When Red Sox left-handed reliever Josh Taylor flew from his home in Arizona to Boston at the start of Summer Camp, he had no reason to think anything was amiss. But then his COVID-19 intake test came back positive.

Six weeks later, Taylor was activated by the Red Sox for Monday night's finale of a four-game series at Yankee Stadium.

"Yeah, I was asymptomatic, so I had no idea that it would come back positive," said Taylor, who pitched a 1-2-3 sixth inning in the Red Sox's 6-3 loss to the Yankees.

At that point, he stayed in his Boston hotel room for two weeks, while he did almost nothing.

"I was throwing a ball into a sock, really," said Taylor. "You tape the sock to your hand and you throw it into the sock. It's about as good as you get."

Taylor has spent the past month playing catch-up and wishing he could have done something to help his reeling baseball team, which had lost seven games in a row entering Monday.

"It sucks sitting in my hotel room watching the game on TV and seeing an inning go bad and say, 'I could have been there to at least try to help limit the damage or get us through an inning,'" said Taylor. "It's tough, but I'm just happy I'm here now and I can help the team contribute and hopefully turn it around."

Heading into Spring Training, Taylor and Darwinzon Hernandez were the top two lefty relievers on manager Ron Roenicke's depth chart. Hernandez also tested positive for COVID-19 before Summer Camp started, and he should join Taylor on the active roster within the next few days.

Boston's bullpen, which has struggled to cover for the shortcomings of a depleted starting rotation, could look significantly better with Taylor and Hernandez.

"One of the advantages we felt like with he and Darwinzon was that we really didn't have to worry about the lefty-righty [batter sequences], and that's a benefit, I think, with the three-batter rule this year that the pitchers have to have," Roenicke said. "I'm not concerned really with the right-handers. They get them out just as well."

As a rookie last season, Taylor had a 3.04 ERA and 62 strikeouts in 47 1/3 innings over 52 games. Hernandez, who was also a rookie, had 57 strikeouts in 30 1/3 innings.

To make room for Taylor on the roster, the Red Sox optioned righty Chris Mazza to the club's alternate training site in Pawtucket, R.I.