Written by Jason Mastrodonato at Boston Herald.com
As Blake Swihart crouched down to get a from-below angle for his imaginary photo shoot of Mookie Betts and Chris Young lifted his hands pretending to click the camera, Betts flexed his muscles.
He had just finished a game in which he homered three times, becoming the first Red Sox leadoff hitter ever to do so.
This wasn’t just a regular 6-2 win against the Orioles last night, as the Sox extended their lead in the AL East to three games. They hit, ran, dove, caught and pitched like a varsity team stomping the JV while holding nothing back as they walloped the Orioles for the second straight night.
Later, the Red Sox might look back on May 31 as the day their season came together. With Eduardo Rodriguez throwing as confidently in his season debut, cruising through six innings of two-run ball on 89 pitches, the club is getting a substantial boost to a starting rotation pitching for baseball’s best offense.
But not even Rodriguez’ debut could overshadow Betts, who hit one long ball each to left, center and right fields, while making an out-of-nowhere catch in shallow center that can be compared only to the Superman-like dive Brock Holt made next to a lost Jonny Gomes at Fenway Park in 2014.
Manager John Farrell went as far as to say that Jackie Bradley Jr., who left the team to be with his wife for the pending birth of their first child, should name the baby Mookie if the Bradleys have a boy.
Betts’ three homers came in his first four trips to the plate.
“After I hit two, they don’t pitch to me anymore,” David Ortiz panned after the game.
Betts had a chance to tie the major league record with his fourth homer of the game in the ninth, but he grounded out.
“Home run would’ve been nice, obviously,” he said. “But I was just trying to get another hit.”
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