Indians DH Edwin Encarnacion joined Mookie Betts of the Red Sox in the three-homer club on Wednesday. The slugger went 3-for-5 with six RBI in a 12-4 win over the Rangers, blasting his homers in the first (three-run), second (two-run), and eighth innings (solo).
Here was his first dinger:
Falling asleep at work? This should help.
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) May 2, 2018
If you have score updates on, sorry.#RallyTogether https://t.co/ftout9X0cn
Encarnacion is now batting .191/.264/.445 with nine home runs and 16 RBI in 122 plate appearances on the season. Only seven players in baseball have hit more homers: Betts (11) and Didi Gregorius, Mike Trout, A.J. Pollock, Mitch Haniger, Charlie Blackmon, and Joey Gallo with 10 each. Four other players are tied with Encarnacion at nine: Manny Machado, Ozzie Albies, Bryce Harper, and Matt Davidson.
We have already seen six three-homer games this season. Betts has two of them while Encarnacion, Pollock, Christian Villanueva, and Davidson have done it once. It’s already only the 43rd season in baseball history that has seen at least six three-homer games. With most teams at or around 30 games played, that puts us on pace for over 30 three-homer games, which would obliterate the record of 22 set in 2001. Last year saw 14 three-homer games and 2016 saw 19, the second-most in history.