Grabs all over outfield
JBJ earns hug after stellar catch
RED SOX NOTEBOOK
The ball hung up in the air while Jackie Bradley Jr. sprinted to the center-field triangle, lifted his head again to find it and turned his back to home plate.
Near the wall, Bradley jumped in the air and made the catch, and Brock Holt couldn’t help himself. He ran over to Bradley and gave him a big hug in the middle of center field.
“I’m just a hugger, man,” said Holt, who was playing right field during the Sox’ 8-3 win over the Blue Jays yesterday. “He was just asking me about hugging J.D. Martinez when he hits homers. That’s just what I felt like doing. Jackie made a heck of a play, and my reaction was to go give him a hug. But yeah, we’re having a good time, and that was a cool play to kind of be right there to see.”
Bradley’s sensational catch in the sixth inning to rob Kendrys Morales of extra bases electrified Fenway Park and showed why Bradley can be an important player to the Red Sox even when he’s struggling at the plate.
“That’s what we expect from Jackie day in and day out,” said starting pitcher David Price.
Bradley had little reaction to his catch.
“I always have high expectations on myself, offensively and defensively,” he said. “I felt like I should make the play. And I think it kind of shows where Brock was at, that he was so close, he was there to back me up. I think that’s pretty special. He hadn’t played right field in some time so that’s an amazing part on Brock just being there.”
Perhaps more importantly, Bradley hit an oppositefield double for an RBI two innings earlier. It was his first RBI since May 1.
Bradley’s prolonged slump at the plate has been “tough for Jack and tough for us to watch because we all know how much he cares and how hard he works,” Price said. “All the work he does in the weight room, the video room, in the cage and to see somebody struggle like that you feel for them. For him to swing it the way he’s swung it the past six, seven games that’s good. He never lets it affect his defense and that’s what the really good players do. They don’t take their at-bats out there into the field. He continues to make web gem after web gem and that’s why we love Jack.”
Bradley has quietly started heating up of late, with hits in five of his last seven games while going 7-for-23 (.305). He had been hitting .111 in his previous 24 games.
“I feel good,” he said. “I feel like the approach is good and I’m making solid contact. My level confidence has been the same all year. Obviously you want results. I’m confident that results will come.”
Price battles on
Price was hit in the chest with a line drive in the first inning but picked the ball up and threw to first for the third out.
He stayed in to finish five innings on 95 pitches while allowing two runs, striking out four and walking four.
Asked if the line drive off the chest hurt, he sarcastically said, “You know me, I’m the softest guy in this clubhouse. If that bothered me, I would have been out of the game. I’m soft. It wasn’t painful. I’m fine. If it was painful, I would have come out.”
He also received a mound visit from manager Alex Cora and trainer Brad Pearson later in the game, when he started wiggling his fingers.
“I see him playing with the baseball and kind of moving his fingers, my heart stops,” Cora said. “I just wanted to make sure it was fine. I went out there and what he said he said it with a lot of conviction, so I had to step it up and let him finish what he had to do.”
Price insisted he was fine. “Yeah, I wasn’t coming out of the game,” he said. “I’d rather blow out out there than come out. That’s just where we’re at.”
He added, “I’m soft, period. It’s not a joke. I’m soft.”
Was the sarcasm in response to Price feeling as though he’s been unfairly criticized in the past?
“No, I’m soft,” Price repeated. “It’s cold, can’t pitch. My hand’s tingling, can’t do my job. That’s it.”
Betts rests again
Mookie Betts was held out of the lineup for the second straight day while he recovers from tightness in his left side.
Cora said it was not related to his oblique or intercostal areas and Betts was feeling better.
“No, just tightness, he’ll be fine,” Cora said. “I mean he’s getting treatment. We do feel that probably (today), might be a day that he’ll come back. I’d prefer to stay away from it for probably two days if everything is going this way. There’s no need to push him. Makes no sense.”