BOSTON — Xander Bogaerts turned and spiked his bat after belting a 386-foot three-run homer over the Green Monster in the sixth inning Friday.
Bogaerts had connected on a 96 mph two-strike fastball inside from Rays reliever Shawn Armstrong. The ball left his bat at 100.1 mph.
“I was grinding up until that point the whole game,” Bogaerts said. “Obviously not feeling the way you want to. But you’ve still gotta compete.”
The Red Sox won 9-8 over the Rays here at Fenway Park to end a four-game losing streak.
“It felt real good, man,” Bogaerts said. “I’m not gonna lie. It felt real good. Off the bat, I kind of knew it.”
What made him slam down the bat?
“It’s everything,” Bogaerts said. “As I said, I was down in the count (1-2). I felt like I was swinging at strikes. It just wasn’t hitting my barrel. I felt like I had a hole in my bat for a minute. He missed in and I saw it good and I put a good swing on it.”
Bogaerts has had a solid season with a .372 on-base percentage and .820 OPS. But he has lacked home run power. His blast Friday was just his 11th this season.
His slugging percentage is down 45 points from last year and 107 points from 2019.
“It’s been a struggle,” manager Alex Cora said when asked about the emotion Bogaerts showed. “It’s been a struggle. He put some good swings today. In that at-bat, he let it loose. He got to a fastball and hit it in the air.”
Bogaerts said it wasn’t the first time he spiked his bat after a homer.
“The first one in a long time,” he said. “I remember in 2019, I did one against (Ross) Stripling, too. Hit a curveball. He had me crazy the whole game (with his) curveball. I ran into one. But tonight was a good one.”
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