Corey Seager first Dodgers rookie since '59 with 3 homers in game

ByDan Arritt ESPN logo
Saturday, June 4, 2016

LOS ANGELES -- Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager became the team's first rookie since 1959 to hit three home runs in a game in Los Angeles' 4-2 victory against the visiting Atlanta Braves on Friday night.

"It didn't matter where it was thrown, it looked like it was on a tee," Seager said after the game. "It was either right there or it looked like it was a million miles away. That's a good feeling when you're hitting, so hopefully it will be like that tomorrow."

Seager hit the first pitch of the fourth inning over the fence in center for the Dodgers' first hit, cutting the deficit to 2-1.

He homered again in the sixth to give the Dodgers a 3-2 lead and added an opposite-field solo homer in the eighth to stretch the lead to 4-2.

The crowd demanded a curtain call, and he complied, tipping his cap from the top of the dugout steps.

"That one put a smile on my face," he said. "That's something that you really enjoy and kind of soak that one in."

Seager, who made his major league debut on Sept. 3, 2015, has a team-high 12 home runs this season. This was the second multihomer game of Seager's career, with the young shortstop having blasted two against the St. Louis Cardinals on May 15.

"I'm enjoying the development, the evolution, whatever you want to call it," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "It seems like every night he's going to do something special."

Seager is batting .317 with six doubles, 10 homers and 19 RBIs in his past 30 games since May 3.

"The temperament, the pulse and the mechanics of his swing, all these things make a good player to a great player," Roberts said. "We're lucky to have him. He's unfazed, whether it's a big spot or the [crowd] recognition."

The last rookie for the Dodgers to hit three home runs in a game was Don Demeter, who accomplished the feat against the San Francisco Giants at the L.A. Coliseum on April 21, 1959.

"It was his night," Braves pitcher Julio Teheran said of Seager. "There's nothing I could do. I threw him a slider and a changeup away, and he still hit them out."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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