Edwin Encarnacion of the New York Yankees became the 19th player in Major League Baseball history to record 30 home runs in a minimum of eight consecutive seasons on Wednesday. Encarnacion smacked his 30th dinger of the year in a 10-7 Yankees win over the Minnesota Twins at Target Field in Minneapolis, MN.
Encarnacion hit his 30th home run of the season off of Twins lefthanded relief pitcher Devin Smeltzer in the top of the ninth inning to put the Yankees up 10-7. It was one of two extra base hits Encarnacion had in the game as he also had a double to lead off the second inning.
Encarnacion began the streak with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2012 when he had 42 home runs. That was followed by four more seasons of 30+ home runs with the Blue Jays. He had 36 home runs in 2013, 34 home runs in 2014, 39 home runs in 2015 and 42 home runs in 2016. Over the next two seasons, Encarnacion was with the Cleveland Indians where he had 38 home runs in 2017 and 32 home runs in 2018. For the 2019 season, Encarnacion had 21 home runs with the Seattle Mariners and nine home runs with the Yankees.
Six of the 19 players who have hit 30 or more home runs in eight consecutive seasons have played for the Yankees. The other five are Alex Rodriguez of New York City, NY, Lou Gehrig of Yorkville, NY, Babe Ruth of Baltimore, MD, Mickey Mantle of Spavinaw, OK and Mark Teixeira of Annapolis, MD.
Rodriguez and Barry Bonds of Riverside, CA each had streaks of 13 consecutive seasons with 30 or more home runs. Rodriguez had seven consecutive seasons with the Yankees of 30+ home runs from 2004 to 2010. The other 12 players to accomplish the feat are Albert Pujols, Jimmie Foxx, Sammy Sosa, Carlos Delgado, Eddie Mathews, Mike Schmidt, Rafael Palmeiro, Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, Albert Belle, Mike Piazza and Jeff Bagwell.
During the three game series between the Twins and Yankees, the Yankees won two of the three games. There was a ton of offense as the Yankees outscored the Twins 30-27.
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