McKenna leaves yard three times for Tides

Ryan McKenna hadn’t put one over the wall through 18 big league games or six back at Triple-A this season. On Wednesday night, he liked being reintroduced to the feeling so much, he did it three times.

McKenna belted his first three homers of the season and drove in four runs as Norfolk fell to visiting Memphis, 9-7.

Baltimore's 2015 fourth-rounder opened the game with a bang, namely a leadoff homer to right-center field off Redbirds righty Johan Oviedo in the first inning. After striking out swinging in the third and fourth, he made loud contact again in the seventh with another solo shot again to right-center off new reliever Kyle Ryan. McKenna capped his night with a two-run blast to right-center off righty Junior Fernández in the eighth to draw Norfolk within two runs.

My. Oh. My.@Ry_mac35 blasts his THIRD... yes third home run of the game!!! 😲

Tides still trail 9-7.#RisingTide #Birdland pic.twitter.com/Vx6mc5jVmO

— Norfolk Tides (@NorfolkTides) May 12, 2022

The center fielder finished the game with a third of the Tides’ hit total and their only ones for extra bases. The blasts gave McKenna the first three-homer game of his career and first multihomer game since last Aug. 20, when he hit two for Norfolk at Charlotte. They were his first homers of any kind since he cracked his final shot of 2021 on Sept. 10.

McKenna started the season with the big club but saw limited action over 18 games, only logging 19 at-bats and posting a .263/.375/.368 slash line. The 25-year-old spent the majority of last year in the big leagues, playing 90 games for the O’s and batting .183/.292/.266 with two homers and 14 RBIs. McKenna entered 2021 as the No. 22 prospect in the Orioles organization.

In 27 games with the Tides last season, McKenna impressed with a .307/.423/.683 slash line, 11 homers and 23 RBIs.