It's taken a while but Matt Barnes looks as confident as he ever has this season.
The Red Sox pitcher has struggled on the mound since the second half of 2021. Barnes nearly was unhittable to begin last year and provided Boston with a much-needed closer. But things fell apart for the right-hander after the All-Star Game and he never really recovered.
Barnes' struggles carried over into 2022 and soon the Red Sox stopped using him in high-leverage situations and tried to stay away from him as much as possible -- proving the team didn't have much trust in him. But a stint on the injured list this summer looks to have given Barnes the time he needed to fix whatever was going on with his mechanics.
He has slowly become reliable again. And even though Barnes nearly let the finale against the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday slip away in the ninth inning, a mound visit from Alex Cora settled him down and Barnes was able to pick up the save in the 6-5 win at Target Field.
Wednesday's outing capped off a strong August for Barnes that should leave fans optimistic. In 12 1/3 innings pitched, Barnes compiled a 2.92 ERA with 13 strikeouts, six walks and gave up four earned runs over that span.
We'll see if Barnes can carry that momentum into September when the Red Sox begin a new series with the Texas Rangers on Thursday night. First pitch from Fenway Park is set for 7:10 p.m. ET and you can catch all the action beginning at 6 p.m. on NESN.
