Two Grand Slams from Each Side of Plate

Third baseman of the Boston Red Sox Bill Mueller set a new benchmark in the major-league history.

Switch hitter Mueller became the first major-leaguer ever to hit grand slams from each side of the plate. He hit two grand slams for the Boston Red Sox against the Texas Rangers yesterday in an away game. Batting right-handed, he hit his first slam off Aaron Fultz in the seventh for a 9-4 lead. One inning later, he connected from the left side against Jay Powell for a 14-4 advantage.

It was the 12th time a player hit two grand slams in a game. But no one achieved this feat before. Mueller had a career-high nine RBIs with the first three-homer game of his career. The record high in a single ML game is 12.

The 178cm Mueller ranks at second with his batting average of 0.330, following Ichiro of the Seattle Mariners in the American League. But he lacks power, as demonstrated by the number of his season home runs—13.

“I`m not a big stats or records guy,” Mueller said. “Records are made to be broken and I just happened to be the first guy to do this. I`m just glad I made a positive contribution.” With help from Mueller, the Red Sox won a 14-7 victory. The Red Sox also won all of the three away games against the Rangers.

The Boston Red Sox made another move to strengthen their bullpen by acquiring righthander Scott Williamson from the Cincinnati Reds. The acquisition of the former Cincinnati closer, who started 10 games in 2000, gives manager Grady Little several options late in close games. If the Red Sox leads a game, he will pitch just before the closer Byung-Hyun Kim takes the mound at the very last moment.

General Theo Epstein brushed off the possibility that Kim is transformed into a starter again, while Williamson closes for the Red Sox.

Sang-Soo Kim ssoo@donga.com