How Kike Hernandez, Red Sox made history in Patriots' Day rout originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
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Patriots' Day is always a day of celebration in Boston. And the Red Sox gave the locals plenty to celebrate at Fenway Park.
The Red Sox destroyed the Chicago White Sox 11-4 on Monday in their annual Patriots' Day matinee game, which began at 11 a.m. ET.
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Chicago actually took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but it was all Boston after that, as Kike Hernandez launched a leadoff home run as part of six consecutive hits off White Sox starter Lucas Giolito to start the bottom of the first.
The Red Sox put up six runs in that first inning en route to a comfortable victory that moved them to 11-6. They also made sure Monday's game would enter the record books.
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According to the Red Sox, Hernandez is just the second player in franchise history to hit a leadoff home run on Patriots' Day. The other? Ellis Burks, who launched a leadoff blast off the Texas Rangers on April 18, 1988, en route to a 4-3 Red Sox win.
And about those six hits to start the game: That's the first time Boston has accomplished that feat in nearly six years, and the first time they've pulled it off at Fenway Park in nearly two decades.
These Red Sox couldn't quite match the output of the 2003 Boston team, which racked up 25 runs on the Florida Marlins in that June 27 contest thanks to 14 first-inning runs. (Johnny Damon and Todd Walker combined for nine hits in the contest, while Bill Mueller drove in six runs.)
But Boston's 11 runs Monday were the fifth-most the team has ever scored on Patriots' Day in quite the large sample size.
Monday's offensive outburst was just what the Red Sox needed after dropping both games of their doubleheader with the White Sox on Sunday.
So, while Boston fans didn't get the full Patriots' Day experience with the Boston Marathon moved to October due to COVID-19, the hometown team made sure the product on the field was worth remembering.
