Guerrero joins Walker, Votto on list of Canucks with multiple three-HR games
On Wednesday against the New York Yankees, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Montreal, Que.) clubbed three home runs in a major league game for a second time in his career.
April 14, 2022
By Neil Munro
Canadian Baseball Network
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. sure likes the cool weather in April for showing off his home run power.
Last night, he connected for his second three-home run game to power the Toronto Blue Jays to a 6-4 victory over the New York Yankees. Guerrero Jr. finished the night going 4-for-4. He also had a double. He connected for the first two home runs and his double against future Hall of Famer (?) Gerrit Cole.
It actually looked for a while like Guerrero Jr. would have to settle for a one-home run game, as the Yankees’ Aaron Hicks inadvertently stepped on his bare hand while running out a ground ball. Hicks grounded to a sliding Bo Bichette who made an off-balance throw to first, almost pulling Guerrero off the bag. Guerrero had to stretch up the right-field line, placing his bare right hand in the dirt to keep himself balanced. That’s when Hicks’ cleat came down squarely on his fingers, creating a cut that required plenty of tape and bandaging to get through the game and two stitches afterward.
Ten minutes after Vladimir Guerrero Jr. walked off the field with a blood-soaked towel wrapped around his newly redesigned right ring finger, he hit his second home run of the night. We will be watching to see if he will miss any future games as a result of the swelling to his hand.
Guerrero completed the hat trick in the eighth inning, launching his longest blast of the night into the left-field bleachers of Yankee Stadium – a 443-foot shot. The Jays certainly need to have Guerrero hitting in the line-up, as the Yankees had come back to tie the game in the fifth inning. His third homer provided the insurance to seal the victory.
For good measure, Guerrero also produce a fielding gem when he snared a line drive blast from Josh Donaldson in the ninth inning to shut down a would-be Yankee comeback rally.
His performance made Guerrero, at age 23, the second-youngest player in MLB history to homer three times on two occasions. He trails only Boog Powell in that regard, who was 22 when he had his second three-homer outing.
Guerrero’s outing now brings the total number of three-home run games by Canadian-born batters to an even 10. The full list of these games is given in the table that follows. It is interesting to note that all 10 of these games resulted in a victory for the slugger’s home team and all 10 were fashioned in the first half of the season, before the All-Star break.
Canadians Hitting Three Home Runs in a Single Game
Note: Walker (April 5, 1997), Votto (June 9, 2015) and Guerrero Jr. (April 27, 2021) homered in three consecutive at bats in these contests.
The important details of each performance are briefly presented here.
April 5, 1997
Larry Walker (Maple Ridge, B.C.) posted the first three-home run game by a Canadian-born player and it set the tone for his MVP season with Colorado. He was 4-for-5 in the game, driving in five runs as the Rockies humbled his former team, the Montreal Expos, in a 15-3 rout.
April 28, 1999
Walker’s second three-home run contest was even more impressive as he once again was 4-for-5 at the plate, driving in eight runs in a 9-7 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. This time, Colorado needed every one of his long ball blasts, as his third homer in the seventh inning provided the go-ahead runs to secure the victory.
June 25, 2004
His final three-home run game came in Walker’s final season with Rockies and it was only his fifth game of the season as he had spent 10 weeks on the DL to start the year. Walker drove in five runs in the 10-8 win over Cleveland. In this contest, he matched Guerrero’s four extra base hit game when he added a double in his 4-for-4 outing.
July 6, 2007
Justin Morneau (New Westminster, B.C.) bagged his lone three home run game in a 12-0 romp over the Chicago White Sox. He drove in six runs going 3-for-5 in that game. This was actually the second game of a doubleheader that saw Morneau go 3-for-5 in the opener when his Minnesota Twins also defeated the White Sox in a 20-14 slugfest.
May 7, 2008
Joey Votto (Etobicoke, Ont.) made the Chicago Cubs the victim of his first three-home run game, as the Reds shut out the Cubs by a 9-0 score. Votto was 3-for-4 in the game, driving in four runs. For good measure, he also drew a walk and stole a base in the game.
May 13, 2012
Votto got his second three-homer game against the Washington Nationals as his Cincinnati club posted a come-from-behind 9-6 victory. Votto drove in six runs and his third home run was a dramatic walk-off grand slam coming with two out in the ninth inning to clinch the victory and erase a 5-4 deficit. Votto also hit a double in that contest, matching the feats of Walker and Guerrero in that regard.
June 9, 2015
Votto’s most recent three-home run game contributed to an 11-2 victory by his Cincinnati Reds over the Philadelphia Phillies. Votto was 3-for-4 at the plate in the game, driving in four runs.
June 17, 2016
Michael Saunders (Victoria, B.C.) collected his three-home run outing against the Baltimore Orioles as the Blue Jays posted a decisive 13-3 win in the contest. Saunders matched Walker’s stellar eight-RBI accomplishment by connecting for two three-run shots and a two-run blast in his 3-for-5 performance.
April 27, 2021
In his first three-homer outing, Guerrero drove in seven runs to secure a 9-5 win over the Washington Nationals. Guerrero secured his place in the record book by connecting off one of the best pitchers in the game, as his first two round-trippers lit up Max Scherzer. Guerrero Jr. drove in seven runs going 3-for-4 in the game. To put an exclamation mark on the achievement, his first homer was a grand slam.
Guerrero is also quickly moving up on the list of Canadian batters with multi-home run games. He is now tied for eighth place among Canadian-born sluggers in career multi-HR contests, as detailed in the table below.
Canadian Batters with Two or More Home Runs in a Game
Notes:
-George Wood (Pownall, P.E.I.) was the first Canadian batter with a two-home run game (on July 24, 1882)
-Ferguson Jenkins (Chatham, Ont.) is the only Canadian pitcher with a two-home run game (as a batter) and will now almost certainly be the last hurler to turn the trick.
Canadians had to wait for more than 100 baseball seasons to witness the first three-home run game (fittingly by Hall-of-Famer Larry Walker). Since then, such outings are becoming an enjoyable regular feature. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait another 100 years to witness the first four-home run contest by a Canadian slugger.