Gut check time: How will Sox respond?

Oct. 20—BOSTON — The Boston Red Sox have every right to feel hosed after their Game 4 loss.

On at least two separate occasions, home plate umpire Laz Diaz missed ball-strike calls that dramatically altered the course of the game.

The first came in the third on a called strike three against J.D. Martinez, which was at least half a foot off the plate and flipped a two-on, one-out threat into a significantly less appetizing one-on, two-out situation. Red Sox manager Alex Cora nearly got himself tossed arguing over that one.

The second came in the ninth, when Nathan Eovaldi dropped a 1-2 curveball into the top left corner for what should have been strike three against Jason Castro to end the inning. But Diaz called it a ball and all hell broke loose as the Astros erupted for seven runs to turn the 2-2 nail biter into a 9-2 laugher.

In some ways the inning was reminiscent of the 2003 Chicago Cubs meltdown after the Steve Bartman incident. In that case it was an unfortunately timed instance of fan interference on a foul ball instead of Laz Diaz's incredible shrinking strike zone, but in both cases an unfortunate outcome not fully within the team's control extended an inning with catastrophic results.

That Cubs team allowed eight runs in the inning and never recovered, but that doesn't have to be this Red Sox team's fate.

We are about to find out what kind of baseball team the Boston Red Sox truly are. Either they can dwell on what just happened and let the loss fester, or they can put it behind them and try to attack the Astros with a renewed sense of purpose in Game 5.

The good news is this team is uniquely well prepared to wipe the slate clean.

The Red Sox have been through a grind of a season and absorbed some devastating losses. The season-opening sweep against Baltimore nearly torpedoed the club before it even got started, and the entire last two months felt like a disaster unfolding in slow motion at times.

Compared to all of that, bouncing back from a loss — even a particularly ugly one — isn't anything new.

"I don't think it's going to affect us at all," said Game 4 starter Nick Pivetta after the loss. "I don't expect us to really take too much from it. Just move on."

Make no mistake, losing Game 4 was costly. Had the Red Sox won, they would have taken a commanding 3-1 series lead with a chance to clinch a World Series berth at home on Wednesday. Now the ALCS is tied up at 2-2 and Houston has new life after getting virtually nothing from its starting rotation through the first four games.

But even if the top of the ninth snowballed out of control for the Red Sox on Tuesday, that doesn't mean the series has to as well.

"That's been one of our strengths, being able to turn the page and come in tomorrow," Eovaldi said. "We're here tomorrow and we got to make sure we win tomorrow to be able to take Game 6 in Houston and be ready to go."