Red Sox hold friendly team skills competition
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FORT MYERS, Fla. -- You could tell it was going to be a different kind of Sunday morning at Red Sox camp just by looking at the daily workout sheet.
T-Target hitting, infield accuracy skills, pitching/bunting accuracy, PFP/Gauntlet and obstacle course were the activities listed prior to the 1:05 p.m. ET game against the Twins.
The Red Sox had their own version of the Olympics on Sunday, as they split into two teams -- red and blue -- with some obvious motivation hanging out there for the victor.
The winner got to avoid Tuesday's two-hour bus ride to Tampa, while members of the losing team will make that trip to face the Yankees.
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"We shocked the world," said Brock Holt, a member of the underdog blue squad that beat a team captained by Dustin Pedroia.
"They said we were a 16 seed!" said a gleeful Josh Rutledge.
"Big upset," said Holt.
In another corner of the clubhouse, things were more subdued.
"This game is under protest," quipped Pedroia, who will be joined in Tampa by Jackie Bradley Jr., Andrew Benintendi, Hanley Ramirez and starting pitcher Chris Sale.
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Others will join Holt and Rutledge in getting some downtime on Tuesday, including blue team captain Chris Young, right fielder Mookie Betts, third baseman Pablo Sandoval, and first baseman Mitch Moreland.
There was actually a draft that took place a couple of days ago to determine how the teams would be separated.
"You always get a pulse and the feel for when things may start to stagnate a little bit because of the length of Spring Training, particularly this year because of the number of additional days," said Red Sox manager John Farrell. "It's always important to keep it light in some spots, but yet a competitive element to it. This is a team-building opportunity for us as well."
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The skill competitions took place on separate fields, and the teams came into the final event -- the obstacle course relay -- in a tie.
Team Pedroia bolted in front, but then the underdogs came back in a big way to win the race decidedly.
"The MVP of the obstacle course was Robby Scott and [Chandler] Shepherd," said Holt. "We were down by a lot, I was worried. Me and Rut did cut the deficit a little bit. But they did really good and brought us all the way back."