Struggling Hernández sparks wild rally, series win

BOSTON -- To Kiké Hernández, who has struggled to find his way offensively and defensively all season, a broken-bat bloop single with an exit velocity of 52.7 mph and an expected batting average of .150 never felt so sweet.

As the clutch knock found a patch of grass in short left field, the tying and go-ahead runs crossed the plate with one out in the bottom of the seventh.

It was hard to imagine that one clunky hit would serve as the ignitor for a six-run rally that led the Red Sox to a 10-6 victory over the American League West-leading Rangers in the rubber match of a three-game series on Thursday night at Fenway Park.

For Hernández, style points weren’t anywhere on his priority list. He was just looking for a way to contribute to the team, which has been tough of late as his playing time has diminished.

“It feels great. As of late, the opportunities to come up big late in the game have been limited, so in that situation, to be able to stay with it, put the ball in play and stay inside it and find a hole out there was pretty big,” said Hernández.

After sitting on the bench the previous three days (two games and an off-day), Hernández chipped in with an important hit after drawing a walk earlier in the game.

While Red Sox manager Alex Cora noted that the three days off gave Hernández some time to reset and work on his craft, the right-handed-hitting veteran would rather play through his struggles.

“Agree to disagree,” Hernández said when asked about the reset theory.

Hernández’s timely swing was one of seven hits in the inning for the Red Sox, tying their season high from April 20 against the Twins.

There was also a key baserunning play on Hernández’s hit, as Adam Duvall got a tremendous read from second, allowing him to score the go-ahead run.

“Great baserunning play by Duvie,” said Cora. “It was a great read. As soon as he hit it, he knew it [would fall] and he took off.”

For Hernández, the season so far has been one he would like to forget. He entered the year as the team’s starting shortstop due to the departure of Xander Bogaerts and the right elbow surgery for Trevor Story.

“It’s been tough,” admitted Hernández. “Obviously things haven’t gone my way offensively or defensively. The opportunities have been getting more limited. I’m conscious we still have a lot of baseball left this season, and just putting in the work and trying to figure out a way to get out of this hole. I think coming up big for the team is a step in the right direction.”

If Hernández had been performing well on at least one side of the ball, Cora would have an easier time keeping him in the lineup. But Hernández has 14 errors and a slash line of .225/.284/.332 with six homers and 31 RBIs in 296 plate appearances.

“Obviously, it’s not easy,” said Cora. “He works hard at his craft. He worked hard at his craft in the offseason and it hasn’t paid off yet. But today was a huge one for us. He got that big hit. He made that double play at the end. Something people haven’t noticed is he has played good shortstop lately the last few weeks. At one point, he’s going to get hot.”

Before Hernández and his teammates broke through in the bottom of the seventh, reliever Josh Winckowski made it all possible with a stellar escape in the top of the inning. Though he had struggled in recent outings, Cora brought the righty into a second-and-third, no-out jam, with Boston trailing 5-4. Winckowski went through some of the toughest hitters on the Rangers, getting Adolis García on a groundout to second that was too shallow to score a run, then punching out Josh Jung and, after an intentional walk to Jonah Heim, inducing Ezequiel Duran to ground out, ending the inning and, as it turned out, swinging the momentum.

“Obviously a big moment,” said Winckowski. “I was just trying to limit the damage and get the first out without scoring, and then get to two strikes, and you start to look for the punchout. But it was kind of just targeting weak contact and filling up the zone before that.”