Having already rubbed elbows with Ted Williams as the only Red Sox hitters ever with two three-homer games in a single season, Betts could join Williams, Tony Conigliaro and Nomar Garciaparra as the only players in franchise history to hit 30 homers before their age-24 season.
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Betts’ two-run homer in the first cleared the Green Monster and made it 2-0.
Rick Porcello turned in a nice performance in Sunday’s win over the Diamondbacks, allowing one run on three hits over seven innings.
The season RBI total for Betts now stands at 84, tied for fourth in the American Lead and second behind David Ortiz in the Red Sox lineup.
Mookie Betts is making a habit out of hitting three home runs in a game.
“Guys swung the bats tremendous today against one of the best pitchers in the game”, Porcello said.
The Diamondbacks offense mustered a whole two runs, both driven in by Michael Bourn.
Ziegler, acquired last month from Arizona, saved what could have been a rough inning after Matt Barnes walked three straight batters. The Red Sox starter is TBA.
Boston scored four runs in each of the first two innings, ending a streak of 14 scoreless innings by the Diamondbacks’ starting pitchers. Baltimore trailed 7-1 after six innings, but got two runs in each of the seventh and eighth innings. “Just one heck of a day for Mookie”. Red Sox LHP Drew Pomeranz (0-2, 5.26 ERA) opposes Indians RHP Josh Tomlin (11-5, 4.18 ERA) while Diamondbacks LHP Robbie Ray (5-11, 4.57 ERA) counters Mets RHP Bartolo Colon (10-6, 3.35 ERA) on Monday.
PHILLIES 7, ROCKIES 6: At Philadelphia, Jimmy Paredes singled, doubled, homered and drove in three runs and Philadelphia held on to complete a three-game sweep of Colorado.
MARLINS 5, WHITE SOX 4: At Miami, left fielder Christian Yelich threw out pinch-runner Carlos Sanchez trying to score from second base on a two-out single in the ninth inning, and the Marlins beat the Chicago White Sox.
Boston did the bulk of its damage during its seven-run second frame and a six-run fifth. Manager John Farrell said after the game that RHP Steven Wright (jammed pitching shoulder) would go on the DL and Hanley Ramirez on the bereavement list. It was the first three-game series win for the local nine since mid-July, and the first sweep of at least three games since beating up on the lowly Tampa Bay Rays from July 8-10. If Betts can display his efforts on the biggest stage in the game, his media presence will increase to the level of Mike Trout’s and allow him to gain enough votes from not only Red Sox Nation, but baseball fans nationwide. The Red Sox will need to put a few runners on base if Betts is going to get another at-bat in this game.
Edwin Encarnacion hit his 33rd home run, a solo blast off Luke Gregerson, to help the AL East-leading Blue Jays won for the eighth time in 10 meetings with the Astros.
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Betts is still only a 24 years old, so he could grow to get more powerful or maybe even go for the stolen bases and batting average as he progresses.
