Pablo Sandoval hits 100th home run to fulfill birthday request

The San Francisco Giants shutout the St. Louis Cardinals in a 5-0 win on Tuesday night. But the biggest celebration in the dugout was for Pablo Sandoval who hit his 100th home run. The two-run homer helped the Giants remain ahead of the Cardinals and eventually take the win.

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“It’s hard to get one,” Sandoval said, “so to get 100 means a lot for me.”

During a Facebook chat earlier in the day, Angie Lopez asked Sandoval if he could hit a home run for her son’s birthday. “Today is my son’s birthday and he is heading your way to watch the game. Hit one for him, please,” she wrote. He simply responded that he would try, and try he did. Sandoval even stated that as he was running across home plate, he was thinking of the young boy.

Sandoval’s lucky boots also made an appearance after a brief hiatus. The decision to bring them back was partly to due with the Giants losing their 9.5 game lead in the NL West.

“They weren’t out here in June and we had a tough June, so I thought try it again,” Sandoval said.

The Giants have definitely had a tough June, and the home run has been few and far between. Perhaps the lucky cowboy boots will help in this regard.

Sandoval had gone 12 consecutive games without a home run; quite a rare occurrence for the man. Being stuck on 99, getting that 100th prompted Sandoval to become the 19th player to hit at least 100 home runs with the Giants since relocating to San Francisco.

“Nice milestone. One hundred home runs and we’ve gotten to see them all; I know I did,” Bochy said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but it’d be nice to see him hit another 100.”