New York Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton homered in his first and second at-bats against the Tampa Bay Rays in Tuesday’s Game 2 of the American League Division Series. Stanton’s homers, which came against right-handed starter Tyler Glasnow and drove in four runs, put him in special history, so far as the Yankees and playoff home runs go.
Indeed, Stanton joined Lou Gehrig and Reggie Jackson as the only Yankees to ever homer in four consecutive postseason games, according to The Athletic’s Jayson Stark. In other words, Stanton has homered in every Yankees playoff game this October, and he has five homers in four games.
Stanton delivered a solo home run in Games 1 and 2 against Cleveland during the Wild Card Series. On Monday, in Game 1 versus the Rays, he hit a grand slam against Tampa Bay reliever John Curtiss, who hung a breaking ball.
Here’s a look at Tuesday’s second-inning shot:
His second homer of the night was a better highlight. Stanton smoked a Glasnow fastball 458 feet to left field. It left Stanton’s bat at 118.3 miles per hour, the hardest-hit home run in postseason history since MLB‘s Statcast started tracking exit velocities in 2015.
Gehrig had his four consecutive home-run games occur over the span of two postseasons. He delivered a dinger in the final three games of the 1928 World Series, then hit another in the first game of the 1932 World Series.
Jackson pulled a similar feat. He homered in each of the final three games of the 1977 World Series. He then homered in Game 1 of the 1978 American League Championship Series.
During the regular season, Stanton was limited to just 23 games because of injury. He hit .250/.387/.500 (144 OPS+) with four home runs in 76 at-bats. It was the second consecutive injury-compromised season for him, as he was limited to 18 games in 2019.
Stanton will have a chance to one-up both Gehrig and Jackson on Wednesday, when the Yankees play the Rays in Game 3.
