Masataka Yoshida is tied for second in the American League with a .317 batting average and has put up an an OPS of .883 to help the Red Sox move into playoff contention. Yoshida has multiple hits in eight of his last nine games. Steve Senne/Associated Press
The Red Sox are relevant again. They rolled into Oakland on Sunday night with the best record in baseball since June 30, and were just two games out of the AL wild-card race.
They’ve done it with a relentless offense that has scored five or more runs in eight of the last 12 games they’ve played. The Sox are 40-6 when scoring five or more runs in a game this season.
Sunday’s win at Wrigley Field was particularly pleasing for the Sox. Manager Alex Cora juggled his lineup to maximize the number of right-handed bats against All-Star Justin Steele. It worked, but not because of those right-handed hitters.
Lefties Rafael Devers and Masataka Yoshida had the two big blows against Steele. Devers’ solo homer in the first got the Sox on the board while Yoshida’s grand slam in the fifth broke the game open.
It’s funny now to look back at the reaction to Yoshida’s signing last December. There were numerous pieces written about the five-year, $90 million deal, and not many of them were flattering. The general consensus was the Sox overpaid Yoshida and that his bat-to-ball skills wouldn’t translate against major league pitching.
That contract looks like a steal now. Yoshida arrived in Oakland with a .317 batting average, tied for second in the American League. He has 36 multi-hit games this season, the most in the league.
In fact, he had multiple hits in nine of his last 10 games heading into Monday’s late-night game against the A’s. That included an eight-game streak with multiple hits, the longest streak by a Sox left-handed hitter since Ted Williams in 1940.
“Its kind of like a video game,” said Sox starting pitcher Kutter Crawford after Sunday’s game. “It’s unbelievable. He’s a great hitter.”
The Sox offense has scored the third most runs in the American League, and has the fourth highest OPS in the league. In 11 games this month the Sox lead the AL in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and runs scored. They have taken it to another level.
With those hot bats, the Red Sox won 10 of their last 12 games heading into their series with Oakland, a team that has lost seven straight games and has the worst record in baseball. It has fans thinking about what President of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom could do before the Aug. 1 trade deadline to improve Boston’s chances of making the postseason.
It doesn’t appear he’ll need to add any offense. The Sox have plenty of that. What they need is pitching. The Sox have gone on this tear with four starting pitchers on the IL.
A three-man rotation isn’t sustainable. Yet the schedule provides a short-term map to get through it. With four off-days scheduled over the next two-and-a-half weeks the Sox are in a stretch where three pitchers can start 11 of the team’s final 15 games before the deadline.
Two of the games they won’t start are the first two games in Oakland. The hope is that the bullpen, with Nick Pivetta and Chris Murphy throwing multiple innings, can deal with the last-place A’s.
Earlier this season the Sox had trouble beating weaker teams. They entered July with a losing record against teams with losing records. That has changed. They are midway through a stretch of 12 straight games against teams with sub-.500 records, winning five of the first six games in that stretch.
The offense has led the way. There’s no reason that shouldn’t continue against the A’s. With an ERA of 6.07, Oakland is the only team in baseball over six.
Tom Caron is a studio host for the Red Sox broadcast on NESN. His column appears in the Portland Press Herald on Tuesdays.
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