HR by relief pitchers
Posted by Andy on August 18, 2009
Check out this fun list: most home runs hit in a game by a relief pitcher.
Cnt Player Date Tm Opp GmReslt PA AB R H 2B 3B **HR** RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS BOr Positions +----+-----------------+-------------+---+----+-------+--+--+--+--+--+--+------+---+--+---+--+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+---------+ 1 Dixie Howell 1957-06-16(2) CHW WSH W 8-6 3 3 2 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 2 Babe Birrer 1955-07-19 DET BAL W 12-4 2 2 2 2 0 0 2 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 3 Russ Ortiz 2009-05-19 HOU MIL L 2-4 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 4 Mark Worrell 2008-06-05(2) STL @WSN L 9-10 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8th P 5 Carlos Marmol 2006-09-07 CHC PIT L 5-7 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 6 Jorge Sosa 2006-07-17 ATL @STL W 15-3 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 7 Adam Wainwright 2006-05-24 STL @SFG W 10-4 2 2 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 8 Randy Keisler 2005-06-07 CIN TBD W 9-7 3 3 2 2 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 9 Brooks Kieschnick 2003-09-12 MIL @SFG L 2-8 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 10 Brooks Kieschnick 2003-08-06 MIL ATL L 2-10 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3rd P 11 Guillermo Mota 2003-07-13 LAD @COL W 9-3 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 12 Brooks Kieschnick 2003-05-12 MIL CHC L 5-11 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 13 Mike Matthews 2001-08-21 STL @CIN W 11-6 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 14 Omar Olivares 2001-06-29 PIT @MON L 3-12 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 15 Danny Graves 2001-06-21 CIN @HOU W 8-7 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 16 Felipe Lira 2000-07-08 MON TOR L 3-6 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 17 Gabe White 2000-06-10 COL TEX W 12-6 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 18 Keith Osik 2000-05-20 PIT STL L 4-19 2 1 1 1 0 0 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th 3B P 19 Danny Graves 2000-05-12 CIN @HOU W 7-3 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2nd P 20 Curt Leskanic 1999-06-09 COL SEA W 16-11 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 21 Guillermo Mota 1999-06-09 MON BOS W 13-1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2nd P 22 Felix Rodriguez 1999-04-10 SFG SDP L 1-11 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 23 Manuel Aybar 1998-09-20 STL @MIL W 11-6 3 3 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8th P 24 Bronswell Patrick 1998-08-01 MIL ARI L 4-5 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th P 25 Gregg Olson 1998-04-20 ARI FLA W 15-4 2 2 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2nd P
I've listed only the 23 most recent pitchers to hit 1 homer. View the full list since 1954 here.
Notes about these occurrences:
- The overwhelming majority of these cases happen when the starting pitcher left early due to either injury or ineffectiveness and the reliever in question engaged in a long relief effort. This is the most common circumstance where a relief pitcher gets a plate appearances, especially these days when relief pitchers practically never come to the plate.
- One obvious exception is Brooks Kieschnick who appears here a few times, as the Brewers were using him as both a pitcher and an outfielder (and occasionally as a DH too.) The bottom line is that when he appeared as a reliever and came up to bat, he was almost always allowed to hit---no sense in pinch-hitting for him as he was as good a hitter as most guys they had on the bench.
- Guillermo Mota appears twice.
- Mark Worrell's homer was pretty interesting. He came in long relief of an ineffective starter and hit a 3-run homer with the Cardinals down by 5 runs, bringing the score to 8-6. The Cardinals scored 3 more times later (after Worrell had left the game) to take the lead 9-8, but Elijah Dukes hit a 2-run homer in the bottom of the 10th inning to win the game.
August 18th, 2009 at 10:37 am
As a Detroit fan, I'm well familiar with the Babe Birrer game. 2 HR and 6 RBI...which represented his CAREER totals as well.
August 18th, 2009 at 11:37 am
FYI, Danny Graves' home run on 5/12/00 is the only extra-inning homer by a pitcher since Craig Lefferts' 12th-inning walk-off on 4/25/86. Graves' wasn't of much consequence, actually, since Pokey Reese had just hit a three-run shot. Made for an unlikely back-to-back combo, though!
August 18th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
It's interesting that both entries in the 2 home runs list are pre-DH-era American Leaguers.
Of the 23 listed with one home run, four came in interleague games, and in all instances, the homer was hit by a pitcher on the National League team. Maybe their extra exposure to hitting opportunities helped. The one National Leaguer whose name hits me as one with significant American League time is the last one listed, Gregg Olson, a former AL Rookie of the Year, in fact. Two of these interleague homers happened on the same day.
Looking at the list that goes back to 1954:
There were no other interleague occurrences either in 1997 or earlier in 1998.
The last pitcher to do this in an AL vs. AL game was Lindy McDaniel on 9/28/1972, a few days before the end of the last pre-DH season.
I thought I recalled Omar Olivares' homer on 7/24/1995 coming as a pinch hitter rather than as a pitcher. In fact, this turns out to be one of those rare occurrences in which a pitcher pinch hits for another pitcher and then stays in the game to pitch. Thus, officially, he got this homer as a pinch hitter, not as a pitcher. He got another plate appearance later in the game and struck out, according to the game log. The pitcher's spot came up once again while he was still in the game, but then he got pinch hit for.
August 18th, 2009 at 10:44 pm
Danny Graves’ home run on 5/12/00 is also the only extra-inning homer by a ballplayer born in Vietnam.