When the Yankees traded for Alfonso Soriano, they were hoping to add a little right-handed pop to the middle of the lineup. At 37 years old and with his best baseball behind him, Sori was looked at as only a slight upgrade for a struggling Yankee offense.
Flash forward three weeks later. He’s etched his name in the record books.
Soriano homered twice for the second straight night yesterday in an 11-3 Yankee win and drove in a career-high seven RBI, the most by a Yankee since Alex Rodriguez drove in 7 in 2009 on the final day of the season. Soriano bested his previous career-mark of six which came just 24 hours earlier – giving him 13 total RBIs over two games.
He became just the third player in MLB history (first in Yankee history) to drive in at least six runs in consecutive contests, joining Rusty Greer (1997) and Geoff Jenkins (2001). To go along with the RBIs, Soriano is 6-for-9 with four home runs and six runs scored over the first three games of a four-game set.
According to Elias, Sori’s 13 RBIs now puts him behind Tony Lazzeri for most RBIs over a two-game span as a Yankee; Lazzeri drove in 15 back in 1936. To put things in perspective, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig were only able to drive in 12 each over two games.
In his second stint in New York, Soriano has seven homers and 21 RBIs in just 17 games. He never wanted to leave when the Yankees traded him to Texas in 2004. He feels home with the pinstripes, maybe even re-energized. “Here, it’s like more motivation,” he said. “All the players, they want to win. When you put the Yankees uniform on, you know what it’s all about. It’s all about wins. That’s all I take to the game every night.”
Soriano is 2-for-5 for his career against today’s starter C.J. Wilson – with one of those hits being a home run. He’ll try to continue his recent run of success as the Yanks try to get back into the thick of the pennant race.
