This Day in Blue Jays’
History: September 25, 2003
It was on this day in 2003 that
Toronto Blue Jays’ first baseman, Carlos Delgado, became the first—and to date,
only—player in the club’s history to hit four home runs in one game. The four
dingers came in a 10-8 over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at SkyDome in Toronto and
gave Delgado 41 on the season.
Delgado didn’t waste any time,
swatting his first home run in the first inning, a three-run shot (which, incidentally was his 300th career home run) with Frank
Catalanotto and Vernon Wells on base, off of Tampa starter Jorge Sosa, giving
Toronto a 3-0 lead. His second homer wouldn’t come until the fourth, when he
led off with a blast off of Sosa again, that made the score 4-1 in favour of
the Blue Jays.
When he came to the plate in the
bottom of the sixth, Toronto had surrendered the lead as the Rays had just
scored five in the top of the inning. But Delgado’s third tater of the day,
another solo shot, tied the game at six. This home run was off of Tampa’s Joe
Kennedy.
Delgado would hit home run
number four in the bottom of the eighth, leading off again—his third home run
leading off the inning—and tie the game at eight. Tampa’s reliever Lance Carter
would surrender the fourth homer. The Jays would score two more runs in the
inning for the final 10-8 score. (Watch all four of Delgado's home runs here)
Delgado would finish the 2003
season with 42 home runs, an American League-leading 145 RBIs and a .302
batting average. He would also win a Silver Slugger Award.
Interesting of note, Toronto’s
current pitching coach, Pete Walker, was the starting pitcher for the Jays in
this game. He pitched five innings, gave up three runs, walked one and struck
out two.
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