For the second time in less than three years, the Diamondbacks began a game with three consecutive home runs. Monday’s Phillies-Diamondbacks game in Philadelphia was delayed about a half hour due to rain, but the D-Backs were still ready.
Jarrod Dyson opened the game, swinging at a first-pitch fastball from Jerad Eickhoff, yanking it over the fence in right field. Ketel Marte then lived a 2-2 curve out to right field for another home run to make it 2-0. David Peralta worked a full count, then drilled a slider over the center field fence for dinger No. 3.
THIS is how you start a game.
— MLB (@MLB) June 10, 2019
Back-to-back-to-back homers from the @Dbacks. 😱 pic.twitter.com/mM0Di7bWJ6
A team has begun a game with three consecutive home runs just six times since 1914, according to MLB.com’s Sarah Langs. Incredibly, the D-Backs have done it twice -- most recently in 2017. They victimized Nationals starter Max Scherzer for a trio of round-trippers on July 21, 2017 in Arizona.
The ball is apparently flying in Philly on Monday night, though. In the bottom half of the first Jean Segura hit a fly ball that just barely escaped the fence in left field for a solo home run. According to Statcast, it had an exit velocity of just 91.4 MPH, a launch angle of a whopping 40 degrees, and an expected batting average of .010. All that means is that Segura’s fly ball is a routine out an overwhelming majority of the time. The pitch he it out, by the way, was 92.6 MPH, which made me wonder: how often has the exit velocity of a homer been less than the velocity of the pitch?