WASHINGTON — Adam Eaton doesn’t know what kind of fan reaction he’ll get when he returns to Guaranteed Rate Field Monday when the Nationals play the Sox.
‘I don’t know, I might get booed now,” said the Nats right fielder whom the Sox traded in exchange for right-handed pitching prospects Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez and Dane Dunning in December 2016.
Eaton recalls being stunned to hear a booing fan on Opening Day of that season when he took a called strike two during his first at-bat, so he knows anything is possible.
“I love them,” said Eaton, who played for the Sox from 2014-16. “They’re very passionate fans. It’s all you can ask for.”
Fans might cheer him, though, just for bringing Giolito, the AL Pitcher of the Month for May, to the Sox. Giolito is a big reason why the rebuild seems to be turning in an improved direction.
“Glad to see those guys playing well, it would be good for the South Side,” Eaton said before the Nats (28-33) turned back the Sox 6-4 on Trea Turner’s walk-off homer against Alex Colome for their ninth win in 11 games. “I’ll say this, just watching the team [Tuesday] night it’s completely different than when I was there. All of them had real positive energy, everyone hustled – not saying we didn’t hustle – but I watch close. Even the last inning [losing 9-5] someone fouled off a 3-2 pitch with a runner on and it was like, ‘Let’s go’ in the dugout. Everyone was clapping.”
Of course, clapping and energy will only get you so far. The Sox (29-32) wasted a bases-full, no-out opportunity against Anibal Sanchez, made three errors including two in the middle of the infield (Yolmer Sanchez on a ground ball and Tim Anderson on a pop-up — his 13th) and lost for the second day in a row following a 6-1 homestand.
Dylan Covey pitched five innings of two-run ball, and home runs by Jose Abreu and Welington Castillo in the eighth inning erased a 4-1 deficit. But in the end the Sox set themselves up to lose.
“We didn’t help ourselves,” manager Rick Renteria said. “We dropped a fly ball. We got doubled off at third [Castillo].”
After Anderson led off the ninth with a single, Renteria called for a sacrifice, but Ryan Cordell bunted into an easy forceout.
“That wasn’t a very good bunt in the ninth inning, right at the third baseman when they’re crashing, not a good situational bunt,” said Renteria, who thought Cordell could have reached base had he bunted to the right side. “There were a lot of things we can critique.”
Eaton, who was in the on-deck circle when Turner cleared the left-field fence, saw some good things in the Sox’ two losses here, though.
“There is really good energy over there, which is awesome,” Eaton said. “They’re all pulling in the right direction and I know Rick [Renteria] is not going to let it go the other way. When he took the job I knew it was the direction they needed to go. It’s cool to see.’’
Not everyone pulled together in the right direction in 2016 when the Sox charged to a 23-10 start before fading to a 78-84 finish. Eaton and Todd Frazier got into a clubhouse fight.
“We didn’t see eye to eye on a few things,” Eaton said. “What was funny was we were close in spring training, but the stresses of the season, after being the best team in baseball for six weeks and then we started going down, neither of us liked to lose, and things came to a head.”
That’s old history now. This current team doesn’t care to lose, either. So nothing has changed in that regard.
“When [Castillo] tied the game up on his homer, I was in [the clubhouse] screaming,” Covey said. “Super pumped up to see that happen, just unfortunately didn’t go our way today. Move on to the next one.”
