On Friday, David Ortiz and the Boston Red Sox will head to Toronto for a three-game series from which the winner will leave as the leader in the American League East. Ortiz already has some notable achievements when it comes to Rogers Centre, and he’ll look to expand on those marks during the weekend set.
Ortiz has hit more home runs at Rogers Centre (40) than at any other park besides Fenway. In fact, he has the most home runs by any visiting player in the history of the Toronto Blue Jays.
Ortiz has three multihomer games against the Blue Jays in their home park, tying him with Manny Ramirez, Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez, Juan Gonzalez and Cecil Fielder for the most by a visitor in their franchise history.
Here’s a look back at some of Ortiz’s best moments against Toronto:
April 11, 2004: Early in the season in which the Red Sox went on to break their long title curse, Ortiz flashed some signs of the heroics he would provide later that season. In the bottom of the 12th inning, Ortiz hit a walk-off home run off Blue Jays pitcher Aquilino Lopez.
Did you know? – Ortiz has eight extra-inning walk-off hits in the regular season since 1997; only three players have nine such hits over that span: Albert Pujols, Ryan Howard and Orlando Cabrera.
Sept. 29, 2005: The Red Sox were in a battle for the division in their second-to-last series of the season. They trailed the New York Yankees by 1½ games for the division lead and were down three runs to the Blue Jays through five innings. After tying the score, Ortiz hit a walk-off single to keep Boston's division hopes alive going into a season-ending series against the Yankees.
Did you know? - Ortiz has 20 regular-season walk-off hits in his career; since 1997, that’s the most such hits by any player. Pujols trails with 19, and no other player has more than 16.
May 9, 2007: The Red Sox had a six-game division lead en route to their 2007 World Series run when Ortiz had one of his 26 career four-hit games in a 9-3 rout of the Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre. His offensive output included a home run and three RBIs.
Did you know? – Ortiz’s 40 home runs at Rogers Centre are tied for the sixth most by any left-handed hitter in the history of the park (which opened in 1989). Among the top 12, he is the only one never to have played for Toronto.
The Red Sox will hope for more from Ortiz this weekend against the Blue Jays, who have scored 5.1 runs per game at home this season, fifth best in baseball.