Boston Red Sox right fielder Mookie Betts entered Sunday the swinging a hot bat, hitting .435 with six walks in his past six games, but also came with a bit of an RBI drought, with only six in his previous 16 games.

A couple of big swings against the Toronto Blue Jays added to the hot hitting and took care of a few runners on base, as well.

The history

Betts tied a career high with eight RBIs in a 15-1 rout of the Blue Jays (the other right-RBI game was last season against the Diamondbacks). He joined Nomar Garciaparra as the only players in Red Sox history to have multiple eight-RBI games. Betts and Nelson Cruz are the only active players with two such games.

Three players have had more than eight RBIs in a game three times: Dave Kingman, Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx.

Betts also tied the major league record for RBIs in a game from the leadoff spot. He’s the fifth player with eight, the first since Ronnie Belliard of the 2003 Rockies.

Lastly, Betts became the first player in MLB history to record two home runs, four hits and eight RBIs in multiple games

His season

Betts hasn’t been quite the player that he was in 2016, when he led the American League in total bases and finished with 9.5 WAR, but he’s still been outstanding.

Betts is currently hitting .286/.364/.506. He entered the day tied for the major league lead in doubles with Nolan Arenado, with 27.

He’ll likely be a 4-WAR player just past the season’s midpoint when Wins Above Replacement numbers are updated on Monday morning. The only position players ahead of him entering Sunday were Aaron Judge, Paul Goldschmidt and Carlos Correa. That’s partly a product of his defense. He leads the majors with 17 defensive runs saved, one year after posting 32.

The Red Sox are rolling

The Red Sox have won four in a row and 6 of 7 overall. They’ve scored at least nine runs in five of their past six games, averaging 7.5 runs per game in that span.

Next up are the Rangers, a team Betts has hit well against. He has a .357/.416/.514 slash line in 70 at-bats against them. That includes four hits and three walks in a three-game series earlier this season.