Houston Astros’ Kyle Tucker (26) hit three home runs in one game to lead his team to victory. He’s one year removed from another career-high season.
Tucker started in right field and went 3-for-4 with a home run, four RBIs and three runs scored in the Astros’ 2023 Major League Baseball opener against the Oakland Athletics at Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, California, USA, on 22 April.
He opened the scoring in the first inning. In the second inning, Tucker pulled a fastball from Oakland starter JP Sears over the right field fence. After retiring the second batter of the inning on a fly ball to centre field, Tucker struck again in his third at-bat with the bases loaded in the top of the fifth with his team leading 3-1. He lined a four-pitch slider from Sears over the centre field fence. His 16th of the season.
But that wasn’t the end of it. In the top of the seventh inning, Tucker arched his back on a three-pitch, low changeup from Scott. It was his 17th of the season.
For the first time in his career, he hit three home runs in a game. Tucker has been on fire in July. He’s 4-for-4 with six homers, 19 RBIs, a .479 slugging percentage and a 1.279 OPS.
Houston, which won 6-4 on Sunday to improve to 55-43, closed the gap to 3.5 games after the first-place Texas Rangers lost 5-11 to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Tucker was selected by Houston with the 15th overall pick in the first round of the 2015 First-Year Player Draft. After making his first major league appearance in 2018, Tucker’s talents began to blossom the following year in 2019. In 22 games, he hit .269 with 18 doubles, four home runs, 11 RBIs, 15 runs scored, five stolen bases and an .857 OPS.
He made the jump to a full-time role in the shortened 2020 season, hitting .268 with nine homers, 42 RBIs, 33 runs scored, eight doubles and a .837 OPS in 58 games.
His best season came in 2021. Tucker had a career-high season with 149 hits, 30 homers, 92 RBIs, 83 runs scored, 14 doubles, a .294 OPS and a .917 slugging percentage in 140 games and followed that up last year with 140 hits, 30 homers, 107 RBIs, 71 runs scored, 25 doubles, a .257 OPS and a .808 slugging percentage in 150 games, earning his first career All-Star selection and a Gold Glove to help Houston win the World Series.온라인카지노
After two straight 30-homer seasons, Tucker demanded $7.5 million in contract negotiations with Houston after the 2022 season. However, Houston offered Tucker $5 million. The two sides were unable to come to an agreement by the deadline, so they decided to hear from the Salary Arbitration Board. The salary arbitration committee sided with the club, and Tucker will receive $5 million in salary for the 2023 season.
With the bitterness behind them, the new season began. Tucker turned up the offensive heat. He’s batting .303 with 106 hits, 17 home runs, 68 RBIs, 17 doubles, and an OPS of .897. At this rate, he could set another career high.