Hernandez the Red Sox not so secret weapon

When the Boston Red Sox announced the signing of free agent Enrique ‘Kike’ Hernandez to a two-year, $14 million deal in February, New England fans didn’t react too enthusiastically to what was the club’s biggest move after finishing in the basement of their division the previous season.

Nor did the ardent members of “Red Sox Nation” understand why Hernandez’s departure from the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he never held a specific position as a regular player, caused so much sadness in Southern California.

But just as it did for Dodgers fans, who acquired the Puerto Rican from the Miami Marlins as part of a December 2014 trade involving six players, Hernandez won the hearts of Bostonians, doing many little things, playing good defense at several key positions and, above all, responding in the biggest moments.

A right-handed hitter with modest batting averages (.242) and OPS (.748) in eight years in the majors, Hernandez has starred in some extraordinary chapters of late in the postseason, where he has 16 extra-base hits, 36 runs scored and 24 RBIs in 63 games.

“There is no big moment for him. He enjoys this [the playoffs] and does an excellent job,” said Puerto Rican manager Alex Cora, who has known Hernández since he was a kid.

In his first season in Boston, Hernández batted .250 with 20 home runs, 60 RBIs and a .786 OPS, while playing great defense in center field, second base and shortstop. For the first time ever, the 30-year-old consumed more than 500 innings in a season.

Hernandez started October ball by hitting 3-1 with a walk and run scored in Boston’s 6-2 win over the New York Yankees in the Wild Card game and .450 with two home runs, three doubles and six RBIs in the Divisional Series against the favored Tampa Bay Rays, putting the Red Sox into the American League Championship Series against the Houston Astros, the team that drafted him in 2009 and set him up for his major league debut in 2014.

Between Games 2 and 3 he hit for hits in seven consecutive appearances (HR, H2, H2, H2, H1, H1, H1, H1 and HR) to tie a postseason record. His eight hits in the two games are an all-time mark. In the fourth game, he hit a deep fly ball in the bottom of the ninth inning to drive in the winning run.

“I knew I would bat fourth and if I got to the plate it would be with runner on base. The whole way, from center field to the cave, I was telling myself that I was going to win the game, that I was going to finish it. I was confident that I was going to be the man,” Hernandez said.

“Walking from the waiting circle to the plate, with 38,000 people screaming my name, I thought I was 6-5 or 6-7, that I was the biggest guy in the whole ballpark,” he added.

“I don’t feel more than anybody or better than anybody, but I like playing in October, the moment, the heat, especially at home where they support us 100 percent,” said Hernandez, who hit three home runs and pushed in seven runs in the final game of the 2017 National League Championship Series against the Chicago Cubs, which put the Dodgers into their first World Series since 1988.

“Kike” became the first player to hit three homers in a postseason game at Wrigley Field and his seven RBIs set the mark in an old-circuit finals clash.

Last year, during Los Angeles’ comeback against the Atlanta Braves in the league final, Hernández hit a home run as a pinch hitter in the sixth inning to tie the seventh and final game 3-3, which the Dodgers went on to win to advance to the World Series, which they won for the first time in more than three decades.

“It’s not the first time he’s been on this stage. This is one of the things he’s done in his career, playing in three World Series with the Dodgers, and the experience he has in this type of situation, it’s great,” Cora said.

“Kike is tremendous, tremendous. Batting, playing good defense, what he’s doing right now is special,” Cora said.

What “Kike” can do in important moments is duly recorded and already Boston fans began to appreciate it. In his last at Fenway Park, they let him know it by shouting his name at the top of their lungs.

“That moment on the way from the waiting circle to the plate, with everyone screaming my name, is something I’ll never forget,” Hernandez said.

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