On the last day of August, before the bottom of the second inning in a road game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora called his All-Star shortstop off the field.
"Alex never took me out," Xander Bogaerts told ESPN in an interview last week. Bogaerts knew something was wrong. And with a COVID outbreak sweeping through the team's clubhouse, it didn't take long to figure out what it was.
"I knew immediately," he said. "'F---, I got COVID.'"
The loss of Bogaerts dealt a big blow to Boston's morale amidst a tough stretch in the season.