Brock Holt isn’t one to outwardly swing for the fences, but a rare exception came along for the Boston Red Sox ultra-utility man last October.
As the Red Sox were pouring it on the New York Yankees in Game 3 of their 2018 American League Division Series, Holt had an opportunity to make history in the ninth inning at Yankee Stadium. The challenge? Putting one into the seats to complete the first-ever Major League Baseball postseason cycle.
With the Sox holding a very comfortable 14-run lead heading into their final at-bats, Holt knew he had the opportunity to go for broke in an attempt to etch his name into baseball lore. All it took was a little warning from Dustin Pedroia to really put him in the slugging mindset.
“Dustin I need a homer for the cycle. I’m up fourth this inning, I’m gonna do it,” Holt recalled during a recent appearance on Barstool Sports’ “Section 10 Podcast.” “He’s like, ‘If you don’t try to hit a home run, I’ve lost all respect for you.’ So I was like, ‘Alright, I’m gonna do it.’ First pitch I swung and I hit it and I was like ‘Oh, man.’ It was kind of a line drive, so I didn’t really know if it was gonna be high enough. But then when it got out it was nuts. I looked at the dugout and everyone was going crazy.”
Well, it’s safe to say Pedroia’s messages never fall on deaf ears in Boston’s clubhouse.
Holt’s cycle was just the beginning of an exciting playoff run for the Red Sox, who lost just two games the rest of the way en route to a World Series title.
