While the Rockies stumble, Trevor Story soars with the Red Sox

Remember how Trevor Story was off to such a bad start with the Red Sox that he was a nightly target of vitriol from the Fenway faithful?

Well, he’s ended that.

He’s in full ascension-to-the-mean mode and is on one of his trademark hot streaks.

In a rise roughly concurrent with the Rockies’ recent descent, Story shattered the narratives written about him during a slow start to the season in which he didn’t hit a home run until May 11.

Story has 9 home runs since then. That includes 7 in the last seven games. It marks just the fifth time in Red Sox history that anyone has hit that many home runs in a 7-game span.

A 3-run blast off Dallas Kuechel in Thursday’s 16-7 Boston win over the Chicago White Sox pushed his RBI total in those most recent games to 21. That is the most for any 7-game stretch in Red Sox history.

#RedSox Trevor Story now has 21 RBI over his last 7 games, including 4 so far tonight. That's the most RBI over any 7 game stretch in #RedSox history. Previous high was 19, most recently by Mike Greenwell in 1988.

— Red Sox Nation Stats (@RSNStats) May 27, 2022

Meanwhile, the Rockies as a whole have just 23 runs in their last seven games. They went 2-5, including Thursday’s 7-3 loss to the Washington Nationals. The Nats’ 16-30 record is the worst in the National League. Colorado has fallen back to earth in the last three weeks, going 5-14 after a 15-10 start.

As for Story, his plot twist after a dreadful first chapter to his six-year, $140-million Red Sox contract began during a two-game series in Atlanta earlier this month. He entered that series mired in a 3-for-26 funk and with no home runs in 24 games.

But he went 3-for-9 with a home run in that series split with the Braves. He added eight home runs in the 13 games that followed.

Since hitting his low-water mark on Mother’s Day — a slash line of .194/.276/.269 and a piddling OPS of .545 — Story has recaptured his form. Since then, he boasts a .293 average, .368 on-base percentage, .662 slugging percentage and a 1.029 OPS. That’s the type of power production for which the Red Sox forked over $23.3 million per year through 2027.

𝒉𝒐𝒕 (𝗮𝗱𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲): having a high degree of heat.

See also: Trevor Story pic.twitter.com/argI6hnMmY

— Red Sox (@RedSox) May 27, 2022

But not to worry. The Rockies still have a compensatory pick — No. 31 overall — coming back in the Major League Baseball draft, which begins July 17.

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