Why J.D. Martinez Feels This Red Sox Lineup Is Most Complete

At this point, there is no one who wants to face the Boston Red Sox offense.

After dropping Game 1 with a disappointing performance against the Houston Astros, the Sox bounced back in a big way with a nine-run performance by way of two grand slams — to tie the American League Championship Series at 1-1.

“It’s fun,” J.D. Martinez, who had one of the grand slams, said after the game. “It’s the matchup. This whole series, that’s the matchup is they have got the same kind of team. When you look at it on paper, they have an unbelievable lineup, and we feel like we do too.”

Martinez has had a hand in that.

Since missing one game with a sprained ankle, he returned for Game 2 of the AL Division Series against the Tampa Bay Rays. With the designated hitter worried about his power on a sore plant foot, he was moved to sixth in the lineup.

It’s worked quite well for them.

“You have guys hitting in the top of the order and the guys hitting at the bottom of the order,” Martinez said. “It’s a deadly lineup because you know the guys in between are going to pretty much do what they do. So Kiké (Hernández) to be playing the way he is playing and even Dugie (Alex Verdugo) hitting the ball the way he is hitting the ball, I mean, it’s just a potent lineup, one through eight, one through nine, you know?”

Martinez, in four games this postseason, has batted .389 with an OPS of 1.032.

He and the Red Sox will be back at it Monday when they host the Astros in Game 3 at Fenway Park.