On this day in Los Angeles Dodgers history, Adrián Beltré became the 36th player to hit 100 home runs before the age of 25. He joined Cal Ripken Jr. and Lou Gehrig in having exactly 100 homers on their 25th birthday, which was the following day.
Beltré accomplished feat when the Dodgers hosted the San Diego Padres on April 6 in what was their second game of the 2004 season. They fell into a hole, trailing 4-0 after three innings, but came from behind in a 5-4 victory to earn their first win of the year.
Beltré’s home run was a two-run shot in the seventh inning, his first of many on the season. It also came on a night that saw Beltré batting seventh in the Dodgers lineup, which he was angered by due to not receiving prior notice from manager Jim Tracy.
Beltré finished the game 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI, but it was Robin Ventura who stole the show with a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth inning.
That was the start of a brilliant season for Beltré as he played in 156 games, hitting .334/.388/.629 with a National League-leading 48 home runs and 121 RBI. He finished second in the NL MVP voting that season, placing behind San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds, who had one of the most impressive seasons ever, hitting .362/.609/.812 with 45 home runs and 101 RBI.
The 2004 season was Beltré’s last with the Dodgers as he went on to sign a five-year, $64 million contract with the Seattle Mariners in free agency.
He ended up playing five seasons with the Mariners, one with the Boston Red Sox and eight for the Texas Rangers before retiring at the end of the 2018 season.
Beltré finished his career as a four-time All-Star, four-time Silver Slugger Award winner and five-time Gold Glove winner while hitting 477 home runs in 21 seasons.
When the Rangers retired Beltré’s jersey, late Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda attended the ceremony and spoke fondly of him.
Dodgers sweep Padres with third shutout
Two days after a historic win on Opening Day, the Dodgers completed a third consecutive shutout of the Padres to make them the first team in MLB history to suffer that fate.
The Dodgers’ 15-0, 3-0 and 7-0 victories meant the Padres’ 27 consecutive scoreless inning broke the record held by the 1943 St. Louis Browns who started the season with 26 innings without a run.
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