Beltre brings the boom broom by Jared Carrabis
Beltre, Sox sweep their way out of Seattle


Here’s a trivia question for you: What’s Adrian Beltre’s favorite TV show? Answer: M*A*S*H.

I’ll tell you right now, Beltre’s fourth inning solo smash brought back memories of Wily Mo Pena. Not since Manny Ramirez have I seen a ball that was so completely demolished that I actually laughed when the ball met the bat.

I mean, from his drop-to-one-knee swing, to the sounds that the smack of the ball of the bat made, to the overall distance that this baseball traveled. It was one of those moments where all you can do is chuckle and say, "Wow."

Beltre’s eight thousand foot homer tied the score at one, as four more unanswered runs poured on by Boston’s offense were enough to bury the Mariners.

Shades of Tony Graffanino were on display at Safeco Field on Wednesday night, as Chone Figgins let a Daniel Nava grounder trickle under his glove and straight through the five-hole, plating David Ortiz from third, who was 1-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts on the night.

With the way Clay Buchholz was throwing the ball, Victor Martinez’s two-run double had essentially put the game out of reach. With his two-base hit on Wednesday, Martinez bumped his average to .402 against left-handed pitching this season, getting on-base at a .440 clip and slugging an eye-popping .727. In comparison, Marco Scutaro’s OPS for the season isn’t even higher than .727.

Speaking of Scutaro, the shortstop accounted for Boston’s fifth run when Ryan Kalish tripled in the top of the eighth.

Buchholz was back to being his masterful self out on the west coast, hurling seven strong innings, with his lone blemish being a solo home run to Russell “The Muscle” Branyan in the first inning. Boston’s right-handed starter allowed just the one earned run on four hits, walking a total of three and striking out six. In his 109-pitch outing, Buchholz recorded seven outs on the ground, and four in the air.

With their sweep over the Seattle Mariners, the Red Sox became just the third team this season to win forty games on the road in 2010. It was Boston’s first series sweep since they took three from three from the Angels in Anaheim back on July 26-28.



Final score: Red Sox 5, Mariners 1
WP: Clay Buchholz (16-7)
LP: David Pauley (2-8)
HR: Russell Branyan (25), Adrian Beltre (28)

Tweet of the Night: There were a couple good Beltre ones tonight. Take your pick.

@PeteAbe: Beltre takes a knee and it's No. 28 for him, into the upper deck in left at Safeco. He's 8 for 25 here this season #beast #redsox

@IanMBrowne: My unofficial count says that's Beltre's sixth homer on one knee.

@GordonEdes: Wedding proposal HR for Beltre, down on one knee, 2d deck. I do, indeed

-Jared Carrabis

Published on September 16, 2010

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