Canario swats first three Triple-A homers

Alexander Canario didn't have any home runs in 12 games with Triple-A Iowa coming into Tuesday's action. Now he has three.

The Cubs' No. 9 prospect had a monster night, hitting three long balls as part of a 3-for-5 night with four RBIs to power Iowa to a 12-11 win over host Omaha at Werner Park. It was the first three-homer game of Canario's professional career.

Batting out of the two-spot, Canario got things going with a solo home run to right-center field in the top of the first inning off right-handed pitcher Daniel Mengden. After striking out in the third, he crushed another dinger off Mengden an inning later, this one a two-run shot to center.

And he didn't stop there. Canario hit the second pitch out of left-handed pitcher Josh Dye's hand for a long ball to left to lead the seventh. He came up again in the ninth looking for his fourth one but drew a six-pitch walk.

Ninth-ranked #Cubs prospect Alexander Canario swats his first Triple-A homer ... and then his second ... and then his THIRD for the @IowaCubs! pic.twitter.com/pQ999r9Rr1

— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) September 21, 2022

The 22-year-old outfielder's big game came less than a month after he was called up to the Triple-A level. Playing at the highest Minor League level for the first time, Canario struggled in his first 12 games, going 5-for-33 (.152) with 12 strikeouts and just one extra-base hit.

Canario had 31 home runs in 105 games across High-A and Double-A this season. He's slashing .252/.339/.551 this season.

Canario was the first Iowa Cub to go yard three times in a single game since Mike Freeman did it on April 30, 2018.