Pavin Smith hit home runs in his first three at-bats, marking his first game with multiple home runs, and drove in a career-high eight runs, leading the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 12-6 victory over the Houston Astros on Sunday night. This win helped the Diamondbacks break a three-game losing streak.
Smith became the second player on the Diamondbacks to hit three home runs in a game this season. Eugenio Suárez had achieved this on July 30 against Washington. J.D. Martinez holds the Arizona record with four home runs in a game, accomplished on September 4, 2017, against Los Angeles.
“It was a great day for Pavin,” said Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo. “Pavin can hit. We always feel confident with his at-bats, his ability to come into the lineup after not playing for a couple of days and hit the baseball well.”
Smith was just one RBI short of the Arizona record set by Erubiel Durazo in 2002. Chris Iannetta also had eight RBIs for the Diamondbacks in a 2017 game. Smith’s previous record was six RBIs.
Arizona, which has scored at least 10 runs in 18 games this season, moved within half a game of San Diego for the National League’s first wild card spot and extended its lead over New York and Atlanta to 1 1/2 games. Houston is ahead of Seattle by 4 1/2 games in the AL West.
Smith’s first home run of the night came after back-to-back singles at the start of the second inning and hit the foul pole in right field.
Arizona had increased its lead to 4-0 when Smith came up with the bases loaded in the third inning and hit a 2-2 fastball from Justin Verlander into the Crawford Boxes for his third career grand slam.
“Just one of those nights where you’re in a zone,” Smith said. “Obviously, Justin’s a great pitcher. I faced him before, and he’s got great stuff, so once I was able to put a good swing on the first at-bat, it gave me confidence for the rest of the game.”
