David Butler II-USA Today Sports
Mike Napoli, the Boston Red Sox starting first baseman, is starting to look like quite the off-season acquisition.
On Monday night, the Red Sox scooped up their 13th win of the season and it was fueled by another tremendous offensive performance from Napoli. The first baseman was 2-for-4 from the plate on Monday, driving in five runs including a grand slam in the fifth inning that really gave Boston the separation that they needed.
In all, Napoli’s five RBIs in the team’s victory over the Oakland A’s moved him atop the league leaders in that category. Napoli now has 25 runs batted in this season, in addition to four home runs. He is batting .278, having appeared in all 19 games for the Red Sox this season.
Motivated by the tragic events that unfolded at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon just over a week ago, Boston has been on fire to begin the season. The Red Sox are just a half game back of both the Atlanta Braves and Colorado Rockies for the best record in baseball heading into Tuesday night. Boston, who dropped back-to-back games as part of a day-night doubleheader on Sunday, has now won eight of their last ten games overall.
While the Red Sox have had a number of great starts from their pitchers, it’s been there offense that has paced the way through the team’s first 19 games. Napoli has stepped into a role as a leader within the Boston lineup and with David Ortiz now back in the fold, the Red Sox lineup just got that much more dangerous. Napoli has really been clicking over the past week or so, batting .379 with 14 RBIs on 11 hits in just the past seven games.
Napoli and the Red Sox will look to keep things going on Tuesday night in Game 2 of a three game series with Oakland.
Follow Paul Seaver on Twitter: @PaulSeaverRS
