It’s a tough time being a pitcher against the Red Sox.
Boston has marked the Astros for huge run totals in consecutive ALCS wins, first defeating Houston 9-5 in Game 2 at Minute Maid Park to tie the series in one game apiece, and then to a 12-3 win in Game 3 on Monday at Fenway Park.
There were plenty of shocking numbers, especially early inning totals, that made Boston look like an offensive powerhouse of all time.
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Sporting News takes a look at some of those stats behind the team’s recent impressive starts.
Early edition
The Red Sox make sure to establish themselves as favorites to win early on.
In eight games of this postseason, the Red Sox have scored 35 runs in innings 1-3. Boston has started 11 home runs during those early breakouts.
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That homer total is already the same for the fifth-most home runs in the first three innings in a single postseason in MLB history, according to data from Stathead. The other teams who marked pitchers for double-digit home runs at the start of the postseason games:
| team | year | HRs |
| Rays | 2008 | fifteen |
| Mets | 2015 | 12th |
| Rays | 2020 | 12th |
| Swindler | 2020 | 12th |
| Astros | 2004 | 11 |
| Red Sox | 2021 | 11 |
| Cardinals | 2004 | 10 |
| Cardinals | 2011 | 10 |
The scary part is that the Red Sox didat leastthree more games in the 2021 postseason. They will be well on their way to a record if they can keep up with what they have done so far.
History of the home run
Can’t get enough of the long ball? The Red Sox can’t do that either, at least not this postseason. Let’s just say the laundry trolley is already collecting the kilometers.
In the middle of Game 3, ESPN’s Marly Rivera tweeted that the Red Sox were nearing the franchise record for most home runs in a single postseason, which they set at 20 in 2003. A few innings and blasts from JD Martinez and Rafael Devers later, Boston had hit the mark in just eight games.
As Rivera noted, the Astros also hit 20 home runs in their first eight postseason games in 2004 to set the MLB record. The Red Sox 2021 set the American League record on Monday. The ’04 Astros lost in the NLCS to the Cardinals, who were swept by the Red Sox in four games in the World Series.
Kiké Hernandez’s creepy swing
There couldn’t be a better racket in Boston’s lineup right now than Hernandez’s.
With two more hits on Monday, Hernandez boosted his post-season total to 18 through eight games, connecting him to Hideki Matsui (2004) and Thurman Munson (1976) for the most hits in an eight-game period since 1903, according to Stathead.
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In addition, Hernandez consistently brings the ball into play. He has only struck four times this postseason. He’s homered five times. In other words, he jogged around the bases more times than he walked back to the shelter.
He left the game on Monday with 2,027 OPS and a .615 batting average in the ALCS.
And that’s not just luck. Even by the expected numbers from Baseball Savant, he was one of the best of the game in the postseason. Its xBA is .388, its xOBP is .414, and its xSLG is .817.
OK, maybe there is a bit of luck, but a slash line of .388 / .414 / .817 would probably still be enough to get him the ALCS MVP award.
