A birthday bash! Adames ties Brewers, MLB records with 3-run homer

MILWAUKEE -- Willy Adames plays every day and hits so many threes that the Brewers’ television broadcasters have started calling him Steph Curry.

Adames will gladly take the comparison to the sharp-shooting Golden State Warriors star.

“I like that,” Adames said over the weekend in Cincinnati. “Hopefully we can continue to do it. He’s the best. He’s the G.O.A.T. from the three-point line.”

? Most consecutive games with a home run

The shortstop is approaching that same territory in the baseball world after celebrating his 29th birthday by hitting his 29th home run on a power-packed Labor Day for the Brewers. They got long balls from Adames, Rhys Hoskins and red-hot rookie Jackson Chourio to account for all of their runs in a 9-3 win over the Cardinals at American Family Field.

Chourio hit a sixth-inning grand slam to move within two home runs of becoming the first player in Major League history to log a 20/20 season before his 21st birthday, after Hoskins hit a two-run homer in the fourth. But the scoring started in the first inning with birthday boy Adames, who matched Milwaukee’s franchise record, as well as the Major League record for a shortstop, by hitting a home run in his fifth straight game.

And yes, it was yet another three-run shot.

Adames has hit an incredible 13 three-run homers this year, tying Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. for the most homers of that precise variety in a single season. Adames knew about that mark, and he’s had the pleasure of getting to know Griffey in Orlando, Fla., during recent offseasons through a mutual friend, Hall of Famer Barry Larkin.

So, when he got back to the dugout, Adames’ eyes began to well.

“For the first time in my career, I got a little emotional,” he said. “It’s something that I dreamed about since I was a kid, just doing incredible things like that. Now doing it [and] making it happen? It’s just unbelievable.”

It’s an admittedly obscure record, since a hitter can’t control how many opportunities he gets to bat with exactly two men on base, and he can’t control how he’s pitched in those situations.

But for Adames this season, it’s impossible to ignore. Five of his last eight homers have been three-run shots, giving Adames as many home runs with two men on base this season as two teams -- the Rockies and Giants -- had going into Monday’s games, and more than the Mariners (12), Rays (12), Pirates (11), White Sox (9) and Cardinals (9).

The Mariners might not be on that list if they still had Griffey swinging the bat; he set the mark for three-run homers when he hit 13 of them in 1996. Before Adames did it again Monday, he was tied with Sammy Sosa (2000), Tino Martinez (1997) and Roy Campanella (1953) for the second-most three-run taters ever.

“Just think about it, hitters don’t get many chances to do that,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said.

Another number means just as much to Adames: 138. That’s how many games he’s started at shortstop for the Brewers, who have played 138 games. He’s bidding to be the fifth player in franchise history to start every team game in a season, with Prince Fielder (2009 and ‘11), Richie Sexson (‘03), Robin Yount (1976 and 1988) and Gorman Thomas (1980).

Fielder in ‘11, Yount in ‘88 and Thomas all had some starts as the designated hitter to help; Adames is trying to do it the old-fashioned way by making all of his starts in the field.

The timing couldn’t be better. Adames is a free agent after this season, and teams love durable and productive shortstops. Since the start of 2021, the season the Brewers traded two pitchers to the Rays for Adames, he’s hit 109 home runs while playing shortstop, most in the Majors. Adames’ 344 RBIs as a shortstop over that span tied him with Francisco Lindor.

“I imagine he’s going to have some nice options,” Murphy said.

Before he can think about free agency, Adames and the NL Central-leading Brewers have work ahead this season. They’re 24 games over .500 with 24 games to go.

“He’s a great hitter, a great player,” “He’s a great hitter, a great player,” said Brewers starter Freddy Peralta. “I’m excited about what happened here, all these years together. We’ve had some hard moments, some good moments and look -- now, everything is looking great. He’s doing awesome for him and the team, and I’m proud of him. He knows that I love him.”