For Boston Red Sox outfielder Alex Verdugo, it must have felt like an eternity since he hit his last home run.
In reality, it had been nearly two months, but Verdugo finally snapped a 48-game homerless drought Wednesday night in a 10-1 win for the Red Sox over the Oakland Athletics at Fenway Park. Verdugo smashed a two-run shot in the the bottom of the sixth that carried 393 feet into the Boston bullpen to end the streak.
That’s not the only thing Verdugo provided in the win. He was a key catalyst for a potent Boston offense, as he went 3-for-5 from the No. 5 spot in the lineup and recorded a career-high four runs batted in.
“(Verdugo) is in a good spot,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said, as seen on NESN postgame coverage. “I know the homers, we talk about it, but I think the quality of the at-bats have been much better the last two-and-a-half weeks, three weeks. He knows how important he is hitting behind those guys.”
For Verdugo, he could breathe a sigh of relief rounding the bases after watching the ball sail into Boston’s bullpen on his home run.
Verdugo said following the contest that he hasn’t been consciously trying to go deep, but he’s glad it finally happened since his last round-tripper came on April 16.
“Obviously, we know it’s been a while,” Verdugo told NESN’s Jahmai Webster, as seen on the network’s postgame coverage. “Something that I’ve been working on. Obviously, not trying to lift it and hit homers, but I’ve had a lot of balls I hit hard and just didn’t have that right trajectory. It feels really good to finally get that monkey off my back.”
Here are more notes from Wednesday’s Red Sox-Athletics game:
— Rafael Devers joined an exclusive group in the franchise’s history by hitting his fourth home run in as many games in the second inning to give Boston a 3-0 lead. The only other players for the Red Sox who have done that before the age of 26 are Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Jim Rice and Bobby Dalbec, according to Red Sox senior manager of media relations and baseball information J.P. Long.
Devers now has a team-leading 16 home runs and is batting .332 on the season.
“He’s one of the best hitters in the big leagues,” Cora said. “… He shows up every day, were happy that he’s hitting second for us on a daily basis and playing third base. The way he acted in spring training we had a feeling it was going to be something like this, and (it’s) coming true.”
— Josh Winckowski’s second big-league start went much better than his first outing earlier this season with the Red Sox. Winckowski worked around a leadoff walk to begin the game and pitched five scoreless inning. The right-hander allowed four hits and one walk while striking out three to earn the win.
Winckowski is the second pitcher called up from Triple-A Worcester in the past week — the other being Kutter Crawford — to have success, and Cora gave credit to WooSox pitching coach Paul Abbott for them being ready for the moment.
“What (Abbott) is doing down there in Triple-A is worth mentioning,” Cora said. “He’s really good and we stay in contact with him. We make adjustments and we prefer these kids to come in here and pitch this way. We expected them to do a good job because stuff wise, they’re really good.”
— Joining Verdugo with three hits was Xander Bogaerts. Bogaerts went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI in the win.
— Seven out of the nine players in Boston’s potent lineup had at least one hit. The only two who did not record a base knock were Jarren Duran and Kevin Plawecki.
— It’s a quick turnaround as the Red Sox and Athletics are back at Fenway Park for a day game Thursday to close out their three-game series. First pitch is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.
