Following one of their cleanest, best-pitched and all-around best played games of the season on Wednesday, Tyler O’Neill stood in front of the assembled media and offered praise for his manager.

Not for anything Alex Cora did tactically in-game, but instead for having his finger on the pulse of the clubhouse and responding accordingly.

“Kudos to AC to shut the clubhouse down, get us in later, keep the energy flowing,” O’Neill said. “We were able to show up, the boys were bouncing out there today, the guys are more excited overall and it’s just better for us and having fun again. Hopefully we do the same thing tomorrow and we get another win.”

After losing five games in four days over the weekend, a dismal stretch punctuated by a doubleheader sweep on Monday, Cora switched things up and allowed his players to report several hours later than usual for Tuesday’s game. He did the same for Wednesday and Thursday’s games too, and the result has seemingly been a refreshed, re-energized club that’s gotten back to playing good baseball.

Cora said he could tell his guys were starting to drag, and that it felt like the right time to give them a break.

“I feel it and I don’t play, honestly. We had a tough weekend, we had the doubleheader, the traveling has been tough, there’s a lot of games, a lot of grinding games,” Cora said. “Just to be able to have the whole morning to yourself, it makes you realize we spend too much time here. That’s something as an industry we haven’t figured out yet. Why do we have to show up at 1 p.m. when you can get your work in on the road in an hour and a half?”

Normally Red Sox players show up to Fenway Park sometime between 1 and 2 p.m. on game days and run through an extensive pregame routine. Every day is different but typically pregame includes hitters and pitchers meetings, scouting reports, field work, batting practice and more. Over the past few days Cora’s had the team report closer to 4 p.m., and he likened this week’s approach to American Legion ball.

Essentially, show up and play.

“It’s such a grindy season, I think he has a pretty good feel after a five-game skid to just clear your head a little bit, come in and just play,” said catcher Danny Jansen. “Obviously guys are going to get their work in and it’s not always going to be like that, but it’s definitely helped, clear your head a bit, come on in, get a little bit of work in quick and let’s go out and play.”

“I think it’s been nice getting to hang out with the wife at home and soak in that time with her,” said right-hander Tanner Houck. “The majority of our time during the season is spent here at the field so getting to soak up those few extra hours with her means a lot.”

Cora noted that what he’s doing isn’t anything groundbreaking. The Red Sox took a similar approach before Game 4 of the 2018 World Series after playing 18 innings the night before, and other teams will occasionally have days or weeks where they back off and let the players have more time to themselves. He also noted that they operated in similar fashion throughout 2021 due to COVID-19 restrictions, and that season the club posted its best home record in the past five years.

He’s open to the possibility of sticking with the later report time if that’s what players want, but either way, after everything the team has been through lately, he felt this week the time was right.

“I just felt like the three days were going to benefit them, especially tonight. Late game, flight to Detroit and get there late,” Cora said. “I think this is good, I felt it throughout the day, I had so much time to do stuff, then you look up and it’s only 2:30. So hopefully we’ll benefit from this and we’ll take notes, talk to the players and if they like it we’ll do something.”