Players hitting three home runs in a game isn’t as rare as it used to be, but this is getting a little ridiculous. Seattle Mariners veteran third baseman Kyle Seager, injured most of the year, is coming out of a slump and hit two home runs in the first eight innings Tuesday night in Detroit.
Then came his at-bat in the ninth inning. He lofted a deep but fairly routine fly ball to the warning track in left field, apparently coming up just short in his bid for a third home run.
Then chaos ensued, and Seager ended up with the first three-homer game of his career.
Kyle Seager got a little help from his … opponents for his 3rd HR of the night 😅#SCNotTop10 pic.twitter.com/dECNS90ryz
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) August 14, 2019
Seager heating up
Remember when the Mariners started the season 13-2? Seems like a distant memory, considering Seattle is 36-69 since then and buried in last place in the AL West.
Seager wasn’t around for that hot start; he missed the first two months of the season with a torn tendon in his left hand and more time later with a wrist injury. And when he returned to the lineup, Seager struggled mightily at first. He was hitting just .186/.260/.331 as late as July 21.
Since then, however, including Tuesday night’s bonanza, he’s at .333/.396/.655 over his past 20 games. He’s back at the league average for the season.
Seager, at age 31 and the less heralded older brother of Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager, has had something of an underappreciated career in Seattle. He needs 11 more homers for 200 in his career and carries a 113 OPS+ for his career, or 13 percent higher than league average.
MARINERS WIN!
Kyle Seager delivers a career-high three home runs with six RBI and goes back-to-back with Tom Murphy TWICE in the Mariners 11-6 win over the Tigers . #TrueToTheBlue pic.twitter.com/MOiqig0EMz
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) August 14, 2019
Woeful Detroit
There’s always another side to every story. The Tigers have been that other side far too often this year. With one of their best starting pitchers, Matthew Boyd, on the hill against a fellow losing team, Tuesday night seemed like a rare chance for a victory.
Instead, Boyd was shelled and the Tigers couldn’t keep up with Seager or backup catcher Tom Murphy, who had two home runs of his own.
The gaffe in the ninth inning, giving Seager a third homer, just added insult to injury.
The look on Niko Goodrum’s face (outfielder sitting down) pretty much describes the @tigers 2019 season. https://t.co/TZxRK5SWBt
— Dean Dauphinais (@deanokat) August 14, 2019
