Chris Young is making a strong case to be the Boston Red Sox’s everyday left fielder and not just a guy who can make a spot start against left-handed pitching.
Young went 2-for-3 with a solo home run Wednesday night in the Red Sox’s 2-1 loss to the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park. It was his second career home run against Giants ace Madison Bumgarner.
Young is batting .400 (20 for 50) with five homers and seven doubles in his last 14 starts. His average against right-handed pitchers still is only .231, but he’s dominating lefties at .414 with a .485 on-base percentage.
Young got off to a bad start in April and batted just .185 that month, but he’s hitting .351 since the beginning of May. He’s not going to produce at that rate all season, obviously, but if he hovers around .300, it’ll provide even more depth to an absolutely loaded Red Sox lineup.
Here are some other notes from Red Sox-Giants.
— Make no mistake, Price pitched well enough to win this game. He threw eight innings and gave up just three hits and two earned runs, while also walking two and striking out seven. Unfortunately for the Red Sox, two of his three hits were solo home runs, including the go-ahead run in the eighth inning off the bat of Mac Williamson.
Price’s performance of late is quite encouraging. He’s allowed two earned runs or fewer in five of his last six starts, and he’s pitched more than six innings in each of those six outings. His ERA has dropped by almost a run and a half in that span as a result.
— Hanley Ramirez showed off some stellar defense at first base in the first inning, much to Price’s delight. Ramirez still hasn’t made an error at first this season.
— Ramirez is struggling at the plate, however. He’s batting just .135 with one double, zero home runs, seven RBIs and three runs over the last 14 games.
— Mookie Betts collected two more hits Wednesday, raising his average to .291 on the season. He had two hits in both of the games this series, and he has 18 hits over the last 10 games. That’s the kind of production you want from the leadoff spot.
— Bumgarner gave up just four hits and one earned run through six innings. He also walked one and struck out five. Bumgarner didn’t factor into the decision, but he lowered his ERA to 1.88 — the third-best mark in the National League — as a result.
— It took more than two months for a Giants home run to reach the water beyond the right field wall.
— A temporary setback for Joe Kelly.
— After Wednesday, the Giants have sold out 436 straight regular-season games dating back to Oct. 1, 2010. It’s the longest active sellout streak in the majors, but it’s still about 300 games behind Boston’s all-time record.
Thumbnail photo via Kelley L Cox/USA TODAY Sports Images
