Kevin Pillar offers frank assessment of struggling Boston Red Sox: The time for making excuses is over’ – MassLive.com

BOSTON -- Red Sox outfielder Kevin Pillar hasnt been in Boston long, but it appears that hes already trying to light a fire under his new teammates.

After Boston lost its fourth consecutive game Tuesday night, Pillar offered a frank assessment of the 2020 Red Sox. As Boston heads on the road for the first time after a 1-4 homestand, Pillar hopes the club will stop being distracted by the unusualness of playing in front of no fans and practicing social distancing at the ballpark.

Theres nothing normal about whats going on, Pillar said. Its going to take some guys to adjust a little bit. Now that weve gone once through the rotation, most of our pitchers have gotten in games, most of our hitters have played the field and gotten at-bats, the time for making excuses is over. This is baseball in 2020. Weve got to figure out a way to make the best of it.

The Red Sox limped to a 38-43 home record and 2019 and their Fenway woes have continued early in 2020. Since thrashing the Orioles on Opening Day, the club has not led in any of the last four games and has been outscored 29-13.

Other than strong outings from Nathan Eovaldi, Zack Godley and Phillips Valdez, Bostons pitching staff has struggled mightily through the first five games of the year. Some of the clubs hitters, including Andrew Benintendi (1-for-16), Xander Bogaerts (3-for-18), Michael Chavis (0-for-9) and Rafael Devers (4-for-21), have gotten off to cold starts as well.

Pillar, who went 3-for-4 with two doubles and RBI on Tuesday, is off to a blistering start, hitting .583 with a homer and five RBIs in three games. The longtime Blue Jay has never called Fenway Park home before this season but is familiar enough with the ballpark to know how much is lacking without fans in the stands.

I think getting out on the road might be good for this team, Pillar said. I dont think anyones feeling sorry for ourselves. I dont think anyone is too overly concerned about our start. This was definitely a wake-up call for us needing to come out offensively and put some runs across. Do little things better on the basepaths. Play a little cleaner defense and hopefully well turn it around on the road.

Without fans, Pillar said, the Red Sox must find ways to bring energy from within the dugout during games. That has been a tall task over the last four games, during all of which the club has trailed by at least four runs by the middle of the fifth inning.

With five out of 60 regular season games already behind them, the Red Sox are already feeling a sense of urgency as they embark on their first road trip. Their seven-game trip to face the Mets, Yankees and Rays is a daunting challenge for a club that doesnt appear to be firing on any cylinders at the moment.

Ultimately, weve just got to go out there and play a little bit better, Pillar said. Maybe score some runs early and everyone starts to feel good. When you get down in some games pretty early and hit some balls hard and theyre not falling, the natural tendency is to feel sorry for yourself and try a little bit harder. I think we just need to relax overall as a team and not try to carry the team individually.