Eight of Mookie Betts' 11 stolen bases have come over his last 12 games, including three in a win over the Orioles on Thursday.

By Bill Koch The Providence Journal

BOSTON — With no home runs over the last two weeks, Mookie Betts is hard at work securing the stolen bases needed for his next bit of Red Sox history.

In terms of power numbers, the outfielder has been held in check since going deep May 4 against Bartolo Colon. That four-game series against the Rangers at Globe Life Park ended with Betts leaps and bounds ahead of his American League counterparts at 13 homers, a number that still has him tied for second.

With singles accounting for 13 of his last 18 hits, Betts has been making up for lost time on the basepaths. Eight of his 11 stolen bases have come over his last 12 games, including three in a 6-2 win over the Orioles on Thursday.

“He’s doing what I envisioned when I got the job — to put pressure on the opposition from Pitch One,” Boston manager Alex Cora said. “He’s one of the best players in the big leagues right now.”

Betts is the only player in baseball at the moment with at least 10 homers and 10 steals. He’s also the second-fastest Red Sox player to those numbers in a given season, with Carl Yastrzemski requiring just 33 games to arrive there in 1970. No other player in franchise history has three 20-20 seasons, something Betts seems primed to accomplish again in 2018 after reaching those marks in each of the last two years.

“He’s a complete player,” Cora said. “My favorite player was Roberto Alomar, and that’s what Robbie did. He hit a few homers, he bunted for hits, stole bases, played defense, thought the game. He was a Hall of Famer because of all of that stuff. This guy, he does the same thing.”

Betts singled three times on Thursday, his 19th multi-hit game of the season. He ranked first in the big leagues in batting average, slugging and OPS going into Friday and was tied for first in hits and extra-base hits.

Taking their cuts: Cora was on the field throwing early batting practice more than four hours before Friday night’s game.

Jackie Bradley Jr., Rafael Devers and Christian Vazquez took extra swings hoping to emerge from their respective funks. All three players were in the lineup Friday against Baltimore, each batting sixth or lower.

“As a middle infielder, I was reading swings so I could position myself,” said Cora, referencing his playing days. “There’s not a better place to read swings than throwing to them. It was a good session.”

Bradley (.118/.218/.176 in his last 22 games), Devers (.140/.159/.209 in his last 12 games) and Vazquez (.111/.143/.111 in his last nine games) have all been scuffling, and Bradley was among those hitting early at Yankee Stadium against Cora last week. Andrew Benintendi was also in that previous group, and the nine-game hitting streak that followed caught the attention of Devers.

“I told him today, I said, ‘Hey man, you saw what happened with (Benintendi),’” Cora said. “‘If you want to get hot, just face me.’ He was like, ‘All right, let’s go.’ I was like, ‘Oh gosh.’ I was actually joking with him.”

Bradley has seen his place in the lineup threatened, with Mitch Moreland taking the majority of his at-bats over the last two weeks. Vazquez could also soon find himself in some jeopardy with Sandy Leon enjoying a multi-hit game on Thursday and pitchers enjoying a 2.89 earned-run average with him behind the plate. Red Sox hurlers work to just a 4.01 ERA through 44 games with Vazquez behind the plate.

“They did a few things to take steps to get better,” Cora said. “I appreciate that, them showing up and doing it.”

Rehabbing: Three members of Boston’s four-man rehab contingent were expected to be in action with Triple-A Pawtucket on Friday.

Dustin Pedroia (left knee) was due to serve as the designated hitter as the PawSox opened a series at Rochester. Right-handed relief pitchers Tyler Thornburg (right shoulder) and Austin Maddox (right shoulder) were both expected to come out of the bullpen.

Pedroia is slated to play second base on Saturday, and Hector Velazquez (lower back strain) is expected to work two innings. Pedroia will have Sunday off and Velazquez will likely throw again on Monday against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket.