PITTSBURGH — The Red Sox boarded buses after Sunday’s 6-1 victory against the Pirates and made the two-hour trip to Cleveland. Paper bags with subs were available for the journey.
First baseman Triston Casas had already left, heading back to Boston for further testing on what is feared to be a fractured rib.
The group didn’t include Trevor Story, who is away from the team as he recovers from season-ending shoulder surgery. Or Lucas Giolito, also out for the season after elbow surgery.
In all, the Sox have 12 players on the injured list, at least eight who would surely be on the active roster if healthy.
Yet the Sox are 13-10, which is better than 17 other teams, including the Dodgers, Rangers, and Diamondbacks.
You can be — and should be — upset with ownership for cutting the payroll and seemingly turning its attention to other matters.
But at the same time you can be impressed with the job the Sox players and coaches have done persevering through a series of injuries.
Manager Alex Cora looked wrecked before the game while discussing the loss of Casas to a rib cage injury. Every indication is that he will miss significant time.
But Cora was smiling afterward while assessing a three-game series sweep.
“It’s good for everybody,” he said. “It was a total team effort. We know where we’re at rosterwise right now.”
The Sox’ lineup was quite something.
Tyler Heineman, who arrived from Triple A Worcester about an hour before first pitch, batted eighth as the designated hitter. He’s a 32-year-old journeyman backup catcher who was called up Sunday because he was the only healthy position player on the 40-man roster not already in the majors.
You don’t see a lot of .038 hitters batting sixth 23 games into the season.
Josh Winckowski came out of the bullpen to start. He was followed by former carpenter Cam Booser, Greg Weissert, Rule 5 pick Justin Slaten, and Chase Anderson, a 36-year-old playing for his seventh team in the last six years.
“That was a fun game,” said Slaten, who picked up his first major league win.
Congrats to all of you who have wished the Red Sox could collect spare parts like the Rays and put together effective lineups. Now they do.
“They don’t know any better, some of them. They just show up every day willing to work,” Cora said. “The coaching staff has done an amazing job. You see the work we put in. It’s a little different than in the past. More specific. More, actually.
“It’s a different group than in the past … it’s a good bunch.”
Tyler O’Neill is set to come off the concussion injured list in Cleveland on Tuesday. Rafael Devers, who has missed the last four days with a sore left knee, also should return.
Devers told Cora he was ready to play Sunday. But with a day off Monday, the manager decided to wait. Watching his teammates win three games — and score 18 runs — without him could get Devers going at the plate.
Cora cited Rob Refsnyder as bringing some needed leadership on the position-player side. He reached twice Sunday and scored a run.
“A lot of young guys, a lot of injuries,” Refsnyder said. “But we knew going into the year, the core of the team would be some young guys and rookies. “They’re learning on the go and I think they’re doing a really, really good job adjusting and making those necessary adjustments.”
This is not a sustainable model for even modest success. But the rotation has a 1.73 earned run average, the defense is much better with Ceddanne Rafaela at shortstop, and Wilyer Abreu has been getting on base like a Venezuelan Wade Boggs the last few weeks.
Modest as they were, the Sox have exceeded expectations.
“We’re having fun,” Refsnyder said. “Hopefully it continues.”