KC Royals Kendrys Morales Sets Team Record for Bases in a Game

The KC Royals Kendrys Morales had a monster day at Comerica Park on Sunday, setting the all time Royals record for total bases at 15, breaking the total base record set by Hall of Famer George Brett when he hit for “more than the cycle”  (single, double, triple, and two home runs) on May 28, 1979, against the Orioles.  Brett had 14 bases in that game.

The major league record is 19  total bases by Shawn Green in 2009 with the Dodgers. Morales had the first three-home-run game for the KC Royals since Danny Tartabull on July 6, 1991.

The only player who has had 15 total bases this year is Yoenis Cespedes, who did it against the Rockies in the hitting oasis of Coors Field at Denver on August 23.  Since 1900 seven players in the majors have hit a triple and three homers in a game.  Ryan Braun with the Brewers  was the last to do it in 2012.

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Ten players have hit three home runs this season in the majors.  Besides Morales, the others are Adrian Gonzalez, Lucas Duda, Alex Rodriguez, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, J.D. Martinez, Joey Votto, Bryce Harper, Edwin Encarnacion, and Yoenis Cespedes.

According to MLB Reference, three other Royals have hit 2 or more homers and at least one triple. The first was Ed Kirkpatrick on the expansion team in 1969 against California; then George Brett against Baltimoe in 1979. Finally, Kila Ka’aihue did the same against Minnesota in 2010.  Kirkpatrick, Brett, and Ka’aihue had two home runs. The KC Royals won all four games.

This was the eighth three home-run-game in KC Royals’ history. Others doing it were Danny Tartabull, Bo Jackson, Tony Solaita, John Mayberry (twice), and George Brett (twice).

Let’s review Morales’ at bats. In the first, against Alfredo Simon, Morales walked.  In the third, with nobody on, he hit his 19th homer to to right field off of a fast ball.  In the fourth, he hit his second off of Simon, again with nobody on.

In the sixth, he did something very unusual for Morales.  Because of the injury to his leg five years ago, he is not what is considered a “speed merchant.” He led off the the inning, hitting the ball into the gap in right center field. It bounced against the wall. He rounded second and he successfully got his second triple of the year.

After the game, Ned Yost said he was questioning Morales running at the time of the play:  “He was determined because when he hit second, I went ‘Where are you going?””

Finally in the eighth, he hit his third home run of the game, a solo shot.  That gave him 21 homers for the season. Morales best year was with the Angels when he had 34 home runs and 34 home runs, at .306.

He had 108 RBIs that year which means that currently he is 3 RBIs shy of his 2009 personal record. Getting three RBIs with that many total bases is out of the ordinary because no one was on at the time. Two home runs were at the beginning of the inning.

During the game, Salvador Perez was constantly kidding Morales after the homers by pointing at his arm muscles to show how strong he was.

After the game, he was interviewed, after being dowsed by Salvy, saying through interpreter coach Pedro Grifol, who translated for Morales:  “He’s had good games in his career.  But this is number. 1.”

He told Joel Goldberg that in his last at bat, he wanted to “make hard contact…but it was at the back of his mind, if he got a good pitch, to see if he could hit it out of there.”   He said that the best thing for the day was getting 15 bases and 3 homers.”

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