J.D. Martinez Sets New Red Sox Record For Most Homers Before July
BOSTON (CBS) -- J.D. Martinez is only 77 games into his Red Sox career, but he already owns a pretty special franchise record.
Martinez continued his amazing start to his Boston career Wednesday night by clubbing his league-leading 25th home run of the season, a three-run shot in the second inning to give the Red Sox a 6-0 lead over the Los Angeles Angels.
With the homer, Martinez set a new Red Sox record for home runs before the end of June. He surpassed the previous record of 24 dingers before July 1, which he shared with Ted Williams (1950), Mo Vaughn and Jose Canseco (1996) and Manny Ramirez (2001).
Martinez is certainly soaking in the honor of being mentioned with such Red Sox greats as "The Splendid Splinter" and "The Hit Dog", but as he said Tuesday night when he tied the record, he's already looking ahead to the next game.
"I mean, that's an honor. Yeah, that's definitely an honor," Martinez said after Boston's 9-6 victory. "Those are great players, so to be mentioned alongside them is awesome. But you guys know how I am. I'm on to the next one. Who do we got tomorrow, really?"
Boston's prized free agent signing is just the 10th Red Sox to hit 25 or more homers before the All-Star break, and just the seventh player to hit that clip through the team's first 81 games. David Ortiz owns the record for both, hitting 31 dingers before the 2006 All-Star break and 27 through Boston's first 81 games that season. Martinez has 17 more games to best Ortiz's pre-All-Star game record.
The way he is swinging the bat lately, going 13-for-26 with three dingers in his last six games, we may be talking about another team record for Martinez before the break.
