FanPost

Cubs batters with 4 hits in 9 innings, 2000-19

Anthony Rizzo's 4 hits against the Phillies on Thursday marked the 210th time since 2000 that a Cubs batter has had 4 or more hits in a 9-inning game.

Those 210 times were by 70 different players, of whom 30 did it exactly once.

Including extra-inning games, the Cubs have had 239 games of 4 or more hits, by 73 players, of whom 33 did it just once.

..........

How rare is 4 hits in 9 innings?

From the start of 2000 through May 23, the Cubs had played 3,125 games.

So those 210 games represent 6.7 percent of all games.

..........

The percentage actually is slightly lower, as the 210 times includes 17 games in which 2 or more players each had 4 or more hits.

The most recent of those 17 was just last Friday, May 14, when Kris Bryant and Willson Contreras each had 4 hits at Washington.

The Cubs have done it at least once each of the past 3 seasons, after not having done it for nearly 5 full years, from July 6, 2012 until June 22, 2017.

Those 17 games include 2 in which 3 players each had at least 4 hits:

7/21/2004: Moises Alou, Tom Goodwin and Aramis Ramirez vs. Atlanta (Cubs won, 15-6)

5/14/2000: Henry Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa and Eric Young Sr. vs. Montreal (Cubs lost, 16-15)

That means there have been 193 different games in which at least 1 Cub had 4 hits in 9 innings, or 6.2 percent.

..........

Rizzo is one of 5 players who have had at least 10 games of 4 or more hits in 9 innings.

He has done it 12 times, which ranks him third behind Derek Lee, with 17, and Aramis Ramirez, with 14.

Starlin Castro, with 10, is the only other player in double figures

Moises Alou had 8.

Javier Baez, Bryant, Alfonso Soriano, Sammy Sosa and Eric Young each had 6.

..........

If you include extra-inning games, the standings are:

20: Derek Lee

15: Aramis Ramirez

13: Anthony Rizzo

11: Starlin Castro

9: Moises Alou

7: Javier Baez, Kris Bryant and Sammy Sosa

6: Alfonso Soriano and Eric Young Sr.

..........

Players on the Cubs' active roster as of May 24 have had 4 hits in 9 innings 38 times:

12: Anthony Rizzo

6: Javier Baez and Kris Bryant

4: Jason Heyward and Addison Russell

3: Willson Contreras

2: Albert Almora

1: Kyle Schwarber

Add the 3 times by Ben Zobrist and 1 time by Ian Happ, neither on the active roster but both under contract to the Cubs, and the total is 42, or exactly 20 percent of all 210 times.

Of the 210 times, 20 were 5-hit games, the most recent by Kris Bryant on Aug. 18, 2016. In 15 of those 20 games, the player went 5 for 5. In all 5 other games, he went 5 for 6.

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Here is the complete list of Cubs who have had at least 4 hits in a 9-inning game from 2000-2019, ranked by number of such games, from most to least, with players' names in alphabetical order in each grouping:

17:

Derek Lee

14:

Aramis Ramirez

12:

Anthony Rizzo*

10:

Starlin Castro

8:

Moises Alou

6:

Javier Baez*

Kris Bryant*

Alfonso Soriano

Sammy Sosa

Eric Young Sr.

5:

Jacques Jones

Corey Patterson

4:

Mark Grudzielanek

Jason Heyward*

Reed Johnson

Addison Russell*

3:

Jeff Baker

Darwin Barney

Damon Buford

Chris Coghlan

Willson Contreras*

Mark DeRosa

Mike Fontenot

Kosuke Fukudome

Joe Girardi

Mark Grace

Geovany Soto

Ryan Theriot

Todd Walker

Ben Zobrist*

2:

Albert Almora*

Michael Barrett

Milton Bradley

David DeJesus

Jon Jay

Junior Lake

Matt Murton

Neifi Perez

Juan Pierre

Rondell White

1:

Paul Bako

Henry Blanco

Emilio Bonifacio

Roosevelt Brown

Marlon Byrd

Wellington Castillo

Ronnie Cedeno

Ron Coomer

Cliff Floyd

Jake Fox

Alex Gonzalez

Tom Goodwin

Willie Greene

Ricky Gutierrez

Ian Happ

Bobby Hill

Micah Hoffpauir

Trent Hubbard

Jeff Huson

Eric Karros

Bryan LaHair

Kenny Lofton

Ramon Martinez

Bill Mueller

Xavier Nady

Henry Rodriguez

Dave Sappelt

Kyle Schwarber*

Jorge Soler

Carlos Zambrano

..........

Zambrano, the last name on that list, is the only Cubs pitcher with 4 hits in 9 innings in the past 20 seasons.

He went 4 for 5, all singles, in a 12-3 win vs. Pittsburgh on May 23, 2008.

..........

Here, by date, are all the games from 2000-2019 in which 2 or more Cubs had at least 4 hits, from most recent to oldest, with the names of the players who did it in each game:

5/17/2019: Bryant and Contreras vs. Washington (won, 14-6)

4/20/2018: Almora and Contreras vs. Colorado (won, 16-5)

6/22/2017: Happ and Russell vs. Miami (won, 11-1)

7/06/2012: Johnson and Rizzo vs. NY Mets (won, 8-7)

8/13/2011: Barney and Castro vs. Atlanta (won, 8-4)

4/08/2009: Fukudome and Ramirez vs. Houston (won, 11-6)

9/06/2008: Lee and Soriano vs. Cincinnati (won, 14-9)

4/08/2008: Ramirez and Theriot vs. Pittsburgh (won, 13-6)

8/16/2007: Jones and Ramirez vs. Cincinnati (won, 12-4)

7/04/2007: Floyd and Lee vs. Milwaukee (won, 9-3)

8/21/2006: Jones and Ramirez vs. Phillies (lost, 6-5)

6/01/2005: Lee and Perez vs. LA Dodgers (won, 9-5)

4/16/2004: Alou and Ramirez vs. Cincinnati (won, 11-10)

7/21/2004: Alou, Goodwin and Ramirez vs. Atlanta (won, 15-6)

5/12/2003: Alou and Grudzielanek vs. Milwaukee (won, 11-5)

4/05/2003: Bako and Gonzalez vs. Cincinnati (won, 9-7)

5/14/2000: Rodriguez, Sosa and Young Sr. vs. Montreal (lost, 16-15)

..........

Honorable mention:

7/21/2018: Zobrist in 1st game and Rizzo in 2nd game of doubleheader vs. St. Louis (won, 5-2, then lost, 6-3)



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