Minnesota Twins second baseman Edouard Julien of Quebec City, Quebec became the first Canadian Major League Baseball player this season to have two two-home run games. He accomplished the feat on Thursday in a 6-3 Twins win over the Chicago White Sox. Ironically, the first home run came off of Canadian Mike Soroka of Calgary, Alberta.
Julien’s first home run led off the bottom of the sixth inning, went 412 feet, and put the Twins on the scoreboard after trailing 2-0 at the time. Julien’s second home run was 378 feet in the bottom of the seventh inning, came with two out and put the Twins up 4-2.
The first time that Julien hit two home runs this season came on April 10 in a 3-2 Twins win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Julien hit a leadoff homer of 367 feet to tie the game at one, and then hit the game-winning home run in the bottom of the fifth inning of 376 feet to break a 2-2 deadlock.
The only other Canadian to hit a two-home run game in 2024 is Boston Red Sox left fielder Tyler O’Neill of Burnaby, British Columbia. He accomplished the feat in a 8-6 Red Sox win over the Los Angeles Angels on April 5. O’Neill’s first home run led off the second inning, was 410 feet, and opened the scoring. O’Neill’s second home run came with one out in the ninth inning, was 382 feet, and closed the scoring.
This was the sixth time in O’Neill’s career that he had a two-home run game. The other five came with the St. Louis Cardinals. He also had two home runs in a 7-0 Cardinals win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 15, 2019, in a 5-2 Cardinals win over the Cincinnati Reds on April 15, 2021, in an 8-2 Cardinals win over Cleveland on June 9, 2021, in a 4-3 Cardinals win over the Chicago Cubs on October 1, 2021, and in a 13-4 Cardinals won over the Cincinnati Reds on August 29, 2022.
In 2024, Julien is batting .213 with seven home runs and nine runs batted in. He has scored 14 runs and had 17 hits, three doubles, one stolen base, 10 walks and 41 total bases. Julien has a slugging percentage of .513, and an on base percentage of .308.
O’Neill meanwhile is batting .298 with seven home runs and eight runs batted in. He has scored 15 runs, and had 17 hits, one stolen base, 11 walks, and 38 total bases. O’Neill has a slugging percentage of .667 and an on base percentage of .429. O’Neill’s stolen base came in a 6-4 Red Sox win over the Seattle Mariners on March 28.
