Eddie Rosario-Glory Hogs Spotlight-3 Homeruns Vs Mariners

Nick Wosika/Icon Sportswire

Last night, Eddie Rosario became the seventh Twins player to hit as many as three home runs in a game, in Minnesota's 20-7 bludgeoning of the Mariners (BBRef box). I would judge him the most unlikely one to do so, given that he was batting from the ninth place slot.

That last bit speaks to the relative confidence Manager Paul Molitor had in his ability to generate runs, based on his particularly unspectacular performance over his last ten games, with him batting .242, a .265 OBP, .227 BAbip, and 1 extra basehit in 33 at bats, all causing him to losing playing time in left field to Robbie Grossman. He becomes the second Twin leftfielder (Harmon Killebrew being the first, LOL!) to get the homer hat trick (MLB Video).

Player	Date	Opp	Rslt	AB	R	H	HR	WPA	aLI	BOP	Pos Summary
EDDIE ROSARIO	2017-06-13	SEA	W 20-7	5	3	4	3	0.244	.334	9	LF
Brian Dozier	2016-09-05	KCR	L 5-11	5	3	3	3	0.149	1.422	1	2B
Max Kepler	2016-08-01	CLE	W 12-5	6	3	4	3	0.343	.557	3	RF
Justin Morneau	2007-07-06 (2)	CHW	W 12-0	5	3	3	3	0.308	.430	5	1B
Tony Oliva	1973-07-03	KCR	L 6-7	5	3	3	3	0.549	1.240	3	DH
Harmon Killebrew	1963-09-21 (1)	BOS	W 13-4	5	3	3	3	0.125	.390	4	LF
Bob Allison	1963-05-17	CLE	W 11-4	5	3	3	3	0.238	.704	4	RF

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/14/2017.

This is not a totally improbable event. Yes, he had played 270 games, and was past 1,000 plate appearances without having a two homer game, sure. But Eddie has drawn comparisons with Tony Oliva (I'm being serious here) and his fluid, spray-hitting swing earlier in his career, and his talent as such as a "pure" hitter is of a high degree. But he takes the "see ball - hit ball" ethic of the latter to such an extreme that he creates a much larger strike zone for pitchers, not being selective enough. That leads to prolonged slumps.

Be that as it may, baseball is nothing if not beautiful in its unpredictability. The previous night's 14-3 drubbing at the hands of these same Mariners would never have prepared one for this gaudy bonanza. I find it also notable that the game's starting lineup featured three of the seven Twins to bag three bombs in a game, Brian Dozier, herr Kepler, and Rosy. That's never happened before, of course. Oliva hit his three after Allison retired, three years previous.

Seriously, Eddie? Picking on poor (catcher turned pitcher) Carlos Ruiz?

The Twins blew past the previous franchise record for hits in a game, previously sitting at 25 in a 2002 game versus the Indians. In fact, the 28 were the 2nd most recorded in a game by one team in this century (Retrosheet link). Here are the top ten hit games in Twins/Senators history:

Rk	Date	Tm	Opp	Rslt	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	Attendance	GmLen
1	2017-06-13	MIN	SEA	W 20-7	51	49	20	28	2	0	5	19	2	17,922	184
2	2002-06-04	MIN	CLE	W 23-2	57	50	23	25	6	1	3	22	7	14,029	194
3	1994-06-04	MIN	DET	W 21-7	57	49	21	24	3	0	4	20	5	23,780	194
4	1977-05-25 (1)	MIN	BOS	W 13-5	53	48	13	24	6	2	2	13	3		195
5	1925-07-18	WSH	CLE	W 19-6	52	44	19	24	5	3	1	18	3		119
6	2014-08-03	MIN	CHW	W 16-3	58	50	16	23	3	1	3	16	7	23,471	241
7	2003-06-19	MIN	KCR	W 16-2	54	50	16	23	5	0	3	16	4	22,559	161
8	1997-07-04	MIN	MIL	W 13-1	54	47	13	23	6	0	3	13	4	20,024	185
9	1937-07-25 (1)	WSH	SLB	W 16-10	50	48	16	23	5	1	2	15	2		142
10	1920-05-18	WSH	SLB	W 17-8	52	43	17	23	6	3	1	16	5		132

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used

Generated 6/14/2017.

"So long, everybody!" - Herb Carneal