Davis a speedy delivery
Shows why Sox traded for him in win
TORONTO — One week ago, the Red Sox traded for Rajai Davis while envisioning a game like last night.
If, of course, last night’s game had been played in the middle of October.
The Red Sox wanted a guy with speed, but they also wanted a guy who knew how to his speed. A guy who could create a run in a scoreless game. A guy who could force not one but two throwing mistakes, while stealing not one but two bases. A guy who could rattle a pitcher simply by taking a lead, bending his left knee and looking toward second base.
“Pressure’s not on me,” Davis said. “It’s on him. He’s got to make some good pitches, especially when I’m on there.”
Even on a night of Chris Sale’s brilliant return to form, Addison Reed’s eighth-inning escape act and Hanley Ramirez’ second home run in nearly three weeks, Davis was impossible to ignore.
Especially for the Blue Jays pitching staff.
Davis singled twice, got himself into scoring position twice, drew six different pickoff attempts and scored two runs in the Red Sox’ 3-0 win against the Blue Jays. He had a job to do, and after 12 years in the big leagues, he knew exactly how to do it.
“Once he gets on base, he’s got that kind of skill,” Sox manager John Farrell said. “He can wreak havoc on the bases. He can draw the attention of the opposing pitcher, and he’s almost in a daring way, dare you to try to throw him out or pick him off, but he’s such a confident base-stealer and baserunner. That’s the guy that we’ve known, and (it’s) great to see him still being able to do that.”
That’s why the Red Sox went after Davis in a waiver deal with the Athletics, because they’ve seen firsthand — Dave Roberts, anyone? — the impact of speed in a close game.
Maybe they didn’t plan to have Davis starting in left field or batting leadoff, but the fact he took on those roles last night was a happy bonus given Jackie Bradley Jr.’s injury and the team’s inability to hit lefties.
No, first and foremost, the Red Sox wanted a guy who could run. And man, can Davis run.
It still was a scoreless game when he singled with two outs in the sixth inning, only the Sox’ fourth hit off Brett Anderson, who immediately tried to pick him off twice. On the second attempt, Davis was dead to rights. He was breaking for second when the throw came to first base, but he never broke stride or deviated from his plan.
In fact, Davis seemed to stay upright as long as possible, moving to the inside part of the base path to get directly in the way of Justin Smoak’s throw, which hit Davis right in the back.
“He goes (on) first movement,” Farrell said. “And he’s been in that situation many times, so he’s reading where the infielder is going. Completely legal, he’s able to follow the eyes of the receiving infielder, and he ends up taking the ball off the back.”
It was Davis’ 27th stolen base of the season, his first since the trade, giving him one more than Mookie Betts had last season when he led the Sox in steals. And that’s the difference. The Red Sox have had speed, but Davis led the league in stolen bases last season, and he’s stolen more than 40 bases five times. The Red Sox didn’t have that kind of speed.
And pitchers can’t ignore that kind of speed.
When Davis singled again in the eighth, he didn’t only reach first base, he seemed to settle directly into the head of reliever Ryan Tepera.
There was a pickoff attempt, then a pitch out, two straight balls with another pickoff in between, and Davis still managed to steal second base.
Tepera was so erratic with Davis on base that Eduardo Nunez drew only his 17th walk of the season, and with Davis at second, Tepera kept attempting pickoffs until he finally threw one into center field, letting Davis take third.
Nunez moved up to second base, infielders moved in toward the grass for a potential play at the plate, and Andrew Benintendi singled over the drawn-in infield for the Sox’ third run of the night.
“I feel like I just go out there and just distract,” Davis said. “Try to do my job, hopefully get some good pitches for our hitters to hit, maybe get on second base, which I was able to do. That’s just fun to me.”
If it’s this fun in August, imagine how fun it could be in October.