Will Middlebrooks clobbered two homers, finishing with five RBIs, while helping lead the Red Sox to an 11-5 win over the Royals in Kansas City. It marked just the sixth time in major league history a player has at least one RBI in each of his first four games. The third baseman also becomes the first player in Red Sox history to claim at least one extra-base hit in four straight games to start his big league career.
Middlebrooks, who now has three home runs and nine RBIs in the last two games, was joined by David Ortiz (3 hits, 3 runs, HR) and Dustin Pedroia (2 hits, 3 runs, HR) in helping the Red Sox snap their five-game losing streak. The Sox now stand at 12-16, the identical mark they held after 28 games last season.
The Red Sox finished with 16 hits, with Marlon Byrd and Adrian Gonzalez also coming away with multiple-hit games (2 apiece).
Picking up the win for the Red Sox was starter Felix Doubront, who pitched a career-high 6 1/3 innings while throwing a season-high 111 pitches. The lefty allowed five runs (4 earned), giving up seven hits, striking out two and walking three. Reliever Vicente Padilla helped Doubront get out of a jam in the seventh, coming on with the bases loaded and the Red Sox leading up just two and getting Billy Butler to hit into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.
For all that went right (and wrong) in the Red sox' win, click here. [1]
For more Red Sox news, go to the team page at weei.com/redsox [2].
Links:
[1] http://fullcount.weei.com/
[2] http://weei.com/redsox
[3] http://www.weei.com/category/boston/red-sox