WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Ever since Jasson Dominguez made his debut in the majors as a prized 20-year-old prospect, the New York Yankees have been expecting big things.
Dominguez delivered in a big way on Friday night, becoming the youngest player in the rich history of the Yankees franchise to hit three home runs in a single game.
“Tonight was special,” Dominguez said. “When I hit the third one, I was telling myself ‘No way. There’s no way.’”
Dominguez did it, capping the memorable night with a grand slam in the eighth inning of a to supplant Hall of Famer Joe DiMaggio in the Yankees’ record book.
At 22 years, 91 days old, Dominguez is the youngest player in Yankees history with a three-homer game, beating DiMaggio’s mark set in 1937 against the St. Louis Browns by 109 days.
“That was incredible,” said teammate Aaron Judge, one of three other Yankees in history with a grand slam during a three-homer game.
“Just even going back to spring training, the guy goes out there wins a job. The work I saw him put in on the back field when no one was really looking on the defensive side, the work in the cage. To see him have a game like this tonight, three homers, is pretty special.”
Dominguez came into the season considered the top prospect in the Yankees system after brief stints in the majors in 2023 and ‘24. That hadn’t translated into big league success until Friday night’s breakout performance with three homers — one right-handed and two left-handed — and seven RBIs.
Dominguez came into the game with two homers on the season and eight in 191 career at-bats since making his debut in the majors in 2023.
“That’s awesome,” said starter Will Warren, who played with Dominguez in the minors. “It’s always been there. Hopefully he had the spark tonight and continues with that.”
Dominguez started his big night with a solo shot in the third inning against Osvaldo Bido. After a sacrifice fly in the fifth, he added another solo shot against Hogan Harris in the seventh for his first homer in the majors from the right side of the plate.
He capped the night with the grand slam in the eighth against Elvis Alvarado.
“Very impressive, manager Aaron Boone said. ”Just really, really quality at-bats by him. He’s capable of things like that. Obviously the two lefty kind of similar, high kind of moonshot no-doubters. And the right-handed ball was absolutely scorched.”
Dominguez become the fifth player this season with at least three homers in a game. Judge did it against Milwaukee on March 29, with Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez and St. Louis’ Ivan Herrera also hitting three in a game.
Eugenio Suarez had a four-homer game for Arizona against Atlanta on April 26.
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