Boston fans can breathe a sigh of relief; JD Martinez is in the lineup for tonight’s Red Sox game. He’ll face his former team, the Detroit Tigers.
Martinez played for Detroit from 2014 midway through 2017, before being traded to the Diamondbacks. In 458 games over 3.5 seasons, he batted .300 with 99 homers and 285 RBIs. He was a 2015 All-Star and Silver Slugger.
So far this season, JD Martinez has been exactly what the doctor ordered for a team diagnosed with a serious hitting deficiency. Combined with Mookie Betts, Andrew Benintendi, and Mitch Moreland, to name a few, the lineup has the makings of a new Murderer’s Row.
The Tigers are 2nd in the AL Central, with a 29-32 record. Shockingly, they’re a team to watch this season; they’ve won nine of their last thirteen games. Prior to their matchup with the Yankees earlier this week, they’d won three consecutive series against the White Sox, Angels, and Blue Jays.
The Sox, meanwhile, are 41-19 after starting the season 17-2. They’re the only team with more than 38 wins, and they just split a series with the Houston Astros. Overcoming that hurdle should be a huge confidence-boost for this team after last year’s ALDS debacle, in which the Astros won 3/4 games and out-scored the Sox 24-18, one of the key reasons for Martinez’s signing in the first place.
Martinez exited Sunday night’s game with back spasms. However, JD is known to play through pain, so let’s hope he’s actually feeling up to it, and not simply powering through. We don’t want to lose another slugger to the DL…
Photo: MassLive
