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Old reliables David Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia still leading young Red Sox
- Updated: July 22, 2016
1:16 AM ET
BOSTON — There will be many opportunities over the next few years to marvel at Mookie Betts’ leadoff home runs, Xander Bogaerts’ three-hit games and Jackie Bradley Jr.’s surprising power. They are the Boston Red Sox’s “Killer B’s,” the talented, young cornerstones of a first-place team that’s every bit as bullish about its future as it is about its present.
But Thursday night belonged once more to the old guard.
After all these years, to say nothing of a pair of World Series titles as teammates, David Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia still manage to do things that even their manager rarely sees. Take, for instance, Ortiz’s batting-practice home run that stuck in the netting attached to Pesky’s Pole in right field at Fenway Park.
“You don’t see many foul poles similar to these, let alone to drive one through the mesh is pretty remarkable,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said. “I think some people went down and took a picture of splitting the chicken wire, the mesh, whatever it is, the steel cage. He drove the ball right through the foul pole.”
And that was just the warm-up act.
The Red Sox throttled the hapless Minnesota Twins 13-2 in the opener of a four-game series, and in the midst of 17 hits and an outing so easy-breezy that knuckleballer Steven Wright barely broke a sweat, Pedroia led the charge. He went 5-for-5 with two doubles for his fourth career five-hit game, more than any player since 2006 save Twins first baseman Joe Mauer (five), according to research by ESPN Stats & Information.
Dustin Pedroia, who went 5-for-5 Thursday, is congratulated by another Red Sox veteran, David Ortiz. Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
“Five hits, you don’t see it very often,” Farrell said. “He’s sat in that 2-hole for many years and remains still very productive.”
Indeed, Pedroia is the metronomic constant at the top of a Red Sox batting order that is dominating like few others in baseball. Entering play Thursday night, the …
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