Sep 22, 2024, 03:08 PM ET
BOSTON — Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas homered in his first three at-bats Sunday in the opener of a split doubleheader against the Minnesota Twins.
Casas, 24, drove in seven runs in the 8-1 victory.
“It’s funny, I was getting chirped on deck,” Casas said. “Nobody was telling me anything about the previous home run. They just wanted another one, another one and another one. That was funny. That’s a credit to the fans, expecting not just greatness but perfection. They bring the best out of me.”
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The record for homers in a game is four, and it’s been done 18 times in MLB history.
The last player to hit four in a game was J.D. Martinez, on Sept. 4, 2017, when he was playing for the Arizona Diamondbacks against the Los Angeles Dodgers. No American League player has done it since Josh Hamilton, playing for the Texas Rangers, did it against the Baltimore Orioles on May 8, 2012.
With the crowd cheering, Casas bounced to first in his fourth at-bat, ending the sixth inning.
“Just the same thing I was thinking the last three, just no thought,” Casas said about the fourth at-bat. “Going up there not being afraid to fail, swinging the bat hard in case I hit it.”
Casas’ first home run came with two runners on off a first-pitch fastball from Pablo Lopez in the opening inning. It sailed an estimated 400 feet, landing in the seats behind Boston’s bullpen.
His second — also off López — was an opposite-field drive into the Green Monster seats in the third, also with two runners on that made it 6-0. It marked the second two-homer game of his career, the other came July 22, 2023.
The third was on the first pitch from reliever Brent Headrick leading off the fifth inning and gave the Red Sox an 8-1 lead.
In Game 2, a 9-3 Red Sox victory, Casas went 0-3 with two walks, but overall, it was a feel-good day for the home team at a time when there hasn’t been a lot of them. The two wins meant Boston had victories for just the ninth time in their past 23 games, while improving to just 24-36 since the All-Star break.
López was tagged for seven runs and nine hits in four innings in Game 1. He had allowed two or fewer runs in 10 of his past 12 starts.
Trying to earn one of the AL’s wild-card spots, the Twins have now lost 13 of their last 19 games and are 11-22 since Aug. 17, when they were 17 games over .500.
