Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Josh Rojas homered three times as part of a 10-6 victory against the Chicago Cubs on Friday afternoon (box score). In doing so, Rojas became the fourth player this year to complete the hat trick.
Rojas, who entered the afternoon having hit .250/.367/.250 (84 OPS+) in his first 13 games this season, delivered solo shots in the first and seventh. He added a two-run homer in the fifth inning. He wasn't the only member of the Diamondbacks lineup to hit multiple home runs, either, with outfielder David Peralta uncorking a pair himself.
Friday marked Rojas' third career multi-homer game. He had a pair of two-home-run games last June, with those coming a week apart from one another: first on June 5 versus the Milwaukee Brewers, then on June 12 against the Los Angeles Angels. CBS Sports named Rojas as the Diamondbacks' breakout player prior to the season.
As noted in the introduction, Rojas is the fourth player this season to achieve a three-homer game. He's the second in the past 24 hours, with Boston Red Sox second baseman Trevor Story having launched three home runs of his own against the Seattle Mariners on Thursday night. Previously, Anthony Rizzo and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had each accomplished the feat during April.
The Diamondbacks entered Friday with 12 games in their existence in which a batter hit at least three home runs. The most recent occurrence came during the 2018 season, when AJ Pollock did it against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The franchise record for the most home runs hit in a single game still belongs to J.D. Martinez, who delivered four home runs in a blowout win against the Dodgers in September 2017.
