After the Boston Red Sox took first baseman Triston Casas out of the lineup for the opening game of their series against the Baltimore Orioles this week, the star slugger was back in the lineup on Tuesday.
Casas may have been out of the lineup due to Baltimore starting a left-handed pitcher for the matchup, but he's also played quite a bit since returning from his injury, so it could've just been a rest day.
Before Tuesday's game, Red Sox manager Alex Cora was asked if he expected Casas to benefit from the day off, and Cora took that opportunity to jab at his star first baseman a bit.
“It all depends on how many swings he took mentally," Cora said. "He might be tired.”
This was a callback to Casas' recovery from his rib injury earlier in the year when the 24-year-old said he'd be taking a lot of mental swings as part of his routine while rehabbing.
That became a huge story because Casas said he'd been taking swings for weeks at that time, but he was talking about mental reps and not actual, physical swings with a bat in his hand.
Casas finished Tuesday night's game 1-for-4 with an RBI center off the Green Monster, scoring one of Boston's three runs on the night. However, his other three at-bats resulted in strikeouts.
If the Red Sox are going to make a run in these last few weeks, they'll need more from him.
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