The start of Trevor Story's first season in Boston has not been what Red Sox fans expected when the former Rockies infielder signed a six-year free agent deal this past winter.
At the end of April, both of Story's on-base and slugging averages were below .300 and he was hitting only .224 in 17 games. He had walked a mere five times and had not hit a home run. After going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts on May 8, his batting average dropped to .194 and his OPS was a dismal .545.
Beginning with last week's short series in Atlanta, Story apparently turned a corner. From May 10-18, he was 7-for-29 (.241), with two homers and an .826 OPS.
On Wednesday night, Story properly introduced himself to the fans at Fenway. In a 12-6 win over the Mariners – a game in which the Red Sox trailed 0-4 – Story went 4-for-4, with three home runs, five runs scored, and seven runs driven in. He also walked and stole a base. (Video) (Story now leads the red Sox with 23 RBI.)
Boston was down by four runs and Story single-handedly brought the team back and gave them the lead. Later, he put the game on ice.
2nd inning: Two-run home run (Score: 0-4 to 2-4)
3rd inning: Two-run home run (Score: 2-4 to 4-4)
6th inning: One-run single; steals third base (Score: 4-4 to 5-4)
7th inning: Walk (to load bases; next three batters: BB, HBP, BB!)
8th inning: Three-run home run (Score: 9-5 to 12-5)
Story is the first player in Red Sox history to have a game with three home runs and a stolen base.
Story is also the third player in major league history to have 4+ hits, 5+ runs, 7+ RBI, and a stolen base in same game. The first guy on this list pitched for the White Sox for seven seasons (1913-18), was in the minors/working as a mechanic for two years, and then returned as an outfielder for the Pirates (1922-23).
Reb Russell, Pirates, August 8, 1922, against Phillies
Yoenis Cespedes, Mets, August 21, 2015, against Rockies
Trevor Story, Red Sox, May 19, 2022, against Mariners
All 12 runs were scored by a trio of players. Odd. Story scored five, Alex Verdugo (3-for-5) scored four and J.D. Martinez (4-for-5) scored three.
Verdugo and Martinez are the second pair of Red Sox teammates in (at least) the last 102 years to each have 3+ hits and score 3+ runs, but have no RBI in the same game. The first pair: John Kennedy and Luis Aparicio, in a 12-7 win over the Yankees on July 5, 1971.
Tanner Houck held down the fort in the middle innings (4-1-0-1-6, 58) after starter Rich Hill departed after two frames. Houck is the first Boston reliever to throw 4+ innings, allow one or no hits, and strike out 6+ in almost 16 years (Kyle Snider, July 31, 2006).
(Seattle pitcher Wyatt Mills also made some history. He's the first pitcher in Mariners history to face exactly three batters, walk two of them, and hit the other.)
It was the second time in Story's career he has gone deep three times in a game – and it was the 35th time in Red Sox history. Story's first blast was to center and the next two cleared everything in left.
Story is the first Red Sox player to hit multiple homers and steal a base in a home games since John Valentin did it on August 10, 1995. (How is it that Mookie never did that?) Before tonight, it had happened only nine times – and Carl Yastrzemski was responsible for four of those!
If we look at Red Sox players who did it in any park, it had happened 18 times before tonight. And, yes, Mookie Betts was the last player to do it, hitting two homers and stealing one base in Toronto on July 2, 2017. Note that in every one of those previous 18 instances, the batter hit only two home runs.
Story is the second player in Red Sox history to have 3+ homers and 5+ runs scored in a game, joining Jim Tabor (July 4, 1939, against the Philadelphia Athletics; he drove in nine).
Story is the fourth player in Red Sox history to score 5+ runs and have 7+ RBI, after Tabor, Walt Dropo (June 8, 1950, the famous 29-4 win over the Browns), and Jackie Bradley (August 15, 2015).
Story is the second player in Red Sox history to score 5+ runs and have 13+ total bases. JBJ scored five runs and had 14 total bases in a 22-10 win over the Mariners.
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