Xander Bogaerts continues to be a consistent piece for the Boston Red Sox.
The All-Star shortstop went 3-for-5 with an RBI and two runs in Boston’s 12-inning loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday night at Fenway Park.
Bogaerts led the eighth inning off by cranking his 20th home run of the season into the Green Monster to bring the game within one before J.D. Martinez tied it in the next at-bat with a solo shot of his own.
The 26-year-old hit a career-high 23 dingers in 2018, and only has hit more than 20 in just one other season when he hit 21 in 2016. Bogaerts likely will surpass that if he continues the tear he’s been on. But what’s even more impressive is that Bogaerts now has homered in all three games against the Dodgers this weekend, something he’s never done in his career.
Xander Bogaerts has homered in 3 straight games for the first time in his career. This is also the first time he has recorded an RBI in 6 straight games.
— J.P. Long (@SoxNotes) July 15, 2019
He also joined some pretty elite company in recording a hit, RBI and scoring a run in that six-game stretch.
Bogaerts isn’t showing any signs of slowing down, which only spells bad news for opposing pitchers.
Here are some other notes from Sunday’s Red Sox-Dodgers game:
— Michael Chavis made a sweet over-the-railing catch for the first out in the fourth inning.
— The time of Sunday’s game was five hours and 40 minutes, but it was shorter than a recent extra-inning contest.
Boston’s 17-inning marathon against the Minnesota Twins in June went five fours and 45 minutes.
— Joe Kelly, who pitched in Saturday’s game against his old team, took the mound with one out in the 12th.
The right-hander had much more success than Saturday, closing out the game with two strikeouts to secure the win for Los Angeles.
— The Dodgers looked as if they were going to take the lead in the 11th, but Andrew Benintendi threw Alex Verdugo out at home with a perfect throw to Christian Vazquez.
— Brandon Workman pitched a 1-2-3 ninth by getting all three batters he faced to strike out.
