Red Sox Strut: Third baseman Rafael Devers, RHP Rick Porcello
By Sean Penney
Position Player Candidates
Mitch Moreland went 7-for-15 (.467) last week to lead the team in batting average. Mitchy Two-Bags added a pair of doubles, bringing his season total to 27. The days of Moreland leading the league in that category are far behind us, but he has equaled his career high and sits tied for 20th in the league.
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Christian Vazquez continues to swing a hot stick, going 4-for-9 (.444) over the three games he played in last week. That raises his batting average in the month of August to a scorching .387. For the season he’s hitting .286, nearly 60 points above last year’s average. Vazquez also added his third home run and sixth steal of the season.
Jackie Bradley was 6-for-18 (.333) and led the team with eight RBI. His triple in the bottom of the second inning on Sunday drove in two of those runs, which proved to be the game winners against the Yankees.
Xander Bogaerts is showing signs of pulling out of his second-half slump. He went 7-for-22 (.318) with a pair of doubles. He added a home run to lead off the bottom of the 9th against Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal to pull the Red Sox to within one run. Mookie Betts would end the game later that inning with a walk-off double, but Boston doesn’t extend the game to get to him without the clutch homer from Bogaerts.