Another Stanton blast ties Reggie, Gehrig
Stanton #Stanton
Giancarlo Stanton allowed himself to enjoy his ninth-inning grand slam for just a few moments after the Yankees’ victory in Game 1 of the American League Division Series on Monday night before switching his focus to Game 2 saying, “I’ve got more to do tomorrow.” He wasted no time backing
Giancarlo Stanton allowed himself to enjoy his ninth-inning grand slam for just a few moments after the Yankees’ victory in Game 1 of the American League Division Series on Monday night before switching his focus to Game 2 saying, “I’ve got more to do tomorrow.”
He wasted no time backing up that statement on Tuesday, crushing home runs in his first two at-bats, both of them tape-measure shots. After the Yankees fell into a one-run deficit in the first inning, Stanton led off the second with a solo blast to right field to knot the score at 1. He became just the third Yankee to homer in four straight postseason games, joining Lou Gehrig (1928-32) and Reggie Jackson (1977-78).
His second blast was a three-run no-doubter that went 458 feet and was 118.3 mph off the bat, the hardest-hit postseason HR since Statcast began tracking in 2015. Stanton took his time watching that one disappear into the San Diego sky.
Stanton mashed a homer in each of the two games against the Indians last week in Cleveland before his grand slam on Monday and solo shot on Tuesday. He became just the third player to homer in each of his team’s first four games of a single postseason, joining Juan González (1996) and Jeffrey Leonard (1987). Stanton will have the chance to be the first to homer in a club’s first five games of a postseason on Wednesday.
The first rocket on Tuesday clocked in at 114.8 mph off the bat, which is the eighth postseason homer hit with at least a 114 mph exit velocity in the Statcast Era (since 2015). Stanton is now responsible for three of those eight. The bullet also had a 15 degree launch angle, which is the lowest on any postseason home run tracked by Statcast.
Mandy Bell covers the Indians for MLB.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MandyBell02.