K’S IN BUNCHES: Sox hurlers have fanned at least 10 batters in each of their last 3 games, matching the club’s longest streak of the year (also 6/8-10)…The staff has tallied 9+ K’s in 6 straight games, leading the Majors with 59 punch outs since 7/6…It is the club’s longest such streak since a 6-game run from 4/29-5/4/09…Boston hurlers last tallied more than 6 straight games of 9 or more strikeouts with an 8-game run from 5/28-6/5/01.
HITS AND WALKS: David Ortiz is batting .429 (12-for-28) with a double, 2 homers, 4 RBI and 11 walks over a season-high 9-game hitting streak…He has hit safely in 15 of 16 games dating back to 6/25, batting .377 (20-for-53) with 4 homers and a Major League-leading 16 walks in that time…During the stretch his has a .514 on-base percentage.
- Ortiz has now walked in 8 straight games (11 total BB), matching the longest such streak by a Major Leaguer this season (4 others)…It is the longest streak of consecutive games drawing a walk by a Red Sox since Kevin Youkilis walked in 10 consecutive contests from 5/6-15/10…He leads the AL with 13 intentional walks, tied for the Major League lead with CIN’s Joey Votto.
CATCHING RAYS: Today’s starter Josh Beckett leads Major League qualifiers with a 2.46 ERA (33 ER/120.2 IP) against Tampa Bay since 2007 (min. 57.0 IP), a span of 18 starts against the Rays…He is undefeated in his last 9 starts against the club dating back to 5/10/09…Beckett is 4-0 with a 1.08 ERA (6 ER/50.0 IP), 37 K’s and just 4 walks over his last 7 starts against TB dating back to 9/12/09, holding the Rays to 2 earned runs or less while going at least 5.0 innings in all 7 starts…It is the 2nd-longest ever such streak by a starter against Tampa Bay behind Kevin Appier (8, 5/24/00-8/8/03).
THE FIRST 50: Last night, in his 50th Major League game, Will Middlebrooks homered for the 11th time this year, a 2-run shot to boost his RBI total to 39…Since 1918 the only other Red Sox to reach those HR and RBI marks in his 1st 50 Big League games was Walt Dropo in 1950 (14 HR, 57 RBI).
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