Nick Gonzales’ Homer Drought Ends at 412 in Pittsburgh
Nick Gonzales entered Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Twins having gone 411 at-bats without hitting a home run. It was the second-longest drought in baseball, behind only the speedy Chandler Simpson of the Tampa Bay Rays, who had gone 629 at-bats without homering to start his career heading into his game on Sunday.
After striking out in his first at-bat against Minnesota Twins starter Zebby Matthews, Gonzales’ drought extended to 412 at-bats, a perhaps fitting number for a streak that was about to end in Pittsburgh.
With a runner on second base and two outs in the bottom of the third, Gonzales connected on his first home run of the year and first since last year against the Giants in San Francisco on July 28.
“It felt good,” Gonzales said following the Pirates’ 7-3 win to clinch a sweep of the Twins. “Been waiting a little bit for it.”
Gonzales’ shot was no cheapy. The Pirates third baseman capitalized on a hanging slider from Matthews and hit it into the bullpens in center field. His two-run blast, which measured 407 feet, gave the Pirates a 4-0 lead.
“Man, he earned it, too,” manager Don Kelly said. “That’s a long way to center field. He’s been so close so many times this year. Really happy for him that he got it out, and he got it out to big boy park there.”
It had been even longer since Gonzales last circled the bases at PNC Park. Prior to Sunday, his last home run in Pittsburgh came on June 6, 2024 against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
This time, a relieved Gonzales cracked a big smile after breaking into his home run trot.
“It’s just been a while,” he said. “Felt good to kind of just get that weight off my shoulder and just help the team, too, and score two runs. It’s nice.”
Despite not showing much power this season, Gonzales had had a pretty good season at the plate. After finishing Sunday’s win 1 for 3 with a homer and a walk, he ranks 12th in baseball and ninth in the National League with a .303 batting average.
He also has the highest walk rate of his career (6.5%) and his strikeout rate (17.6%) is down for a fourth-straight season. Gonzales now has a .720 OPS, just above league-average and the highest mark of his career.
Despite having to wait longer than he wanted to get his first homer of the season, his performance this season is another reason that Pirates have had a strong season offensively.
Maybe Sunday’s swing was one that will spark a little bit more power to turn a good season into an even better one.
“I’ve had somewhat success this season, and that could kind of weigh on you when you haven’t hit a home run. But you’re still producing, still doing stuff, still driving runs in, having good at-bats,” he explained. “So you’ve got to stick with the process. Hitting coaches have been great in telling me, like, ‘Hey, don’t worry about that. Just keep doing what you’re doing, drive in runs, hit the ball hard, and it’ll come.'”
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