Verdugo’s clutch opposite-field hit signals changed approach
BOSTON — It didn’t have all of the fanfare of a dramatic hit a participant would possibly search for, but it surely ended up being the distinction for the Red Sox on Wednesday night time.
Verdugo, who has handled noise on and off the sphere this season, bought off to a scorching begin in 2023 earlier than a cool July introduced the outfielder all the way down to earth. But on the finish of the month, Verdugo seen a shift in his physique on the plate throughout Boston’s journey to Seattle that started on July 31.
“I was putting my body in a bad situation to put off a good swing and kind of lost my hands while doing that,” Verdugo stated. “So for me it was just trying to get my hands back, try to be a little more upright with my posture and just let my hands work. I think that was a changeup off the plate away and was able to just kind of just let the arms get a little bit extended and get a good line drive [to the opposite field].”
In a 1-1 rely towards Royals starter Jordan Lyles, Verdugo bought simply sufficient of his bat on an 86.6 mph changeup exterior the zone. A bounding MJ Melendez laid out for the ball in left-center earlier than it grazed off the left-fielder’s glove and landed for a base hit.
“That was good, by tracking the pitches and going the other way, he was getting a little pull happy, swinging over pitches,” supervisor Alex Cora stated. “And to be able to stay on that pitch and go the other way. Melendez, great effort. Credit to [Rafael Devers] too. Sometimes the runner when he sees the ball and it hits the glove they slow down, and he just kept going.”
Verdugo’s first check got here in his first at-bat, when he rolled over a changeup from Lyles that resulted in a groundout. The left-handed hitter’s pull-rate has been up and down this season, reaching as excessive as 35.6 % (May), and now all the way down to 30.8 % in an albeit small pattern measurement only one week into August.
“I was just looking to put off a good swing and be on time,” Verdugo stated of his second at-bat. “And for me, it’s not trying to go oppo, it’s trying to go through the ball. Try to stay inside the ball and through it. … That’s what I’m kind of trying to avoid is the hook-jobs, or the rollovers … I’d rather have a blooper to left than a rollover to first.”
In the identical body, Verdugo got here round to attain from second on an RBI single hit up the center by Reese McGuire.
“Great send by [third-base coach] Carlos [Febles] there,” Cora stated. “It was one of those that was gonna be ‘bang-bang,’ but [Verdugo] did a good job hustling to the plate and scoring.”
Verdugo has hit in 9 of his previous 11 video games, courting again to simply earlier than the Seattle journey. Since July 28, he’s gone 11-for-35 (.314 common).
While Verdugo quietly delivered the go-ahead hit, Triston Casas loudly opened the scoring for Boston with a solo homer to right-center discipline within the 2nd inning. The blast registered at 431 ft, per Statcast, to present him eight straight homers of 410-plus ft.
“Every run was big today,” Verdugo stated. “Whether it was the homer by Casas, the 2 runs I drove in, Reese’s line drive up the center. These are all large at-bats, and also you noticed right now we received by one. Reese’s large play on protection throwing [Dairon Blanco] out. I believe it was simply a type of issues, it was a crew effort and our pitchers did the job, [Nick Pivetta] did a extremely good job beginning and bullpen got here down, shut it down as properly. It was an excellent all-around win.”
