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The Boston Red Sox Saturday, May 15, 2021 * The Boston Globe Bobby Dalbec has his moment, lifts Red Sox over Angels Julian McWilliams For almost a year, the fans saw the light-tower power of Bobby Dalbec, but never this close. For almost a year, they felt his game-changing talent, but again, never this close. The 2020 season plagued by COVID- 19 offered Dalbec’s silhouette but never his entire image. Dalbec’s 2021 season brought its struggles and as the frustrations mounted for Dalbec, equally, the fans’ frustration with Dalbec mounted, too. But as spring decided to blossom Friday on a 71 degree night, so did Bobby Dalbec. With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Dalbec finally got his moment. In a game that the Red Sox led for nearly its entirety, the contest quickly became 3-2 in favor of the Angels. That’s when Dalbec stepped to the plate. He struck out in his previous at-bat but that comes with who he is. A short-term memory is a key to his survival, moreover, his success. With Hunter Renfroe on first, having reached on a single, Dalbec barreled a 1-2 changeup from Angels southpaw Tony Watson for a two-run shot to left-center, delivering an eventual 4-3 Sox win. “It was a crazy moment,” Dalbec said afterward. “Special moment. It’s something that you dream of as a kid.” The crowd’s cheers simply were their affirmation. What they read about him, what they saw from afar suddenly had a feeling to it with one swing of the bat. It was Dalbec’s moment that breathed life into Fenway despite its 25 percent capacity. “It was a cool Friday night at Fenway,” manager Alex Cora said. “It was great to see. The vibe was outstanding. The fans were into it.” The situation was tailor-made for Dalbec, who has feasted against lefties this season. He’s hitting just .206 overall, but prior to that at-bat, Dalbec hit .351 with two homers in 38 plate appearances. “I was just trying to get my timing, [Watson’s] kind of got that little funky hitch,” Dalbec said. “He threw me a couple of good pitches to hit early, some of those fastballs.” The Red Sox blew the lead in the seventh after Nick Pivetta allowed a single to Anthony Rendon and reliever Matt Andriese took over. Andriese yielded a one-out José Iglesias go-ahead double that plated two. Still, Pivetta was arguably at his best during this outing and did it against a lineup that featured not only Rendon, but Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani. Ohtani tagged Pivetta with an opposite-field homer in the sixth. Ohtani’s double off Pivetta in the first was one of the four hits the Angels tallied against the righthander. Trout, meanwhile, was 0 for 3 with a strikeout vs. Pivetta, while Rendon was 1 for 3 with a strikeout against the starter. Pivetta totaled seven strikeouts in an outing which amounted to six innings plus a batter. “I went about my business the right way, commanded the strike zone,” Pivetta said. “I need to continue to pitch, get comfortable and do what I do.” “Nick was outstanding,” Cora said. “He gave us a chance to win. He had a good fastball and good breaking ball to a good lineup.” As Dalbec made his way into the dugout, the crowd wanted to cement that connection between the two sides. A select few began chanting his name. Then it was the entire stadium. Christian Vázquez urged his rookie teammate to emerge from the dugout for his well-earned curtain call. So, Dalbec did. He reached the top step of the first base dugout as the crowd still erupted even more and offered a wave before disappearing as quickly as his homer did in that frame. “It always feels great to be able to come up in a big spot like that,” Dalbec said. “And put the team ahead, especially late in the innings.” ‘Thinker’ Bobby Dalbec trusting talent, approach at the plate for Red Sox Julian McWilliams Bobby Dalbec knows he isn’t J.D. Martinez. He doesn’t have the years of experience, nor the impressive resume which has made Martinez among the game’s most elite hitters for the past few years. There’s a process that comes with Martinez’s greatness, one that is rooted in his ability to make adjustments from at-bat to at-bat. Dalbec understands that’s not a part of his game yet either. “That’s why J.D. is so good, because he knows how to attack those [areas of weakness] all the time,” Dalbec said prior to the Red Sox’ series opener against the