FanPost

When Cubs hit 4 homers in an inning

Since the National League began in 1876, the Cubs have played 21,931 regular-season games.

In those games, they have hit 14,818 home runs -- about 2 homers every 3 games.

They have hit 4 or more home runs in 342 games, just 1 of every 64.

Those 342 consist of:

3 games with 7 homers

24 games with 6

70 games with 5

245 games with 4

But in only 4 games have the Cubs hit 4 home runs in the same inning.

You may remember 3 of the games.

You may even have watched them on your TV, computer or phone.

You certainly did not watch the first, though. When it happened, there were no TVs, computers or phones. Cubs games had been on radio for just 6 years.

..........

HUGE HOLE

After getting off to a 7-7 start in 1930, the defending champion Cubs won 7 in a row, all at home, capped by 3-game sweeps of the Phillies and Robins (today's Dodgers).

After their 6-5 victory over the Giants at Wrigley Field on May 9, in the opener of a 4-game series, the Cubs were in first place, by 1.5 games over New York, at 15-8 to 11-7.

But the Giants teed off against Cubs pitchers on Saturday and Sunday, winning by 9-4 and 9-7, to take the top spot away from the Cubs.

The barrage continued on Monday, May 12.

...

The Giants left 3 on base in the top of the first inning.

The Cubs stranded 3 in the bottom.

With 1 out in the second, New York solved Sheriff Blake for back-to-back singles, then a 3-run homer by Freddy Leach. Three more singles loaded the bases, after which a dropped popup and a fielder's choice tallied 3 more runs, making the score 6-0.

A 2-out, 2-run homer by Mel Ott knocked out Blake in the third.

Reliever Bill McAfee failed to record an out: error on a fly ball, wild pitch, run-scoring error on a grounder, RBI double, RBI single, 2-run homer.

By the time Bud Teachout came in to strike out Leach, the Giants led, 13-0.

The lead grew to 14-0 when pitcher Larry Benton singled home a run in the fifth.

..........

HOMERS GALORE

The Cubs got on the scoreboard with 2 out and nobody on in the bottom of the fifth, when Cliff Heathcote homered to deep right field.

Benton walked Hack Wilson to start the sixth, then walked Gabby Hartnett with 2 down. Clyde Beck followed with a homer to left-center. The Cubs still trailed by 10 runs, 4-14.

Teachout worked around a 2-out walk and wild pitch in the top of the seventh.

The 15,000 in the stands, many of whom had skipped school or work, were about to witness team history.

...

Here is how Irving Vaughan described what happened in the next day's Chicago Tribune:

"With a 3 and 0 count Heathcote leaned into a cripple and pulled it into the seats in right for his second round trip.

"[Kiki] Cuyler was thrown out, and Wilson then shot Benton's first pitch into the right center section of the open faced seats.

"[Charlie] Grimm did the same thing on the first ball throw to him.

"[Les] Bell flied out, and Hartnett reached second on [Shanty] Hogan's muff of a third strike and a bad throw to first.

"Then Beck slashed his second homer into the seats in left.

"[Joe] Heving relieved Benton and fanned Teachout to close the inning."

The Cubs had scored 5 runs on 4 home runs and an error. The homers had come in a span of 7 batters.

They would not hit 4 in an inning again for nearly 70 years.

..........

COMEBACK CONTINUES

The Cubs still were 5 runs behind against the Giants.

A double, a walk and a single by Cuyler cut the deficit to 4 with nobody out in the eighth. But Wilson grounded into a double play and Grimm grounded out, leaving the score at 10-14.

Bell singled to start the ninth and went to third on a double by Hartnett.

Beck struck out, then pinch hitter Riggs Stephenson delivered a single, scoring Beck: 11-14.

Woody English singled, driving home Hartnett: 12-14, with 1 out and runners on the corners.

The Giants brought Joe Genewich in to pitch to Heathcote, who could win the game by slugging his third homer.

Instead, he bounced into a game-ending 4-6-3 double play and the Cubs lost, despite tying their team record of 6 homers, set in 1895 and matched only once since, in 1923.

..........

REST OF SEASON

The Cubs went on to lose 9 of their next 13 games and drop to .500, at 19-19, 5 games out of first.

They still were 3.5 games behind on Aug. 6, then went on a 17-6 run that put them back on top, by 5.5 games.

