Red Sox infielder Eduardo Nunez’ hot streak can give the team confidence

The injury to Rafael Devers has given Eduardo Nunez more playing time for the Boston Red Sox. He has capitalized on the opportunity and is playing closer to the way he was when he was acquired last season.

To put it nicely, Eduardo Nunez had a rocky start to the season. He was playing mostly at second base, which is not his preferred position. Throughout his career, Nunez has played 261 games at third base, 250 at shortstop and only 121 at second base. Of those 121 games, 98 have come during his year and a half in Boston.

At the beginning of the season, the relative lack of experience showed. He was having trouble defensively and it seemed to affect his mindset at the plate. Nunez’s batting average dropped as low as .228 with a .629 OPS on May 5. The average climbed up a little bit in the subsequent days, but it hovered around .250 for about two months, while the OPS stayed roughly where it was.

But since third baseman Rafael Devers landed on the disabled list for the second time this season on July 29, Nunez has gotten hot.

Since July 29, Nunez has batted .305 with a .786 OPS. His career averages are .279 and .726, respectively, so he is playing a little bit better than his average, but it is much closer to what is expected of him.

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This surge can very well be attributed to his return to playing third base more regularly. He’s currently in the midst of a seven-game hitting streak, in which he is batting .407 with a 1.111 OPS and homers in the last two games. He even had two hits and an RBI in last night’s 11-run seventh inning.

Both of these homers were important because they were against the lowly Miami Marlins, who the Red Sox were struggling to score against. And this was coming off a series against the Tampa Bay Rays in which the Red Sox were outscored 24-5.

Again, Nunez catching fire is coming at a good time for the Red Sox. With guys like Mookie Betts and Andrew Benintendi in the midst of mild slumps, it has been important to see the smaller names such as Nunez and Jackie Bradley Jr. (who has also had big hits in consecutive games) step up and take on some of the heavy lifting.

Baseball is a team game where every player will be relied upon at one point or another to come up with a big hit. Seeing someone like Eduardo Nunez come up big during the regular season can give Red Sox fans more confidence as this team heads into October.