9 weird and obscure stats from the Red Sox’ World Series win
A strange series produced some predictably strange stats.

Even in just five games, the 2018 World Series produced some all-time statistics. Game 3 alone could be the subject of a case study, going 18 innings and involving virtually every player on each team’s roster.
In the end, the Red Sox emerged victorious. Boston, a 108-win team during the regular season, was a statistical masterpiece.
Still, their World Series win also produced a plethora of offbeat stats. To that end, here’s a look at some of the stranger stats from the 2018 Fall Classic:
First and last
Chris Sale became the first pitcher since Hall of Famer Hal Newhouser of the Detroit Tigers in 1945 to get the first and last outs of a World Series.
Pitchers who got the first and last out of the #worldseries:
Babe Adams, 1909
Ernie Shore, 1916
Art Nehf, 1922
Waite Hoyt, 1928
Lefty Gomez, 1937
Paul Derringer, 1940
Spud Chandler, 1943
Hal Newhouser, 1945And Chris Sale, 2018
— Baseball Reference (@baseball_ref) October 29, 2018
The Red Sox pitching staff and…Don Larsen?
When David Price got Austin Barnes to strike out to end the fourth inning of Game 2, it began a streak of batters retired by Red Sox pitching that would stretch until the end of the game.
It was the longest game-closing streak since Don Larsen’s perfect game for the Yankees in the 1956 World Series (also against the Dodgers).
The @RedSox retired the final 16 Dodgers hitters of the game tonight.
That’s the longest streak by an AL team to end a #WorldSeries game since Don Larsen retired all 27 in his perfect game in 1956.#DoDamage
— Stats By STATS (@StatsBySTATS) October 25, 2018
Bucking history
The Red Sox shook off their Game 3 loss in 18 innings to win Game 4 later in the day. That’s been an unusual development based on recent history:
We looked at what happened the last 10 times a postseason game went extra innings, and the two teams played again the next day with no off day in between. The results: 9-1 in favor of the team that won the extra-inning game. #WorldSeries #Dodgers #RedSox pic.twitter.com/Q57TIfFCBh
— Inside Edge (@InsideEdgeScout) October 28, 2018
Equalling a legend
World Series MVP Steve Pearce totaled three home runs in approximately the span of 24 hours in Games 4 and 5. In doing so, he matched the World Series career total of David Ortiz, who also had three (playing in three World Series’).
Steve Pearce has as many World Series home runs as David Ortiz did. In about 24 hours.
— Matthew Pouliot (@matthewpouliot) October 29, 2018
Joining recognizable company
Speaking of Pearce’s multi-home run Game 5, it placed him on a genuinely elite list of other players who have also achieved the feat in a World Series clinching game.
Of the 10 other players to do it, nine are in the Hall of Fame (the exception being the not-s0-anonymous Kirk Gibson).
Multiple HRs in a potential #WorldSeries clinching game:
Harry Hooper, 1915
Babe Ruth, 1928
Tony Lazzeri, 1932
Duke Snider, 1952
Yogi Berra, 1956
Johnny Bench, 1976
Reggie Jackson, 1977
Eddie Murray, 1983
Kirk Gibson, 1984
Steve Pearce, 2018 pic.twitter.com/ON4C6T4GLO— Baseball Reference (@baseball_ref) October 29, 2018
A whole World Series in one game
The historically long 18-inning Game 3 took more than seven hours to finish, setting a playoff record.
That was underscored by the fact that Game 3 took longer in total time than the entire 1939 World Series:
This game has now taken longer than the game time of the entire 1939 #WorldSeries.
That year, the Yankees swept the Reds in four games that took a combined 7:05.
— Stats By STATS (@StatsBySTATS) October 27, 2018
Surviving a slump
The Red Sox endured a pronounced slump from the top four hitters in the lineup during all of Game 3, and into Game 4. It reached 41 at-bats without a hit until Steve Pearce’s timely home run tied the game (leading to a Boston win).
Steve Pearce’s home run snapped a 0-for-41 skid from hitters 1-4 in Red Sox lineup.
— Ryan Hannable (@RyanHannable) October 28, 2018
One becomes three
Bernie Carbo was the only Red Sox pinch hitter to ever hit a three-run home run in a World Series. He did so in the famous Game 6 of the 1975 World Series, which ended with Carlton Fisk’s walk-off.
Then, in the span of a single week, decades of history in this specific stat changed forever when two Red Sox players repeated the feat.
3-run pinch HR by the #RedSox in the #WorldSeries
1901-this week – 1 (Bernie Carbo, 1975)
This week – 2 (Eduardo Nunez, Mitch Moreland)Baseball!
— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) October 28, 2018
Bad timing turned on its head
After never experiencing a hitless streak lasting more than eight at-bats in the regular season, Mookie Betts – winner of the American League batting title in 2018 – was mired in an 0-13 streak in Game 5.
Then, with the Red Sox holding a one-run lead, he smashed a home run off Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw. It was his first career postseason home run. Slump over.
https://twitter.com/Buster_ESPN/status/1056726499858903040