Article: Red Sox Beat O’s, Alex Bregman’s Bat Wakes up in Time for Home Opener

[Davy Andrews]

With an 8-4 victory over the Orioles, the Red Sox offense looked like it has finally awakened. Alex Bregman was the star of the show.

Coming into Thursday’s getaway day game against the Orioles, Alex Bregman was running a .231 batting average and a measly 38 wRC+, meaning he was 62% worse than the average hitter. The $120-million man had yet to notch even one extra-base hit. For all the talk of Bregman’s incredible track record while hitting at Fenway Park, he looked set to enter Friday's home opener on a cold streak. However, the signs of life were always there.

Despite the lack of extra-base hits, Bregman was smashing the ball, running an excellent 95.9 mph average exit velocity and 55% hard-hit rate. Furthermore, after going 0-for-4 on Opening Day, Bregman was sitting on a five-game hitting streak. Here’s a fun fact: so far this season, Bregman has a 101.3 mph average exit velocity on his six singles. Among players with at least five singles this season, that trails only Jordan Walker of the Cardinals at 102.2. It was just a matter of time before all those scalded singles turned into something bigger. The time came on Thursday.

The game was full of good news. The Red Sox jumped out to a 2-0 lead over the Orioles in the first inning, and although starter Tanner Houck looked shaky, that lead was never in question.  Kristian Campbell contributed two hits, including his second home run of the season, pulling a ball over the Formerly-Great Wall of Baltimore. The struggling Triston Casas also contributed two hits, including his first home run of the season, and Rafael Devers notched yet another hit of his own. The Red Sox ended up with an 8-4 victory and a series victory, but the day belonged to Bregman.

Bregman batted third, and four of the 18 pitches he saw over the course of the game were located in the middle third of the plate. Bregman fouled off one of those four pitches, and and smashed the other three for extra bases. In the top of the first, with Devers on base, Baltimore starter Charlie Morton started the third baseman off with a 92-mph fastball that was about as middle-middle as you’ll ever see. Bregman knew just where to put it.

The 103.8-mph blast traveled 397 feet and would have made it out even before the Orioles moved the walls back in. This is exactly why the Red Sox nabbed Bregman in the first place. Bregman is one of the game’s best hitters at pulling the ball in the air, where batters can make the most of their power. It served him well when he could target those balls at the Crawford Boxes in Houston and it will suit him just as well when he’s launching them at and over the Green Monster.

Bregman struck out in his next two plate appearances but returned to the plate in the seventh inning out for vengeance. Reliever Keegan Akin challenged Bregman with a 1-1 four-seamer up in the zone, and Bregman was all over it, meeting the pitch out in front and ripping it down the line at 100.4 mph for a double.

Bregman would return with another double in the ninth inning. This time, Matt Bowman came after him with a high cutter, once again located right over the middle third of the plate. As the pit cut away from him, Bregman went with it, driving a 99.3-mph liner into the right field gap and knocking in Bregman for the second time.

If you're keeping score at home, Bregman went 3-for-5 with two doubles, a homer, and three RBI. The big day extended Bregman's hit streak to six games, lifting his batting average to .290 and his overall offensive line to a 117 wRC+. It's still very early in the season, but after crushing the ball and not having much to show for it over the first six games of the season, Bregman is finally getting results and looking every bit the star the Red Sox hoped they'd landed. With Casas and Devers beginning to find their strokes as well, we might get our first glimpse at what the newly constructed offense can do. The Red Sox pulled themselves to 3-4 with the win and have the chance to get back to .500 with another victory over the Cardinals today.

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