BOSTON – When Ceddanne Rafaela caught fire at the plate in June and July, it seemed the Red Sox outfielder — and occasional infielder — had finally figured things out.

Rafaela posted an .870 OPS in June and followed it up with an OPS of .852 in July, and it seemed his offensive struggles were over.

But those two hot months were followed by a regression to the mean. His August (.583) was bad, and so far, his September has been worse (.375).

Problem not solved, after all.

“He’s struggling, we know that,” said Alex Cora. “But he’s playing great defense and hopefully today, we can control the at-bats, try to do the little things instead of trying to get four hits in one at-bat and he gets going here.”

Of late, Rafaela has resorted to an ultra-aggressive approach, swinging at pitches out

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