Alex Cora continues to preach putting the ball in play following Red Sox’ sweep of Rays
The Red Sox are on a four-game winning streak with their hitting coming to life over that stretch.
Following the first two games of the Red Sox’ latest road trip, Alex Cora and a few hitters expressed disappointment with their team’s recent struggles at the plate. They had a good reason to feel that way too, scoring just two runs in a loss to the Cardinals on Saturday as they lost their fourth straight game.
Fast forward four days and the Red Sox’ offense has flipped the script. They notched their fourth win in a row on Wednesday, beating the Rays, 8-5, to get their first sweep over their division rival at Tropicana Field since 2019.
Boston’s offense woke up over those four games. It scored at least five runs in each outing and has averaged over seven runs per game in the winning streak.
The most important thing to Alex Cora though is the way they’ve scored those runs. Six of the eight runs on Wednesday came off hits on balls put in play rather than home runs. In fact, the Red Sox’ five-run fifth inning was the result of five singles, a walk, and a hit-by-pitch.
That’s the type of approach Cora wants to see his hitters take at the plate.
“We did a lot of good things throughout the road trip, but we put the ball in play and it started in St. Louis,” Cora told reporters following Wednesday’s win. “Infield hit, infield hit, and we scored a bunch. In this business, everyone wants to hit the ball out of the ballpark. In certain moments, we’ve got to put the ball in play – and we did. [Ceddane Rafaela] did it. [Dom Smith] did it. It started with a walk and we put pressure on them. We ran the bases extremely well today.”
The majority of the Red Sox’ runs in the brief win streak have come from simply putting the ball in play as opposed to hitting home runs. Seven of their 11 runs in Sunday’s win against the Cardinals came off a single, double, or fielder’s choice. While four of their five runs in Monday’s 5-0 win over the Rays came via home run, three of their five runs on Tuesday came off a single or a stolen base.
With the Red Sox recording 36 hits over their last four games, Cora wants to see that hitting carryover into their upcoming homestand.
“The value of putting the ball in play, it was huge today,” Cora said. “We’re going to keep preaching that. I know some people probably hated it, but I’m the manager. I’m asking that from my players because it’s important. A man at third with less than two outs, you’ve got to cash in. You saw what happened earlier in the game. We had a guy at third and we didn’t score.”
So far, the Red Sox haven’t played too well at Fenway, holding a 10-13 home record in 2024. Their hitting has particularly struggled at home, posting a .235 batting average and a .693 OPS as a team. They’ve also hit just 21 homers over 23 home games, averaging just 4.04 runs per home outing. For reference, that mark would rank 21st in the majors this season.
But Cora seems to sense a possible breakthrough coming for the 26-24 Red Sox after their sweep of the Rays, who took three of four from them at Fenway Park last week.
“We played well against them last week,” Cora said. “We just didn’t win the games, two extra-inning games. … Keep working hard, keep going after it and be ready for Friday.”
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