BOSTON ā The Red Sox offense has scored one run or fewer in four of 11 games since star rookie Roman Anthony landed on the injured list with an oblique strain.
Boston is 4-7 during that stretch, and veteran Alex Bregmanās slump has persisted. He has stroked only 14 hits over his past 89 at-bats (.157 batting average) in 22 games dating back to Aug. 23. Heās 9-for-45 (.200) with Anthony sidelined.
āChasing pitches,ā manager Alex Cora said before Bostonās game against the Athletics on Wednesday. āJust chasing pitches. If you look at his map, heās swinging at pitches in the edges of the zone and heās never done that throughout his career. Well, heās done it and when he struggles, itās because of that.ā
Cora said Bregman is fine physically. The 31-year-old third baseman hasnāt been the same hitter since returning from the injured list on July 11 after a 43-game absence due to a right quad strain.
He batted .299 with a .385 on-base percentage, .553 slugging percentage and .938 OPS in 51 games (226 plate appearances) before landing on the IL. He has posted a .251/.329/.389/.718 slash line in 54 games (228 plate appearances) since returning.
Bregman is in the 94th percentile in chase percentage (19.8%). The issue is chasing pitches in certain areas of the strike zone where he doesnāt do as much damage.
āOne of the things that I saw in ā17 and heās done throughout his career is hunting pitches in certain areas and being disciplined on taking the other ones,ā Cora said. āAnd it feels like right now maybe heās swinging at pitches in the zone, but not the ones he really wants. And with Alex throughout his career, heās very patient. He doesnāt swing much. Heāll be 0-2, and then all of a sudden heās 3-2. Kind of like one of the best at doing that.ā
Cora said pitchers have done a good job of keeping pitches out of the areas of the zone where Bregman does damage.
āGame-planning-wise, theyāre not going to go through the honeyhole,ā Cora said. āTheyāre going to keep the ball in certain areas, and itās up to him if heās going to swing at those pitches or not. And hopefully today weāre very stubborn as a group in the strike zone. I think thatās where we are at our best. We know that. And he needs to do that. He knows it, too.ā
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