The New York Mets traded for Robinson Cano in an offseason blockbuster, giving the Seattle Mariners two of their best prospects in exchange for star closer Edwin Diaz and the aging Cano.
For the first four months, the deal has been barely above a disaster, with both stars struggling and the Mets mired near the bottom of the standings.
Perhaps, however, Tuesday night was the start of a change in that regard. Cano, 26, hit three home runs in a 5-2 victory over the San Diego Padres, showing that what is to date his worst offensive season still can be saved.
Robinson Cano hit not one…
Not two…
But THREE homers. That’s the first time in his career he’s ever done that.
— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) July 24, 2019
The triple blasts
Cano singled in the first inning. It took him a few innings to get the power going, but his first homer was the worth the wait.
In the fourth inning, against Padres starter Chris Paddack, Cano launched a shot over the right-field wall into the upper deck to break a scoreless tie.
He returned to face Paddack in the sixth and got enough of a curveball to loft it over the right-field wall.
Then in the seventh, Cano returned to the upper deck against reliever Logan Allen.
He had all five of the Mets’ RBIs. And Diaz had the save.
This is the Robinson Cano we were waiting for #LGM https://t.co/SlhtklWAjw
— Rising Apple (@RisingAppleBlog) July 24, 2019
First time for everything
Cano has been an eight-time All-Star, a World Series champion, won five Silver Sluggers and finished in the top eight of the MVP voting six times.
But one thing he had never done is hit three home runs in the same game. Until Tuesday.
“As a player, there’s a lot of things in the game that you would like to do, to see how it feels,” Cano said, according to the New York Times. “And it sort of feels good.”
I’m gonna go get the papers, get the papers: back page edition. @RobinsonCano, don’t you know! pic.twitter.com/nag69YQsrQ
— Robert Shields (@rshields37) July 24, 2019
