BOISE, Idaho — THIS DAY IN SPORTS…May 17, 2019, five years ago today:
Former Boise Hawk Kris Bryant becomes only the 12th player in major league history to hit a home run in three consecutive innings. The Chicago Cubs star connected in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings of a 14-6 win at Washington. For Bryant, the 2015 National League Rookie of the Year and 2016 NL Most Valuable Player (during the Cubs’ World Series championship season), it was his second career three-homer game.
A fellow former Hawk had a front-row seat. Bryant's second homer of the night came one batter after Boise alum Kyle Schwarber topped off a 13-pitch at-bat with a two-run homer of his own. Then in the ninth, Schwarber walked for the third time that night, and Bryant followed with a full-count blast over the left-centerfield fence. He went 4-for-6 in the game, scored three runs and collected five RBI.
Bryant had struggled out of the gate in his sixth big league season. But three weeks before his three-dinger night, Bryant switched to an “Axe Bat,” one with an axe-type handle, and he homered in his first at-bat with it. Axe Bats feature a handle that players claim gives them a more natural grip, aligning their knuckles. Bryant helped it take off five years ago, although most hitters still use conventional bats today. It helped Bryant for a while—the barrage in D.C. gave him nine homers in 19-game span.
Bryant, the highest draft pick ever to play for Boise, made his Hawks debut on July 23, 2013. The No. 2 overall selection would like to forget it. Bryant went 0-for-5 and struck out all five times. But Bryant went on to bat .354 in 18 games with Boise before moving to the next rung in the Cubs’ ladder. He was in the bigs less than two years later. But since 2022, Bryant has been toiling in relative anonymity with the Colorado Rockies. He’s been beset by injuries, including a low back strain that’s had him on the shelf the past month. Bryant is batting .149. (Schwarber was taken No. 4 overall by the Cubs in 2014.)
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
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