By Scott Barancik, Editor

When Oakland 3B Danny Valencia hit a career-best three home runs against the Tampa Bay Rays on May 15, it was by definition something special.

After all, only 354 MLB players have hit a trifecta during the course of a 9-inning game since 1913. Heck, Hank Aaron — whose 755 career home runs are second only to Barry Bonds’ asterisked 762 — did it just once in his 22-year MLB career.

But Valencia’s triplet was far from average. Consider these factoids, most of them cribbed from ESPN.com:

• Valencia’s blasts were no-doubters. He is the first player to smash  three home runs at least 425 feet apiece in the same game since ESPN Stats & Information began tracking home-run distances in 2009.
• Valencia was just the second Oakland player in 12 years to have a three-homer game — and the first Athletics third baseman to do so since 1935, when the team was known as the Philadelphia Athletics.
• Valencia is only the second visiting player to accomplish the feat in Tropicana Field history. (Carlos Delgado did it for the Blue Jays in 2001.)
• Valencia’s three-homer game came two days after he homered twice, giving him five HRs over three games, one short of the A.L. record. The MLB record is held by Dodgers RF (and fellow Jew) Shawn Green, who clubbed seven over a three-game stretch in 2002: four home runs on May 23, one on May 24, and two more on May 25.
• All three of Valencia’s home runs were consequential. The first gave Oakland a 1-0 lead, the second cut a 5-2 deficit to 5-4, and the third converted a 6-5 deficit into a 7-6 victory.

For more on Valencia’s feat and his overall hitting prowess this season, check out Numberfire.com.

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