Brad Miller becomes first Phillie with 3-HR game since 2008, with no-doubter for No. 3
Brad Miller #BradMiller
Trivia time! Who was the last member of the Philadelphia Phillies with a three-home run game? Err… that wasn’t very hard if you read the headline. It was Brad Miller, a matter of minutes ago, in his first appearance in the starting lineup since the end of June. He hadn’t hit a home run since early June. He hadn’t had a multi-home run game since September of 2020. He hadn’t had a three-home run game since… well, ever, unless he had one in his pre-MLB days.
That all changed on Thursday night, however, with the Phillies continuing their offensive surge. Miller ripped a liner to opposite field for the first before crushing a no-doubter for number two. And if the second one was a no-doubter… I don’t know if there’s a word or phrase that describes the third better than John Kruk’s “oh my God” exclamation. Here they are, in sequential order (via MLB Film Room).
Hopefully I’m not jumping the gun by writing this story now… he’s 3-4 with five RBI, and there’s still an inning left to go in an 8-0 ballgame as we speak. Have a day, Brad, and have a day, Phillies. Miller got the start at first base after Joe Girardi decided to give Rhys Hoskins (and Andrew McCutchen) the night off. That move, we can see now, certainly wasn’t a bad one from the skipper. Perhaps the fact that Miller’s parents were in attendance influenced the decision, but whatever the impetus was, it sure paid off.
Now, back to that trivia question. I’ll reword it: before Miller, who was the last Phillie with a three-HR game? That was Jayson Werth, doing so against the Blue Jays in front of a roaring crowd on May 16, 2008.
Here are the five other Phillies who have done it most recently:
— Ryan Howard (9/3/06)
— Mike Lieberthal (8/10/02)
— Bobby Estalella (9/4/97)
— Benito Santiago (9/15/96)
— Von Hayes (8/29/89)
In another tidbit of Phillies trivia, the only players with multiple games of three or more home runs are Mike Schmidt (three times) and Johnny Callison (twice).
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