Red Sox tied MLB record with six grand slams in April 2018
The Boston Red Sox tied a major league record by bashing six grand slams in the month of April to begin their historic 2018 season.
The 2018 Boston Red Sox were a juggernaut that ran roughshod over their competition on their way to a franchise-record 108 wins and a World Series title. They set the tone for their historic season early by dominating out of the gate with a 21-7 start, including 19 wins in the month of April to set another franchise record.
That wasn’t the only bit of history the Red Sox made that month. On the last day of April, Boston’s lineup tallied their sixth grand slam of the season to tie a major league record for the most hit by a team before May.
Records set in April pale in comparison to those set in October but now we can reflect on that historical start knowing what the club was building toward.
April 7
Xander Bogaerts hit the first grand slam of the 2018 season for the Red Sox in a 10-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. He had already put his team ahead with a double in the first inning that drove in a pair but Bogaerts would break the game wide open when he returned to the plate in the second.
Struggling Rays starter Jake Faria walked three batters to load the bases with two outs in the second inning. Faria ran the count full to Bogaerts and as wild as he had been, the right-hander was clearly concerned about walking the batter with no safe place to put him.
Faria settled on a meatball down the middle, a 91 mph fastball that Bogaerts crushed over the Green Monster in right field to expand the lead to 8-2.
April 10
The first meeting of the season with the New York Yankees was dubbed as a duel between aces but it didn’t turn out that way. While Chris Sale delivered six strong innings with only one run allowed, Luis Severino coughed up a handful of runs in five innings. Boston was able to get into the Yankees bullpen for a sixth-inning offensive explosion.
The Red Sox had already doubled their lead by tagging Tommy Kahnle for five runs when Mookie Betts made his second plate appearance of the inning. Betts doubled and scored earlier in the sixth. Lefty Chasen Shreve had taken over for Kahnle with two outs in the inning but couldn’t stop the bleeding, hitting the first batter he faced, followed by the next batter reaching on an error and a walk to load the bases for Betts.
After falling behind in the count 2-1, Shreve threw a splitter that wouldn’t dive. It hung up in the zone and Betts hammered it over everything in left to give the Red Sox a 14-1 lead.
April 11
The Red Sox battered Yankees pitching with a grand slam for the second consecutive game but this time it wouldn’t be enough to take down the Bronx Bombers.
New York raced out to an 8-1 lead as they aimed to redeem themselves for the previous night’s humiliation. While the Yankees had folded like lawn chairs after falling behind in the series opener, Boston at least made a valiant effort to make a comeback with a five-run fifth inning.
The rally attempt was capped by J.D. Martinez, who hammered the first pitch he saw from Masahiro Tanaka. The splitter from the right-hander stayed flat and Martinez didn’t hesitate to send it deep to center field.
The comeback ultimately fell short but Boston would win the series finale to take two out of three against their rivals at Fenway.
April 18
Boston kicked off a west coast trip with a three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Angels. The series started with an epic three-home run game from Mookie Betts but the team’s next grand slam would be saved for the second game of the series.
There were two outs in the third inning when Rafael Devers stepped to the plate against Tyler Skaggs. The lefty hung a curve on a 1-2 count and Devers got just enough of it to sneak the ball over the right field wall.
This was notable not only for being the first grand slam of his career but it was also a rare homer against a lefty. Devers hit 21 home runs that season but only three were against a southpaw.
The Red Sox went on to win that game 9-0 and outscored the Angels 27-3 in the series.
April 20
The Red Sox lost their first series of the season when they went to Oakland but they did win the opener thanks to Mitch Moreland.
With the score knotted at three in the sixth, the A’s made a questionable call to the bullpen. Kendall Graveman was solid through five innings and sitting at only 92 pitches but he was given the hook after giving up three straight singles to begin the inning.
Pulling the starter as he was unraveling was a defensible decision but they ideally would have sent in a lefty to face Moreland considering his wide platoon splits. Instead, the A’s turned to right-hander Emilio Pagan, who allowed a strong .296 average to left-handed hitters that season.
It didn’t take long for Moreland to show them why they made a mistake. He crushed a first-pitch slider deep to right field for the game-winning grand slam.
Moreland spent the first seven years of his career in the AL West playing for the Texas Rangers and has always enjoyed hitting against the A’s. He has 15 career home runs in Oakland, the most he has tallied in any visiting ballpark.
April 30
The record-tying sixth grand slam of the month came on the final day of April. The Kansas City Royals were in town to begin a three-game series at Fenway.
Boston fell behind early but the deficit wouldn’t last long. Royals starter Jason Hammel got two quick outs to begin the third and appeared to be on his way to a strong outing but it began to fall apart when Andrew Benintendi beat out an infield single to spark the rally.
Hanley Ramirez hit a ground rule double and Martinez drew a walk to load the bases. Moreland followed with a free pass to force in a run and leave the bases juiced for Bogaerts.
Hammel battled Bogarets to a full count. The star shortstop fouled off a couple of sliders to stay alive, spoiling some tough pitches to get to the one he wanted. It came on the eighth pitch of the at-bat, a 91 mph two-seam fastball that Bogaerts pulled down the left field line into the Monster seats near the pole.
The historic string of April grand slams began and ended with Bogaerts. He would add another grand slam in July of that season and now has five for his career.
Grand slams didn’t stop in April
A power drought was one of the themes of the 2017 season for the Red Sox. After finishing a respectable ninth in the majors in home runs during David Ortiz‘s farewell tour, Boston fell to a pathetic 27th in 2017.
Watching this power-starved lineup bow out in the first round of the postseason convinced the Red Sox to shell out a lucrative free-agent deal to Martinez to give them a legitimate home run threat to anchor the lineup. The move paid off in spades with the return of a dominant Red Sox lineup. The upgrade was evident early with their April home run barrage.
After failing to hit a grand slam in the previous season, Boston bashed 10 grand slams in 2018 to fall one shy of the franchise record. Jackie Bradley Jr. would add another in the postseason to put away Game 3 of the ALCS against the Houston Astros.
Perhaps the most memorable grand slam of the season was Mookie Betts’ epic 13-pitch at-bat against Blue Jays tarter J.A. Happ.
Happ would also serve up the 10th and final grand slam of the regular season to Steve Pearce. The pair had started the season as teammates in Toronto but by September, Pearce had been traded to the Red Sox and Happ was a Yankee. Four of Boston’s grand slams were against the Yankees, the most the Red Sox have ever recorded in a season against their greatest rival.
dark. Next. Overrated Red Sox players
There are many aspects that went into making 2018 one of the most memorable in Red Sox history but the parade of grand slams during their historic April can’t go overlooked.