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JARROD SALTALAMACCHIA |
BOSTON STRONG -
THE ROAD TO REDEMPTION
Papi, Carp and Salty's
two homers back
Ryan Dempster in a barrage
June 9, 2013 ...
For the second straight day and the third time in four games, Ortiz hit a home run. Not coincidentally, every time Ortiz has gone deep during that span, Boston has won. His three-run shot off Joe Blanton jump-started a high-octane Boston offense en route to a 10-5 win and a 2-1 series
victory over the Angels. Ortiz sent a 1-1 changeup just over the wall in right-center field in the third inning for his 13th homer of the year, giving his team a lead it would not relinquish in the process.
Boston added on in the sixth when Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Mike Carp sent back-to-back pitches over the wall in center. It was the fifth time this season Boston batters have hit back-to-back homers. For Carp, it was his second straight game with a home run.
Saltalamacchia wasn't done, however. The very next inning, he hit another long ball, this one a three-run shot to give him four RBIs in the game. Ortiz and Saltalamacchia aren't the only Boston bats with success as of late, either. Dustin Pedroia and Jose
Iglesias both extended their hitting streaks to 13 games and Jacoby Ellsbury, who tripled Sunday, is now batting .279, 38 points higher than his average on May 20.
The 10 runs are a representation of what Boston has done better than any other team in baseball this season -- score. The Red Sox lead baseball with 336 runs scored and 330 RBIs. Over their last eight games, the Sox are averaging 7.63 runs per contest.
The offense backed a solid performance from Ryan Dempster, who pitched six innings and gave up three runs, recording his 2,000th career strikeout in the process. Home runs continue to plague him, though, and he gave up two more, one by Albert Pujols and another by
Alberto Callaspo. On the season, Dempster has now given up 14 long balls, which ties him for fourth most in the league. Still, the outing was a quality start for Dempster and his third straight after a trio of shaky starts in May. With the win, he's 4-6 on
the year.
The Red Sox have won six of their last eight games and 11 of their last 16. They've won three straight series. With his third-inning homer, David Ortiz moved into a tie with Darrell Evans for 48th on baseball's all-time list with 414. Jose Iglesias
extended his career-high hit streak to 13 games, going 2 for 4 with a double. |
