Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz became the 27th player to join the 500-home run club with two homers in Saturday night’s 10-4 win over the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field.
Ortiz joined the exclusive club with a three-run shot in the first inning and a solo homer in the fifth frame. He’s one of two players in MLB history, along with Albert Pujols, to hit his 499th and 500th home runs in the same game. Ortiz sits in 27th place on the all-time home run list, trailing Eddie Murray by four.
Jon Shestakofsky of the Red Sox’s media relations team tweeted a few interesting statistics regarding Ortiz’s 500th homer.
[tweet https://twitter.com/Shesta_Sox/status/642846395230253057 align=”center”]
[tweet https://twitter.com/Shesta_Sox/status/642844270639075328 align=”center”]
[tweet https://twitter.com/Shesta_Sox/status/642845756202852352 align=”center”]
The next home run milestone for Ortiz to pursue is Ted Williams’ team record of 521. Ortiz has 421 home runs as a member of the Red Sox.
Ortiz has been on fire in the second half of the season. Since June 9, he has hit 28 home runs, including seven blasts in his last 14 games. He needs six RBIs to reach the 30-homer, 100-RBI mark for the ninth time in his career. That would be a Red Sox record.
— Interestingly, Ortiz’s milestone happened on the 36th anniversary of Red Sox legend Carl Yastrzemski’s 3,000th hit.
— Rick Porcello pitched another good game. He gave up three earned runs, five hits, struck out five and walked three on 108 pitches over seven innings. His only rough inning was the fourth, when he allowed a two-run homer to Rays second baseman John Jaso.
Porcello has a 2.30 ERA with 30 strikeouts and just six walks since coming off the disabled list in August. He’s won three of his four starts in that span and he’s pitched seven innings or more in all of them. Porcello hasn’t lived up to expectations this season, but his recent success is encouraging heading into the 2016 campaign.
— Mookie Betts extended his hit streak to 17 games. It’s the longest hit streak for a Red Sox player since Jacoby Ellsbury collected a hit in 19 straight games in 2013.
[tweet https://twitter.com/Shesta_Sox/status/642838545590321152 align=”center”]
— Xander Bogarts’ first-inning single gave him 170 hits on the season. He’s now tied for the American League lead with Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros.
— Dustin Pedroia notched his first multi-hit game since June 21. He has four hits in three games since making his return from the DL on Sept. 8.
— The Red Sox have played nine games in September and lead the American League with 57 runs scored and 29 doubles.
Thumbnail photo via Reinhold Matay/USA TODAY Sports Images
