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Diaz went 3-for-5 with an RBI single, a walk and three runs in a win over the Red Sox on Thursday.
Diaz's run-scoring single in the first inning opened the scoring on what would be a momentous 17-run barrage for the Rays. The Cuban infielder has been highly productive at the plate during August after a slow start to the season, but curiously, the big hits continue to avoid him. Of Diaz's 19 hits on the season, only two -- a pair of doubles -- have gone for extra bases, this after he laced a career-high 35 XBH (20 doubles, one triple, 14 home runs) in 2019. Part of the explanation seems to lie in Diaz's batted-ball metrics -- he's seen drops in exit velocity (91.6 mph to 83.0 mph), hard-contact rate (42.4 percent to 33.9 percent) and flyball rate (32.0 percent to 10.7 percent) compared to last season. On the bright side for his fantasy managers, the 29-year-old's line-drive rate is up from 17.2 to 21.4 percent, which typically leads to more batted balls falling in for hits.
