Surprising Finding of Triple Streaks at Pac Bell Park!
Last night my dear friend, Mike Krukow, shouted out me by name on the TV broadcast to look up if Brendon Belt had ever had a triple in two straight games before last night. Another dear friend, Andrew Baggarly better known as Baggs, texted the answer a few minutes later – Belt had not had tripled in two straight games before last night.
This surprised me, because Oracle Park, (I prefer the original moniker, Pac Bell Park), is made for triples with the right center field corner aptly called Triples Alley and the varied angles on the wall there. Belt has played in this ballpark for ten and a half seasons. Belt being a dead pull power hitter should’ve found Triples Alley often, in my opinion. So, I did a little research into triples in Oracle Park with Baseball Reference’s Stathead.
Here’s the results of my research with my limited Stathead skills – it was surprising! No player on the Giants or their opponents has ever had three straight games with a triple in Oracle Park’s history! Giants players have gotten two straight games with triples 19 times. Giants opponents have done it 13 times, including former Giants Ryan Klesko with the Padres and Melky Cabrera with the Yankees.
But, no player, even Barry Bonds, ever has had three straight games with a triple in a ballpark with a Triples Alley. The first player that has two straight games with a triple was my friend, Richie Aurilia, a player not known for his speed. Richie did it on May 26th and 27th in 2000.
Yasiel Puig of the Dodgers, despised by Giants fans and MadBum, had the only three-triple game on July 25, 2014 at the then named AT&T Park.
If Brandon Belt belts a triple today, June 17, 2021, he will have the first three game streak with a triple in Oracle Park’s 22 year history!
See what you started by dropping my name Kruk! 😁
Here’s my tables from Stathead.
