Red Sox smash record-breaking 5 home runs in ALDS Game 2

The Boston Red Sox clobbered the Rays with a five-homer game

After getting shut out by the Tampa Bay Rays to open the series, the Boston Red Sox broke out the big bats for Game 2 of the ALDS.

The Red Sox pounded the Rays pitching staff for 14 runs on 20 hits to even the series. It was only the eighth time in franchise history that they have tallied that many hits in a postseason game. Five players recorded at least three hits for only the second time in the franchise’s postseason history. Their 39 total bases were the third-most ever by a Red Sox team in the playoffs.

Boston set a postseason franchise record with five home runs in this game. That tied an MLB record for the most home runs in a postseason game by a road team.

They became the first major league team with 20+ hits and 5+ home runs in a playoff game. The Red Sox are also the first  MLB team to have six players with multiple RBI in a playoff game since RBI became official in 1920.

Game 1 saw the Red Sox struggle with runners in scoring position but they finally managed to string together some hits to jump out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning of Game 2. Unfortunately, Chris Sale imploded to give those runs back and then some, putting Boston in a hole. That’s when they needed to break out the home run swings to bury the Rays.

Xander Bogaerts and Alex Verdugo hit back-to-back solo shots in the third inning to trim the deficit to one. Bogaerts ran the count full before blasting a 398-foot shot to left field to chase Rays starter Shane Baz from the game. Verdugo followed by greeting reliever Colin McHugh with a 377-foot shot to right field.

Both home runs traveled with an exit velocity above 100 mph, per Baseball Savant. Oddly enough, the inning started with Rafael Devers stinging a 108.5 mph laser to deep center that was caught for a long fly out. Of course the hardest hit ball of the night went for an out. That’s baseball.

Two innings later, the Red Sox lineup exploded for more fireworks to take command of the game.  Enrique Hernandez led off the fifth inning with a 393-foot homer to left against McHugh to tie the game at five apiece.

It was a historic night for Kike, who went 5-for-6 with three doubles plus that homer. He joins Hideki Matsui (2004, ALCS Game 3) as the only players in MLB history with 5+ hits and 4+ extra-base hits in a playoff game.

Hernandez is also the first Red Sox hitter to ever record at least four extra-base hits in a postseason game. He joins Brock Holt (2018 ALDS), Todd Walker (2003 ALDS), John Valentin (1999 ALDS), and Mo Vaughn (1998 ALDS) as the only players in franchise history with 10 total bases in a playoff game.

J.D. Martinez was left off the Wild Card roster and missed Game 1 of the series while recovering from an ankle injury that he suffered tripping over the second base bag in the regular season finale. The veteran DH was chomping at the bit to get back in the lineup and showed no ill effects of the injury in his return, collecting four hits with three RBI.

All three of those runs were driven in with a fifth-inning home run that put the Red Sox ahead for good. The 412-foot shot cleared the center field wall over the head of the backpedaling Kevin Kiermaier.  The final score may give the appearance of a blowout but this was a tight game until Martinez broke it open with this home run that is credited as the game-winner.

There’s some concern about lingering discomfort in the forearm of Devers, which flares up when he swings and misses. That wasn’t a problem in the eighth inning. Devers took the first pitch for a ball, then hammered the next pitch to center field for a two-run homer that turned this game into a route.

Devers didn’t hit it quite as hard as his third-inning fly out but the 106 mph exit velocity still made it the third-hardest hit ball in the game and the 425-foot distance made it the furthest ball hit in the game.

The Red Sox put to rest any questions about their ability to score runs against this top-rated Rays pitching staff. Boston scored against their starter and battered their bullpen. The Rays used six different pitchers, four of whom gave up multiple runs. That includes six runs against Michael Wacha, who was fed to the wolves for nearly three innings of mop-up duty.

The ALDS shifts to Fenway Park for Game 3, an environment we know the Red Sox lineup thrives in. Now that their bats have built up some momentum, they’ll try to carry it home with them to take control of this best-of-five series.