Yasmani Grandal, a rookie catcher with the San Diego Padres, became the first player to ever collect the first hits of his major league career by homering from both sides of the plate in the same game.
Backstory: Since 1974, five other players have had multihomer games in their major-league debuts, but Grandal, who was brought up from Triple-A Tucson, became the first to do it batting both right- and left-handed.
There was a time when such clouts at Denver’s Coors Field might have been discounted because of the thin air, but since balls are now stored in a humidor Coors is no longer the home run haven it once was.
In Grandal’s second game with the Padres, he started off 0-for-3, but then hit another home run, making his first three major-league hits all four-baggers. He finished the season with eight home runs.
