Red Sox Radio Claims Boston Leads MLB In Pinch-Hit HRs "By A Lot". They Have Hit 5. (Fact Check: 8 Teams Have Hit More; 2 Teams Have Hit Almost Twice As Many.)

WEEI's Will Flemming told Red Sox fans during Saturday afternoon's game against the Yankees that Boston has hit five pinch-hit home runs this season, the "most in the big leagues by a lot".

The on-air conversation occurred during Brock Holt's pinch-hitting appearance in the bottom of the sixth:

Joe Castiglione: Red Sox pinch hitters 21-for-58, that's a .362 average with an OPS of 1.146.

Flemming: Hmmmm.

Castiglione: Five pinch homers.

Flemming: Most in the big leagues by a lot.

Silly me, I looked it up.

Eight teams have hit more pinch-hit home runs than the Red Sox. And two teams have hit almost twice as many as Boston.

The Dodgers have hit 9. The Giants have hit 9.

The Rockies have hit 8.

The Diamondbacks have hit 7. The Mets have hit 7. The Pirates have hit 7.

The Reds have hit 6. The Padres have hit 6.

And Atlanta, the Marlins, Phillies, and Cardinals each have hit 5.

You may have noticed that all 12 of those teams are in the National League, where they pinch-hit far more frequently. (The Giants leads MLB with 189 pinch-hit at-bats, while the Red Sox have only 58. The Orioles lead the AL with 62)

Perhaps Flemming meant to note that the Red Sox lead the American League in pinch-hit home runs "by a lot", but mistakenly said "big leagues"?

The Red Sox do, in fact, lead the AL with 5 pinch-hit home runs. But the Rangers have 4 and the Athletics have 3.

A team with 5 pinch-hit homers does not lead a team with 4 pinch-hit homers "by a lot". And when a team is tied for ninth in the big leagues when it comes to pinch-hit homers, that team does not have "the most in the big leagues by a lot" (or even "by a little").