It’s something they’d rather not do because it would mean they would have to give up a prospect to get a decent bat. What they’d rather see is McDonald give them that righthanded option and call off the search, but he hasn’t given them any reason to do that.
But last night, he belted a towering three-run homer to left field in the eighth inning against lefty Fernando Abad.
A symbolic launching point for the rest of his season, McDonald hopes.
“It felt real good,’’ McDonald said. “Most of all, I’m happy we won the game. I know things are going to turn around for me. I’m working hard. I’ve been feeling good at the plate, but just haven’t been getting results. It feels good to get rewarded with a home run, but the main thing is getting something positive going and really keeping the same approach and give my team a quality at-bat. It’s a long season, a humbling game. Hopefully this gets me going.’’
McDonald, hitting .125, has a lot of fans inside the Sox clubhouse.
A day doesn’t go by that hitting coach Dave Magadan isn’t working overtime with him. Bench coach DeMarlo Hale is constantly offering encouragement and manager Terry Francona has remained patient with McDonald who, prior to the home run, was 4 for 36 against lefthanders.
Francona, who has been asked a lot about whether it’s simply best to just use Josh Reddick against lefties and righties, has always preached patience. There are times a player looks dreadful for a long time, but the patience seems to be repaid. McDonald had hit three balls fairly hard prior to the home runs, but they resulted in two fly outs to right and a double-play grounder.
The three-run homer wasn’t an overly important hit, as it stretched a 6-3 lead to 9-3. But it was important for McDonald.
