Bogaerts: Tuesday's win will turn Sox season around

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BOSTON -- Can one game turn a season around?

We'll find out soon enough, but one of the Red Sox thinks so.

Xander Bogaerts is one of the Sox' more optimistic players. Even during his very rocky rookie season, Bogaerts fought through the disappointment and tried to remain as positive as he could be.

Perhaps it's his Aruban upbringing. "One Happy Island" is the country's slogan, after all.

But this has not been one happy baseball team through the first two months of the season. Their stumbling start -- 22-29 entering Tuesday night -- had started rumbles of panic locally, with calls for the heads of manager John Farrell and/or general manager Ben Cherington and/or just about anyone on the roster not living up to expectations . . . which is just about everyone.

It gave Tuesday night's game a must-win feel, which is rather ridiculous on the second day of June. And win they did, as Clay Buchholz pitched eight shutout innings and a pair of timely, two-out hits by Bogaerts and Rusney Castillo in the eighth inning produced the game's only run in a 1-0 victory over the Twins.

The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Sox in their return home from a dismal 1-6 road trip.

"Much needed. Probably the biggest win of the year coming off a tough road trip," Bogaerts said. "Starting off the homestand on a positive note. Tomorrow we have two games. Just coming here with the same excitement and ready to go tomorrow again."

If you listened to talk radio or read any of the local papers or websites over the last day or two, you'd have heard or read the team's obituary. Dead before the summer even begins.

But the truth is, this team is far from dead in an A.L. East division that's proving to be the weakest in baseball.

Have the Red Sox looked lifeless for much of this season? Absolutely. But they're still just 4 1/2 games out of first place, and they hope Tuesday's win was the jolt they needed to get back on the rails.

"I don't think we're putting pressure on ourselves but we're well aware that we need to turn things around pretty quick," Bogaerts said. "I really believe that this win tonight will definitely turn the whole season around for us."

The feeling seemed mutual for Buchholz, who said something similar in the clubhouse minutes before Bogaerts.

“Every game is big from here on out," Buchholz said. "Obviously we haven’t played up to the caliber of players we have on this team. The bar is set pretty high for this club. There’s nobody in this clubhouse that doesn’t expect that. I don’t think anybody would want it any other way. We’re going to try and get on a roll after today. We’re moving on into a doubleheader [Wednesday], so hopefully we can get on track.”

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