Boston Red Sox catcher Blake Swihart hit a pair of home runs in Wednesday's 10-4 win over the New York Yankees, becoming the first Red Sox rookie since Jason Varitek (a fellow catcher) in 1998 to hit multiple homers in a game at Yankee Stadium, per Sportsnet Stats.
Swihart started his big night in the first inning, hitting a three-run home run to right field off of Yankees pitcher Michael Pineda to cap off Boston's six-run outburst in the opening frame.
Then, with the score sitting at 7-4 in the eighth inning, Swihart smacked a two-run home run to right-center field off of Yankees reliever Bryan Mitchell, pushing Boston's lead to 9-4.
The excellent performance boosted Swihart's batting line to .272/.319/.394, which is right around the league average for the typical player, but it's excellent for a rookie catcher.
Although he has only five home runs in 300 plate appearances, the 23-year-old Swihart has been worth 1.6 Wins Above Replacement (WAR), according to Fangraphs' measurement of the statistic.
Among rookie backstops, only Cubs catcher Blake Swihart (1.8 WAR) and Marlins catcher J.T. Realmuto (1.7 WAR) are ahead of Swihart, with the crucial caveat that Schwarber has actually spent most of his time in left field.
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