Reeling Red Sox held team meeting prior to Sunday loss against Yankees

The Red Sox held a team meeting at their New York hotel this weekend.

Players gathered in an outdoor space, socially distanced and wearing masks, to vent some frustration. What’s transpired on and off the field this season were addressed in equal measure.

Boston is not a good baseball team. It doesn’t take the second coming of Branch Rickey to see this Red Sox club lacks capable pitching and has a couple holes in its lineup both at the plate and on defense. [...]

The Red Sox held a team meeting at their New York hotel this weekend.

Players gathered in an outdoor space, socially distanced and wearing masks, to vent some frustration. What’s transpired on and off the field this season were addressed in equal measure.

Boston is not a good baseball team. It doesn’t take the second coming of Branch Rickey to see this Red Sox club lacks capable pitching and has a couple holes in its lineup both at the plate and on defense. Pair that with the realities of living through a pandemic and you have a recipe for disaster.

Sunday night’s 4-2 loss to the Yankees extended Boston’s losing streak to seven games. The Red Sox didn’t win in a brutal week against the Rays and New York, gaining no momentum from what should have been a potential rallying point when Mitch Moreland hit a walkoff home run against the Blue Jays.

Boston’s players gathered at home plate, committed a few COVID-era misdemeanors in terms of failing to remain six feet apart and retreated to the dugout. They were soon back up in their Fenway Park suites and off to their respective homes or hotel rooms. Like everyday life for so many of us, there was something missing.

"Normally that’s a thing you really, really rally behind collectively as a unit," Kevin Pillar said late Sunday night. "You celebrate in the clubhouse. You’re playing music. Everyone is on Cloud Nine. You’re walking around. That sort of stuff allows you to get some momentum into the next day.

"Exciting as it was – we were happy to win and we celebrated as much as we could – at the end of the day we were all going our separate ways. It almost feels forgotten when you come back to the field."

Pillar is new to the Red Sox this season. The veteran outfielder signed a one-year deal and has provided a strong right-handed bat through 22 games. He pulled a solo shot off J.A. Happ to account for the lone Boston run before the ninth inning Sunday.

That this has been a significant adjustment for him makes you wonder how the current conditions might be taking a toll on less established or younger players. Jonathan Arauz missed out on any sort of typical closed-door ceremonies after his first hit in the big leagues. Ryan Weber was named to his first Opening Day roster and barely saw his teammates prior to his initial start against the Orioles.

"I’ve had discussions with both groups – the position players and the pitchers," Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke said. "It’s just them trying to figure out some things – how you continue to grind it out and have as much fun as you can in this tough situation and get back on the right track."

The outbreaks that shut down the Marlins and Cardinals had a ripple effect through the rest of baseball. Boston had four players test positive prior to its Summer Camp and none since, going out of its way as an organization to keep its people safe. That’s the most important course of action in the long run, but it’s not always conducive to playing winning baseball or attempting to pull teammates out of a funk.

"It’s been a challenge," Pillar said. "We just need to find ways to stay together and find ways to make this fun. It’s definitely unique. It’s hard. It’s even worse when you’re not playing really well.

"You start to think about all the external factors. We just got to witness a couple teams who are obviously playing well and beat us. You look across the dugout and guys are excited and they’re pumped up and they’re high-fiving. They’re making it as normal as possible.

"I think that was the message we were trying to get across – let’s make this as normal as possible."

The Yankees have won 14 of their last 15 against Boston, including 10 straight in the Bronx. Aaron Hicks grounding an RBI double off the bag at first and Xander Bogaerts having a rocket up the middle catch just enough of Adam Ottavino to go for an infield out both seemed appropriate. Mike Ford’s two-run blast to deep right saddled Chris Mazza with an ugly final line he probably didn’t fully deserve.

Such is the way of it for the Red Sox at the moment. Martin Perez will attempt to salvage Monday’s series finale and Boston will soldier on through seven more games prior to its next scheduled day off.

"The season is going to happen," Pillar said. "Whether we want it to happen or not, we’ve got (38) games left. A lot can change.

"It’s just about not taking some of these bad losses that we’ve had into the next day. Really just start fresh, go out there and try to compete every single day. We were in this game."

bkoch@providencejournal.com

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On Twitter: @BillKoch25