The Red Sox won their sixth consecutive game, pounding the Orioles 14-9 on Sunday.
Red Sox - 004 051 040 - 14 17 1
Orioles - 000 103 302 - 9 10 3
The Red Sox are 6-3 and lead the AL East by two games. Each of the other four teams is 4-5. . . . Boston is 5-0 when they score first.
J.D. Martinez (4-for-6) hit three home runs, drove in four runs and scored four times. Rafael Devers (2-for-5) homered twice and knocked in five runs. Alex Verdugo (2-for-5) also homered, scored twice, and had three RBI.
It was the first time the Red Sox had two players with multiple homers in the same game since June 1, 2016, when Mookie Betts and Chris Young both hit a pair. That was also against Baltimore, but Boston lost that game 13-9.
Martinez is the third player in the modern era (since 1900) to have at least one extra-base hit in each of his first eight games of a season. Sandy Alomar was the first, in 1997; Alex Rodriguez did it in 2007. No player has done it in his first nine games. . . . The Red Sox begin a four-game series in Minnesota tomorrow.
Martinez is also one of five players to have a three-home run game for three different teams:
Johnny Mize: Cardinals, Giants, Yankees
Alex Rodriguez: Mariners, Texas, Yankees
Dave Kingman: Mets, Cubs, Athletics
Mark Teixeira: Texas, Atlanta, Yankees
J.D. Martinez: Tigers, Diamondbacks, Red Sox
Martinez and Devers are the third pair (or trio) of Red Sox teammates to have 2+ homers and 4+RBI in the same game against the Orioles/Browns franchise. The other two times happened on consecutive days!
June 7, 1950: Vern Stephens (2 HR, 5 RBI) and Clyde Vollmer (2 HR, 5 RBI)
June 8, 1950: Bobby Doerr (3 HR, 8 RBI), Walt Dropo (2 HR, 7 RBI), and Ted Williams (2 HR, 5 RBI)
The Red Sox destroyed the Browns in those games 20-4 and 29-4.
Devers is also one of seven players in baseball history with 75+ home runs and 100+ doubles in their first 400 career games, all before turning 25 years old. The others: Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Albert Pujols, Hal Trosky, Alex Rodriguez, and Evan Longoria.
Martinez has 12 extra-base hits (seven doubles, five home runs) in his first eight games of the season. Only one other player since 1900 has done that: Dante Bichette also had 12 in eight games for the 1994 Rockies.
Martinez hit four home runs in a game for the Diamondbacks on September 4, 2017 and he admitted he was thinking of a fourth dong on Sunday. No player has had two four-homer games. Facing Paul Fry, JDM struck out swinging on a 3-2 pitch that was low and somewhat out of the zone.
In that moment I was like, "I really don't think he's going to throw me a strike, but I have to take the chance, just to at least foul it off if it's a really good pitch. Hopefully he hangs something."
Martinez is now batting .472/.500/1.083, for a gaudy OPS of 1.583.
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