J.D. Martinez isn't counting homers after 40th: ‘Looking at statistics is like death'

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BOSTON — Forty for two straight.

J.D. Martinez on Sunday night hit homer No. 40 of the season, a milestone that underscores just how excellent he’s been for a Red Sox team that learned last season how desperately it needed to replace to David Ortiz’s production. This is the second season in a row Martinez has reached that mark, finishing 2017 with a career-high 45 between the Tigers and Diamondbacks.

He’s not a big numbers guy, though, as he reiterated after the 6-5 walk-off win over the Astros that avoided a three-game sweep.

“I have an idea, because you guys tell me, or the guys bring it up to me, but I honestly like, I feel like looking up at the scoreboard and looking at statistics is like death. It's like, bad.” Martinez said. “Like, don't look at it. Just because it doesn't do anything. What good does it do? Nothing. Like yesterday, I come out, and just like that you go 0-for-5.

“I didn't start the season off saying I've gotta hit 40 home runs. That [hanging over you] looks like, 'I'll never hit that.' But if I get caught up in, ‘Hey, you know what, I gotta hit the ball on the barrel this at bat. How am I going to do that?’ 

“Worry about the small goals then big ones take care of themselves. That's why I never get caught up in it. That's why I never talk about whatever I do or anything like that. It's just, how many times did I hit the ball on the barrel tonight? That's what I measure."

Vying for the Triple Crown, Martinez went deep in the fifth inning off lefty Dallas Keuchel.

"Nothing. Forty. I don't care,” Martinez said. “I mean, honestly, I don't look at all that stuff. I'm just worried about the little things and just worry about the day-to-day and the process more than the results, really.

“It's great. It's humbling and stuff like that. It's awesome. It's a great achievement. But ... I just worry about the next at-bat and the next team we're facing and that's it. At the end of the season is when I sit back and can kind of talk about it."

The 40th homer came against the team that cut Martinez just four years ago in spring training, and off a pitcher whom Martinez was teammates with as far back as 2009, the year he was drafted.

“I knew he was swinging,” Keuchel told reporters, including the Houston Chronicle’s Chandler Rome. “We have a long history together. I told Mac [catcher Brian McCann] right before the pitch I wanted to go low and away with the changeup off the plate, then I throw it high and away and he’s strong enough to get it out. I texted him, said, ‘You’re strong enough to play the Fenway Monster, and he said he hit Picasso.’ 

"That’s that bat that they needed this past offseason and they got it. He’s proving his worth. It’s impressive what him and Mookie [Betts] have been doing all year."

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