Trevor

Story

It’s notable that Jarren Duran and Alex Bregman are back atop Boston’s lineup after Rafaela hit second on Saturday with Bregman taking a day off. Roman Anthony is locked into the third spot with Masataka Yoshida in the cleanup spot for the first time and Trevor Story hitting fifth. Rafaela — who will split time between center field and second base moving forward — has been one of the hottest hitters in baseball for nearly two months at this juncture and it appears he’ll continue getting opportunities to bat towards the middle of the lineup entering the second half.

That’s 31 RBI in 28 games for Story. He’s tied for 19th in the majors with 57 overall, which isn’t something anyone would have seen coming a month ago. His homer tonight came off Jake Bird, who had allowed just two in 48 1/3 innings and was almost certainly second in line, behind Hunter Goodman, to serve as the Rockies’ All-Star.

Story is now up to 14 home runs and 53 RBI on the season. After there were some calls to designate him for assignment earlier in the season to make room for Marcelo Mayer, Story has been red hot in Boston. Over his last 35 games, he’s hitting .301/.336/.519 with eight home runs, 23 runs scored, 32 RBI, and five steals. That’s valuable in all league types.

Story hadn’t had a four-hit game since Aug. 13, 2023. He’s 13-for-24 with two homers and 10 RBI in his last six games, raising his OPS to .697. He was at .591 on this day a month ago, and he hasn’t been over .700 since May 3. He’s also now 14-for-14 stealing bases. Byron Buxton, at 15-for-15, is the only other player with as many steals and zero failures.

Mayer will make his season debut at the keystone on Tuesday night in Los Angeles after mostly playing third base to open his rookie campaign. The 22-year-old top prospect figures to spend plenty of time there once Alex Bregman (quad) is ready to return from the injured list since Trevor Story remains entrenched at shortstop for now. Kristian Campbell is likely headed to either first base or the outfield once he’s brought back from the minors at some point later this year.

Story took Ryan Zeferjahn deep to tie the game at 5-5 in the sixth inning. That’s Story’s fourth homer in June, and 11th overall in 2025. Even with the home run and a single, he’s still slashing a less-than-desirable .235/.277/.371 in 2025 over 294 at-bats.

That Story was hitting cleanup says a lot about the state of Boston’s lineup, but at least he had a nice game. He also hit a big homer in Wednesday’s win over the Mariners, though that was his only hit in his previous four games. He’s batting .234/.277/.364 with 92 strikeouts, the fifth-highest total in the majors.

Story doubled the lead for Boston to 2-0 with his double in the second inning to score Carlos Narváez. His second of the double of the game gives him seven on the season, and improves his slash to a still-middling .234/.278/.362.

It’s his seventh career five-RBI game. All three knocks left the bat at over 103 mph, which is nice. But Story’s issue hasn’t been exit velocity nearly so much as a lack of contact and an unusual amount of his contact coming on the ground. Maybe the worst of his slump is over, but we’re still not sure a big turnaround is on the way.

Story’s 413-foot shot to left-center off Bryce Elder missed being a grand slam by a foot. The struggling Story also singled and walked in the contest. It’s his first multi-hit game since May 2 and the first time he’s reached safely three times since April 21.