Kevin Pillar shares details of team meeting Red Sox held amid losing steak

The Boston Red Sox have been one of the worst teams in baseball through the early part of the abbreviated 2020 season, and some players tried to address that following their eighth consecutive loss on Sunday night.

After the New York Yankees beat them 4-2, the Red Sox held a meeting outside their team hotel in New York. Kevin Pillar, who is in his first season with Boston, told reporters it has been “extremely difficult to get on the same page with a lot of people” because the typical locker room dynamic at Fenway Park doesn’t exist. He said Red Sox players have been feeling sorry for themselves while their opponents embrace the adversity.

Kevin Pillar talks Red Sox team meeting … pic.twitter.com/WOsFDqtdAp

— Rob Bradford (@bradfo) August 17, 2020

“You look across the dugout (at our opponents) and the guys seem excited and they’re pumped up, high-fiving and making it as normal as possible,” Pillar said. “I think that’s the message we were trying to get across was let’s make this as normal as possible and stop feeling bad for ourselves because we have to wear masks. These are just things that have to be done. It’s 2020, get over it and let’s go out and play and try to have fun with it.”

Sunday’s loss dropped the Red Sox to 6-16 on the season. They’re nearing the halfway point of a 60-game season, so they’ll be out of postseason contention (even with the expanded playoff field) if they can’t turn things around in a hurry.

Boston’s pitching staff has compiled an MLB-worst 6.03 ERA, and JD Martinez had no problem pointing the finger at them following Saturday’s blowout loss. Everything has gone wrong for the Red Sox through 22 games. Time will tell if their team meeting has any impact.