Martinez and Betts, MLB's Best Hitting Tandem, Have Red Sox on Record Home Run Pace

The top hitting duo in MLB resides in the American League East. No, it’s not the New York Yankees’ slugging combo of Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. Instead, it’s Boston’s tandem of Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez.

The addition of Martinez, who signed a 5-year, $110 million contract with the Red Sox during the first week of Spring Training, to Boston’s power-starved offense—which ranked last in the American League in home runs last season—was (understandably) overshadowed by the Yankees’ acquisition of Stanton in a blockbuster trade with the Miami Marlins. But through nearly two months of the season, Martinez has panned out as baseball's best offseason addition.

Martinez blasted two homers on Sunday, the first one wrapping around Fenway Park's Pesky Pole in right field.

J.D. Martinez goes oppo-🌮 ... because what else is new? #RedSox pic.twitter.com/obqTYUAzqI

— NESN (@NESN) May 20, 2018

Connecting for a two-run shot in the fifth inning, Martinez collected his eighth career multi-homer game and his first with the Red Sox.

Your HR leaderboard update:
Mookie Betts - 15@JDMartinez14 – 15

This is getting absurd. pic.twitter.com/5d5ZgcOr22

— MLB (@MLB) May 20, 2018

Martinez and Betts are tied atop the MLB leaderboard in homers with 15 and have led Boston to a historic home run pace. The Red Sox have launched an MLB-leading 68 home runs. That is the most home runs the Red Sox (32-15) have ever mashed in the first 47 games of a season.

J.D. Martinez hit two homers in Boston's 5-0 win over Baltimore. (Michael Dwyer/AP)

The Red Sox are the first team since the 2001 Colorado Rockies to have two players hit 15 or more homers through 47 games. Not even the duo of David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez, one of the deadliest hitting combos in baseball history, accomplished this feat.

“The two guys I thought did it, Manny and David, never did it,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “It’s fun to watch. There’s nothing else I can say, it’s fun to watch.”

Martinez has 10 home runs in the last 18 games. Only Baltimore’s Manny Machado has more RBIs (42) this season than Martinez, who has drove in 41 runs. Martinez has recorded at least one extra-base hit in 23 games, the most in MLB. He’s on pace to belt a career-high 54 dingers.

While Martinez is the hottest hitter in baseball, Betts maintains the best résumé of the 2018 season. Betts leads MLB in batting (.365), runs, slugging, doubles and OPS. Boston’s leadoff hitter is also tied for the league-lead in hits and ranks second in OBP and WAR, trailing only Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout in those two categories.

Betts and the red-hot Martinez have the Red Sox—who are on pace to smash a franchise-record 234 homers—in position to be the best power hitting team in the league. That’s quite the turnaround from last season’s club, which clubbed an AL-worst 168 home runs.

Yankees Starters Flop in First Test vs Red Sox

            The New York Yankees had their pitching rotation’s purported top-3 starters—Luis Severino, Masahiro Tanaka and Sonny Gray—aligned for their midweek series against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.

            All three fell flat on their faces versus their division rivals.

            Severino, the ace of the staff, relinquished five runs in five innings in the series opener. After posting a 1.38 ERA in his first two starts, he allowed a run to score in the first and three more in the second frame as Boston cruised to an eventual 14-1 victory.

Severino had a disappointing outing versus the Red Sox on Tuesday. (Michael Dwyer/AP)

            Aaron Boone, the rookie manager, even suggested the 24-year-old Severino may have been tipping his pitches.

             "We've addressed certain things in the past," Boone told The New York Post. "We've noticed things from time to time. We're always as vigilant as we can be with what he may or may not be doing."

            Although the Yankees won the next game—a contest highlighted by the brawl sparked by Boston’s reliever Joe Kelly and New York’s Tyler Austin—Tanaka was far from sharp on the mound. After the offense gifted him an 8-1 lead, Tanaka let the Red Sox back in striking distance after surrendering a grand slam to Red Sox newcomer J.D. Martinez in a five-run fifth inning. Tanaka managed to get the win, despite giving up six runs in five innings, but the Yankees couldn’t have been encouraged by his performance.

            Gray had the worst showing of the three. He gave up six runs and only lasted three innings, forcing the bullpen into a heavy duty day of work. The relievers registered five scoreless innings, but Gray dug the Yankees too big of a hole to recover as a late rally in the ninth fell short in a 6-3 defeat.

Gray struggled at a rainy Fenway Park on Thursday night. (Winslow Townson/AP)

            Boone recognized Gray’s struggles and noted how the right-hander will be a determining factor in the Yankees success this season.

            “It’s frustrating because he’s really important for us and we know what he’s capable of,” Boone said. “He’s coming off an outing where he gave us six strong innings and we feel like it will turn around for him, but tonight wasn’t the night.”

            The rotation was not expected to be the strong suit of the Yankees. The strengths of this team lie in the power hitting of the middle of the lineup and its top-notch bullpen. But the Yankees’ rotation can’t be this weak of a link if they are truly to contend for a championship.

          The starters have to perform better than this, especially against a Red Sox club that figures to be the Yankees’ biggest competition in the American League East.

Red Sox Sign J.D. Martinez, add Coveted Power Hitter

                The Boston Red Sox agreed to a five-year, $110 million deal with J.D. Martinez on Monday, giving them the slugger they yearned for all offseason. Martinez hit .303/.376/.690 with 45 home runs and a 166 OPS+ for the Detroit Tigers and Arizona Diamondbacks last season.  He was traded to Arizona at the trade deadline—where he smashed 29 homers and slugged .741 in just 62 games, helping the Diamondbacks reach the postseason.

J.D. Martinez is the newest member of the Boston Red Sox. (Christian Peterson/Getty Images)

                In two years, Martinez will have collected $50 million in this frontloaded contract and will possess the ability to leave in free agency. He has an opt-out clause after year three, as well, and can test the open market then if he so pleases. But whether Martinez stays in Boston for two, three, or five years, this was a necessary signing by Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski.

                The Red Sox had to add pop to a lineup that ranked dead last in the American League in home runs (168) last season.

                Expected to be the team’s designated hitter in 2018, the 30-year-old Martinez is of two players to hit over .300 with at least 125 home runs and a .550 slugging percentage since 2014—the other, according to ESPN Stats and Information, being Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout, a two-time AL MVP and six-time All-Star.

                Martinez is the most potent power hitter to be featured in Boston’s lineup since David Ortiz retired in 2016. He is the guy the Red Sox needed in order to keep pace with the heavy-hitting New York Yankees—now rostering arguably the two best home run hitters in baseball with Aaron Judge and the recently-acquired Giancarlo Stanton—the Cleveland Indians and the World Series champion Houston Astros in the loaded American League.