Who knew the first two games vs the vaunted Oakland Athletics would have the Red Sox looking so good?
Solid performances on Friday and Saturday were highlighted with grand slams by Dustin Pedroia on Friday and Jonny Gomes on Saturday.
Pedroia’s milestone
The slam on Friday was especially gratifying. It marked the 100th career home run for Pedroia as well as his 500th, 501st, 502nd, and 503rd career RBI. The 100+ home runs and 500+ RBIs puts him in elite company with only 26 other Red Sox players ever to cross both milestones in their careers in Boston.
And it came at a great time. Though he had been 22-for-79 (.278) with one grand slam in his career with the bases loaded, Pedroia was 0-for-2 this season in those situations and hadn’t had any home runs yet, his last having come September 17, 2013 vs the Orioles.
Pedroia became the 3rd player in club history to reach his 100th career HR with a grand slam. The others were Mo Vaughn on August 3, 1995 and David Ortiz on May 28, 2004.
The slam came on an 0-2 count, making it the first such grand slam in all of baseball this season on such a count. In 2013 there were only two 0-2 grand slams: one by the Tigers Andy Dirks and the other by Will Middlebrooks. Before Middlebrooks, you have to go all the way back to April 10, 1998 for an 0-2 grand slam by a Red Sox player. That one was by Mo Vaughn.
And finally, there’s this: By getting to career home run No. 100, Pedroia joins Carl Yastrzemski as the only players in Red Sox history with 100+ home runs and 100+ stolen bases. Yaz had 452 home runs and 168 stolen bases. Pedroia stands at 100 home runs and 121 steals.
Gomes out of the gate
Saturday got off to a great start when Jonny Gomes stroked his 5th career grand slam. It was the first 1st inning grand slam in all of baseball this season. The last Red Sox batter with a 1st inning grand slam was…Jonny Gomes, on May 8, 2013 vs the Blue Jays.
Gomes’ grand slam, along with Pedroia’s the night before, and Pierzynski’s the week before, gave the Red Sox the most grand slams in baseball for the young season.
Slamming back-to-back
Before Friday and Saturday, the Athletics hadn’t given up back-to-back grand slams since doing so to the Rangers on September 25-26, 1999.
If the Red Sox can slam on Sunday, too, they’ll join the White Sox, Tigers, and Brewers as the only teams in baseball history with back-to-back-to-back games with a grand slam. The White Sox did it most recently in games on June 23, 24, and 25, 2006.
Still more
For more about grand slams, memorable Sox slams, and something even more exciting than the grand slam, be sure to see my special Grand Slam report, here on RSNStats.com