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Alex Cora hopes Red Sox veteran’s big hit is ‘the beginning of something cool’
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- Alex Cora hopes Red Sox veteran’s big hit is ‘the beginning of something cool’
BOSTON — Red Sox veteran Trevor Story’s early-season struggles have resulted from swinging too often at pitches out of the strike zone.
The 33-year-old shortstop has the second worst chase percentage (49.5%) among qualified major league hitters.
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He knew he needed to stay disciplined when he stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and one out in a scoreless game in the sixth inning Tuesday.
Story was hunting for a pitch up in the zone from Brewers reliever DL Hall . He got one and connected for a two-run double that broke a scoreless tie. The Red Sox defeated the Brewers 3-2 at Fenway Park .
“Just trying to get a pitch that I can handle and not do too much with it,” Story said. “And was able to do that after I got a look at the first changeup. Get something up and hit it hard.”
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Story didn’t swing at a first-pitch changeup over the middle of the plate, then fouled off a sinker. The third pitch was another changeup at the top of the zone. He hit it 102.2 mph off the bat.
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“We have been swinging a lot. We’re an aggressive team in nature,” Story said. “Sometimes we need to rein it back a little bit.”
The Red Sox have the six lowest walk total in the major leagues but they stayed patient in the sixth against Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski .
Jarren Duran , Willson Contreras and Wilyer Abreu all walked with one out, knocking Misiorowski out of the game and setting up an at-bat between Story and Hall.
Manager Alex Cora hopes the two-run double will be a turning point for Story.
“It happens quick with him,” Cora said. “Last year we saw how he turned it around after the Milwaukee series. He took off. Yesterday he put good at-bats.”
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Story was batting .218 with a .261 on-base percentage, .316 slugging percentage and .577 OPS when Boston concluded a series in Milwaukee last May 28.
From there, he batted .289 with a .333 on-base percentage, .496 slugging percentage and .830 OPS over his final 103 games.
“So hopefully this is the beginning of something cool for him,” Cora said.
Story helped the Red Sox (3-8) end a three-game losing streak.
“It feels good, for sure,” Story said. “Just one game, but we feel like the last couple games have been better offensively. And we’ve executed our plan a little better. So that contributes to winning is us doing our job there in the box. It’s a sweet feeling to win here, especially at home, after the start that we’ve had, but that’s in the past now. We can only look forward.”
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