Boston Red Sox leaning on the sweet singing stick of Rafael Devers

It’s been a long 30 days but the Boston Red Sox finally accomplished something they’d gone a month without doing: winning a series twice in a row.

After taking two of three on the road against the Texas Rangers, the Red Sox kicked off a homestand by taking two of three from the red-hot Houston Astros (24-14).

Thanks in part to an offense waking up, Boston (15-22) has looked better the last week. And in wins and losses, it’s been the sweet singing stick of Rafael Devers carrying the team.

Blazing the way for the Boston Red Sox

Devers was off already off to a decent start and built upon that in early May. He’s turned that into a definite hot streak over the last five games, collecting 11 hits.

In Wednesday night’s 5-1 victory over the Astros, Devers continued his hard-hitting ways. He went 2-3, extending his hitting streak to 12 games. Both hits went for extra bases, with a triple in the first and an RBI-double in the third.

The double was his league-leading 15th on the season, eight having been hit this month.

Devers has dialed up the outstanding play during the month of May. He’s hitting .410 with four home runs and 12 RBI. Stretching back to the last week of April, Devers has hit safely in 20 of 22 games. Three times during that span has Devers had three hits in a game, while collecting two hits on eight different occasions.

It’s all been part of a start that has Devers hitting. 340 on the season. leading all MLB players with 52 hits. (Teammate Xander Bogaerts is not far behind with 46.)

These two have been the best players on offense for Boston so far in ’22 and it shows with Devers, who leads the team in multiple categories. Home runs (7) and RBI (21) are a bit off the pace among league leaders. Hopefully as the Red Sox continue to warm up, Devers will produce even more in the power department.

A good chance is on the horizon for Boston to keep their winning ways going. Though they’ve struggled at Fenway Park this season (6-10), these last couple of victories at home should get the team trending in the right direction.

They’ll have four more chances on this homestand, welcoming another A.L. West team to town beginning Thursday.

Boston Red Sox upcoming games

The Seattle Mariners (17-21) came out of the gates raring to go in 2022. Like the Red Sox, however, Seattle went through a tough stretch at the end of April and early part of May.

Seattle went 1-10 after beginning the season 11-6. They’ve been a bit more consistent since, though they just lost two of three to the Toronto Blue Jays.

In 2021, Boston won the season series 4-3 over the Mariners. Two of those losses came at home in April of that year.

Rich Hill is the tentative starter to open the series on Thursday, with Garrett Whitlock and Nathan Eovaldi also scheduled to take the bump. Friday’s starter is to-be-determined, with chances being it a bullpen day.

The Red Sox scored 20 runs in their first five games against the Mariners in ’21 but closed strong with 17 in their last two. Devers did have his struggles last season against Seattle, hitting only .231 (6-26) with two home runs and three RBI.

Devers was much better in 2019 against the Mariners, hitting .484 (15-31) with a home run, seven RBI, and four doubles.

Let’s hope for more of the latter with Devers as he hopes to keep the hot bat and hitting streak going this weekend. Another series victory would go a long way in continuing Boston’s climb back up the standings. And as long as Devers remains locked in, Boston has a chance to do exactly that.