The Boston Red Sox, grounded for nearly 24 hours due to a pair of mechanical issues on their team plane, finally arrived at Citi Field on Friday afternoon, a little more than two hours before the scheduled first pitch of their series opener against the New York Mets.
The Red Sox got to the ballpark at 5:05 p.m. EDT, and the start of the game was pushed back by 35 minutes to 7:50 p.m.
“We’re here,” reliever Garrett Whitlock said, sitting in the dugout and sporting a tired smile.
The Red Sox expected to depart from Chicago on Thursday night, a few hours after they beat the White Sox 2-1 for their sixth straight win. But pitcher Peyton Tolle said the “tug” — which tows the planes around the runway — was malfunctioning.
The Red Sox remained on the tarmac until after midnight, at which point they went to a pair of hotels in Chicago. The team returned to the aircraft Friday morning but was delayed again by what interim manager Chad Tracy described as issues with “switches or light bulbs in the cockpit.”
Center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela, whose addition to the AL All-Star team was announced over the plane loudspeaker by Tracy before the second delay, said players listened to music and played cards.
Tolle said he ate about five doughnuts Friday, though most of his teammates had burritos.
“We tried to make light of the situation, we tried to have fun with it,” Tolle said. “But there was some frustration building, for sure.
“At one point, we kind of just looked at each other laughing because it was just ridiculous.”
The Red Sox finally took off a little before 3 p.m. EDT and landed at LaGuardia Airport around 4:30 p.m. Team employees said the roughly 2-mile drive to Citi Field was relatively easy during rush hour.
“Throw it back to travel ball days,” Whitlock said. “Show and go. Go out there and play, have fun.”
The Red Sox still planned to start Sonny Gray, who traveled with the team from Chicago.
“Nobody else you’d rather have start this baseball game than Sonny,” Tolle said. “It’s going to take a dog factor and Sonny has got that.”
The delay was the second in two weeks for the Red Sox. Their flight from Denver to Boston turned around after half an hour on June 24 due to a mechanical issue.
The Red Sox didn’t get home until around dawn on June 25 but beat the New York Yankees 6-3 hours later to start an 11-2 surge.
“I think it’s some adversity for us,” Rafaela said. “The message I sent to the guys was we have great momentum right now. That has to be our focus.”
Reporting by The Associated Press.