BOSTON — Red Sox veteran Alex Bregman’s final swing Tuesday might not have been his best but it was his most productive.
Bregman beat out a ground ball to third base for a go-ahead RBI single with two outs in the eighth inning. The Red Sox then scored three more runs and won 11-7 over the Guardians at Fenway Park.
“I was fired up,” Bregman said. “Obviously I haven’t been swinging it really for the last week or so. I actually thought it was the worst swing I took all night. I thought the other swings were much better mechanically.”
Bregman stepped to the plate with just four hits in his previous 43 at-bats. He placed his infield single, hit 89.9 mph off the bat, in just the right spot down the line. Cleveland third baseman José Ramírez fielded on the edge of the dirt in front of the outfield grass behind the third base bag. He made a long throw from foul territory that Bregman beat out by a step.
“That’s probably the fastest I ran since I’ve been back, for sure,” Bregman said, smiling. “But we needed to get a win there.”
Manager Alex Cora pointed out about Ramírez and the Guardians infield, “They were playing very deep. So when he caught it, you could see that he had a chance.”
Bregman missed 43 games from May 24-July 11 with a right quad injury. The Red Sox have asked Bregman to pick his spots when it comes to hustling at full speed on the basepaths so he doesn’t reaggravate it.
“It’s getting better and feeling more comfortable day in and day out,” Bregman said. “And that’s a big thanks to the training staff and the medical staff. Just feel a lot better physically and super thankful and excited to make this playoff push.”
Cora added, “He’s not going to stop playing. He’s going to hustle. He’s going to give whatever he has that day and that was enough today.”
Bregman also mentioned his swings have felt better the past two days.
“Feel like it’s right around the corner, just clicking and going on a good run,” he said. “So to be able to come through there and get us to take the lead, that was awesome. It was a big win for us tonight. Keep it going.”
Jarren Duran followed Bregman’s go-ahead hit with an RBI double. Trevor Story’s two-run double then put Boston ahead 11-7.
“It was huge to not only take the lead but Jarren and Trevor’s at-bats were huge right after that,” he said. “Some insurance.”
The win came with a cost. The Red Sox lost star rookie Roman Anthony with left oblique tightness. He will undergo an MRI on Wednesday.
“Obviously losing Roman today is a gut punch,” Bregman said. “Obviously one of the best players in all of baseball, but we got to continue to push along and nobody needs to try and do more. No one needs to try to do more than they’re capable of. They just need to try and execute their game plan the same way that we’ve been talking about all year long and continue to find ways to win.”
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