Mookie Betts Joins Ted Williams In Red Sox Record Book With Another Three-Homer Game
BOSTON (CBS) -- Hitting the ball out of the park was a major issue for the 2017 Boston Red Sox. That is not the case for the 2018 version of the club.
Boston's offensive onslaught continued on Tuesday night as they opened a nine-game road trip out on the West Coast, blasting six homers in a 10-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels. Mookie Betts led the charge with a trio of solo shots, with Brock Holt, Jackie Bradley Jr., and Rafael Devers joining in on the fun throughout the victory.
But the night clearly belonged to Betts, who got the party started in the first at-bat of the game by crushing a 97 MPH fastball by Angels starter Shohei Ohtani deep to left-center. It's the 12th time he's gone yard to lead off a game, adding to his franchise record. He followed that up with solo blasts in the third inning off reliever Luke Bard and another off Cam Bedrosian in the eighth inning. With his three-homer game, Betts is up to five dingers for the season. He leads all of baseball with a .389 average and a 1.289 OPS.
This marks the third time the 25-year-old has blasted three homers in the same game in his career. He's just the third player in MLB history to have a trio of three-homer games before his 26th birthday, joining Ralph Kiner and Boog Powell. As for his spot in Red Sox history, Betts joins Ted Williams as the only other Boston player to do it three times. Chances are he'll add to that total at some point in the near future.
Boston scored five runs in the third inning thanks to homers by Bradley Jr., Holt and Betts, the first time they've hit three homers in the same inning since the 2012 season. They're now up to 19 homers for the season, a remarkable number compared to last year's team. The Red Sox hit just 17 homers in April during the 2017 season; they've already sent 17 out of the park with 12 games to go in the month this season.
