-1600x900.webp)
If it feels like the Boston Red Sox's offensive issues have started to lighten up, there might be a simple, yet perfect explanation.
After failing to score more than three runs in nine straight games, the Red Sox scratched their way to seven on Tuesday and four on Wednesday to finish off a sweep of the Kansas City Royals. The series was by no means perfect from a lineup perspective, but there were at least some signs of life.
Seemingly all at once, the Red Sox mitigated the three biggest issues they were having with their lineup. Those issues had names: Trevor Story, Caleb Durbin, and Jarren Duran.
The transformation began over the weekend in Atlanta. Story sat out Friday's game, then was placed on the injured list on Saturday with a sports hernia. Since then, he's flown all over the country to get medical opinions as to whether he needs surgery, and it seems as though an extended absence is increasingly likely.
Before his injury, Story was putting up a .547 OPS, now the sixth-worst among all qualified hitters. His six errors at shortstop weren't helping matters, either. Isiah Kiner-Falefa certainly isn't a long-term fix, but his three-hit night on Tuesday helped steady the ship, and there's every chance Marcelo Mayer could slide over to his natural position before long.
Durbin, meanwhile, remains perfectly healthy. But when Story went on the IL, the Red Sox called up 28-year-old switch-hitter Nick Sogard, who has taken three of the last four starts at third base. Getting a competent bat at that position has been key, as Sogard has gone 4-for-14 with a double and two RBIs since his call-up.
There now seems to be an entirely legitimate case to be made that Durbin, who owns the worst OPS in the league among qualifiers at .492, should be optioned to Triple-A.
Of all the strugglers, Duran has been the only one consistently in the lineup throughout the "turnaround," if we want to call it that. And perhaps for Duran, this most recent road trip really was a difference maker. He went 7-for-22 with six extra-base hits, homered in back-to-back games to propel the Sox to a sweep, and raised his season OPS from .529 to .628.
As the Red Sox prepare to face the Minnesota Twins over the weekend, their offense still doesn't look intimidating by typical Boston standards. But nothing drags a lineup down more than having three guys who can't pull their weight, and if all three issues are suddenly mitigated, this hot streak could continue.