Adam Duvall’s Hot Bat Continues To Surge As Red Sox Chase Wild Card

Adam Duvall remained scorching hot for the Red Sox in Boston's victory over the Kansas City Royals on Sunday afternoon.

After missing two months of the season with a broken wrist, Duvall hit .304 with 17 extra-base hits and 21 RBIs over 26 games in August and hasn't shown signs of slowing down after smoking a 3-0 fastball for a solo home run in Kauffman Stadium.

"I felt pretty comfortable looking for something that I wanted to hit," Duvall told reporters after the game, as seen on NESN's postgame coverage. "I'm glad I got my swing on. ... It started to hook there at the end a little bit. I was just hoping it'd stay fair, but I'm glad I was in go mode."

Duvall with a BLAST! 🚀 #RedSox pic.twitter.com/BrqxgaOMRB

— NESN (@NESN) September 3, 2023

Duvall has started 15 consecutive games, 14 in the outfield, and said he feels really good at the plate given the battle he faced coming back from the injury.

"I always want to be available," Duvall said. "I want to show up. I want to prepare for the game. I want to play the game the right way and I want the manager to be able to pencil me in. That's important to me."

In 74 games this season, Duvall is slashing .273/.337/.590 with 22 doubles, 19 home runs and 51 RBIs. His 19 long balls are behind only Rafael Devers (29), Justin Turner (22) and Triston Casas (22) for Boston's home run leaders.

Duvall will continue to get starts in the final 25 games with Jarren Duran out for the remainder of the season due to toe surgery and Alex Verdugo listed day-to-day with left hamstring tightness.

The Red Sox are currently 5 1/2 games behind the Texas Rangers for the final American League Wild Card spot, but Boston's manager isn't ready to count his team out just yet.

"We're very realistic about that," Cora told reporters, as seen on NESN's postgame coverage after Boston's victory over Kansas City on Saturday. "I do believe offensively there's another run in this team in September. Kind of like everybody gets hot at the same time and then see where it takes us."

Cora also said Masataka Yoshida has been getting his swing back following Boston's win Sunday, which is good news as the Red Sox head to Tampa Bay to take on the Rays in a three-game series starting Monday.