When the Boston Red Sox signed Alex Bregman, it was with a nod to the fact that they wanted a more solid defender at third base. We all love Rafael Devers and the team should have had better lines of communication with him, but a Gold Glover at third he was not. Unfortunately, Bregman’s recent defensive shortcomings have made that choice look pretty rough.

Tuesday night did not come with much in the way of web gems from Bregman to make up for his error-prone play of late. However, he did make up for it with his bat, as he put together a monster game at the plate and nearly hit for the cycle.

Alex Bregman’s monster game should help quell Red Sox fans’ concerns

By the eighth inning of Boston’s division matchup with the Rays, Bregman was already 4-4 with two homers and 4 RBI. To cap off a one-of-a-kind day, he added a single in the ninth to further quiet the complaining. Other Red Sox chipped in to help, including a two-run bomb in the second inning courtesy of Jarren Duran and a multi-hit game from Trevor Story. However, the offensive star for the evening was Bregman, and it came at the best possible time.

As good as Bregman has been at the plate this year, he has been more consistently good rather than carrying the offense on his back. As a result, his defensive shortcomings began to be overblown, as they came in some important spots and led to some games getting away from the team. We are talking about an incredibly small sample of games, but things tend to get overemphasized – especially early on with a guy making as much as Bregman is.

Ideally, we will see more big offensive outbursts from Bregman in addition to defensive excellence. Bregman isn’t a young man anymore, but it is hard to believe that he just forgot how to play defense all of a sudden. Expect him to settle down defensively and be his usual above-average self. As for the offense, we just saw what he is capable of on Tuesday and that is fun to dream about.