Mon, Apr 17, 2023 page16

• Chang snaps hit drought with homer

  THE MVP RETURNS: Chang finally ended a slump that has been running since Sept. 22 last year, with Red Sox manager Cora saying they told him to ‘just be Yu’

  • AP, BOSTON
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  Taiwanese baseball star Yu Chang on Saturday snapped a 0-for-28 drought with a two-run homer and delivered a go-ahead, two-run single after the Los Angeles Angels’ Matt Thaiss was called for his second catcher’s interference (CI) in the eighth inning, lifting the Boston Red Sox to a 9-7 comeback win.

  “It’s just a matter of gaining confidence,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of Chang. “He made a comment that when he was [at the World Baseball Classic, WBC] how confident he was playing. Then he comes here and it gets harder. We understand that.”

  Rafael Devers added his seventh homer, a two-run shot, and Rob Refsnyder drove in two runs for Boston.

  

  The Boston Red Sox’s Yu Chang, of Taiwan, waves to his dugout as he rounds the bases after a two-run homer against the Los Angeles Angels during their MLB game at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts, on Saturday.

  Photo: AFP

  Gio Urshela hit a grand slam and drove in five runs, and Mike Trout added three hits with his 300th career double for the Angels, who were sloppy in a 5-3 loss in the series opener.

  The 31-year-old Trout became the fourth in MLB history to reach 300 doubles, 300 homers and 200 stolen bases by his age, joining Willie Mays, Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez.

  Shohei Ohtani had two singles, with his second pushing the Angels ahead 7-6. He extended his on-base streak to 36 games, the majors’ longest current active stretch.

  Thaiss had his CIs in three batters to help Boston load the bases in the eighth against Ryan Tepera (1-1) before Chang drove his single to the left. Tepera walked Refsnyder with the bases loaded.

  “It is rare,” said Red Sox catcher Reese McGuire, who was the second CI. “It doesn’t happen that much, but it does happen when the hitter is seeing the ball deep, trying to go the other way. That’s typically when it happens.”

  Chang did not make a hit in his first 16 at-bats over the previous nine games this season, during which he recorded seven strikeouts, and reached the base only three times on a walk.

  That slump finally ended with his homer in a three-run fourth inning that pushed Boston ahead 6-4.

  “That’s the guy we saw in WBC. He was MVP [Most Valuable Player] of Pool A,” a play-by-play broadcaster said of the 27-year-old Taitung native.

  Chang said it was a relief to get that first hit, which ended an MLB slump dating back to Sept. 22 last year.

  “I’m so happy that the team gave me that consistent opportunity to play every day, even though I didn’t hit well in the beginning,” Chang said through a translator. “What the coaches expressed to me is [that] they don’t want me to think about the past. They want me to do the same routine and have the same consistency and grab any opportunity you have coming.”

  Chang on Saturday also made MLB history as the only player to record four RBIs after entering a game 0-for-15 or worse with 0 RBIs in a season since 1920, when RBIs became an official stat, wrote OptaSTATS, a Twitter account of sports data firm Stats Perform.

  Visa issues delayed Chang’s participation in the Red Sox’s spring training, and he only played in two warm-up games before the start of the season.

  Cora said he remained confident in Chang.

  “We’ve been talking about the MVP of Pool A, you know, just be Yu,” he said.

  Additional reporting by staff writer, with CNA
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