Angels. “He’s mastered being able to fix things right after an at-bat and I’m just not there yet. So I have to be okay with the feel versus the real, and just know that trust is a big thing.” Dalbec is a thinker, but if he’s thinking about mechanics in the batter’s box, it could freeze him. In the words of many hitting coaches — and in this case, Dalbec — analysis causes paralysis. Similarly, if Dalbec takes the Martinez approach and delves deep into the mechanics of his setup, load, or swing, he can struggle. As Dalbec mentioned, this is when trust in his talent comes into play. The work, too. “I have to make sure that my work feels like it’s harder than the game,” Dalbec said. “Whether it’s the velo machine and scooting up 20 feet from it, just to make sure that ball is getting on me, so I can keep things tight.” Dalbec entered Friday hitting .316 in his last 20 plate appearances. He’s homered twice in that five-game span, including one against Athletics lefthander Sean Manaea Thursday evening. His lefty-righty splits are pretty drastic this year — Dalbec was hitting .351 vs lefthanders this year versus just .118 against righthanders entering the weekend. Dalbec noted that some of those struggles are because of vision and timing, not seeing it out of the righty’s hand in time before the pitch is on him. Nonetheless, Dalbec has learned in his rookie season not to dwell too much on something he feels will eventually even out. “I want it so bad all the time that I’ll try to do too much or fix things that don’t need to be fixed,” Dalbec said. “I’m trying to always stay ahead of it. So I just got to be okay with things not looking exactly how they feel in my head.” Rarely one to stifle his frustration after a bad plate appearance, Rafael Devers let his bat have it after striking out in the eighth inning on Friday. Rarely one to stifle his frustration after a bad plate appearance, Rafael Devers let his bat have it after striking out in the eighth inning on Friday.JOHN TLUMACKI/GLOBE STAFF Transcendent Trout Angels outfielder Mike Trout is a generational talent, a future Hall of Famer who will arguably go down as one of the greatest baseball players of all time once his career is over. At just 29, Trout already has three American League MVP awards to his name and is eyeing a fourth. Before Friday, Trout was hitting an absurd .355/.477/.673 with a 1.150 OPS and eight homers. The game has been rooted in homers, strikeouts, and walks, and as offenses across the majors struggle against dominant pitching (hitting just .234 league-wide as of Friday) Trout is having, perhaps, the best offensive showing of a career that’s already etched in Cooperstown. “Those guys, they want to be great,” manager Alex Cora said. “And they want to keep improving. There’s no stop, right? They always find something that they need to work on. I’m talking about superstars. They try to find ways to keep improving.” Cora noted that Trout is doing it without necessarily implementing launch angle, a swing trend that has overtaken the league as pitchers continue to increase their velocity. Trout has cut the launch in his swing more than half, from a 23.1 degree launch angle in 2020 down to just 10.9 degrees this year. “There’s a reason he’s doing that,” Cora said. “He’s the only one that knows, but it seems like it’s working. I’m happy that those numbers are out there for the viewer or for the baseball fans, just to let them understand that there’s not only one way to hit.” Renfroe doing it all Hunter Renfroe has been one of the best defensive right fielders in baseball. He’s been a linchpin for the Sox outfield that has looked average, at best, in both left and right field. Recently, Renfroe has also brought it with the bat, already hitting five homers in the month of May. His fifth came Friday when he laced Angels’ Griffin Canning’s offering for a two-run shot in the bottom of the second. Despite that, the Red Sox like their ability to mix and match, particularly when Kiké Hernández (right hamstring) and Christian Arroyo (left hand contusion) return from the injured list. “That’s the beauty of a roster,” Cora said. “You know, here you don’t have to play 155 games to be part of the equation here. But you’re going to see him a lot in right field.” On the mend Hernández is set for a rehab assignment in Triple A Worcester this weekend.

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