BOSTON — Feed the best player in baseball. Shape the lineup so that every bit of offense can be squeezed out for Mookie Betts to devour.
In the regular season, the offense that averaged more runs per game than any was undeniably top-heavy. The Red Sox’ Nos. 7-9 hitters finished the regular season 20th in average (.232), 21st in on-base percentage (.293) and 17th in slugging (.367).
The effect was what you'd expect. The presumptive American League Most Valuable Player didn’t always have traffic when he stepped to the plate.
Among players with at least 600 plate appearances this season overall, no one had fewer opportunities with runners on base than Betts, with 205. The Astros’ George Springer came close, though, at 206. Both are staples in their team’s leadoff spot.
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The damage that Betts can do is enhanced by what happens before him. That statement is true for any leadoff hitter, but the importance of the bottom of the order is magnified in a lineup built like Boston’s.
Boston Red Sox
Sunday night’s 7-5 Game 2 win over the Astros was swung by a swing from Jackie Bradley Jr., the No. 8 hitter who this year received too much blame when he was struggling at the plate, and has probably received too little recognition when he’s done well. His three-run double off the Green Monster in the third inning turned a two-run deficit into a one-run lead, at 5-4.
“When those guys started rolling, it definitely makes our whole lineup a lot better,” Betts said. “We have some good bats in our lineup. And I think when that lineup is extended and you start getting guys on base throughout the whole lineup, it makes definitely for a long day for the pitcher.”
An insurance run the Sox scored in the eighth to pad the lead for shaky closer Craig Kimbrel was the product of a Rafael Devers leadoff single. Devers batted sixth on Sunday. A two-out single from pinch-hitter Mitch Moreland in the No. 9 hole kept the inning going, and then a double from Betts brought Devers home.
Be it a pinch-hitter or a starter, success in the bottom third can be transformative.
“I think it just extends the lineup,” Bradley said. “We like to be able to put together great at-bats up and down the lineup no matter who's up. We like to have that mindset of do your job and kind of pass the baton to the next person; get on base any way you possibly can. And I like to be aggressive.
“I know they're not going to pitch around me to get to Markus, or whoever is behind me. So I just continue to try to see good pitches and compete.”
As the Sox move forward in the ALCS, now tied at a game apiece, they should do everything they can to set up RBI opportunities for Betts, and even No. 2 hitter Andrew Benintendi. That means a focus on offense in lineup decisions.
Ian Kinsler started at second base and struck out three times Sunday. Devers, who got the start instead of Eduardo Nunez, looked good in the field and should continue to start at the hot corner.
If Brock Holt and Devers can see more time in the bottom of the order, and if Alex Cora can be even more aggressive with his bench when the bottom of the order rolls around, the Sox’ chances against the Astros should only increase. Blake Swihart hasn’t been used much to this point, but pinch-hit opportunities do exist in the lower third, particularly at catcher — where Moreland has been used.
As Astros manager A.J. Hinch put it prior to Sunday’s game, Betts is "a ticking time bomb to do some kind of damage.”
The amount of damage he can do is correlated to what happens in front of him.