Family witnesses Benintendi's first triple, HR
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DETROIT -- With his family in the stands at Comerica Park, Red Sox left fielder Andrew Benintendi picked up his first career triple in the sixth inning of Sunday's 10-5 loss against the Tigers, and one inning later, he delivered his first career home run.
Benintendi got a 3-2 slider from Shane Greene and pulled it to right field for a two-run shot that cut the Red Sox's deficit to 10-5, but that was as close as they would get, losing to split the four-game series at Detroit.
"It's pretty exciting getting the first one and I'm glad my family was here to see it," Benintendi said. "I thought it had a chance when I hit it and once I saw [Tigers right fielder] J.D. [Martinez] stop running, I knew then."
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Benintendi, who made his debut earlier this month, was Boston's first-round Draft pick in 2015. He has seven extra-base hits and nine RBIs following Sunday's game, but pitchers have begun to cool off his hot bat. He has struck out in six straight games and had whiffed in five straight at-bats across three games before the triple off starter Justin Verlander.
He said he has not necessarily made any adjustments since his numbers had slowly dropped, but added that it felt good to get a few hits.
"I'm just trying to go up there and hopefully put a good at-bat together and just hit the ball hard," Benintendi said. "It's exciting. But it's unfortunate we couldn't get the 'W' today."
Red Sox manager John Farrell has taken note that Benintendi has been consistently making solid contact since being called up Aug. 2, and was excited to see that solid contact finally pay off.
"[He's] a good-looking hitter as we've talked about, and today it was on display," Farrell said.