Desite losses, Saltalamacchia finding his swing again

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ARLINGTON, Texas -- He hasn't helped the Red Sox win any games of late, but there is at least some small consolation that catcher Jarrod Salatalamacchia has rediscovered his stroke at the plate.

Saltalamacchia homered Saturday in the Red Sox' loss to Toronto at Fenway, then, Monday night, added another homer and just missed another with a double high off the wall in the Sox' 9-1 shelling by the Texas Rangers.

Before Saturday, Saltalamacchia's strikeouts had been piling up and he had hit just .132 from June 22 through July 20. In that span, Saltalamacchia had 31 strikeouts in 68 at-bats and compiled a meager .512 OPS.

Now, however, he thinks he's corrected the problem.

"I feel comfortable," declared Saltalamacchia. "I feel good. I'm not missing any pitches. I'm getting the pitch up and driving it, which is something I did in the first half. If I can continue that stretch and start swinging at better pitches like (Monday) night, then I'll be OK.

"It's just a timing thing. When you're timing's off, you miss your fastball and swing at bad pitches. My timing was off and I didn't feel comfortable and I wasn't getting ready, so I was just swinging at whatever they threw. Where, now I feel the timing's a little better and I'm starting to get pitches up in the zone and I'm hitting them."

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