Wilmer Flores joins legendary Giants list with 3 home runs, 8 RBIs in win

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Wilmer Flores came one hit away from hitting for the cycle in the Giants’ 9-1 win on Friday night. If that sounds unremarkable, hold on a second. The hit he was missing was a two-run home run. The cycle he didn’t complete was the home run cycle, which means Flores will have to be satisfied with a solo homer, a three-run homer, a grand slam and eight runs batted in.

He can try again Saturday.

It was a career night for Flores, but it would have been a career high for anyone. It was the first three-homer and 8 RBI game for the Giants since Joc Pederson in 2022, which itself was the first since Willie Mays’ four-home run game in 1961.

The game was notable in other ways, to be sure. Logan Webb threw eight strong innings, allowing just one run. Camilo Doval looked like the best version of himself, striking out the side. Tyler Fitzgerald returned from the injured list, had a hustle double and made a sparkling defensive play. If the Giants are going to stay in the postseason picture, they’ll take every positive sign from those three they can get. If Flores had just one home run, he would have kept them company in the land of positive signs.

Instead, he trotted right past them and into the land of fun facts. Let’s tally them up.

The list of Giants with eight-RBI nights is short and impressive

Don’t let the relative recency of Pederson’s eight-RBI night fool you. This doesn’t happen often. Only three players have done it in the San Francisco era and just 11 overall.

1. Travis Jackson, Aug. 4, 1923
2. George “High Pockets” Kelly, June 14, 1924
3. Irish Meusel, Sept. 2, 1925
4. Mel Ott, May 11, 1936
5. Phil Weintraub, April 30, 1944
6. Hank Thompson, June 3, 1954
7. Willie Mays, April 30, 1961
8. Orlando Cepeda, July 4, 1961
9. Brandon Crawford, July 15, 2019
10. Joc Pederson, May 24, 2022
11. Wilmer Flores, May 16, 2025

That’s five Hall of Famers, if you’re counting. The list of 165 players to do it for any team before Flores is an excellent exercise in remembering some guys, as it offers a perfect mix of Hall of Famers and unlikely heroes. Shohei Ohtani was one of the five players whose team lost the game, adding to the “Tungsten Arm” O’Doyle mythos of the Angels.

If you’re in the market for some perspective on how rare this feat is, consider that the Marlins have never had an eight-RBI night in their 33-season history. The Royals have had just one in their 57 seasons.

The Giants now have three of the last eight-RBI games, starting with Crawford’s game in 2019. There are also three ex-Giants in that stretch, with Adam Duvall (with the Giants in 2014), AJ Pollock (2023) and Aaron Judge (seven minutes in 2022).

The list of Giants with three-homer games is longer, but just as fun

The full list is here, but we’ll focus on San Francisco history in the interest of brevity:

1. Willie Mays, April 30, 1961 (4 HR)
2. Willie Mays, June 29, 1961
3. Willie Mays, June 2, 1963
4. Willie McCovey, Sept. 22, 1963
5. Willie McCovey, April 22, 1964

6. Willie McCovey, Sept. 17, 1966
7. Gary Matthews, Sept. 25, 1976
8. Darrell Evans, June 15, 1983
9. Kevin Mitchell, May 25, 1990
10. Barry Bonds, Aug. 2, 1994

11. Barry Bonds, May 19, 2001
12. Barry Bonds, Sept. 9, 2001
13. Barry Bonds, Aug. 27, 2002
14. J.T. Snow, Aug. 13, 2004
15. Aubrey Huff, June 2, 2011

16. Pablo Sandoval, Sept. 4, 2013
17. Jarrett Parker, Sept. 26, 2015
18. Mike Yastrzemski, Aug. 16, 2019
19. Alex Dickerson, Sept. 1, 2020
20. Joc Pederson, May 24, 2022

21. Wilmer Flores, May 17, 2025

Before Flores broke the tie, half of the three-homer games in Giants history were hit by a Willie or a Barry. Most franchise fun facts related to home runs have to do with Willies and Barrys, to be clear.

There was also a three-homer game for Pablo Sandoval in the 2012 World Series, but it’s considered rude to talk about that in 2025. Check back next season.

The list of players who haven’t had an eight-RBI game is also fun

Eagle-eyed observers might have noticed a few omissions in the first list. McCovey isn’t on there. Neither is Barry Bonds. This is because it’s hard for a player to drive in eight runs in a single game. It takes good fortune, good timing and good hitting, none of which are guaranteed to show up in any given game, much less the same one.

Bonds not having an eight-RBI game is the best way to explain just how unlikely it is. Some Hall of Famers who never did it include:

• Hank Aaron
• Stan Musial
• Carl Yastrzemski
• Dave Winfield
• Ernie Banks

There are more Hall of Famers who didn’t do it, including Bucketfoot Aloysius Harry Simmons, but it would take too long to list them all. Simmons only gets a mention to remind you there was a Hall of Famer named Bucketfoot Aloysius Harry Simmons.

The RBI didn’t become an official stat until 1920, so we can’t find out if Ty Cobb or Honus Wagner ever did it. It’s almost Occam’s Razor to assume they didn’t, though.

Flores raised his slugging percentage by 63 points in one night

He also raised his home run total by three.

Flores is now tied for the major-league lead in RBI

Judge didn’t have any RBI in the Yankees’ 6-2 win over the Mets, which means that Flores’ 41 RBI are tied with Judge for the major-league lead. If people laughed at you for drafting Flores first in your fantasy draft this year, now’s the time to make a few phone calls.

Is it especially meaningful that Flores is responsible for these fun facts? In the sense that they’re fun, yes. In terms of predictive value, no. Don’t get carried away.What is meaningful, though, is that Flores is healthy and producing again. From 2016 through 2023, eight seasons in total, Flores was better than the average major-league hitter. Last year, he wasn’t even close. Considering his age last season (32), there was a chance the unproductive Flores was going to stick around.

Instead, here’s more evidence that Flores has some more of those 2016-2023 seasons in him. His eight-RBI performance is the flashiest game in a career filled with steady, workmanlike games, but the big picture regarding Flores remains the same. Muster up your best Mike Krukow impression, and sing along: He can hit.

(Photo: Lachlan Cunningham / Getty Images)

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