I Guess You Could Say Mookie Betts Had a Decent Opening Day
If it hadn’t been for a stiff breeze in Philly, the Red Sox would be 6-1 right now.
After a 9-4 beatdown of the Washington Nationals on Opening Day Monday afternoon, the Red Sox have now scored six runs or more in five of their first seven games. It took the Red Sox 19 games last year before they had scored six runs or more in five games. And they’ve done that mostly without their big bats doing much of anything with the exception of Hanley Ramirez. David Ortiz homered for the second time on Monday, but came into the game hitting .130 with a .520 OPS. Mike Napoli got his first hit on Sunday night, but has yet to get it going. The bright spot for this Red Sox lineup has really been Xander Bogaerts, who followed up his seven-hit series against the Yankees with two more hits today.
The offense was never really in question coming into the year. Everyone was kind of waiting to see what this pitching staff could do, and aside from the worst start of Clay Buchholz’s career, they’ve been pretty good. Rick Porcello went 8 innings on Monday, allowing three earned runs and a pair of dingers, which long balls have really been the only blemishes for him so far.
But Monday was all about Mookie Betts. From the home run-robbing grab shown above, to his three-run home run, to stealing two bases on the same play, we’re starting to see why the Red Sox didn’t want to cough this guy up for Cole Hamels this past offseason. According to SABR, that was only the eleventh time since 1915 that a player has swiped two bags on the same play, and it’s worth noting that the last player to do it was Dustin Pedroia last season. Betts also became the first Red Sox leadoff hitter to have at least one home run, 4 RBI and two stolen bases in the same game since 1920, which was when runs batted in officially became a statistic. Suck it, Ellsbury.
First it was Hamels, and today Jordan Zimmermann fell victim to this potent Red Sox offense. Boston is making a habit out of tattooing the pitchers that the Red Sox had been linked to in trade talks over the winter. That being said, it’s stating the obvious that however good this team may be, they’re going to need a proven frontline starter if we’re going to see some rings being handed out during the next Opening Day ceremony at Fenway Park.
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