Jackie Bradley, Jr. and Mitch Moreland high-five. (Greg Fiume/Getty Images)
BOSTON (WBZ-AM) -- Jackie Bradley Junior's hitting just .202 this season, but he drove in a pair of runs in the Red Sox' three-nothing shutout of the Nationals yesterday.
"Any time you can help the team win, it's a positive," Bradley said. "It's good, any way you can do it."
Usually, Bradley's glove is the focus--not his bat--but he's improved of late. In fact, the outfielder's raised his average 24 points in his last nine games alone, thanks to an 11-for-28 run. That's a .393 average, if you don't feel like doing the math. He's also homered twice and driven in eight during the stretch.
As we know, this is what Bradley does. He occasionally gets hot at the plate--often scorching for a month or so--and the rest of the time he's ice-cold. So far this year, at least prior to a couple weeks ago, that red hot run hasn't come. Hopefully he's in the midst of it now.
Boston leads New York by a game for the best record in baseball, and will try to build upon that lead with the first of three in Kansas City tomorrow against the last-place Royals.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Adam Kaufman (@AdamMKaufman) reports