McAdam: Contributions from lower-third of lineup help power Red Sox

The Red Sox don't have to worry, of course, about Mookie Betts or J.D. Martinez or Xander Bogaerts.

They constitute the top half of the lineup that a year ago was the best in baseball. And with the emergence of third baseman Rafael Devers as a significant offensive threat, the top half of the Boston batting order is that much more formidable. There are no places for opposing pitchers to hide and the Sox are eminently capable of jumping on a team in the first couple of innings.

But the bottom of the Red Sox lineup has been known to offer a respite or two. With little in the way of contributions either catcher earlier in the year and the usual April/May funk suffered by streaky outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr., the Sox were frighteningly top heavy.

Of late, however, that's begun to change.



In the last 10 days, Bradley has begun to show signs of life. Meanwhile, Christian Vazquez has blossomed enough at the plate that Alex Cora has taken to occasionally using him as the team's DH when he's not behind the plate, a sure sign of the team's growing confidence.

And when Sandy Leon, who began Monday with a .548 OPS, begins to contribute, then the Sox are truly dangerous from top to bottom.

In the club's 12-5 pasting of the Cleveland Indians, the bottom third supplied plenty of its own offensive contributions.

Bradley twice stung doubles to left, scoring runs both times. Leon cranked a three-run homer into the Monster Seats in the fifth, helping to blow the game wide open. And Brock Holt, the prodigal infielder, returned from a lengthy stay on the IL to chip in with a run-scoring single and two runs scored.

"I've been feeling all along that, offensively, we're getting close,'' said Cora. "Offensively, when Jackie starts swinging it, we became that (much more) dangerous. Sandy, his at-bats have been a lot better than last year; forget the results. He's been hitting the ball hard and having good at-bats and obviously when they do it, then this happens. It was a good offensive game for us.''

Bradley officially began his turnaround in Toronto last week and hit three homers on the recent road trip. Overall, he's 9-for-31 in the last week, with all but two of those hits going for extra bases. Tellingly, most of them have been smacked to the opposite field and when Bradley stays on balls to hit them hard to left field, it's a statement that he's figured some things out at the plate.

"It's a good sign when I get the ball off the ground,'' said Bradley, noting that that is a more important indicator.

Indeed, good are the at-bats when Bradley rolls over on balls and tops them to the right side of the infield. Now that he's elevating the ball, the hits are coming, and most of them are doing damage.

For Bradley, it's been about trying to "read the ball'' and not just see it.

"I can see the ball coming, I can see whether it's a ball or a strike,'' he emphasized, "but to read it, to be able to decipher whether I want to swing at it, and read whether it's a good pitch for me to swing at -- I think all that helps.''

If history is a guide, Bradley's recent hot streak suggests that he's about to go on a tear, not unlike the one that carried him for most of the second half and then continued into the postseason.

That's probably too much to ask from Leon, whose primary responsibility is to guide pitchers through an outing in which they're lacking their best stuff, the way he did Monday with Rick Porcello.

But offensive contributions, though secondary in importance, are always welcome.

"Everybody's pulling for him, everybody knows how it went last year,'' said Cora of his catcher. "He's a guy who keeps working and keeps trying to find his swing. In the previous at-bat, with the bases loaded, he got a pitch and he missed it; that one, he didn't miss it.

"It's good to see him smile, too, because he's doing something offensively. He can say all he wants about the defense and calling games and that's all he cares about. But not really -- he wants to contribute and today he did.''