Big Papi may have picked up an extra gift from the field, too.
Advertisement
With Boston trailing 9-8 with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning and second baseman Josh Rutledge standing on first base, a miscommunication by Astros outfielders Carlos Gomez and George Springer on a routine fly ball to right-center field by Red Sox catcher Ryan Hanigan led to a game-tying RBI single which preceded a go-ahead RBI triple by right fielder Mookie Betts to clinch the win for Boston.
His teammates thanked him with an explosion of what appeared to be baby powder as he rolled into second base. He later walked off holding the bag over his head.
When it was over, he met his son at his locker, showered, quickly got dressed and hustled out the door.
Ortiz, 40, quickly left to get to his daughter’s party. Shortstop Xander Bogaerts mashed a three-run home run in the second inning for Boston while Rutledge fared 3-for-4 with three runs and designated hitter Hanley Ramirez batted 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI as David Ortiz had the day off.
“I was trying to tackle him. Every time he comes here he’s laughing, talking loud and it’s fantastic”. (1-for-3) roped a fifth-inning single to extend his Major League Baseball-best hitting streak to 21 games.
Ortiz broke a tie with Ernie Banks and Eddie Mathews with his 513th homer.
Buchholz (2-3) has surrendered eight home runs after giving up six in 18 starts a season ago and is sporting the worst strikeout-to-walk ratio (1.60) of his 10-year career, all with the Red Sox. After sliding into third, he got up and pumped both fists toward his dugout following his first triple since June 15, 2013.
Bogaerts slapped a two-out, opposite-field single in the 11th and advanced to second on a wild pitch to set up Ortiz’s heroics off Houston’s Michael Feliz (1-1).
Ortiz joined Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds as the only major leaguers with at least 500 home runs and 600 doubles.
“We got beat”, Astros manager A.J. Hinch said.
Marlins 5, Nationals 1: Jose Fernandez fanned 11 over seven innings and drove in two runs. Starting pitcher Sean O’Sullivan earned a designation for assignment following the game after letting up six runs (five earned) on five hits and two walks in 4.1 innings, striking out three. With an off day each of the next two weeks, the team doesn’t need a fifth starter until May 28.
Springer’s slam off Clay Buchholz caromed off a billboard above the Green Monster seats to make it 5-2 in the second.
Advertisement
Kluber (2-5) allowed four runs in 6 2/3 innings and lost his second straight start. The journeyman right-hander was reached for four runs and 12 hits in six innings of Tuesday’s 13-5 rout of Oakland. However, the 6-foot-0, 235-pound Hanigan made the long dash from first to home on Mookie Betts triple to the triangle, scoring the run that put the Sox ahead for good at 10-9.
