Scrimmage gives Red Sox taste of strange season to come
BOSTON (AP) » Rafael Devers lofted a fly ball to left, and John Andreoli took off in pursuit.
It’s a long sprint, because Andreoli was playing center — the only outfielder in the game at the time. The ball fell just out of the reach of his outstretched glove as Devers coasted into second base.
And then a voice echoed off the empty Fenway seats: “Out!”
Welcome to the Boston Red Sox summer camp, a reboot of the spring training that was aborted in March because of the coronavirus pandemic. With its intrasquad scrimmages of 5½ innings and automatic outs to make up for the eight (and later down to seven) fielders, it looked more like the world’s fanciest sandlot on Thursday than a major league team getting ready for the season.
“It seems like everything is just a little bit off,” manager Ron Roenicke said in a video call from one area of Fenway Park to reporters sitting in another. “I thought it was pretty good for what it was.”
A week after reporting for training camp and just 15 days before the start of the reconfigured, 60-game season, the Red Sox split up into opposing dugouts and the home team notched a 4- 0 victory over the visitors.
Andreoli, a non-roster invitee who had 61 at-bats with the Orioles and Mariners last season, curled a three-run homer into the empty seats beyond the Pesky Pole. Technopop music broke out during his home run trot, replacing the sounds of cheering fans; after crossing home plate,