Boston Red Sox right fielder Hunter Renfroe continues to rake at a league-leading clip.
Renfroe hit two home runs during Boston’s 11-9 win over the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday at Fenway Park. He now leads all of Major League Baseball with 10 home runs in the month of August, the most in a single month in his entire six-year career.
So what’s been the key for Renfroe at the plate recently?
“Just going out there and, like I said, play every day, going out there and focusing up, making sure I’m healthy, doing stuff I need to do in the cage before the game,” Renfroe told NESN’s Jahmai Webster after the win. “And getting prepared for the game, studying the pitcher up and do what I can.”
Renfroe’s two home runs helped Boston take a 9-3 lead over the Twins after five innings. He hit a three-run blast in the fourth inning before a no-doubter in the fifth inning, both of which went to left field and over the Green Monster. Renfroe noted how he was hoping for a hanging slider and when he got them he was able to put the barrel on it and send it out in a hurry.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora explained the changes he’s seen from Renfroe, too.
“It’s part of everything. It’s part of 162 (games),” Cora said on a postgame video conference. “Right now it seems like his stride is a lot shorter, he’s been able to stay back. … It seems that’s the way it starts with him. For him to be able to shoot the ball the other way, fastballs the other way, and then he can stay back with breaking balls and he can demolish those.”
“He did amazing,” Cora added. “You look at the scoreboard and you see 24 (home runs) and 76 (RBIs) and hitting .250 with an .800 OPS and playing elite defense. People don’t talk often about him. It’s been amazing for us.”
Renfroe certainly has turned out to be one of the best offseason additions by chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom as he’s been critical to Boston’s success.
