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Red Sox Rally: Breaking Down the Offensive Surge

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With Tuesday ‘s 10-4 win over the Twins, the Red Sox have now averaged eight runs per game in their last seven. It’s a positive turnaround after Boston had struggled over their previous ten games, averaging just 2.5 runs/game.

Tuesday’s outcome marked the third straight game in which Boston has scored at least nine runs against Minnesota, a streak dating back to April 20. It’s the first such streak for the Sox against the Twins since July 3-5, 2000. The only Major League team with more such games are the Mariners, who put together a four game streak with 9+ runs against Minnesota in 1998-99.

It’s the second time the Red Sox have scored nine or more runs against an opponent this season. Boston opened the 2023 campaign with an offensive burst, scoring 9+ runs in three games against Baltimore.

The last opponent the Red Sox scored 9+ runs against in four consecutive games of a single season was the Athletics. In 2016, Boston went 5-1 against Oakland with at least 11 runs scored in five of the six games of the season series.

2-out strength

Scoring with two outs isn’t just good baseball, it’s exciting baseball. On Tuesday, Christian Arroyo and Connor Wong delivered two-out RBI from the bottom of the Sox order. That brought the Red Sox tally to 30 two-out RBI over their last five games. In all, their 150 two-out RBI is fourth-most in baseball after the Rangers (177), Dodgers (162), and Rays (162).

Arroyo, a late add to the line up when Pablo Reyes was scratched for abdominal tightness, wound up with a 5-for-5 night, including a home run and a double. It was his first career five-hit game and also set a career-high with four RBI. Arroyo became the fourth Sox batter to come a triple-short of a cycle this season, joining Rafael Devers, Connor Wong, and Jarren Duran.

Arroyo’s 5-for-5 night marked the first time a Red Sox batter had 5+ hits and a hit in every at-bat of a game since Rafael Devers went 6-for-6 on August 13, 2019 at Cleveland.

Bottom of the order contributions continue to be solid for the Red Sox this season. Boston batters seven through nine have the third-most most hits in the Major League, the fifth-best batting average and a .725 OPS that ranks seventh of the 30 MLB teams.


A 6-for-6 Attack

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Earlier this month on May 7th, Astros star slugger George Springer managed an unlikely feat going 6-for-6 in a nine-inning game. Against the Athletics in Oakland, Springer managed a double, a home run, and four singles. The offensive barrage resulted in four runs scored, three RBI, and 10 total bases.

Springer became the 65th major league player with a six-hit, nine-inning game, the first in his club’s history, and the first in baseball since the Nationals’ Anthony Rendon managed a similar game on April 30 last season. Like Rendon, Springer further distinguished himself by becoming one of just 15 such players ever to log six hits, four runs scored, a home run and three RBI in a nine-inning game.

In 2016 there were two six-hit attacks in a nine-inning contest, including one by the Angels’ C.J. Cron against the Red Sox in a forgettable, 21-2 drubbing by the Halos over the Sox at Fenway Park. In that game, Clay Buchholz allowed four runs over 4.1 IP only to watch his replacement, Heath Hembree, make it a 9-0 Anaheim lead by the end of the fourth. Cron, like Springer this season, was also one of the elite 15 whose six hits included four runs, a HR and three RBI.

Since 1908, the Red Sox have been victims of a 6-for-6 attack in a regulation-length game five times, more than any other American League team. Before Cron in 2016, it was the Royals Kevin Seitzer who turned the trick on August 2, 1987. Also Floyd Robinson for the White Sox (July 22, 1962), George Myatt for the Washington Senators (May 1, 1944), and Myril Hoag for the Yankees in Game 1 on June 6, 1934.

For their part, Boson has just one instance of a 6-for-6 game. It came off the bat of the late Jim Piersall against the St. Louis Browns on June 10, 1953. In that game Piersall (shown here in 1957 at Fenway) hit a double and five singles in an 11-2 Red Sox win at the original Busch Stadium. Two-time All-Star Piersall, who played eight seasons with the Red Sox (1950, 52-58), passed away last summer at age 87.

Six-hit games, of course, indicate an opposing pitching meltdown and, indeed, of the 65 major league players to enjoy such output, only one did so in a losing affair. The Phillies Connie Ryan had two doubles and four singles, but the Pirates nonetheless prevailed on April 16, 1953, winning 14-12.


Sox Offense Powers the Way

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Red Sox vs MLB and AL AveragesThe Red Sox started the day with exactly 1,000 hits in the books, the first major league team to reach that milestone this season. In 2015, the Sox didn’t get to 1,000 hits until August 12th.

With each major milestone we’ve been pausing to evaluate how the 2016 Red Sox compare to the rest of baseball. No surprise, Boston’s offense is primarily responsible for keeping this year’s team in contention.

As of this writing, the Red Sox own the best offense in the major leagues, tops in batting average (.291), on-base percentage (.356), and slugging (.476). At .833, the Sox are the only club in baseball with an OPS above .800 this season.

Boston has the most hits in the majors as well as the most doubles (231), runs scored (549), runs per game (5.66), RBI (523), total bases (746), and owns baseball’s top OPS+ (117). RSNStats recently reported on David Ortiz‘ mammoth OPS+ as part of a recent review of his overall performance.

As the table shown here illustrates, in nearly all offensive categories, the 2016 Red Sox are ahead—and in some cases, well ahead—of both MLB and American League average production.

Different season, same song

Through 97 games this season the Red Sox have connected for 10 or more hits in 58 of them. That’s the most such games in that period of time for any major league team since the 2003 Red Sox had 59 such games.

Boston’s 10+ hit games this season, nearly 60% of its total games played, represent a lot of missed opportunity. With a .724 win percentage in 10+ hit games this year, the Sox are in the middle of the pack, ranked 15th of the 30 major league teams. Unlike the Red Sox, who have lost 16 of their 10+ hit games, the Cubs have lost just five for an MLB-best .872 win percentage in such games.

Things weren’t much better in the lost Red Sox seasons of 2014 and 2015 when Boston amassed a win percentage of just .673 and .712, respectively, in games of 10+ hits. The difference then, however, was how few of those games there were. For the full season of 2014 the Sox had just 52 such games. They had 66 in all of 2015. This year’s Red Sox are on pace for 97 games with double-digit hits. The last major league club with that many 10+ hits games in a single season was the 1950 Red Sox, who had 98.