BOSTON — For the Red Sox, the pre All-Star break portion of the season is pretty much ending just as it started: With J.D. Martinez on fire.
After his epic April (1.175 OPS), Martinez dipped slightly in May and a little more for much of June as he described himself in “grind-it-out” mode.
Now, he is back to what he does best — grinding pitchers into the ground.
In leading the Sox to an 11-5 victory over the Phillies on Friday night at Fenway Park, Martinez hammered a three-run homer into the visiting bullpen and capped an 11-pitch at-bat with an RBI double.
Though Martinez is one of the most complex hitters in the game — to the point that every swing he takes in batting practice is recorded on an iPad — the right-handed-hitting masher thinks the key to his recent resurgence has been simplifying his approach.
“Just trying to keep it simple,” said Martinez. “Use my hands. And it kind of sounds dumb, but go up there and just play pepper with the ball with my hands right now. Just, it quiets my body down and I’m just trying to go out there and see how I can put the barrel on the ball, really.”
Before Martinez started barreling the baseball again, he needed to regain his plate discipline.
“It starts with controlling the strike zone,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “At one point there, he only had one walk in 70 at-bats. He started getting his walks, he started driving the ball to right field. He’s still probably the most respected hitter in our lineup.
“The opposition, they see him, and it’s still J.D. Martinez. He had some great at-bats. Even the home run, he check-swings and it’s a foul ball. He kept fouling pitches off, fouling pitches off. He gets a good pitch and drives it to right-center. That’s who J.D. is. I’m just glad that he is who he is. He’s relentless.”
Martinez demonstrated his relentless approach perfectly in his 11-pitch encounter against Enyel De Los Santos in the third. It was Martinez’s longest plate appearance since June 29, 2017, and the longest plate appearance for an extra-base hit in his career.
“It was a good battle,” Martinez said. “Like I said, just up there trying to just find a barrel on the ball, trying not to chase. Just try to stay within the strike zone. I don’t know. I was really just trying to be short to the ball the whole at-bat.”
The All-Star slugger has now reached base in each of his last 26 games — the longest current streak in the Majors. In his last 11 games, Martinez is hitting .316 with a 1.203 OPS (12-for-38, 10 runs, three doubles, triple, four homers, 10 walks).
Aside from the strong swings and relentless at-bats by Martinez, there were a couple of other interesting takeaways from Friday’s win, in which the Red Sox improved their record to 55-34.
Kiké’s latest leadoff blast
It took Kiké Hernández a while to find his place in Boston’s batting order, but the vetertan has officially found his niche.
His thing is to hit leadoff homers. He did it again on Friday night, ripping Vince Velasquez’s third pitch — a 93.7-mph heater — over the Green Monster.
Of Hernández’s 11 homers this season, five have led off the first inning. Four of those leadoff homers have come since June 27. All but three of his homers this season have led off an inning.
“Good swing,” said Cora. “Obviously that first inning didn’t go our way with Garrett [Richards], but instant offense. That’s what we’re looking for — for him to hunt fastballs and do damage, and he’s been doing that the last two homestands. He’s in a good place, he’s controlling the strike zone, putting good swings on the ball.”
Another mixed bag for Richards
In the first couple of innings on Friday, it looked like Richards was in for another tough night. But as he’s made a habit of doing lately, the righty found himself mid-start.
After giving up three runs and five hits over the first two innings, Richards finished his performance with three scoreless innings, snapping an eight-start winless streak in the process.
“I’m starting to figure some things out. Sequence-wise, grip- and hand-position wise,” said Richards. “Starting to figure some really good things out.”
Richards also seems to be on to why he’s getting hit hard early in games.
“I’ve been filling up the zone a lot, throwing a lot of strikes. I think that’s been a blessing and a curse to start out,” Richards said. “I feel like guys have kind of ambushed me early on in the game, you know, with balls that maybe necessarily are in the middle of the plate because I’m trying to fill up the zone so much. I think I just need to do a better job throwing quality strikes early in the count, instead of having that mindset of just filling up the zone.”
