Morning Sports Update

The Red Sox are reeling, but the Revs are rising

Don't look now, but New England's MLS team is on a hot streak.

Peyton Miller Revolution Atlanta United
Peyton Miller during the Revolution's 2-1 comeback win over Atlanta United. via New England Revolution

By Hayden Bird

4 minutes to read

A tale of two season starts: On Wednesday, while most eyes in New England sports were fixated on the classic Red Sox-Yankees rivalry, another local team was engineering its second straight comeback win.

The Revolution, often less in the limelight than some of the other local teams, have quietly moved up to third place in the Eastern Conference after battling to a 2-1 win on the road against Atlanta United.

Goals from Will Sands and Peyton Miller overcame the earlier Atlanta breakthrough from Fafà Picault. The Revolution have now won four league games in a row (and five of six), remaining undefeated overall in the month of April.

Helmed by first-year head coach Marko Mitrović, New England seems to be responding to two non-playoff seasons with renewed hope. After going 70 games without a comeback win dating back to 2023, the Revolution have now done it twice in less than a week (following Saturday’s 2-1 come-from-behind victory over the Columbus Crew).

This contrasts with the current state of the Red Sox, a team that currently ranks last in the league in home runs (and has lost the first two games of the series against New York by a combined score of 8-1). Boston sits at 9-15, last in the American League East.

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Of course, both the MLB and MLS seasons are long, leaving plenty of time for fortunes to change. Whether or not the Revolution can sustain the current success is far from assured — an inevitable product of both natural shifts in the team’s form and the nature of MLS roster construction given the league’s idiosyncratic rule system.

And despite the dearth of hope around the current state of the Red Sox, Boston can theoretically still turns things around (being just 15% into the regular season).

In the meantime, Revolution fans will continue to savor one of the team’s best months in years. The problem looming on the horizon is taking shape in the recognizable form of Lionel Messi: A matchup at the recently-opened Nu Stadium against Inter Miami awaits on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

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Trivia: Speaking of the Revolution (and in the spirit of the NFL Draft getting underway tonight), can you name the only player that New England has ever selected first overall in the MLS SuperDraft?

(Answer at the bottom.)

Hint: He’s on the current roster and has played more minutes for the Revolution than any other player in club history.

Scores and schedules:

The Red Sox lost to the Yankees 4-1 on Wednesday. The two teams play again today at Fenway Park at 6:10 p.m.

The Revolution rallied to defeat Atlanta United 2-1. New England will play Inter Miami on the road Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

Also from Wednesday, the Fleet lost to the Charge 2-1.

Tonight, the Bruins face the Sabres in Game 3 at TD Garden at 7 p.m. The series is currently tied 1-1.

The NFL Draft begins tonight at 8 p.m. with the first round set to get underway in Pittsburgh.

Tomorrow, the Celtics face the 76ers in Philadelphia in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series at 7 p.m. The series is tied 1-1.

And on Saturday, Legacy FC face the Stars in Chicago at 6:30 p.m.

More from Boston.com:

Not your everyday hit: During Wednesday’s Athletics-Mariners game, Carlos Cortes hit a line drive right at Seattle pitcher Logan Gilbert. In an incredibly unlikely development, the ball went into Gilbert’s jersey and got stuck until the play was over.

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Despite never touching the ground, the interpretation of a specific MLB rule led umpires to award Cortes a hit.

“The umpires immediately called time to stop play once they realized the ball had gotten stuck,” noted MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer, “in accordance with the MLB Umpire Manual’s Rule Interpretations, which say that a batted or thrown ball going inside a player or coach’s uniform is deemed out of play.”

On this day: In 2022, the Celtics pushed past the Nets 109-103 in the first-round playoff series to take a 3-0 series lead. Jayson Tatum scored 39 points as Boston pushed Brooklyn’s Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant to the brink of postseason elimination.

Daily highlight: Though it didn’t end up counting — as Revolution forward Dor Turgeman was judged to have interfered with the goalkeeper’s vision while in an offside position — this Alhassan Yusuf bar-down strike is still highlight-worthy.

Trivia answer: Andrew Farrell

Hayden Bird

Sports Staff

Hayden Bird is a sports staff writer for Boston.com, where he has worked since 2016. He covers all things sports in New England.

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