Mookie Betts shimmied his way to a standout performance in Game 2 of the ALCS
Baseball's best players tend to rise to the challenge when the opportunity calls in the postseason. No matter what happens in limited samples, pure talent usually wins out in the end.
Betts ensured that Hinch's words were prescient during Boston's 7-5 victory in Game 2. First, he led off the game for the Red Sox against
Betts coasted into second and celebrated with one of Boston's signatureshimmies:
"He ignited them from the very beginning of the game," said Hinch. "This place, the energy of this place when he comes up to bat is really electrifying. You try to minimize as much as you can in front of them; we didn't do a great job of that today. But from the first at-bat on, he set the tone."
The game went back and forth over the next few frames, and
That smooth slide added a sixth run to the Boston cause.
However, Mookie wasn't done yet. In the eighth, he had another chance to increase the lead when he faced
The RBI double was the perfect chance for a second shimmy:
The double was obviously nice, but Red Sox skipper Alex Cora was glad to see that classic Betts grin after the team's disappointing 7-2 loss on Saturday. "I saw him smiling today, which is always good," said Cora. "When Mookie's smiling, good things are happening."
Red Sox fans couldn't agree more as the ALCS heads to Houston all tied up at a game apiece.