SAN DIEGO — Manager Alex Cora doesn’t plan to give Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story another day off this season.

“There’s no need,” Cora said before Boston’s 6-2 loss to the Padres on Sunday. “Physically, he’s unique. He looks stronger, he’s moving well, swinging the bat well. So this is something he wanted to do and he forced us to do.”

Story is on pace to play 155 games. He went from being one of the game’s worst hitters — slashing .138/.199/.193/.392 in 38 games (157 plate appearances) from April 22-June 6 — to forcing the Red Sox to play him every day.

That’s a tremendous turnaround. Manager Alex Cora deserves a lot of credit for sticking with him. Story has played all but six games this year. Cora kept sending him out there daily despite the prolonged slump.

“You gotta trust the players,” Cora said. “We pay a lot of money for that guy. And he was a great player. He’s been hurt. So to give up on a bad month for a player, then I should be home, actually, because we’re in the business of trusting players and pushing them to be great.”

Story — who is in the fourth season of a six-year, $140 million contract — appeared in just 69 games in 2023 and ‘24 combined because of elbow and shoulder surgeries.

“I think it was a team effort all over the place,” Cora said. “And he made some adjustments offensively, and it’s paying off. And defensively, he’s always been legit.”

Story entered Sunday batting .305 with a .349 on-base percentage, .542 slugging percentage, .890 OPS, 11 home runs, 15 doubles, 47 RBIs, 39 runs and 10 steals in 53 games (218 plate appearances) dating back to June 7. The Red Sox played .660 baseball during that stretch.

His 73 RBIs rank fourth most among MLB shortstop behind only Blue Jays’ Bo Bichette (78), Diamondbacks’ Geraldo Perdomo (76) and Reds’ Elly De La Cruz (74).

Boston has 43 games remaining and six off days. They have an off day every week except for the final week of August.

“The schedule is a good one for us as far as like recovery and all that,” Cora said. “And right now it really doesn’t matter. We’re playing meaningful games in August, and that’s what we wanted. So it’s go time. It’s Aug. 10. We’ve gotta continue to play good baseball and try to win as many games as possible.”

Cora said Story starting at shortstop every day has helped stabilize the infield defense. Only Story and David Hamilton have made starts at shortstop for Boston this year. Boston used six different shortstops — Story, Ceddanne Rafaela, Hamilton, Romy Gonzalez, Nick Sogard and Pablo Reyes — last year.

“Probably our best defensive infield in a while,” Cora said. “The plays they make, the baseball IQ, being able to slow it down and being able to post is very important.”

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