Papi matches Williams for 30-homer seasons

BOSTON -- Another night, another milestone for Red Sox slugger David Ortiz. When Ortiz pummeled a solo shot to the back wall of the visitors' bullpen in right field in the bottom of the third inning against the Angels, it marked home run No. 30 on the season.

That gave Ortiz eight 30-homer seasons in his career, matching Ted Williams for the most in Red Sox history.

It was part of a monster night in which Ortiz went 4-for-4, but he missed a chance at his first five-hit game when he missed his final at-bat because of general soreness.

"It's calf, but not [just] any one specific area," said Red Sox manager John Farrell after his team's 8-3 loss to the Angels. "Just general soreness and we didn't want to take any chances with him. He's so good, so important to our offense. Another 30-homer season or him here right now with a lot of season left to go and we want to be careful with him."

With 36 games left in the season, Ortiz matched his homer total from 2013. The slugger has been on a power surge of late. Ortiz belted his 400th and 401st homers as a member of the Red Sox on Saturday, an achievement reached before only by Williams and Carl Yastrzemski.

He also went deep against Jered Weaver on Tuesday.

Ortiz has eight hits in his last 10 at-bats to raise his average from .250 to .263.

"It's sort of like it was last season in the postseason," said right-hander Clay Buchholz. "He wants to be the guy at the plate in the big situation and I think everyone on the club wants the same thing. That's vintage David."