Mookie Betts’ outstanding performance at the plate Tuesday night indelibly etched his prominent placement in the rich history of one of baseballs most storied franchises, as he became only the 22nd player in Boston Red Sox history to hit three home runs in a game, the 27th occurrence of such a feat.
However, rendering Betts’ achievement even more inimitable is that he is the first hitter in Red Sox history to accomplish this exploit from the lead-off position in the batting order. In fact, in the entire history of Major League Baseball, a lead-off hitter has hit three HRs in a contest on only twenty-two distinct instances, and, for proper perspective, said value is one less than the quantity of perfect games thrown throughout that identical period.