Things have been going well for the Boston Red Sox since the beginning of June — right around the time of their first series of the year against their rival NewYork Yankees.
But before the Sox took off up the American League East and wild card standings, Alex Verdugo got his moment.
He launched a homer at Fenway Park to open the three-game bout with the Red Sox at his former home ballpark. Verdugo celebrated all around the bases and relished the bomb against the club that traded him during the slow trot.
But since then, the Yankees and Verdugo have struggled mightily. And the Red Sox have gotten much closer to them in the standings because of it.
Verdugo is batting .187/.242/.276 in his last 30 games. He's hit two homers, both against Boston, and fanned 25 times. Verdugo is down to a .292 on-base percentage and .670 OPS on his season. But the lack of offense isn't the worst of Verdugo's recent rough spell.
New York had a chance to sweep the Orioles on July 14. But the Yankees pulled an early-season Red Sox — their defense fell apart at the seams.
Alex Verdugo has had a rough stretch since his homer against the Red Sox at Fenway Park
New York carried a two-run lead into the bottom of the ninth inning. Clay Holmes issued a single, a fielder's choice ground out and two walks to load the bases with Orioles. Ryan Mountcastle knocked a bouncing single to Anthony Volpe, who bobbled it and couldn't make the force play at second.
Cedric Mullins followed and lifted a double to left field, but Verdugo played too shallow. He tried to backpedal to get to Mullins' ball but stumbled. As he fell, so did the Yankees, back to Earth.
They were moments from reclaiming first place from Baltimore after a weeks-long slump from both clubs. New York went into the All-Star break on the sourest of notes — quite the opposite experience to the Red Sox, who are a season-high 11 games over .500 and just three and a half back of the Yankees for second place.
New York's slump coincides nicely with Verdugo's Fenway trot. Funny how quickly things can change in baseball.