fourth inning Tuesday night.
That was when the reality of a baseball season slapped the Sox in the face.
It was in that frame that Roman Anthony grabbed his side, clearly in a level of pain he hadn't experienced during the outfielder's young big league career. The verdict? Left oblique soreness for Anthony, and a boatload of concern for the previously sky-high Red Sox.
Then came the sixth inning, and that's when the worm continued to turn. Seemingly out of nowhere, Garrett Crochet gave up six runs on six hits with three home runs. Six innings. Nine hits. Seven runs. The ace's worst start of the season, not even close.
Consider it all the facts of life in the grind of a pennant race.
The good news for Alex Cora's club was that it was able to head into the series finale with the Guardians still with the momentum built over the previous two months. That was thanks to Ceddanne Rafaela's game-tying, two-run homer in the seventh, and then a four-run outburst in the eighth that was all plated with two outs.
The 11-7 win over Cleveland ultimately kept the Red Sox's collective mind right. They gained another game on Seattle in the wild card race, now sitting 4 1/2 games in front of the Mariners, while also remaining 2 1/2 back of first-place Toronto in the American League East.
Nate Eaton stepped into Anthony's spot and kept the eighth going with a two-out single, allowing for Alex Bregman's go-ahead infield single. As for Crochet, not only did the offense help bail out the guy who had bailed it out too many times to count, but the trio of Garrett Whitlock, Justin Slaten, and Brennan Bernardino came on to close things out with three shutout innings.
"I feel like we're in that September mode of it's next pitch, next pitch, next pitch," Bregman said. "The mentality of execute the next pitch, the next play, the next game. Obviously, losing Roman today is a gut punch. Obviously, one of the best players in all of baseball. But we have to continue to push along. Nobody needs to try and do more of what they're capable of. They just need to try and execute their gameplan, the same way we have been talking about all year long and continue to find ways to win. Whether it's high-scoring games, pitching and playing good defense, stealing a base, moving a guy over.
"We're 2 1/2 games back and meaningful games in September and all that matters is winning. I think the guys here have the right mentality. Today was a bit of a gut punch for us, but everybody in here is mature enough to know to show up tomorrow ready to execute and compete and do that for the rest of the month and the postseason."
Go up and down the American League contenders and you'll find they are all dealing with some sort of adversity, as well. This is the way of the world. That, however, won't lower the heart rate of those trying to navigate these final 22 regular-season games.
Anthony and Crochet are arguably the two most important players on the Red Sox, so these wake-up calls can easily become this team's worst nightmare in a hurry.
The rookie leadoff hitter, who is scheduled for an MRI on Wednesday, didn't seem overly optimistic about his state when talking to the media after the win.
But, as Bregman, this time of year what matters isn't worrying or feeling bad for yourself. It's solely about winning. They did that Tuesday under unique circumstances. Wednesday likely won't be any easier.
Easy isn't part of this equation.