Cora feels Benny’s bop is back
RED SOX NOTEBOOK
ARLINGTON, Texas — Alex Cora was candid yesterday when asked if he was surprised by the lack of home runs Andrew Benintendi has hit so far this season.
“Um, yeah,” the Red Sox manager said.
The Red Sox have rediscovered their power this season. A year after ranking last in the American League in long balls, they entered last night’s game against the Rangers tied for fourth in the majors with 43 after hitting 13 in their previous five games.
But Benintendi has been left behind in the surge. A season after he hit 20, the left fielder had just one homer — a solo shot on April 19 — in 29 games this season.
That’s obviously not what he wants, but Cora has seen signs that make him believe they’re coming soon.
“He’s doing a few things that for me with time he’s going to start getting his pitches and he’s not going to miss them,” Cora said. “He’s taking his walks, he’s not expanding.
“They’re pitching him differently than they did in spring training. Every pitch was up in the zone and in the inner third of the plate and he didn’t miss it. Now it seems like they’ll show him up, not in that lane and then they’ll go down and away.”
Benintendi has had a slow overall offensive showing in the early going, but Cora liked what he saw in him in last week’s series against Kansas City, which included a 3-for-6 game that featured some promising at-bats.
“He made a good adjustment last week going the other way, hitting line drives the other way, which is a start,” Cora said. “I feel sometimes hitters get caught up in the numbers and there’s no homers and they get pull happy. Now you can’t hit the outside pitches and you can’t hit the inside pitches because you’re pulling off.
“You start getting your hits the other way and make them make an adjustment and hopefully now they come in and he’s going to start hitting homers.”
On road back
Dustin Pedroia played a four-inning game that featured two at-bats on Friday in Fort Myers that went well, and his next game is on Wednesday as he continues to work his way back from an injured knee.
“He’s moving well,” Cora said. “No issues there. All the reports say that he’s improving, so things are going in the right direction.”
Cora said the biggest thing he’s looking for before the second baseman returns is stamina.
“Being able to play backto-back games,” Cora said. “Just like spring training. ... He doesn’t need to play nine innings but he needs to show he can play back-toback games, seven (innings), seven, see how he bounces back.”
Off to rehab
Brock Holt (left hamstring) went through a workout here yesterday and is set for a rehab assignment with Triple-A Pawtucket this week. He’ll travel to Lehigh Valley to join the PawSox for their games tomorrow and Tuesday, and the expectation is that he’ll be activated from the disabled list on Wednesday . . . .
A night after throwing a scoreless ninth inning to clinch the 5-1 win over the Rangers on Friday, Bobby Poyner was optioned to Pawtucket to make room for Eduardo Rodriguez, who started last night’s game. Rodriguez was returning from the family medical leave list . . . .
Tyler Thornburg made another step in his return from thoracic outlet syndrome in his right shoulder. He pitched one scoreless inning in Pawtucket, allowing one hit and striking out one.
He’s now pitched 22⁄3 innings, allowing two hits and one run while striking out five in three rehab outings.