Adrian Gonzalez Is a Home Run Machine
Dodgers slugger is on pace for 270 home runs this season.
— -- Adrian Gonzalez is having a powerful season.
The Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman became the first person in Major League Baseball history Wednesday to hit five home runs in his team’s first three games – a prodigious pace that, if continued, would see Gonzalez hit 270 home runs this season.
Three of those home runs came Wednesday, in the first, fourth and fifth innings against San Diego Padres pitcher Andrew Cashner. He singled against Frank Garces in his fourth at-bat, driving in another run and raising his batting average to .769.
No other player has ever hit five home runs through his team’s first three games of the season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Only two other teams – the Red Sox and Rockies – have hit five home runs this season.
Barry Bonds holds the record for most home runs in a season, with 73 in 2001, but that came at a … ahem … different time for the game.
Gonzalez, 32, is a four-time All-Star. He entered this season with 262 career home runs, including a personal best of 40 in 2009.