Dodgers' Adrian Gonzalez blasts three homers; has five in first three games

Dodgers' Adrian Gonzalez blasts three homers; now has five in first three games

Adrian Gonzalez hasn’t quite wrapped up the National League Player of the Month Award for April, but he’s the leader in the clubhouse through the Dodgers’ first three games.

Gonzalez went deep three times at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday night, giving him five in the season’s first three games, which is the most in MLB history in that span. The Red Sox are the only team that can match his individual total.

Adrian Gonzalez is the first player in @MLB history to hit 5 homers in his team's first three games of the season.

— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) April 9, 2015

Behind Gonzalez’s power burst, the Dodgers won 7-4 to take their opening series against the Padres 2-1.

The home runs were all solo shots off Padres starter Andrew Cashner. The 27-year-old righthander surrendered just seven home runs in 19 starts all of last season.

Gonzalez, who finished 4-for-4 with three runs and four RBI, later tacked on an RBI single, his 10th hit in 13 at-bats.

Gonzalez, despite a blistering .769/.769/2.077 slash line, has only 7 RBI on the season because all five home runs have come with the bases empty. He has hit third in the lineup in all three games, behind new acquisition Jimmy Rollins and 2014 All-Star YasielPuig. Rollins cleared the bases with his own three-run homer on Opening Day, but Puig is off to a slow 1-for-12 start.

Last year only three players recorded three-homer games: Ryan Braun, Chris Davis and Lonnie Chisenhall. This is the 19th time a Dodger has hit three in a game, and the first since Juan Uribe against the Diamondbacks in 2013.

For Gonzalez, it’s his 18th career multi-homer game, but his first time notching three round-trippers. Gonzalez did the damage against the team for which he first made a name for himself. He played for the Padres from 2006-10, making three All-Star teams and finishing as high as fourth in the NL MVP voting in 2010.

April can be a time of deceptively small sample sizes, and Gonzalez likely won’t keep up his 270 home run pace, but his at-bats will be can’t-miss TV for as long as he can keep this up. Watch all three blasts below: