Mr. Ed
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Before each game, Mitch Garver tells his teammates that on any given day, they can do something special.
"So [Sunday] was that day," he said.
The Twins' No. 14 prospect recorded his second career three-homer game, ripping a two-run blast and a pair of solo shots, as Triple-A Rochester topped Syracuse, 8-2, at Frontier Field.
"It was something pretty special," he said. "I took my time a little bit that third time around. The crowd was cheering. I got back to the dugout, everybody was smiling. I could see the crowd was on their feet. That's a really special feeling. I'm glad I could do that and it's some good momentum heading into the [All-Star] break."
After grounding out in the first inning, Garver ripped his third homer of the week. He sent an 0-1 pitch from starter Sean O'Sullivan (1-2) over the left field fence to cap a four-run second that gave the Red Wings a 5-0 lead. Facing the right-hander again in the fourth, the 26-year-old "golfed" a solo shot to left that he was especially proud of because the pitch was down in the zone.
"It felt good. It's nice to get the ball in the air," Garver said. "If you've ever been to Rochester, you know that the wind blows out on day games, so you always want to be playing in those games. And if you can get the ball in the air with enough barrel, you always have a shot.
Before the sixth, Garver's teammates were taking bets on if he could get a third homer. But he silenced them -- at least temporarily -- with another solo homer to left. When the University of New Mexico product got back to the dugout, he smiled at the losing bettors and got a big hug from designated hitter Matt Hague, who didn't think the catcher had it in him. All three homers came with two outs.
"This year, it's been a streak of I've been hitting my home runs with nobody on base or maybe one person on base, and I like to keep innings alive with two outs and just kind of give the team the momentum to score a few runs for our pitchers, " he said. "Key to [Sunday] was to get the ball in the air, take good swings, stay behind the ball and really just stay with the process of what I've been working on lately, which is to drive the ball to the big part of the field and hopefully let some balls get out of the yard."
While ByungHo Park slugged three homers for Rochester last July 28 at Pawtucket, Garver is the first to accomplish the feat in a home game since Jim Fuller on June 7, 1976.
And it's not even the first time he's recorded a hat trick. Playing for Class A Cedar Rapids, the Albuquerque native went yard three times on July 21, 2014 against Fort Wayne. However, he said he's not the same player he was back then.
"Now the game has changed a little bit where power numbers matter. I want to have a high slugging percentage and my on-base percentage, I take a lot of pride in," he said. "So it's cool that I could repeat something like that because it doesn't happen very often. But I'm not necessarily trying to be a different baseball player, I'm just trying to be successful and find the barrel as much as I can.
"I've grown a lot, both offensively and defensively; I've taken a lot of pride in my defense. Anytime you can get a catcher that can hit a little bit, it's a good thing for a team and a good thing for a career."
In the eighth, Garver got a chance to produce the International League's first four-homer game since 2011. When his teammates cast doubt, he replied simply, "All right, I'll see what I can do."
As Garver stepped to the plate against Wander Suero, the Superman theme song replaced his usual walk-up music on Superhero Day at Frontier Field.
"The crowd was on their feet for that one," he said. "It was very exciting, it felt like a great atmosphere."
The right-handed hitter ended up flying to center field, a few feet short of the warning track.
Reliever Nik Turley (3-2) worked around two hits and a walk, striking out two, in two innings for the win. It was the Red Wings' 20th in 26 games as they enter the Triple-A All-Star break.
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