Boston Red Sox: Top 10 memorable moments of 2016
By Sean Penney
Three-homer games
2016 was the year of the three-homer game for the Red Sox, as the rare accomplishment of a hitter connecting on a trio of home runs in the same game occurred three times this season.
Mookie Betts accounted for two of those occurrences. The first came on May 31 in Baltimore, when all three of his hits left the yard. Betts drove in five runs in the 6-2 victory over the Orioles. As impressive as that performance was, the MVP runner-up would top it on August 14 during a 16-2 shellacking of the Arizona Diamondbacks at Fenway. Betts went 4-for-6 at the plate with three home runs and eight RBI.
Betts became the first Red Sox hitter to bash three home runs in a game since Will Middlebrooks in April 2013. He is one of only four hitters in franchise history to do it twice, joining Nomar Garciaparra (1999, 2002), Mo Vaughn (1996, 1997) and Jim Rice (1977, 1983). The iconic Ted Williams is the only Red Sox hitter to do it three times in his career and he was the only one in franchise history to accomplish it twice in the same season before Betts. No Red Sox hitter has ever had four home runs in a game before.
Sandwiched in between the pair of three-homer games from Betts came one from Hanley Ramirez, who joined the club on July 20 in an 11-7 win over the San Francisco Giants. Ramirez went 3-for-4 with a career-high six RBI in the game.
After that three home run performance, Ramirez’ total still only stood at 11 more than halfway through the season. That career night kick-started a second half power surge that would lead to the first 30 homer/100 RBI season of his career.