Red Sox designated hitter J.D. Martinez is on some type of tear.
He has 30 total bases over an eight-game hitting streak in which he is batting .517.
The All-Star added to that scorching hot streak on Friday night by going 4-for-5 with two home runs and two doubles in a 16-4 rout of the Angels at Fenway Park. That's 12 total bases by the seventh inning.
After an Albert Pujols three-run homer in the first inning had the Red Sox in an early hole, Martinez got the offense started when he lined a double off the Green Monster to score Mookie Betts from second in the first. He then tied the score at 3 in the fourth inning with his blast into the bullpen in right.
Martinez thought he had another homer to right field, but his fly ball short-hopped the wall. Martinez fist-pumped as he rounded first base, but realized the ball hadn't actually cleared the fence and barely scampered back to second, avoiding a tag.
Boston Red Sox
“I don’t know, I just feel like I’m finding ways to get hits every night, that’s all I’m thinking about right now,” Martinez told NESN's Tom Caron on the field in a postgame interview.
His seventh-inning blast, his 27th of the season, put the Red Sox up, 11-4. He reached on a throwing error in his fifth at-bat as the Red Sox extended their winning streak against the Angels to eight.
“I make adjustments every day for the most part,” Martinez told reporters after the game. “The other day was something else. Yesterday was a different adjustment. Today was another one.”
Asked if he thought the Sox, who got two homers from Martinez, and one each from Mookie Betts (20th), Rafael Devers (24th) and Mitch Moreland, could hit their way back into the race (they're five games back of a second wild-card spot), manager Alex Cora said, “I still think we’re going to pitch, and I do believe we can hit with anybody,” Cora said. “We can do this.”
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