David Ortiz has joined the 500 home run club Saturday night, with two home runs against the Rays making him the 27th player in the history of Major League Baseball to reach the historic milestone.
His first home run of the night, no. 499, came in his first trip to the plate. Up against a struggling Matt Moore, who had allowed two of the first three batters he faced to reach base, Ortiz got ahead 1-0, but then fell behind 1-2 after taking a fastball for a called strike and taking a big swing under a second. Undeterred by his whiff, Ortiz took another rip at a pitch in pretty much the same spot, and this time he didn't miss:
Ortiz' first homer gave the Sox an early 3-0 lead, which would build to 7-0 by the time he made his third trip to the plate, this time to lead off the fifth. Somehow Moore had lingered despite the score, and this time, after keeping the ball away from Ortiz to get to a 2-2 count, the lefty tried to catch him by bringing a curveball back over the inside corner. Ortiz was not fooled:
And there you have it: history. Career homers number 499 and 500 on his 33rd and 34th of the season at age 39. It will be a long, long time before the Red Sox see another hitter quite like Big Papi.