G44: Red Sox 5, Cleveland 2

Cleveland - 020 000 000 - 2  6  0
Red Sox   - 210 011 00x - 5 12  0

David Ortiz went 4-for-4, reaching base five times on two doubles, a home run, a single, and an intentional walk. He drove in three runs, bringing home one baserunner in each of the first, second, and fifth innings.

It was the 14th time in his Red Sox career that Ortiz reached base at least five times in a nine-inning game. (His record is six times on base.) Big Papi's home run leading off the fifth gave Boston at least one long ball in a franchise-record 22 games.

Jackie Bradley's hitting streak is now at 27 games, as he singled in the fifth. In Red Sox history, there have been only five hitting streaks longer than JBJ's current streak. (Bradley began the day leading the AL in batting average (.342) and OPS (1.035)!)

Xander Bogaerts - who was second behind JBJ at .339 - went 3-for-5 and most likely took over the AL's top spot, as he raised his average to .346. ... Mookie Betts went 2-for-5 and scored twice.

Rick Porcello: 5.2-5-2-1-5, 115. A quintet of relievers allowed only one hit and one walk over the final 3.1 innings.

Danny Salazar / Rick Porcello

Betts, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, 1B
Bradley, CF
Shaw, 3B
Swihart, LF
Vazquez, C

Rob Bradford, WEEI:

The Red Sox lead the majors in hits (452), doubles (111), batting average (.295), OPS (.843) and extra-base hits (175), and are making history in terms of stolen base percentage, having been caught on just three of their 34 attempts. ...

Get this: The Red Sox only have one spot in the batting order (No. 8) with an OPS of under .800. In fact, their No. 7 spot is trending toward the best OPS in history at a current clip of .937.

So, at this pace, where would it put these Red Sox in terms of best offenses in club history? Right now they are on pace to total 941 runs, which would put them fourth on the organization's all-time list. Only 1950 (1,027), 2003 (961) and 2004 (949) would be better. ...

Now, if the starting pitching could just present the same sort of "powerful feeling" on a consistent basis ...