And that’s one reason Fenway Park stood out. Considering the dimensions of the storied ballpark, Ross — a pull hitter — believed his power numbers could spike compared to AT&T Park in San Francisco.
In Wednesday’s 10-1 victory, Ross’ instincts proved correct as he launched his 14th and 15th home runs of the season. The outfielder fell short of the trifecta in the sixth inning, when his blast caromed off the upper section of Green Monster.
“The kind of way my swing has developed over time, I had a good feeling that this would be a good spot for me,” Ross said of Fenway Park. “My thought process is stay hard up the middle, try to hit the ball as hard as I can up the middle and my swing path will create that lift that will allow me to hit a lot of fly balls. So this is definitely a great place to hit for a right-handed pull hitter.”
That’s an understatement. In 61 games for the Red Sox this season, Ross has already exceeded his home run total from last season (14), a mark he reached in 121 games for the Giants.
Keep in mind that Ross also missed a month with a fracture in his foot. Even so, his 15 long balls are the third-most in his career and his highest total since clubbing 24 in 2009 with the Marlins.
Ten of those home runs have occurred at Fenway Park, validating his decision to ink a deal with the Red Sox. His penchant for power has certainly made Boston manager Bobby Valentine a believer.
“He’s sitting in there, and you start looking at this small sample, that lineup, you have two lefthanders in front of him and two lefthanders behind him, he’s kind of sitting in a rocking chair,” Valentine said. “It didn’t seem like pitches were working as well against him as they were against left handers. He made them pay.”
He certainly delivered the haymakers, collecting six RBIs in his first start of the season in the No. 3 hole. In typical selfless fashion, Ross credited Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford for his RBI total.
“It was just one of those nights where I felt like every time I came up, there were runners in scoring position and I had an opportunity to score,” Ross said. “Just having Jacoby and Carl back has been huge for us — getting on base, creating havoc on the paths and it’s just nice to be able to have the table set.”
And with the table set, Ross feasted.
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