The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)

Homer Happy

Martinez belts pair of home runs in win over Orioles

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BOSTON — J.D. Martinez took plenty of ribbing in the dugout after slicing a short home run inside the Pesky Pole at Fenway Park.

A few innings later, he showed his teammates some serious power.

Martinez hit two vastly different drives for his first multihomer game with Boston, powering Eduardo Rodriguez and the Red Sox to a rare 13-hit shutout in a 5-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday.

It was the most hits Boston has allowed in a shutout since at least 1908, the team said.

Signed to a $110 million, five- year deal as a free agent in February, the 30-year-old Martinez curled his first home run an estimated 324 feet around the right-field foul pole. He hammered his second — projected at 443 feet — to the deepest part of the ballpark, beyond the centerfiel­d triangle, for his 15th of the season.

“They were making me laugh,” Martinez said, standing in the middle of the clubhouse with a smile on his face. “I said, ‘I’ve got to get even for some of the ones I hit in April when it was cold out and I thought I crushed some and they weren’t even going anywhere.’ They were definitely teasing me, but I’ll take it.”

When reminded about the distance of his second one, he said: “I let ’em know.”

Martinez drove in three runs, and Andrew Benintendi had a two-run homer among his three hits as the Red Sox won three of four in the series to improve to 6-1 against Baltimore this season.

Red Sox teammate Mookie Betts is impressed by Martinez’s power to the opposite field.

“I don’t know if anybody else can do what he does, so that’s why he’s one of a kind,” Betts said. “He can also hit it out of any part of the park, too.”

The Orioles got 13 hits but lost for the 15th time in 16 road games and dropped to a major leaguewors­t 4-19 away from Camden Yards. Adam Jones had three of Baltimore’s 12 singles.

“It’s hard to get 13 hits and not score any runs,” manager Buck Showalter said. “It’s frustratin­g.”

Rodriguez (4-1) scattered nine hits, struck out seven and didn’t walk a batter in 5 2⁄ innings. 3

Leading 1-0 in the fifth, the Red Sox chased David Hess (1-1) and took charge with four runs. Benintendi hit his shot into the Orioles’ bullpen after Jackie Bradley Jr. doubled leading off.

Mitch Moreland doubled before Martinez belted his second homer of the day. His first came in the second inning.

Hess gave up five runs and eight hits over 4 2⁄ innings in his 3 second major league start.

 ?? Adam Glanzman / Getty Images ?? J.D. Martinez, right, celebrates his two-run home run with Mitch Moreland in the fifth inning against the Orioles on Sunday.
Adam Glanzman / Getty Images J.D. Martinez, right, celebrates his two-run home run with Mitch Moreland in the fifth inning against the Orioles on Sunday.

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