Mookie Betts went 4-for-6 with two home runs and eight RBI out of the leadoff spot in Sunday afternoon’s 15-1 drubbing of the Blue Jays. His eight RBI ties a record for a leadoff batter. Four other players have accomplished the feat, according to MLB’s Stat of the Day Twitter account.
Betts hit an RBI single in the second inning to push his team’s lead to 2-0. He smacked a three-run home run in the fourth inning to make it 5-1, added a two-run home run in the sixth to up the lead to 7-1, and brought in two more runs with another single in the seventh to make it 11-1.
Betts has the third game of eight-plus RBI this season. Scooter Gennett had 10 RBI in his record-tying four-homer game last month and Anthony Rendon knocked in 10 himself at the end of April. Coincidentally, Betts was also the last member of the Red Sox to knock in eight-plus runs when he brought eight home on August 14 last year against the Diamondbacks.
After Sunday’s performance, Betts is hitting .286/.364/.509 with 15 home runs, 51 RBI, 56 runs scored, and 15 stolen bases in 366 plate appearances. He’s having a pretty good follow-up after finishing as a runner-up in AL MVP Award voting in 2016.