The Boston Red Sox have to like what they have seen from Wilyer Abreu at the plate lately.
Abreu, who has hit three home runs in his past three games, will look to remain hot Tuesday when the Red Sox face the visiting Cincinnati Reds in the second contest of a three-game series.
Abreu hit an inside-the-park home run and a grand slam during Boston’s 13-6 victory over Cincinnati on Monday. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Abreu became the first Boston player with those two varieties of homers in the same game since 1939 (Jim Tabor).
Jocko Fields, Everett Scott, Charlie Gehringer and Roger Maris are the other MLB players who have hit a grand slam and an inside-the-park home run in the same game. Maris did it most recently, in 1958.
Abreu also belted a three-run home run during a 15-1 win against Toronto on Saturday.
After hitting 15 home runs in 132 games last year, Abreu has 16 homers in 74 games this season.
“So far, it’s been an outstanding season for him,” Boston manager Alex Cora said. “It’s been great.
“He got a fastball he could handle down in the zone for the grand slam, and that’s something we’ve been talking about with him. He gets a lot of pitches –especially fastballs — and he fouls them straight back. … There’s a lot of communication lately about who you are as a hitter and what (pitches) we need to attack. It’s getting to that point in the season where tendencies are out there and they know who you are.”
It was just the kind of game the Red Sox needed after going 1-7 in the previous eight games.
Cincinnati’s Chase Burns made his second MLB start, but exited the mound with one out in the first inning. Burns, the No. 2 selection in last year’s MLB draft, surrendered seven runs (five earned) on five hits.
Given how relentless the Red Sox were, Cincinnati manager Terry Francona wondered if Burns was tipping his pitches.
“(Tipping) is something you probably always need to check,” he said. “There were pitches that caught the plate. They were definitely hit hard. Those are always things you try to check for. Cora is one of the best at that. They were certainly ready.”
“We don’t play this game for a good showing, but I was proud of our guys,” Francona added. “We kept the energy up. We kept fighting. … There were some quirky things that happened tonight, but they battled. We’re OK.”
Jordan Hicks, a hard-throwing reliever the Red Sox received from the San Francisco Giants in the Rafael Devers trade, made his Boston debut and pitched a one-two-three eighth inning. One of his pitches was clocked at 100.5 mph.
Right-hander Brady Singer (7-6, 4.31 ERA) is scheduled to start on the mound for Cincinnati on Tuesday. Singer is 2-2 with a 4.71 ERA in four career appearances (all starts) against Boston. He’s allowed 28 hits in 21 innings against the Red Sox.
Righty Richard Fitts (0-3, 4.68) is Boston’s probable starter. It will be his first career appearance against the Reds.
Fitts allowed two runs on four hits in four innings during his last start, Wednesday’s 5-2 loss to the Los Angeles Angels, though he took a no-decision. He struck out six and walked one.