The Boston Red Sox Tuesday, May 4, 2021 * The Boston Globe Health has played critical role in hot Red Sox start Alex Speier While a tumble in Texas brought the first-place Red Sox back toward the AL East pack, in at least one respect, the team continues to enjoy a runaway advantage. One underappreciated aspect of the strong start is health. Outside of J.D. Martinez’s one day on the COVID-19 injury list, the team has had just three players on the IL since the start of this season: Chris Sale continues his rehab from his March 2020 Tommy John surgery, Ryan Brasier remains in Fort Myers to rehab his injured calf, and Eduardo Rodriguez missed one turn of the rotation due to dead arm at the start of the year. Entering Monday, the Sox had lost 71 player days to the non-COVID injured list, fifth fewest in the majors. Sale, of course, was never expected to be ready for the start of the season. Rodriguez missed one start. Only Brasier has required the team to reconfigure its roster for an extended period. In that regard, the Red Sox are atypical. They and Cleveland are the only teams not to have an injury since Opening Day that required a placement on the injured list. The other AL East contenders, meanwhile, have been hammered by injuries, contributing to their stumbles out of the gate. The Yankees have had seven players placed on the non-COVID injured list since the start of spring training, including surgeries on Zack Britton (shoulder) and Luke Voit (knee). The Rays have had 10 players land on the injured list since the start of spring training, including starter Chris Archer and relief ace Nick Anderson. The Blue Jays, incredibly, have had 15. Key offseason addition George Springer (oblique/quad) just made his debut in the past week, ace Hyun Jin Ryu is sidelined with a glute strain, and closer Kirby Yates (Tommy John) was lost for the season before a single regular-season pitch. While the Sox have had players miss a couple games at a time — Kiké Hernández after getting crumpled by a fence in Texas, Christian Arroyo after being hit on the hand by a pitch — the team has remained intact for most of the year, contributing to its first-place standing. Darwinzon Hernandez hones in Darwinzon Hernandez represented a key part of the late-innings equation to start the year, but the lefthander faltered in the role. In eight games spanning seven innings through April 22, he had a 5.14 ERA, with more walks (8) than strikeouts (7). Opponents swung and missed at 11.3 percent of his pitches. The 24-year-old then went a week without appearing in a big league game. Since his return on April 29, typically in lower-leverage spots, Hernandez has been overpowering. In his last three games, the lefty has faced 11 batters, allowing no runs on two hits while striking out eight and walking none. He’s thrown 78 percent of his pitches for strikes, with batters whiffing at 31.1 percent. “During [the week between games] I continued to work on my mechanics and also try to control my emotions,” Hernandez said through translator Bryan Almonte. “We pitchers want to improve our control. That’s really what I have been focusing on, really making sure my body is right and not trying to do too much and not speed my delivery up.” His performance while attacking the strike zone has been eye-opening. “Filth,” said one evaluator. Meanwhile, righthander Matt Barnes was named the AL Reliever of the Month for April. He went 1-0 with six saves, striking out 25 and walking three in 14 innings. He held opponents to a .106/.160/.191 line, dominating thanks to a more aggressive attack on the strike zone than at any other point in his career. Barnes threw 73 percent of his pitches for strikes in April, up from a 62 percent career strike rate entering 2021. Discomforts of home The Sox hope to improve their 8-8 home record with a three-game series against the MLB-worst Tigers (8- 21). But while the Sox have been mired in mediocrity at Fenway, they’re not alone in failing to claim a home-field advantage. The combined home record of the five AL East teams this year is 33-39, with the Yankees (7-7) .500 in the Bronx, and both the Rays (7-10) and Orioles (4-10) selfless hosts. Ironically, it is the migratory Jays who possess the greatest home advantage in the division, going 7-4 in their temporary residence of Dunedin, Fla. The Red Sox claimed righthanded reliever Brandon Brennan off waivers from the Mariners and optioned him to Triple A Worcester. The 29-year-old features a low-90s fastball, changeup, and slider. His changeup has been a wipeout option against righties, who are 3-for-46 with 24 strikeouts against the offering since the start of 2019. He has 54 strikeouts and 29 walks, along with eight homers allowed en route to a 4.45 ERA in 54⅔ big league innings. To open a spot for Brennan on the 40- man roster, the Red Sox moved reliever Ryan Brasier (calf) to the 60-day injured list. Brasier recently started throwing off a mound in Fort Myers. (Sale, already on the 60-day, continues to move closer to that step.) A big factor in the Red Sox’ success this season: They’re having fun Peter Abraham As is often the case with a good idea, it was born of desperation. The Red Sox were a miserable bunch last season, doomed to finish in last place after the roster was decimated by trades and injuries. Games were eerily quiet with fans not allowed in the ballpark because of the pandemic. The usual postgame distractions of bars, movies, or dinners together weren’t allowed. “It was hard to have any fun,” catcher Kevin Plawecki said. “It’s tough when you’re losing no matter what. But we couldn’t even spend time together.” Jason Varitek, one of the coaches, pulled Plawecki aside and suggested he come up with something to brighten the mood. That led to the home run tunnel, the players forming two lines in the dugout to welcome a teammate back after a round-tripper. That was a start, but something better was needed. On Sept. 13 at Tampa Bay, Christian Vázquez homered in the first inning. Prodded by Varitek, Plawecki grabbed a nearby laundry cart and Vázquez went for a ride down the length of the dugout pushed by his teammates. Almost every home run hit since then has been celebrated by a ride in a cart. It’s caught on to a point that a custom-made cart should arrive at Fenway Park in time for Tuesday night’s game against the Detroit Tigers. “I guess that’s our thing now,” Plawecki said. Baseball is a six-month grind, eight if you count spring training. A little something silly can go a long way, and if a team gets hot, it becomes sacred to the cause. In 2013, many Red Sox players grew bushy beards and didn’t shave them until after they won the World Series. The veteran players on that team also made it a habit to overdress for road trips, showing up at the park on getaway days wearing custom-made suits. They looked like a bunch of investment bankers. Camaraderie off the field often translates to success in the standings. If this particular Red Sox team bonds over laundry-cart rides and waving back at the dugout when they get a hit, manager Alex Cora approves. “I’m all about it,” he said. “I thought in spring training this was a good group. They like each other.” The Red Sox are 17-12 and in first place in the American League East, better than was expected after an offseason of moderately priced additions. To be sure, that has been a product of good starting pitching, a bounce-back season by J.D. Martinez, and consistent hitting from Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers. Returning from his suspension, Cora added his energy and equanimity back into the equation. But laundry carts and clubhouse conversations have played a role. “I’ll tell you the truth, in spring training everybody was speaking the same language, the same language we were speaking in 2018,” Vazquez said. “I’m not telling you we’re going to win this year, but we’re going in the right direction. It’s a family here. We play for each other and we have each other’s back. It’s different from last year. It’s fun to come to the ballpark.” All that fun comes with a little risk. Martinez almost got accidentally dumped out of the cart earlier this season. “I saved myself; I would have busted my butt,” he said. “It would have been ugly. I think I need a booster seat.” Martinez is a baseball technician who tends to keep emotion a bat-length away, lest it interfere with his process. But he agrees there’s something to what’s going on with the Sox. “You have the little things,” he said. “This game’s very stressful and it’s very negative. You’re constantly getting scrutinized by everything. You fail seven out of 10 times and you’re a great player. You have to find ways to have fun and keep everything loose.” Eduardo Rodriguez suggested that pitchers should get a ride in the cart if they throw a shutout or complete game.