ATLANTA -- With newcomers Steve Pearce and Nathan Eovaldi getting off to hot starts with the Red Sox in July and the trade deadline focus being squarely on the team's decision to not add a reliever, Ian Kinsler was lost in the shuffle a bit.

A little more than a month later, Kinsler is showing the impact he can have as the Sox' main second baseman moving forward. No longer just thought of as an insurance policy for Dustin Pedroia, Kinsler is making his impact felt and will be an important piece for Boston moving forward.

The 36-year-old had arguably his best game in a Boston uniform Monday, going 2-for-5 with three RBI in an 8-2 win over the Braves. That performance came two days after he hit his first homer as a member of the Red Sox in a win over the White Sox, putting his average at .409 with six RBIs in the last week.

"Anytime you contribute offensively, it's a lot of fun," Kinsler said. Anytime you win games, it's a lot of fun."

Kinsler hit .320/.393/.467 with two homers and 10 RBI in 21 July games for the Angels before being traded. He had four hits in his first two games with the Sox before missing 11 straight games with a strained hamstring and coming back slumping through most of late August.

"I think the timing of his injury was horrible," said manager Alex Cora. "He was swinging the bat well for like a month or month and a half. He comes back and tried to catch up with the best level of baseball. It's not that easy."

Kinsler was 5-for-28 with no extra base hits in his first nine games back from injury, making it seem like it took him longer than expected to get his timing back.

"I want to say no because I don't want to make any excuses, but you sit out 10 days and you're trying to get comfortable and trying to get your timing," he said. "In a player's head, you think it should happen quick. You think it should happen in a day or two. Sometimes that's not the case, sometimes it comes and goes for a second at the beginning."

The second baseman has seemed to have found his timing over the last week, consistently putting together good at-bats and going the other way. His success, along with strong recent performances from Eduardo Nunez and Jackie Bradley Jr., is making the bottom of Boston's lineup a potent threat.

"We expect that," Cora said. "We made an adjustment in the lineup when Ian was struggling and [Nunez] was swinging the bat well. You put them back-to-back, that's good. That's good to see."