It’s been a miserable month for Trevor Story, but Sunday was the latest sign that the shortstop’s long-dormant bat may be coming to life.
Two days after hitting a towering home run to help the Red Sox win their series opener, Story made the difference again in Sunday’s 3-1 win over the Atlanta Braves, going 2 for 3 with a three-run double in the top of the first inning along with an excellent defensive gem to help wrap things up in the bottom of the ninth.
Story’s early knock gave Garrett Crochet all the support he’d need, as the left-hander held the Braves to just one run over seven dominant innings while striking out 12.
Following the game Story acknowledged that having the calendar flip to June has given him a chance to reset.
“Definitely, you’re looking for little things like that to create some momentum,” Story told NESN’s Jahmai Webster. “What’s in the past is in the past, we can’t harp on it but we can learn from it. Going forward just trying to be the best athlete I can, keep it simple, less is more for me a lot of times so that’s what we’re dialed into right now.”
Over the 33 games between April 19 and the end of this past week’s Milwaukee series on May 28, Story hit .154 with only two extra-base hits. But since coming to town on Friday the shortstop now has two extra-base hits in his last three games, including the bases-loaded double that put the Red Sox on the board in the top of the first.
Story’s double went 413 feet and scored Rafael Devers, Abraham Toro and Marcelo Mayer to make it a 3-0 game right out of the chute.
Atlanta was notably where Story broke out of one of his previous worst slumps back in 2022. After struggling for the first month and a half of his first season in Boston, the shortstop went 3 for 9 with a home run and four RBI over two games. From that series until he suffered a broken wrist after being hit by a pitch just prior to the All-Star break Story hit 15 home runs with 48 RBI over a 57-game stretch, during which the club went 36-21.
The Red Sox would surely take a similar heater now.
Boston’s bats didn’t get much done the rest of the game, but Crochet made sure to keep the Braves at bay. The lone damage came when Marcell Ozuna, a proven Red Sox killer if there ever was one, tagged the lefty for a solo home run his first time up to give him 11 home runs in 24 career games against Boston.
But other than that Crochet cruised through the first two innings, striking out four of the first seven batters he faced.
Crochet faced more pressure starting in the third as the Braves got runners on the corners in three straight innings. The lefty was able to work his way out of trouble each time, first striking out Ozuna to end the third before getting a pair of punch-outs to end the fourth after initially putting two on with nobody out.
The fifth wasn’t quite as tall an order, getting a routine groundout after Ozuna reached on a bloop single. That was another recurring theme for Crochet, as the Braves had three separate batters reach on shallow bloopers that just barely fell in front of Red Sox outfielders.
There was nearly a fourth as well, though rookie Kristian Campbell was able to make an impressive backhanded grab in shallow right with his back to the infield in the bottom of the fourth.
The Red Sox ace finished strong by retiring the last seven batters he faced, coming back out for the seventh with 99 pitches before striking out the side. Crochet finished with one run allowed on five hits and two walks with a season-high 12 strikeouts and a career-high 112 pitches.
Cora noted that with a stretch of five straight weeks with a Thursday off-day coming up, they’ll be able to push Crochet harder knowing he’ll have longer to recover between starts.
“When you look back at the Mets one we have to pick and choose, and at that point it looked like what are they doing? But there’s a reason. For us to be aggressive, understanding now we’ve got Thursdays off and he’s going to get an extra day, we can be more aggressive,” Cora said. “We pushed him to the limit and he did an outstanding job.”
Reliever Greg Weissert held up by retiring Austin Riley, Ozuna and Matt Olson in the bottom of the eighth, and Aroldis Chapman closed things out for his ninth save of the season.
Though the Red Sox got the win, Cora noted that Sunday was not a good day for the offense. The club collectively went 2 for 7 with runners in scoring position and never seriously threatened after the first inning.
Following the game Cora offered some pointed comments, particularly to the team’s younger players.
“We need more, there were some at-bats in the middle of the game that we have to correct, we have to be better,” Cora said. “I know we’re young but we expect better from this group. I think the expectations are high in this group for the organization and we have to put everything behind us. We have to be better than this. We scored three, which is awesome, but after that we didn’t do much.”
With the win the Red Sox (29-32) take the three-game series and have now won two of three since dropping five straight entering the weekend. The team now returns home to Boston for a brief homestand against the Los Angeles Angels, which begins Monday at 7:10 p.m.
Slaten to IL
Prior to the game, the Red Sox bullpen took another hit.
Right-hander Justin Slaten, one of the team’s most important set-up men, was placed on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder inflammation. To fill his spot on the active roster the Red Sox recalled right-hander Luis Guerrero from Triple-A.
The Red Sox also called up outfielder Nate Eaton, optioned utility man Nick Sogard to Triple-A and designated catcher Blake Sabol for assignment.
Slaten has been one of Boston’s most reliable high-leverage relievers this season, posting a 3.47 ERA over 23.1 innings in 24 appearances through the first two months. Since enduring a rough stretch at the beginning of May the 27-year-old had gone 10 consecutive outings without allowing an earned run, and nine straight without being charged with a run of any kind prior to his most recent appearance in Milwaukee on May 28.
Guerrero has appeared in five MLB games this season and has allowed one earned run in 5.1 innings.
Campbell’s 1B debut delayed
Over the past couple of days Cora indicated that Kristian Campbell would make his debut at first base in Sunday’s series finale, but when the lineup was announced the rookie was still in his usual spot at second base.
Speaking to reporters in Atlanta, Cora said he changed his mind because of the way Abraham Toro has been hitting recently.
“Today, it seemed like a good day but Toro is pushing the envelope,” Cora said, per MassLive’s Chris Cotillo. “He’s putting good at-bats and we need him in the lineup.”
Toro, who came into the day batting .296 with an .833 OPS in 17 games, batted cleanup on Sunday. He went 2 for 4 with a run scored.
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