Paul Goldschmidt hits three home runs for Cardinals against Brewers

Tom Gatto

Paul Goldschmidt hits three home runs for Cardinals against Brewers image

Paul Goldschmidt has become a Cardinals fan favorite in less than two games.

St. Louis' new slugging first baseman homered three times in the first seven innings Friday night in Milwaukee against the Brewers. Goldschmidt went deep in the first, sixth and seventh, each time against a different pitcher (Freddy Peralta, Taylor Williams and Jacob Barnes).

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Goldschmidt also made major league history with those dingers; he became the first player ever to hit three home runs in his first or second game with his new team, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, via ESPN.

The Redbirds fans who made the trek to Miller Park American Family Park were delighted with the man who joined the club in an offseason trade with the Diamondbacks and then signed a big-money contract extension with St. Louis during spring training.

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Goldschmidt singled in the second inning, too, which means he had 13 total bases in his first five at-bats of the night (a cool 2.600 slugging percentage).

The Brewers walked him intentionally in the ninth inning with first base open and Matt Carpenter on second.

The outburst came one night after Goldschmidt struck out three times in the Cardinals' Opening Day loss to a main NL Central rival. Goldschmidt finished 4 for 5 with five RBIs on Friday in a 9-5 Redbirds victory. St. Louis and Milwaukee will face each other 10 times in the season's first 28 days.

"(On Thursday), you have three strikeouts. Today, three homers. That's baseball. Which is awesome about this game," Goldschmidt told reporters, including Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "There is a lot of failure built in and there are good nights and you’re just trying to take it day by day."

This article has been updated with more details and a published comment from Goldschmidt.

Tom Gatto

Tom Gatto Photo

Tom Gatto joined The Sporting News as a senior editor in 2000 after 12 years at The Herald-News in Passaic, N.J., where he served in a variety of roles including sports editor, and a brief spell at APBNews.com in New York, where he worked as a syndication editor. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of South Carolina.