The Boston Red Sox offense finally woke up after being outscored 20-4 during their four-game losing skid, in Arizona.
Boston scored seven runs en route to their victory over the Diamondbacks on Friday night despite Chris Sale battling the stomach bug on the mound.
Triston Casas led the way hitting two doubles off Arizona pitching and knocking in the first run of the game. Despite having a batting average of .197, Red Sox manager Alex Cora isn’t worried about Casas at the plate.
“Like I said before, we cannot panic with him,” Cora told reporters, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “It’s going to happen and every number matters. Let’s not say that batting average doesn’t matter; we know that. But you know what counts too? Not chasing pitches. Not swinging and missing the zone. But overall, the process is good.”
Cora added that all players in the big leagues can’t hide from the numbers and Casas doesn’t let that deter him from working at it.
“He shows up every day,” Cora said. “Very structured. Very committed to his work. Good things are gonna happen.”
Casas struck out just once of his five plate appearances and was mindful of his mechanics.
“I missed a couple of ones,” Casas told reporters, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “But for the most part, I handled the strike zone well today and put the ball in play when I needed to and got some good results. … I understand that my power is the best part of my game. So, I’m trying to utilize that to the best of my abilities.”
Here are more notes from Friday’s Red Sox-Diamondbacks game:
— The Red Sox improved to 19-4 when they score first and 26-8 when scoring four or more runs.
— Entering the game, the Red Sox were leading the American League with 108 doubles. Boston added four more in the win when Justin Turner, Alex Verdugo, Connor Wong and Casas all connected for extra-base hits.
— Besides Casas, the Red Sox had four additional batters with multi-hits on the night. Verdugo had three hits, while Wong, Turner and Raimel Tapia all had two.
— The Red Sox look to build on the win when they take the field against the Diamondbacks again on Saturday night. First pitch from Chase Field is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. ET. The game will air on FOX. Boston will close out the three-game series on Sunday, and the first pitch for that matchup is scheduled at 4:10 p.m. on NESN.
