For a while it seemed like the Red Sox could not lose a series, but Boston dropped its last three heading into Monday's game.
It was a difficult stretch for the Red Sox that included two losses to the New York Yankees over the weekend, but they bounced back in a big way and defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 13-4 on Monday night in Buffalo.
The Red Sox have exceeded many people's expectations, to say the least, and they were not atop lists to be one of Major League Baseball's best teams due to their inexperienced players and uncertainty surrounding the pitchers.
But here we are, and Boston is atop the American League East.
After the game, manager Alex Cora talked about what has impressed him when the Red Sox face adversity, but also knows they need to carry the momentum in order to win the series -- something they've struggled to do of late.
"They love playing the game. We got a bunch of guys that are getting their first shot to play every day, and they're doing a great job," he said over Zoom. "Enrique (Hernández) and Hunter (Renfroe), and obviously the other guys, we know what they can do. One thing, for sure, and we've been talking about it throughout the season, it was funny, early on people were saying we were inexperienced. There's a lot of guys who have played in the World Series there including Hunter, Marwin (Gonzalez) and Enrique.
"They don't get down on themselves. They don't get too high, either," Cora added. "We just show up and work and get ready for each single series regardless of what happened. Today was a good start, now we have to finish it. We've been doing this the last three or four series to win the first game then we lose the series. So (Tuesday) is a big day for us too."
The Red Sox can get their first series win post All-Star break Tuesday night when they continue their set with the Blue Jays at 7:07 p.m. ET.
