OAKLAND, Calif. — Reese McGuire feels he can do some more damage with inside pitches this season.

McGuire – who has started four of Boston’s seven games at catcher this season and has appeared in six games – is 5 for 15 with a double, RBI, run, walk and four strikeouts through Wednesday.

“It was adjusting a little bit of my intent to pull the ball as well as go the other way,” McGuire said. “So in the past, I think I was always looking for ways to hit the ball to the opposite field. And this year, I’ve practiced and worked on hitting the balls in the air to right – and what contact point that is on certain pitches. So just kind of expanding the baseball field of where I’m looking to hit the ball.”

McGuire, a left-handed hitter, has batted .293 with a .335 on-base percentage, .407 slugging percentage and .742 OPS in 114 games (330 plate appearances) in his Red Sox career.

Seventy-eight percent of his hits last year went to the opposite field or center. He obviously doesn’t want to stop using the opposite-field. He just wants to pull the ball a little more this year.

“For me, I feel like my swing is at its best when I’m able to hit that low line drive to the opposite field,” McGuire said. “And that tells me my path and everything is smooth and on time and not being rushed or not being late. And then from there, I always felt like if I have that swing dialed in, I can react and make that adjustment to pull the ball. But I think just in certain situations of the game, I’m trying to look to do a little bit more damage on pitches that are closer to me. So I think that’s been a difference for me. Just the approach.”

Catcher Connor Wong, meanwhile, made a mechanical adjustment to his swing this past offseason. He eliminated his toe tap.

For both McGuire and Wong though, their main priority remains defense over offense.

“As a catcher, you’re there for 27 outs and offensively you might get three of four at-bats,” McGuire said. “And so three to four at-bats on offense and the importance of those are big but the importance of 27 outs on the other side of the game is much more important.”

McGuire led the league in caught stealing percentage (33%) in 2022. He threw out 42% (5 for 12) of base stealers in the final two months of 2022 after being traded from the White Sox to Boston.

Last year, his caught stealing percentage dropped to 17% (7 for 41). But new rules (pitch clock, limit on pickoff attempts, etc.) created an advantage for baserunners.

“I think the game is going to continue to be fast and continue to have attempts on the base paths,” McGuire said.

The Red Sox have worked with pitchers to speed up their times to plate. It’s preferable for a pitcher to get the ball to the plate in under 1.4 seconds, McGuire said.

“If a pitcher is delivering the pitch and it’s not getting there for one and a half seconds, it’s definitely very hard to transfer and make that out,” McGuire said. “But if they’re in the 1.2, 1.3 range, we definitely have a chance. So I think just putting the body in a position behind the plate to not only be ready to receive and frame but also be ready to pop up quickly.”

BOSTON RANKS 13th in the majors in batting average (.253), 14th in on-base percentage (.318), 20th in slugging percentage (.349) and 19th in OPS (.667). But leadoff hitter Jarren Duran is on absolute fire.

After only two hits in the Seattle series, he went 9 for 12 (.750) with a .786 on-base percentage, three runs, two RBI and four steals in Boston’s three-game sweep in Oakland.

Duran is tied for the MLB lead in stolen bases (6) with Brice Turang. Nobody else has more than three.

“He’s hitting the ball hard the other way,” Red Sox Manager Alex Cora said.

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