With no homers and one RBI, Desmond Jennings had suffered from a power outage this spring. That’s over with now, as he unloaded with three homers, the middle one a grand slam, in the Rays’ 8-5 win over the Orioles.
Jennings’ other two homers were solo blasts, giving him six RBI on the day. The first two homers came off Orioles import Wei-Yin Chen. He hit the third against Kevin Gregg.
“I felt good from the first at-bat,” Jennings said. “I felt like I was seeing the ball good and I was swinging at good pitches today. ... I was swinging at pitches in the zone and hitting them on the barrel and I was getting to pitches inside. That’s a good sign for me. So hopefully I can keep that up.”
One of the game’s most exciting young players, Jennings hit 22 homers last year, including 10 in 247 at-bats after arriving in the majors. It was a big step up from the three he hit in 420 at-bats in 2010. He probably won’t top that total of 22 in his first full season with the Rays, but 15-18 seems like a reasonable expectation.