Over the following 21 games, they went 7-14, never winning 2 in a row, to fall 3 games to the rear. They won their final 6 but still wound up second, 2 games behind.

Their final 4 wins came under a new manager, Rogers Hornsby. Joe McCarthy had been informed during the Cubs' final road series in Boston that he would not be rehired for 1931. McCarthy responded by going to his home in Albany rather than returning to Chicago for the remaining games.

While going 90-64, the Cubs scored 998 runs, still their most in the Modern Era.

But they gave up 870 runs, which would be their most until they allowed 920 in 1999. They surrendered 904 in 2000, the only other season in which they permitted more than the 870 in 1930.

The 1930 Cubs hit 171 home runs, shattering the team high of 142 that had stood since 1884. They would not surpass the 171 until 1958, when they hit 182. Their current record is 256, in 2019.

..........

ALMOST 12,000 GAMES

Between May 13, 1930 and April 26, 2000, the Cubs played 11,978 games.

They hit at least 4 homers in 188 of them.

They hit 3 homers in an inning in 38.

But they never hit 4 in an inning, until the last of 3 games at Houston on Thursday, April 27, 2000.

...

The Cubs had beaten the Mets in Tokyo on Opening Day, then lost the rematch there and their first 3 back in the United States. A 3-game sweep of the Braves in mid-April lifted their record to 5-6, then they lost 8 of 10 and limped into Houston at 7-14.

They lost the series opener, 7-11.

The next night, the Cubs broke open a 3-3 game by scoring 5, 1 and 4 runs in the seventh through ninth, and outlasted the Astros, 13-8.

The rubber game at Enron Field took place in the afternoon, yet 42,271 turned out.

..........

FIREPOWER IN FIRST

Eric Young Sr. had smacked a pair of doubles in each of the first 2 games.

He led off Game 3 by taking 2 balls from Jose Lima, then drilling a home run to deep left.

Ricky Gutierrez had homered with a man on as the second batter of Game 1.

This time, he slammed the first pitch he saw for a solo homer to left.

After Mark Grace ended a 10-pitch at bat by grounding out, Sammy Sosa singled and stole second.

Henry Rodriguez had whacked a 2-run homer in Game 1.

Now he did it again, sending a 2-1 pitch over the wall in right.

Shane Andrews had homered with 2 on in the ninth inning the previous night.

Lima got him to tap to the mound.

But Damon Buford followed with a drive to left-center on a 2-2 count, for the Cubs' record-tying fourth homer of the inning, in a span of just 7 batters, on 31 pitches.

...

The Cubs added a run in the third, then Rodriguez walloped a grand slam in the fourth and Grace drove home 2 runs with a 2-out double in the fifth.

Lima struck out Sosa to end that inning, then departed, having allowed 12 runs, all earned, on 13 hits, 6 of them homers, and 3 walks. He faced 31 batters and threw 122 pitches.

His game score was an appalling -4.

A trio of relievers held the Cubs to 1 hit the rest of the way, but it hardly mattered, as the Cubs coasted to a 12-3 victory.

Jon Lieber pitched a complete-game 5-hitter while walked none and striking out 7. Only 1 run was earned.

The outburst at Houston was one of the few highlights of a season. The Cubs' 65-97 record tied for the worst in the 16-team league and left them last in the Central Division, 30 games out first and 4 games out of fifth.

..........

PICKING UP THE PACE

After going nearly 70 years without homering 4 times in an inning, the Cubs did it a third time only 8 years later, then once more 9 years after that.

The Cubs were 29-21 and tied for first place after back-to-back, extra-inning, walk-off losses at Pittsburgh on May 24-25, 2008.

Then they won 9 in a row to take sole possession of first. Even after being swept at Tampa Bay on June 17-19, they led by 3.5 games.

They returned home to host the White Sox in a 3-game weekend series.

On Friday, Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez hit back-to-back homers to start the seventh, tying the score at 3.

Ramirez led off the ninth with another homer, to win the game, 4-3.

..........

2 TIMES 2

The Cubs fell behind again on Saturday, as Jason Marquis served up a 2-out, 2-run homer in the first and another in the fourth.

They trailed, 1-4, when Jim Edmonds led off the fourth by sending Jose Contreras' second pitch into the seats in left-center.

Mike Fontenot homered on the next pitch, to deep left.

