Benintendi Goes For First World Series With Boston
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Tonight, two of baseball’s most historic teams will face off in the 114th World Series when the Boston Red Sox go up against the Los Angeles Dodgers and former Razorback Andrew Benintendi will have the chance to win his first World Series title in just his third professional season.
First pitch for Game 1 of the best-of-7 series between the Red Sox and Dodgers is slated for 7:09 p.m. tonight at Fenway Park and will be televised on FOX.
As for Benintendi, he becomes the 11th different Razorback to play in a World Series and 2018 marks the 10th time since 2007 that the World Series has featured at least one former Hog.
Former Razorbacks In The World Series
3B Randy Jackson (Brooklyn – 1956)
RHP Dick Hughes (St. Louis – 1967, ’68)
LHP Tim Lollar (San Diego – 1984)
C Tom Pagnozzi (St. Louis – 1987)
UTL Eric Hinske (Boston – 2007; Tampa Bay – 2008; New York Yankees – 2009)
LHP Cliff Lee (Philadelphia – 2009; Texas – 2010)
OF Craig Gentry (Texas – 2011)
LHP Drew Smyly (Detroit – 2012)
LHP Dallas Keuchel (Houston – 2017)
UTL Logan Forsythe (Los Angeles – 2017)
OF Andrew Benintendi (Boston – 2018)
Following a meteoric rise through the minor league system after being drafted seventh overall by the Red Sox in the 2015 MLB Draft, Benintendi’s stock has risen every year since his major league debut. This season, the former Golden Spikes winner is batting .290 with a .465 slugging percentage and a .290 on-base percentage, which are all at least 15 points higher than in 2017 when he finished second in American League Rookie of the Year voting.
He’s also scored 103 times and notched 168 hits this season, 63 for extra-bases (41 2B, 6 3B, 16 HR), and his 21 stolen bases rank 10th in the American League.
Benintendi has already played in 16 postseason games in his career as he’s made playoff runs with the Red Sox in each of the last three years. This year marked his first appearance beyond the American League Divisional Series (ALDS). In this year’s postseason, Benintendi is hitting .237 in nine games with three doubles and four RBIs. He’s had four multi-hit games, including two in the American League Championship Series (ALCS) win over Houston.
The Ohio native has also seen his glovework come up big for the Red Sox, especially in the ALCS. His diving grab in left field during Game 4 of the ALCS was the talk of the postseason as he robbed another former SEC standout in LSU’s Alex Bregman and put his Boston team up 3-1 in the series.
First pitch of game one of the World Series is at 7:09 p.m. tonight in Boston. Game two will also be in Boston on Wednesday at 7:09 p.m. Games three and four will both be in Los Angeles on Friday and Saturday and both will also start at 7:09 p.m.
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