Sox offense moving again after stalling in July

Ranking last in the American League, the Red Sox rely on an offense that must get contributions from the top of the lineup to the bottom. They refer to this approach as “keeping the line moving.’’

For most of July, though, the line didn’t move much. Instead, it was stalled like traffic to the Cape on a Friday afternoon in the middle of summer. They would have needed to increase their speed just to reach “sputtering’’ speed. Mostly, it was stop-and-go.

Lately, the congestion has cleared some. In July, when they were just 13-14, the Red Sox scored three runs or fewer 13 times. Regardless of how well a team is pitching – and the Sox have pitched pretty well most of the season – it’s tough to win games with that kind of meager output.

But on the current homestand, as July has crossed into August, the Sox have scored six or more runs in four of the last five games.

On Thursday night, they sprayed 14 hits – two of them homers – as they outmuscled the Chicago White Sox 9-5. Over those same five games, the offense has averaged 7.8 runs, a considerable uptick from their 4.3 average for the month of July.

It began early Thursday, too. The Sox led 4-0 after one and 7-2 after two, giving them five different innings in the last two games in which they scored three or more runs. In all of July, they had just 12 of those innings.

What’s changed? For starters, there’s been the introduction of rookie Rafael Devers and newly-acquired Eduardo Nunez. Devers hit his third homer in eight games in the first, while Nunez had two more hits and an RBI, giving him 10 in his first half-dozen games.

“They’ve kind of (re-ignited) the offense a little bit,’’ remarked Andrew Benintendi of Devers and Nunez. “It only takes one guy to do that, but when you’ve got two guys to kind of get things going, it’s really nice.’’

A week into his time with the Red Sox, Nunez has taken up residency in the No. 3 spot in the order and made like a Fenway lifer as he regularly peppers The Wall. Devers, by virtue of his preternatural approach, has already vaulted to fifth in the batting order.

“There’s a natural confidence he exudes,’’ said John Farrell of his rookie wunderkind. “The beauty of what he’s doing is he hasn’t swung at pitches out of the zone. He’s very disciplined.’’

But the line isn’t moving better or more efficiently simply because of two players.  Benintendi, who was benched for the previous two games, returned Thursday with a vengeance, stroking two doubles, to center and left, and a single.

He used his time off wisely, to work on his swing in the cage.

“It allowed me to focus on the little things and get back to my approach, my routine,’ said Benintendi.

“Maybe’’ proposed Farrell, “it was (good to have) a couple of days just to clear his head.’’

After observing the one-year anniversary of his major league debut this week, Benintendi understands that opposing pitchers now have a book on him with which to work. It's up to the outfielder to crack the code and respond accordingly.

"It's kind of a game,'' he said of the necessary adjustments that need to made in the big leagues. "It kind of goes back and forth.''

And there's Mitch Moreland, who has slowly emerged from a six-week funk that can be traced back to when he suffered a broken toe, forcing him into some bad habits at the plate. Sufficiently recovered, Moreland is back to swatting the ball the other way instead of being pull-happy.

He began to stir on Saturday when he punched a single to left and ripped a double to right. In Tuesday's win over Cleveland, he homered and doubled, and Thursday, there were yet two more doubles. In his last four games, he has five extra-base hits. By comparison, from June 28 through July 29, he had exactly one (1) extra-base hit in 70 at-bats.

"It's been a contribution of a number of things,'' explained Farrell. "I can't say that it's one particular item that is the common thread.''

Whatever the reason, the line is moving again and the Red Sox are thrilled with their progress.