Beltre belts Rays out of first round
Posted by John Autin on October 4, 2011
There's a 6th member of the Postseason 3-HR-Game fraternity. Adrian Beltre connected in the top of the 7th off Matt Moore for his 3rd solo HR of the day and a 4-2 lead; the first two HRs came against Jeremy Hellickson (here's #2). It was the only hit Moore allowed in his 3 innings of relief, and snapped his 15-inning scoreless streak.
The Rays got a run in the 9th and had the winning run at the plate with 2 out, but Desmond Jennings bounced out, and Tampa's magical season is over. The AL defending champion Rangers advance to the ALCS for the 2nd time in club history.
Beltre batted in the 8th with a chance at a 4th HR -- there's never been a 4-HR game in the postseason, of course -- but he flied to right.
Texas had just 5 hits through the first 8 innings, but 4 were homers, including Ian Kinsler's game-opening blast.
Beltre, who was 1 for 11 in the first 3 games of this series, did not homer in his previous 7 postseason games (28 PAs). It's the first 3-HR game of his career; he has 310 regular-season HRs. It's ironic that he did this on the road, where he hit just 9 of his 32 HRs this year. His career regular-season slugging average in the Trop is .367, with 3 HRs in 31 games.
Here are the previous instances of 3 HRs in a postseason game; Beltre is the first to do it in the Division Series:
| Rk | Player | Date | Series | Gm# | Tm | Opp | Rslt | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | IBB | SO | HBP | SH | SF | ROE | GDP | SB | CS | WPA | RE24 | BOP | Pos. Summary | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Adam Kennedy | 2002-10-13 | ALCS | 5 | ANA | MIN | W 13-5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.634 | 4.655 | 1.390 | 9 | 2B |
| 2 | George Brett | 1978-10-06 | ALCS | 3 | KCR | NYY | L 5-6 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.301 | 2.708 | 1.220 | 1 | 3B |
| 3 | Reggie Jackson | 1977-10-18 | WS | 6 | NYY | LAD | W 8-4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.386 | 4.874 | .883 | 4 | RF |
| 4 | Bob Robertson | 1971-10-03 | NLCS | 2 | PIT | SFG | W 9-4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.254 | 4.736 | .716 | 5 | 1B |
| 5 | Babe Ruth | 1928-10-09 | WS | 4 | NYY | STL | W 7-3 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.241 | 2.119 | 1.284 | 3 | LF |
| 6 | Babe Ruth | 1926-10-06 | WS | 4 | NYY | STL | W 10-5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.337 | 4.501 | .618 | 3 | LF |
October 4th, 2011 at 6:00 pm
First in the Division Series, WOW, who'da thunk!
October 4th, 2011 at 6:06 pm
I believe you missed at least one player on this list: Adam Kennedy hit 3 homers for the Anaheim Angels in the 2002 ALCS against Minnesota.
October 4th, 2011 at 6:09 pm
haha nevermind. Just saw his name up there
October 4th, 2011 at 7:04 pm
The Rangers are for real, and I predicted several months ago that their left handed pitching will be a problem for the Yankees should they meet in the playoffs. We may not get the chance to find out.
October 4th, 2011 at 7:18 pm
Kennedy is sure the "one of these names doesn't belong here..." guy on this list.
October 4th, 2011 at 8:00 pm
Beltre's feat is the first time that all three homeruns proved decisive in the game. The other games were at least 4 run leads, or in George Brett's case, a loss.
October 4th, 2011 at 8:04 pm
[...] Adrian Beltre of the Rangers hit three home runs to lead his team to a series-clinching win over the Tampa Bay Rays today. That’s a rare feat. It’s only been done six other times: [...]
October 4th, 2011 at 8:07 pm
how famous and or awesome is the babe? well he hit 3 hrs in a WS game twice, was the first and only guy to do it for 60 some odd WS, and this guy had never heard of it before this and finds it to be the 100th odd most impressive thing about the babe's career.
October 4th, 2011 at 9:01 pm
Jason, I think the Babe's back was big enough to wear both "famous" and "awesome." Or is there a better word, one that means "bigger than larger-than-life"?
That's why it was so sad -- pathetic, really -- when Barry Bonds said, after breaking various Ruth records, "Don't talk about him no more." As if.
October 5th, 2011 at 1:37 am
@9 "I think the Babe's back was big enough to wear both "famous" and "awesome." Or is there a better word, one that means "bigger than larger-than-life"?"
There is a word - "Ruthian"
October 5th, 2011 at 8:45 am
[...] to a guy like Adrian Beltre instead of signing him for just one rebound year. And that was before Beltre's 3-HR day yesterday. (For what it's worth, it was tough to predict Beltre having a good year in 2011 given [...]
October 5th, 2011 at 10:13 am
I can't tell if "T" was being snarky @1. But given the rates of 3-HR games for the different postseason series, it's about time we had one in the Division Series:
-- 1 per 138 games in the LCS (3 in 415 total games);
-- 1 per 206 games in the WS (3 in 617 total games);
-- 1 (Beltre) in 275 games in the LDS.