Five for Peters! White Sox LF ties rookie, club marks with HR in 5 straight games
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CHICAGO – Tristan Peters did it again.
And again, and again, and again, and again.
With his sixth-inning, two-run blast off Texas reliever Robby Ahlstrom, the White Sox left-handed-hitting left fielder not only hit his first career home run off a left-hander but homered for a fifth straight game in Chicago's 10-4 win over the Rangers at Rate Field. He matched the franchise record set by seven players on eight previous occasions. That list includes Munetaka Murakami this season, Paul Konerko (2017), Carlos Lee (’17), A.J. Pierzynski (’12), Frank Thomas (twice in 1994), Ron Kittle (’83) and Greg Luzinski (’83).
With both Peters and Murakami achieving the feat this year, the White Sox are the first team since at least 1900 to have two rookies with a home run streak of five or more games in a single season.
The five-game streak ties the longest by an MLB rookie, which has been done 13 times previously, including twice by other White Sox rookies: Murakami this season and Kittle in 1983, according to Elias Sports.
The MLB record for consecutive games with a homer is eight, shared by Ken Griffey Jr. (July 20-28, 1993), Don Mattingly (July 8-18, 1987) and Dale Long (May 19-28, 1956).
“I feel like I'm staying on my backside a little more,” said Peters of what has changed of late, speaking prior to Wednesday’s contest. “Seeing the ball better, and obviously it feels a lot better to be doing well. They adjusted to me, and I'm just trying to adjust back.
“I've always pulled balls in the air well. Whether it was on the barrel or not, that was my issue. But I think staying back, just letting the ball travel a little longer, is letting me recognize pitches better. I think that's helped a lot and just gotten me more precise on my barrel.”
Since Peters once played for the Savannah Bananas, he has been given the moniker of "Bananas Bonds" by his teammates during his recent power surge.
“Obviously, I swung a banana bat the other day,” said a smiling Peters, who donned a banana-inspired bat for Players’ Weekend. “I'm proud of that, and so yeah, I'm going to embrace it.”
Wednesday’s comfortable win maintained Chicago’s 2 1/2-game lead over the Guardians in the American League Central. They also improved to 70-63, tying the most wins by a team following at least three consecutive 100+ loss seasons, done previously by the 2014 Astros, 1965 Senators and the 1925 Boston Braves.
There’s still 29 games remaining for the White Sox. No team has made the playoffs following even two straight 100-loss seasons. At least, no team as of yet.