Following a groundout, Ryan Theriot walked, went to second on a single by Marquis and tied the game on a single by Kosuke Fukudome.

A third and fourth consecutive single, by Eric Patterson and Derrek Lee, each tallied a run, making the score 6-4.

Aramis Ramirez then lined 2-2 pitch over the wall in left, making it 9-4 and knocking out Contreras.

Reliever Boone Logan got ahead of Edmonds with a strike, but Edmonds deposited the next pitch for the Cubs' fourth homer of the inning -- and second set of back-to-back blasts, the first begun by Edmonds and the second ended by him.

A fly ball and a strikeout finished the 9-run uprising that left the Cubs in front, 10-4. They ultimately won, 11-7.

...

A 7-1 victory on Sunday completed a series of sweep. The Sox swept the Cubs the next weekend.

The Cubs led by 5.5 games on July 12. Two weeks later, they tied for first after a 12-inning loss at home to the Marlins. They trailed, 0-5, the next day, but rallied to win, 9-6, sparking a 25-6 stretch, capped by 7 straight wins, that put them in first by 6.5 games.

They lost their next 6, then went on a 10-4 run that gave them a 10.5-game bulge. They wound up ahead by 7.5 games, at 97-64.

..........

4 TIMES 4

9 years passed before the most recent inning in which the Cubs hit 4 homers.

A profound World Series hangover left the Cubs 43-45 and 5.5 games out of first at the All-Star Game break.

They won 6 in a row after the break, 3 each at Baltimore and Atlanta, won 2 of 3 at home vs. the Cardinals, then took 3 of 4 vs. the White Sox, splitting at Wrigley and winning both on the South Side.

That put the Cubs on top by 1.5 games.

After a loss at Arizona on Aug. 12, they shared first place, at 60-55. A win the next day gave them a 1-game lead as they came home for 4 games against the Reds.

...

In Game 1, Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo hit back-to-back homers in a 5-run fourth inning that broke a 2-2 tie.

The Cubs tallied 6 more runs in the seventh, Javier Baez homered off position player Scooter Gennett in the eighth and the final score was 15-5.

The next night, the Cubs were shut out until the ninth, when 3 singles made the score 1-2. But the next batter struck out, as did pinch hitter Alex Avila, ending the game.

Anthony Rizzo hit a grand slam in the first inning of Game 3, but the Cubs needed a 2-out wild pitch in the ninth to earn a 7-6 victory.

.........

REDS RAMPAGE

The series finale was played in the afternoon, on Thursday, Aug. 17, in front of 38,675.

Jon Lester pitched a 1-2-3 first inning.

Then he gave up 4 straight singles to start the second. He recorded 2 outs, but walked the next batter, loading the bases.

A 2-run single, a 3-run homer, an error and an RBI double made the score 8-0 and sent Lester to the clubhouse.

A walk and a double off Mike Montgomery followed. The double knocked in a ninth run; a potential 10th was thrown out at the plate.

After a 2-out solo shot in the second by Ian Happ, the Cubs trailed, 1-9.

...

Kris Bryant took a ball from Scott Feldman leading off the fourth, then homered to left.

Rizzo doubled and Ben Zobrist lined out.

On a 2-2 pitch, Avila homered to deep left: 4-9

On an 0-1 count, Happ homered to deep center: 5-9

On the next pitch, Baez homered to deep left: 6-9

That was the fourth homer in 6 batters, on 17 pitches.

...

Kyle Schwarber led off with the fifth with a homer. Bryant was hit by a pitch, then doubles by Rizzo and Avila, separated by a groundout, tied the score at 9.

It remained tied until the seventh, when Justin Grimm served up a 2-run homer. The Cubs closed to within 10-11 on a sacrifice fly by Happ in the bottom of the inning, but came no closer.

The Reds tallied once in the eighth and once in the ninth, then held on to win, 13-10, and split the series.

So, of the 4 games in which the Cubs hit 4 homers in an inning, they won 2 and lost 2.

...

The Cubs bounced back to win 3 in a row at home vs. the Blue Jays, then the first 2 of a series at Cincinnati.

Their lead in the standings was shaved to 2 games on Aug. 27, then again on Sept. 10. Then they won 7 in a row, beginning a closing stretch of 15-4 that brought them the division title by 6 games.

..........

HOMERS IN SUBSEQUENT GAMES

The Cubs' next-to-last game of 2022 was their 750th since they homered 4 times in an inning against the Reds in 2017.

They had hit 6 total home runs, as they did that day, in 4 more games, most recently on April 17, 2021, at home vs. the Braves.

They have hit 5 homers in 6 games, and 4 homers in 19, including 3 in 2022: on May 20 vs. the Diamondbacks, June 30 vs. the Reds and July 22 at Philadelphia.

They have hit 3 homers in an inning 4 times: 3 in 2019 and again on April 5, 2021, at home vs. the Brewers.

That game was scoreless when Ian Happ walked to start the fourth. Willson Contreras then homered.

After 2 outs, Javier Baez and David Bote homered. But Jake Marisnick could not hit a fourth homer, striking out on a 2-2 pitch.

..........

FIRST 3-HOMER INNING

The Cubs have homered 3 times in an inning of 63 games since 1876.

They did not do it for more than half a century, until June 4, 1929, in the bottom of the fifth inning against the Giants.

Rogers Hornsby hit a 2-run homer with 1 out, Hack Wilson followed with a solo shot and, after a single, Charlie Grimm homered, too. The game had been tied at 4 before the inning began. The Cubs hung on to win, 10-9.

Just 24 days later, the Cubs did it again, as Wilson, pitcher Pat Malone and Hornsby teed off during a 7-run second inning in a 9-5 victory at St. Louis.

Their first 4-homer inning in 1930 was their only other inning with more than 2 homers until May of 1937.

...

The Cubs had a total of 7 innings with 3 or more homers through 1949, a span of 74 seasons.

They turned the trick 7 more times in just 6 seasons: 1950 (2), 1954 (1) and 1955 (4).

During the next 11 years, they did it just twice, in 1960 and 1964.

Then they did it it once each in 1967-69 and 3 times in 1970.

One 3-homer inning in 1973 and 2 in 1977 raised the total to 25 in 102 seasons.

The 24th and 25th came in the same game, on May 17, 1977 -- the only time the Cubs have managed that feat.

In a 23-6 shellacking of the visiting Padres, Larry Biitner (2-run), Steve Ontiveros (3-run) and Gene Clines (2-run) homered in an 8-run third inning. Then Biittner, Bobby Murcer and Jerry Morales homered consecutively to start the fifth. (The Cubs tallied 8 runs again in the sixth on 5 singles and a double.)

..........

MUCH MORE FREQUENT

After that historic game, the Cubs did not hit 3 homers in an inning for more than 7 years, until May 24, 1984.

That was the first of 37 times in the past 39 seasons, compared to 26 in the first 108.

On May 16, 1996, in a 13-1 win over the Astros, Sammy Sosa hit 2 homers in the bottom of the seventh, before and after 1 by Scott Servais.

Mark Bellhorn duplicated Sosa's accomplishment on Aug. 29, 2002, at Milwaukee -- in remarkable fashion. Bellhorn hit the first 2 homers in the fourth inning, a 2-run drive and a 3-run bomb that made the score 9-0. Bill Mueller then hit the third homer.

...

In 1998, the Cubs hit 3 homers in an inning in 2 games over 3 days at San Francisco. Sammy Sosa, Mark Grace and Henry Rodriguez homered in a row on Aug. 10. On the 12th, Rodriguez homered with 1 on. After a single, so did Servais. After a groundout, Jeff Blauser homered, too.

That was part of a streak of 11 straight seasons, 1996-2006, in which the Cubs hit 3 homers in an inning at least once. They did it 19 times.

...........

RECENT SEASONS

Between 2007 and 2014, they had only the 4-homer inning in 2008 and 3-homer innings in 2010 and 2001.

Then they had 3-homer innings in 2015 and 2016, the most recent 4-homer game in 2017 and the 3 innings with 3 homers in 2019.

Of their 63 total games with 3 or more homers, 23, more than one third, have come since 2000.

They also had exactly 23 such innings in the 18 seasons from 1989 through 2006, with the 40 other innings thus coming in 90 seasons.

FanPosts are written by readers of Bleed Cubbie Blue, and as such do not reflect the views of SB Nation or Vox Media, nor is the content endorsed by SB Nation, Vox Media or Al Yellon, managing editor of Bleed Cubbie Blue or reviewed prior to posting.