Fastball

Arizona Diamondbacks' Slugger Moves Up Special List in History Among Cuban-Born Players

With a grand slam on Friday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers, D-backs slugger Lourdes Gurriel Jr. now has seven career grand slams, ranking him second all-time among Cuban-born players.

Brady Farkas

Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. celebrates after hitting a grand slam home run in the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Chase Field on May 9.
Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. celebrates after hitting a grand slam home run in the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Chase Field on May 9. / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
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The Arizona Diamondbacks lost a wild 14-11 game on Friday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers, but that didn't stop D-backs slugger Lourdes Gurriel Jr. from making a little history.

Gurriel went 1-for-5 with a grand slam home run in the loss, and according to Francys Romero, he is now second among Cuban-born players in career grand slams with seven. He trails only Rafael Palmeiro.

Per Romero on social media:

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. is the second Cuban-born player with the most Grand Slams in MLB history with 7.

He surpassed José Canseco, Yoenis Céspedes, Minnie Miñoso, Tony Pérez, and Alexei Ramirez.

Rafael Palmeiro is the all-time Cuban leader with 12 Grand Slams.

Romero later added that Yuniesky Betancourt also had six grand slams. Gurriel, 31, is hitting just .213 this season, but he does have seven home runs and 25 RBIs. An eight-year veteran of the Toronto Blue Jays and Diamondbacks, he's a career .276 hitter with 117 home runs and 436 RBIs. He hit a career-high 24 homers in 2023 as Arizona advanced to the World Series.

Shohei Ohtani went 3-for-6 with a home run, two doubles and four RBIs in the win for Los Angeles. The Dodgers scored six runs in the top of the ninth to pull out the victory.

The two teams will play again on Saturday night with first pitch coming at 8:10 p.m. ET. Right-hander Dustin May will pitch for the Dodgers while former National League Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes goes for Arizona.

He's 1-1 with a 3.58 ERA.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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