Mookie sets Red Sox record with another 3-HR game
After tying the franchise record held by Ted Williams earlier in the season, Mookie Betts on Wednesday took over sole possession in the Boston Red Sox books for the most three-home-run games.
He's now accomplished the feat four times.
The first two home runs he hit on Wednesday came in the fourth and fifth innings, and were both moonshots over the Green Monster off Kansas City Royals starter Danny Duffy:
.@mookiebetts and multi-homer games.
— MLB (@MLB) May 2, 2018
Name a more iconic duo. pic.twitter.com/CESexX2cjE
Betts followed it up with a seventh-inning blast, again off of Duffy, to straightaway center:
Mookie Betts is just on another level. 3rd HR of the game was CRUSHED.
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) May 2, 2018
via @NESN pic.twitter.com/OC1MwjbJeP
In total, Betts went 4-for-4 with three RBIs, leading the game off with a single before his trio of dingers. In doing so, Betts took sole possession of the MLB home-run lead with 11, leaving Didi Gregorius, Mike Trout, A.J. Pollock, Mitch Haniger, and Charlie Blackmon tied for second with 10 apiece.
Betts joins elite company in having accomplished the feat. In Major League Baseball history, just 16 players have had three-home-run games on at least four separate occasions, according to Baseball-Reference. Betts has now tied Barry Bonds, Lou Gehrig, Ernie Banks, and Albert Pujols. Even further, only seven players have had more than four such games:
| Player | 3-HR games |
|---|---|
| Sammy Sosa | 7 |
| Johnny Mize | 7 |
| Alex Rodriguez | 6 |
| Mark McGwire | 6 |
| Dave Kingman | 6 |
| Carlos Delgado | 6 |
| Joe Carter | 6 |