The Sox continued hot in mid-May, spurred on by the tremendous hitting of third-year shortstop Nomar Garciaparra. The 25-year-old, still recovering from hip problems, slammed three homers-two of them grand slams-for 10 rbi’s in a 12-4 rout of shaky Seattle. Nomar became the fourth Red Sox player-and first since Fred Lynn in 75- to achieve 10 ribbies. He also became the 11th player ever to connect for two grand slams in a contest.
Garciaparra feasted on some weak Seattle pitching, connecting on his first two versus rookie Brett Hinchcliffe and completed his night with a slam off another rookie, Eric Weaver, in the eighth. The Sox, who pounded out 10 hits, jumped to an 8-2 lead after two and never looked back. But struggling starter Pat Rapp could not share in the fun, being pulled by Jimy Williams after two rocky innings and replaced by John Wasdin, who hurled 6 2/3 for the victory. The homers gave Garciaparra five in a stretch of 21 at bats and ran the Sox winning streak to 5.
With the return of closer Tom Gordon, Tim Wakefield went back to a starting role and continued to scuffle, allowing 9 hits and 4 runs in 5-plus innings as the Sox dropped game 2 by an 8-5 score. It was a 2-2 contest until the visitors erupted for 4 in the sixth with 5 hits off Wakefield and Rheal Cormier. Jim Corsi allowed 2 more in the seventh, and it hurt because Boston rallied with single runs in in the eighth and ninth. Improving rookie catcher Jason Varitek led the Sox attack with three hits.
Pedro Martinez, the second half of the Latino superstar duo, then finished the series in his usual fashion, going 8 innings and fanning 15 with one walk in a 9-2 rout. Garciaparra completed a memorable series with 4 more hits in 5 at bats, including 2 doubles and 3 ribbies. His stats on the home stand were awesome- 13 for 33 with 5 homers and 17 rbi’s. Bosox hitters slammed starter Matt Suzuki for 8 hits and 6 runs in 6 innings, as Jose Offerman backed Pedro up with 3 for 4. Martinez was now 7-1 with a 1.81 ERA.
Boston was now 18-15 and trailed the slumping Yanks by 2. The Sox were performing offensively, with Offerman leading the AL in doubles and triples and was among the leaders in total bases, steals, batting average and hits. In addition, Garciaparra, Mike Stanley, Damon Buford and Troy O’Leary were all over .280. The team’s only problem seemed to be on the mound, though the success of Juan Pena made the loss of Bret Saberhagen hurt a little less.
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