Right from the get go, the Red Sox looked good against the Angels and their impressive young two-way player, Shohei Ohtani.
Mookie Betts opened the series with a home run, the first of three he would hit on Tuesday against three different Anaheim pitchers. It was just the third full-count home run to lead off a game for the Sox since 2010, the first since Betts himself accomplished the feat last May 9th against the Brewers.
Later, in the third inning, Betts launched another moon shot against Luke Bard, the younger brother of former Boston pitcher Daniel Bard. A third Betts blast came in the eighth inning facing reliever Cam Bedrosian.
All three Betts home runs measured past 400 feet (411, 417, 426) and left the bat at speeds of 104.9, 107.4, and 108.0 MPH, respectively.
For Betts it was his third career game with three home runs. In club history only Ted Williams has managed three such games. Mo Vaughn, Jim Rice, and Nomar Garciaparra each had two such games with the Sox. Sammy Sosa and Johnny Mize hold the major league record since 1908 for the most career games with three home runs (six such games each).
A shot at a club-record four home runs in a single game was scuttled in the ninth inning when Brock Holt grounded into a double play, leaving Betts on deck.
Coincidentally enough, the last major league player with four home runs in a single game was new teammate J.D. Martinez, who met the feat while he was with the Diamondbacks last September 4 against the Dodgers.
The Red Sox ended up 10-1 winners on Tuesday, the first time Boston has scored that many runs against the Angels in their ballpark since August 7, 1999 (a 14-3 win).