The Boston Red Sox Friday, May 12, 2017 * The Boston Globe Mookie Betts is rounding into vintage (2016) form Nick Cafardo MILWAUKEE — Buck Showalter took me aside one day last week at Fenway Park and said quietly, “Mookie Betts might be the best player in our league.” This from a guy who has Manny Machado on his team. The Orioles manager may be right. If you went by last season, Betts probably was the best player in the American League, but the MVP award went to Mike Trout, who has played at an elite level year after year. We haven’t seen the home runs from Betts as much as we saw them a year ago, when he hit 31. He also drove in 113 runs in 2016. But his fifth homer of this season, which cleared Miller Park’s left-field wall in the ninth inning with two aboard, gave the Red Sox a 4-1 win Thursday, preventing them from dipping to .500 for the season. Betts, who is now hitting .311 with 5 homers, 22 RBIs, and a .924 OPS, had a typical Betts day. He hit all the food groups, so to speak. He doubled to lead off the game, walked twice, and banged the long home run. He has reached base in his last 13 games, compiling a .407 on-base percentage in that span, going 16 for 51 with 10 runs, 7 doubles, 3 homers, and 11 RBIs. That sounds more like the Betts of last season. “He’s starting to feel good, and he’s got his confidence going,” said hitting coach Chili Davis. “He gives you really good at-bats. For a while there, he was one of those guys who says, ‘I don’t feel right. I’m not comfortable.’ He’ll let you know, ‘I don’t like that.’ ’’ Is it because pitchers are so careful with him now, not giving him much to hit? “The way I look at it, they can try to pitch you a certain way,” said Davis, “but if you’re not biting, if you’re not leaving your zone, they make mistakes. “And when they make mistakes, you have to be ready for them. It’s the mistakes you have to hit. The kid listens and he gets it.” Betts’s numbers have started to climb after a slow start. He reached base twice Wednesday and in all five plate appearances Tuesday. He has returned to the leadoff spot, where he began his incredibly productive season last year, and has picked up where he left off. The Red Sox have struggled at times offensively, and to create some spark, John Farrell decided to return Betts to the top of the order. It has paid dividends. The Red Sox are doing everything they can to keep from taking on water. They are trying to find some consistency with their offense, which on Thursday was pretty much shut down for eight innings. I asked Farrell if he planned to eventually drop Betts back into the middle of the order. “That’s possible,” Farrell said. “But we’ve taken this alignment and we’ve responded in a positive way. Whether he’s in the 1-hole or 3-hole, we need contributions from everybody, not just him. So thankfully we were able to put a couple of guys on for him today.” Betts said he figured something good would come of things offensively because “we were putting pressure on them, we had a lot of guys on base, and eventually think that pays off for you.” Betts said it’s no issue for him whether he’s hitting first or third. He figures he bats leadoff once in a game, and he gets up more. He came up with runners on base anyway. He might as well have been a No. 3 hitter. Betts has seen some differences in the way pitchers work him, but he says he never really thinks about it until someone mentions it. He’s one of those special players who just does his thing. He doesn’t spend much time trying to figure out how they’re going to attack him. He rarely gets jammed because he can drive the inside pitch. He also has struck out only nine times in 138 plate appearances, a sign of how tough he is to get out. With David Ortiz retired and writing books, Betts has become the centerpiece of the Red Sox offense — even if he is the leadoff guy. The sign of a truly great player is one who can repeat the greatness year after year. The Red Sox’ Gold Glove winner in right field is still playing high-level defense, and now he’s producing high-level offense. Asked if Betts is one of the best he’s ever been around, Davis said, “I need a few more years for that one. If he continues the way he’s been since I’ve been here, he’s going to do some real nice things in this game.” Mookie Betts’s homer in ninth gives Red Sox the win Peter Abraham MILWAUKEE — For eight innings on Thursday, it was one aggravating moment after another for the Red Sox. They wasted a strong start by Eduardo Rodriguez and missed several scoring opportunities against the Milwaukee Brewers. The road trip was in danger of ending in ruin with a third consecutive loss. Then Mookie Betts fixed everything. His three-run homer in the ninth inning lifted the Sox to a 4-1, now-you-can-exhale victory at Miller Park. “For us it was a must win,” said closer Craig Kimbrel, who struck out the side to end the game. Facing Brewers closer Neftali Feliz, Betts sent a fastball over the fence in left for his fifth homer. Christian Vazquez had walked to start the inning before the Brewers misplayed a sacrifice bunt by Deven Marrero. “You don’t want to get swept obviously,” said Betts. “Couple of frustrating days when we could have won a couple of ballgames, but avoided the sweep and coming back with a little momentum.” Betts is 10 of his last 17 with four doubles, three home runs, and nine RBIs. Much as he did last season when he finished second in the Most Valuable Player voting, Betts is heating as the weather does. “He’s come up big in so many situations,” manager John Farrell said. “As big a swing as he’s had all year for us.” Before the home run, the Sox were 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position in the game, 7 of 33 for the series. Kimbrel worked 1⅔ innings for the win, striking out five of the six batters he faced. Once Betts gave the Sox the lead, Kimbrel struck out the side in the bottom of the inning on nine pitches, five of them curves. The four fastballs were 97-98 miles per hour. Kimbrel has struck out 31 of the 56 hitters he has faced this season. In his last 12 appearances he has allowed one run over 12⅔ innings and struck out 26. “We were talking about it immediately following the game. We’re seeing two pitchers on our staff right now — he and [Chris] Sale — that are doing things that are very uncommon,” Farrell said. The Sox started fast against Milwaukee righthander Jimmy Nelson as Betts opened the game with a double to the gap in left field. With a good runner on second and one of their hottest hitters up, the Red Sox were set up. But Dustin Pedroia elected to bunt Betts to third. Betts scored when first baseman Jesus Aguilar couldn’t handle a slow grounder off the bat of Xander Bogaerts. Nelson didn’t allow another run. The Sox left the bases loaded in the second inning when Pedroia grounded out and wasted a leadoff hit by Bogaerts in the third. Nelson went 6⅔ innings, allowing four hits with four walks and eight strikeouts. Keon Broxton doubled to center field with one out in the first inning. He inexplicably tried to steal third base and was easily thrown out by Vazquez. Rodriguez ended the inning by getting Hernan Perez on a fly ball to center field. It was a start of a streak that saw him retire 13 Brewers in a row. That ended when Manny Pina singled to start the sixth inning for Milwaukee. With one out, Nelson put down a bunt to advance the runner. It paid off as Jonathan Villar doubled to left field. Villar, a switch-hitter, had been 4 for 36 batting righthanded before driving in the tying run. Rodriguez left a fastball on the inner half of the plate. “That was the only pitch I missed in the whole game,” Rodriguez said. Rodriguez allowed one run on three hits and struck out five without a walk. He dropped his earned run average to 2.80. Josh Rutledge led off the seventh inning with a single. With one out and Rodriguez up, the Sox had Chris Young pinch hit. Young thought the second pitch hit him and he trotted to first base with the approval of umpire Ben May. The Brewers challenged the call and a replay showed Young was not hit. He then struck out, as did Betts to end the inning. The Sox had another chance in the eighth inning. Facing Corey Knebel, Pedroia doubled to right-center and went to third on Bogaerts’s single to left. Andrew Benintendi popped up to second base. Mitch Moreland drew a walk to load the bases before Knebel struck out Jackie Bradley Jr.