On Friday, May 28th, Miguel Cabrera hit three home runs in a 5 – 4 loss to Oakland. Two days later, on Sunday, Albert Pujols hit three home runs in a 9 – 1 win over the Cubs. This was the first time Cabrera hit three home runs in a game, but the fourth time Pujols hit three home runs in a game. Pujols is now tied for sixth on the all time list for the number of games with three or more home runs. At the top of the list with six is Sammy Sosa.
Three home runs in a game is a rare occurrence, happening only an average of just over nine times per year since 1987. Interestingly, two of the previous three times that Pujols hit three home runs in a game, he did it on the same day as another player. On September 3, 2006, Pujols hit three home runs against the Pirates, and on the same day Ryan Howard hit three home runs against the Braves. On July 20, 2004, Pujols hit three home runs against the Cubs on the same day that Travis Hafner hit three home runs against the Angels. On April 16th, 2006, Pujols hit three home runs against the Reds just five days before Alfonso Soriano hit three home runs against the Braves. And when Pujols hit three home runs on Sunday, he did it just two days after Cabrera.
As rare as the occurrence, Pujols tends to hit three home runs in a game within days of others accomplishing the same feat.
Data Source: http://www.baseball-reference.com/
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