Baseball fans might expect Aaron Judge to be the MLB leader in RBI, and he is with 41 so far this season. However, the New York Yankees slugger is currently sharing the top spot with a surprising name.
Wilmer Flores drove in eight runs in the San Francisco Giants’ 9-1 win over the Athletics on Friday night, hitting three home runs. With that total, Judge has to make some room at the top of RBI mountain for now.
Flores’ big night began in the third inning with a grand slam off JP Sears after a 10-pitch battle. Sears put the first three hitters of the inning on base with a single and two walks. He then tried to work Flores on the outside part of the strike zone. But in trying to avoid a third consecutive walk, Sears finally left a fastball right down the middle. That gave San Francisco a 4-0 lead.
The Giants added three more runs in the sixth after Michel Otañez walked Patrick Bailey and allowed a two-out single to Heliot Ramos. Once again, Flores got a pitch in the middle of the strike zone and didn’t miss. He got a bit of help from Athletics left fielder Tyler Soderstrom, who nearly caught the deep fly ball at the top of the wall but it bounced off his glove.
Flores ended his career-best performance with a solo home run in the eighth off Anthony Maldonado. Maldonado didn’t leave his sinker right in the middle of the strike zone as his fellow Athletics pitchers had to Flores. But the sinker didn’t sink, which teed up another pitch for Flores. Soderstrom didn’t get close to that one.
“I’m not trying to hit homers, but when it happens, it’s kind of cool,” he added. “I’ve always thought about hitting three homers, but it doesn’t happen often. I think I’ve hit two in games, but hitting three — a lot of things have to go right for you, and it did.”
A 13-year MLB veteran, Flores leads the Giants with 10 home runs (batting .268/.318/.468) and may have put himself in position to surpass his career-best total of 23 homers in a season, set in 2023. Though he likely won’t keep pace with Judge through the remainder of the season (screen grab that stats board now), Flores should also beat out the 60 RBI he compiled two years ago.
With the win, San Francisco improved to 26-19, three games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers for third place in the NL West.
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