Michael Chavis got an early call up to the Major Leagues due to the Red Sox’s slew of injuries this season, but the infielder quickly won over the hearts of Boston fans.
The 22-year-old made his mark in his first at-bat with the Sox, doubling off Tampa Bay Rays’ Jose Alvarado. Chavis stayed hot and now has hit four towering home runs, including a 459-foot moonshot in Boston’s 6-1 win over the Chicago White Sox on Friday night at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Three of four of Chavis’ homers have measured longer than 440 feet, and manager Alex Cora continues to be impressed with the infielder. But as impressive as the home run was, it didn’t catch his manager’s eye as much as his line drive in the first inning.
“Honestly, I was more impressed with the line drive in the first at-bat going the other way,” Cora said after the game, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “Two strikes … shoot it to right, that’s a good sign.
“The kid, he’s a good hitter. He’s gonna swing and miss, we know that,” Cora added. “But you see the quality at-bats, the walks, the deep counts. And that ball, when he hit it I was like, ‘Wow, it’s gonna go foul.’ But he hit it so hard that it didn’t have a chance. He’s been playing well. He played good defense … we’re very pleased with the way he’s going about his business.”
Chavis admitted after the game something he’s been working on is not over-swinging.
“I stayed within myself and caught barrel and it went,” Chavis told NESN’s Guerin Austin.
Here are some other notes from Friday’s Red Sox-White Sox game:
— Chris Sale turned in a stellar outing and looked like his normal ace-like self in the win.
The southpaw tossed six scoreless innings, giving up three hits and no runs with one walk and striking out 10.
“He pitched well today,” Cora said on NESN’s postgame coverage. “… We’ve been very patient … you stay with the process and good things are gonna happen.”
— Tzu-Wei Lin was injured in the top of the first when he slid awkwardly into second base on a steal attempt. He remained on the ground for several minutes before leaving the game with left knee soreness.
Cora provided an update on the utility player after the game.
“He has a sprained knee,” he said. “We’re gonna put him on the IL and we’re gonna make a move for (Eduardo) Nunez. We’re gonna send (Lin) to Boston and do all the testing out there. … The replay didn’t look good so hopefully it’s nothing serious.”
— Rafael Devers made a costly error in Thursday’s 6-4 loss to Chicago, but quickly responded Friday night.
The third baseman smacked a home run to center for his first bomb of the season, and finished the night going 2-for-5 with three RBIs.
— Chicago used a position player to pitch in the ninth inning when it brought in Jose Rondon.
It certainly was an odd move, considering the team was down by just five runs.
— The Red Sox now have won four of their last five games.