The Boston Red Sox' prolific offense kept rolling Saturday thanks to an early spark from hitting machine J.D. Martinez.
The Red Sox designated hitter opened the scoring in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series with a first-inning grand slam off Houston Astros starting pitcher Luis Garcia.
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Martinez's blast was his second of the 2021 postseason and his eighth in just 26 career playoff games.
It also gave him 28 RBIs in those 29 games -- which is second-most in major league history in that span behind only New York Yankees Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig. (Eight of those 28 RBIs have come this postseason, by the way.)
Not bad for a guy the Astros released back in 2014.
Martinez also joined an exclusive list of Red Sox players with grand slams in the postseason. The 34-year-old's clutch shot was the eight playoff grand slam in franchise history, and the first since Jackie Bradley Jr.'s blast in Game 3 of the 2018 ALCS against these same Astros.
The Red Sox fell 5-4 in Game 1 of this series, but perhaps Martinez's heroics can help them even the series before Game 3 in Boston on Monday night.