Adrian Beltre has quickly become an all-time fan favorite in Arlington since his arrival prior to last season. On Wednesday night, those fans had plenty to cheer about when he hit three home runs in his first three at-bats, including two in the Texas Rangers' nine-run fourth inning against the poor Baltimore Orioles.
Those poor Orioles also fell victim to the Rangers' 30-run outburst in 2007, and to Josh Hamilton's four-homer game back in May. And Beltre readily admitted after Wednesday's game that after his second home run he was gunning at the fences. It worked once, but not again as he fell short of matching Hamilton's feat from earlier in the season.
"I told him to do it so we could have figurines together," Hamilton told reporters.
Well, in Beltre's final at-bat, he grounded into a double play after swinging at the first pitch. So overrated. Kidding. Anyway, Beltre's night was historic on many fronts.
If you remember, Beltre hit three bombs in Game 4 of the ALDS win over Tampa Bay last season, and Wednesday put him in the baseball history books as just the fifth player in history to hit three home runs in both a regular season and postseason game, joining Hall of Famers George Brett, Reggie Jackson, Babe Ruth and certain Hall of Famer Albert Pujols, who of course hit three bombs in the World Series against the Rangers last year.
He also joined a longer, yet still impressive, list of players to hit two home runs in one inning.
