Red Sox Using Chemistry, Fighting Instinct To Their Advantage In 2016

BOSTON — The Red Sox already have shown during this young season that they can battle back, and they’re going to keep doing that as long as they need to.

In just six games so far, Boston already has two come-from-behind wins and two losses in which they were close to coming back — including its 9-7 loss to the Baltimore Orioles in Monday’s home opener. And David Ortiz said that’s just like any other day in the Red Sox’s clubhouse.

“That’s how it is around here, man,” Ortiz said after Monday’s loss. “We don’t give up until the game is over. We know how to bounce back, we know how to come from behind, and hopefully that’s the case this year. … We’re just going to continue fighting.”

After closer Craig Kimbrel gave up a three-run homer in the ninth inning, the Red Sox came to the plate in the bottom of the frame ready to erase the deficit. Leadoff hitter Mookie Betts hit a solo home run onto the Green Monster before Dustin Pedroia singled and Xander Bogaerts walked. And even though it didn’t work out for the Red Sox in the end, starting pitcher David Price said that will take them a long way.

“That’s the sign of a good team,” Price said Monday. “It might not look that way (Monday), but we never felt like we were out of that game. Mookie led off that ninth inning with a homer, and then we were on first and second with nobody out. That’s what good teams do. You put yourself in positions to win, and that’s what we did.”

And besides having talent in their lineup to keep games close, the Red Sox are relying on something else to stay in it through nine innings: chemistry.

“We were talking about it (Sunday) night,” first baseman Hanley Ramirez said before Monday’s game. “This team is really together, chemistry is just unbelievable. We’re playing for each other.”

That chemistry, on top of wanting to right the ship after finishing last in the American League East in 2015, could make the Red Sox dangerous.

“There’s a comfort level,” third baseman Travis Shaw said Monday. “If you like people around you, you’re going to play hard for everybody, and I think everybody here is hungry. There’s a lot of guys still that are unproven, including myself, and a lot of us are hungry and kind of want to prove that last year isn’t who we are, and we’re going to try to do everything we can to make sure this is a good year.”

Thumbnail photo via Dan Hamilton/USA TODAY Sports Images