Kiké Hernández is thriving for the Boston Red Sox right now.
The utility man hit his third home run in two games during Wednesday’s 7-4 defeat of the Toronto Blue Jays. On Monday, he launched two bombs — one of which was the 500th hit of his career.
And while he’s certainly enjoyed this weather-shortened series against the Blue Jays, Hernández’s successful stretch dates back even further. According to Red Sox Notes on Twitter, he has launched nine home runs in the last 25 games, marking a team and personal best:
Red Sox manager Alex Cora said after Wednesday’s game that the uptick in production is a result of a more patient Hernández.
“He’s not trying to do too much, actually,” Cora said. “It’s the other way around. He’s working counts, he’s hunting pitches in certain spots and he’s putting good swings on it. That was a great at-bat — 0-2 count, gets on top of a fastball and the ball goes out of the ballpark.”
Cora said he’s noticed these changes since the road series in Kansas City in mid-June, where Hernández returned to the lineup after sitting two games against the Atlanta Braves. Not including Wednesday, Hernández hit .267 with a .622 slugging percentage in 25 games since the outing against Kansas City on June 19.
Those figures are well above his season average, which had him entering Wednesday with a .237 batting average and .447 slugging percentage.
For what it’s worth, Hernández was also asked about his recent hot streak postgame, but his answer didn’t reveal too much:
“I don’t know, to be honest with you. No clue. I don’t have a secret. Like I said in the past few weeks, I’m just trying to get good at-bats, make good decisions at the pitches that I want to swing at and it’s going well for me right now. So I’m just gonna try and do my job.”
Whatever he’s doing, it’s working.
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