Alex Cora: Mookie Betts ‘Dominating The Game’ For Red Sox Despite Numbers

Mookie Betts hasn’t exactly picked up where he left off in his reigning 2018 American League MVP season, but that’s not causing any worry to his manager.

Betts went 0-for-2 in the Boston Red Sox’s 8-7 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday. He did reach base three times, however, and scored two runs. The outfielder also stole a base in the game.

He bounced back in Sunday’s game going 2-for-4 before going 1-for-5 with an RBI and a run in Monday’s walk-off win against the Chicago White Sox. So while he’s not putting up the same numbers this year as he did last season, Alex Cora said during his weekly appearance on WEEI’s “Ordway, Merloni and Fauria” that Betts still finds ways to “dominate the game.”

“I think with Mookie — and we talk about it all the time, we talked about it last year, a reminder (that) it really doesn’t matter how you’re doing numbers-wise, you’re still dominating the game,” Cora said, as transcribed by WEEI.com. “The other day he was a little bit down on that game, he was 0-for-2, and he walked three times and we lost the game on Saturday and he feels like he wasn’t contributing, and the next day I said, ‘Dude, hold on, come here. You got on base three times, you scored from second, you can steal bases, there’s ways you can dominate the game.’

“And not everybody can do that,” Cora added. “If you don’t hit, you’re not contributing — with Mookie, he gets on, he can run, he can play defense, so I try to remind him, dude, it doesn’t matter, you show up, you’re impacting the game.”

Betts is batting .266 with 13 home runs and 36 RBIs, but he has amassed 81 hits and nine stolen bases. The 26-year-old also has walked 59 times on the year, and his speed on the base path certainly can help the Red Sox.

And even though his numbers aren’t eye-popping, he still is able to make a difference in the game.