This wasn't perfect. But, if you're the Red Sox, it sure was needed.
The 11-2 win over the Rays represented more than just the elimination of any thoughts of 0-162, it showed the path to how this can actually be palatable. It's a notion that before 7:10 p.m. Monday seemed hard to grasp.
For starters, the guys Chaim Bloom and Co. pushed their chips into the middle of the table for actually paid off.
Nick Pivetta, the underperforming pitcher the Red Sox reeled in for Brandon Workman and Heath Hembree, lived up to that potential which had strung Phillies fans all the way up to his exit from Philadelphia. Pivetta allowed just two hits over his five innings. As a Red Sox starter? That would be two runs over 15 innings over three appearances.
It marked the Sox' third solid start in four tries. That can work.
His replacement, Matt Andriese -- another Bloom guy -- did give up a pair of runs in his 2 1/3 innings. But if not for a sure double-play grounder that bizarrely ricocheted off second base, this would have been the perfect change-up-led long-relief outing. That can work.
All of those bats that had gone silent, they woke up. We were promised they would, and sure enough.
You had the foundation -- J.D. Martinez and Xander Bogaerts -- doing exactly what the Red Sox absolutely have to have happen. The No. 3 and 4 hitters went a combined 6-for-8 with Martinez clanging his second home run off the right-field foul pole. (The DH now has the best OPS in the American League at 1.722.)
But more importantly, the unknowns finally became known.
The player that perhaps elicited the biggest 24-hour 180-degree perception alteration was Franchy Cordero.
The left fielder came away with two hits, including an opposite field off the left field wall that gave the Red Sox their first lead of the season. Unlike the first two games, there were foul balls instead of swings and misses, allowing for the first positive impression for the guy who came back for Andrew Benintendi. That can work.
Two other newcomers, Hunter Renfroe and Marwin Gonzalez, also started to impact the game like the Red Sox were banking on. (Renfroe would have had three hits if not for the catch of the season by Randy Arozarena.) And one of the guys Bloom is banking on serving as a centerpiece, Alex Verdugo, finally came away with his first two hits of the season. That can work.
And even though Rafael Devers is still wallowing at the plate, there were two defensive plays -- a pinpoint throw to second, and the decision to stop short of a grounder in order to allow for a flawless play by Bogaerts -- that were subtle (and important) steps in the right direction for the third baseman.
Most all of the questions that seemed like they were trending firmly in the wrong direction thanks to the Orioles' Fenway sweep took an about-face against the defending American League champs.
This was the plan. It just took four games for it to actually fully kick in.
"I don’t want to say there was a different vibe, but night game, it was a different schedule. I’m not making excuses for them, but today it felt like it was normal," Cora said. "Obviously, the schedule is going to ask for us to make adjustments. We have two day games in Baltimore and four day games in Minnesota. But it felt like today the routine was normal, whatever that is. It just felt good. They were running the bases well. They played good defense. It was good."
