BOSTON — Before Friday’s series opener with the Chicago White Sox, Red Sox shortstop Ceddanne Rafaela’s chase rate was an astounding 73 percent in the month of September. Accordingly, the strikeouts had piled up for the rookie, with four multiple-strikeout games in his last six starts.
Rafaela had been flailing at breaking pitches out of the strike zone almost as a matter of routine and over his 10 previous games, was hitting just .121 (4-for-33). But in the seventh inning in a 1-1 game Friday night, Rafaela jumped on inside pitch and drove it into the Monster Seats for a two-run homer, sending the Red Sox to a 3-1 victory and snapping a five-game losing streak.
