Kyle Higashioka's Three Home Runs Power Yankees to Second-Consecutive Blowout Win

NEW YORK — Entering play on Wednesday night, Yankees backup catcher Kyle Higashioka had seven home runs in his four-year big-league career.

After the final out in a 13-2 Yankees victory over the Toronto Blue Jays, that number had jumped up to double digits.

Higashioka hit three home runs on Wednesday at Yankee Stadium, out of the ninth spot in the Yankees' lineup, going 3-for-4 with five RBIs. 

"Man, what a performance. He’s got that kind of power," Yankees' manager Aaron Boone said. "Great job behind the plate tonight and obviously a night at the plate he’ll remember forever."

The 30-year-old is the 23rd player in franchise history to hit three homers in a single regular-season game and just the third to do so as a catcher, joining Bill Dickey (1939) and Mike Stanley (1995). Catcher Gary Sánchez was the designated hitter when he hit three home runs in a game against the Orioles in Baltimore on April 7, 2019—the last Yankees three-homer game before Wednesday. It was the 32nd time in team history that a Yankees player hit three home runs in a game.

New York wound up with seven long balls on the night. The offensive outburst marked the first time in Yankees franchise history that they mashed six-plus home runs in back-to-back games, after Tuesday night's 20-run eruption.

"We’re going out there excited to play every night," Higashioka said. "We've been swinging it well and the pitching has been awesome. Every single night, we’re excited to go out there, swing the bat, get good pitches to hit and it’s fun, a lot of fun."

Not only did Higashioka excel at the plate, he helped make history behind it. Yankees' ace Gerrit Cole earned the 100th victory of his career, tossing seven innings of one-run ball with eight strikeouts.

The battery of Cole and Higashioka was together for the right-hander's third consecutive outing, three starts of six-plus innings and at least strikeouts. Considering the backstop's performance on Wednesday, the ace joked that he doesn't want to mess the tandem moving forward.

"He's swinging a hot stick," Cole said. "I think at this point with the way he’s swinging, I may be his personal pitcher so that if he catches me, he can really rake."

Higashioka's first long ball of the night was his furthest and fastest. In the third, the backstop pounced on a first-pitch sinker up in the zone from right-hander Tanner Roark, sending it 428 feet to straightaway center field. It left his bat at 105.9 mph, per Statcast.

His next time up, Higashioka came feet shy of hitting another homer, which would've given him four on the night. His line drive off Roark nestled into Lourdes Gurriel Jr.'s glove 367 feet away from home plate.

"I got it pretty good but I knew at least at our park that it’s a little deeper out where I hit it," Higashioka recalled. "So it was slightly off the end."

After his sharp line out in the fourth, Higashioka went deep in back-to-back frames. 

His solo shot in the sixth, a no-doubter off Jays' Jacob Waguespack, soared 381 feet to left. Then in the seventh, Higashioka capped off his three-homer performance with a two-run dinger to the opposite field off Hector Perez.

In his previous three years with the Yankees, Higashioka had never hit more than three home runs in a season. Through 67 total games played before Wednesday night, and 188 plate appearances in the Majors, he was hitting .169 (30-for-178) with seven career long balls.

In 2020, Higashioka had posted a .188 batting average (6-for-32) with one lone homer through 11 games. He missed a chunk of time on the injured list with a right oblique strain. 

"It’s just kind of crazy how baseball works sometimes," Higashioka said. "One minute you can’t hit the ball to save your life and then the next game you play, you pop three over the fence."

Higashioka's three hits on Wednesday night set a new career-high while his five RBIs tied his personal best. 

Boone explained that Wednesday night was a manifestation of Higashioka's potential. Since the skipper has been with the Yankees, he's watched the backstop grow into a leader in the clubhouse and capable contributor between the lines.

"I’ve seen a guy that just continues to grow in his voice, in his role, in his respect gained with the pitching staff and teammates," Boone said. "It’s been a lot of fun to see him develop personality wise to really have a prominent role on our team."

New York has now won seven games in a row and continues to climb the standings in the American League East with less than two weeks to go in the regular season.

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