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Justin Maxwell and doubling twice after pinch-hitting

Posted by Andy on September 2, 2010

Justin Maxwell came in as a pinch-hitter in yesterday's crazy Marlins-Nationals game. He doubled in his first two at-bats, joining a pretty short list of players to come in as a PH and get 2 two-baggers in a game.

Here are all the guys to get at least 2 doubles in a game when entering as a pinch-hitter:

Rk Player Date Tm Opp Rslt PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO WPA aLI Pos. Summary
1 Justin Maxwell 2010-09-01 WSN FLA L 10-16 3 3 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 1 0.007 .060 PH CF
2 Ryan Spilborghs 2009-09-19 COL ARI W 10-4 2 2 1 2 2 0 0 2 0 0 0.198 1.765 PH RF
3 Gabe Gross 2009-07-11 TBR OAK L 2-7 2 2 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.105 .835 PH RF
4 Ty Wigginton 2009-05-21 BAL NYY L 4-7 2 2 0 2 2 0 0 2 0 0 0.077 .565 PH SS
5 Joseph Thurston 2009-04-08 STL PIT L 4-7 3 3 0 2 2 0 0 1 0 1 0.018 1.060 PH 2B
6 Wilson Betemit 2008-09-26 NYY BOS W 19-8 3 3 1 2 2 0 0 1 0 0 0.004 .020 PH 3B
7 Dave Roberts 2008-08-09 SFG LAD W 3-2 3 3 2 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.414 2.300 PH LF
8 Ross Gload 2007-09-30 KCR CLE L 2-4 2 2 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.134 1.100 PH LF 1B
9 Corey Hart 2007-08-18 MIL CIN W 8-4 2 2 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.034 .255 PH RF
10 Jeremy Brown 2006-10-01 OAK LAA W 11-10 4 4 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.080 .870 PH DH
11 Joe Borchard 2006-07-09 FLA NYM L 6-7 3 3 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 1 0.279 1.803 PH RF
12 Frank Catalanotto 2006-06-03 TOR TBD W 6-2 2 2 1 2 2 0 0 2 0 0 0.304 2.055 PH LF
13 D'Angelo Jimenez 2005-05-07 CIN LAD W 11-3 3 3 3 3 2 0 0 1 0 0 0.064 .433 PH 2B
14 Mark DeRosa 2003-07-11 ATL CHC W 9-5 4 4 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 1 0.017 .290 PH 2B
15 Desi Relaford 2003-07-02 KCR CLE W 8-2 5 5 2 3 2 0 0 2 0 0 0.089 .444 PH 3B
16 Gary Matthews 2003-04-09 BAL TBD L 7-10 4 4 1 2 2 0 0 2 0 0 0.175 1.200 PH DH
17 Ty Wigginton 2002-09-29 NYM ATL W 6-1 2 2 1 2 2 0 0 2 0 0 0.180 .805 PH 3B 1B
18 Adrian Brown 2002-09-17 PIT CIN W 11-3 3 2 1 2 2 0 0 2 1 0 0.061 .913 PH CF
19 Bobby Kielty 2002-06-04 MIN CLE W 23-2 2 2 2 2 2 0 0 2 0 0 0.000 .000 PH CF
20 Aaron Rowand 2002-04-15 CHW BAL W 13-4 2 2 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.001 .010 PH CF
21 Miguel Cairo 2001-09-28 STL PIT W 14-3 3 3 1 3 3 0 0 3 0 0 0.024 .113 PH SS LF
22 Armando Rios 2001-06-02 SFG COL L 5-7 2 2 0 2 2 0 0 2 0 0 0.342 2.530 PH RF
23 Eric Owens 2001-04-15 FLA MON W 6-3 2 2 0 2 2 0 0 1 0 0 0.048 .275 PH RF
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/2/2010.

It's happened more often than I would have guessed.

Note the WPA column near the end. Maxwell's contributions had almost no effect on the game because the Nationals were already way behind when he entered. The same is true for a number of other games here, including Bobby Kielty's 2002 game where he was rewarded with 0.000 WPA. Kielty entered in the 7th inning, pinch-hitting for Torii Hunter when the Twins were already ahead 14-2. Interestingly, Kielty got both of his doubles in that same 7th inning as the Twins batted around, posting a total of 10 runs in the frame. Alas, Kietly still got a WPA of zero because the Twins already had a 100% chance (probably actually more like 99.9%) of winning when the inning started.

Some other games here, though, notably Dave Roberts' 2008 game, were much more valuable. Roberts got .414 WPA thanks to hitting a leadoff double in the 6th when his team was down 1-0 (worth 0.11), a single leading off the 8th inning with the game tied (worth 0.06), and double leading off the 10th inning when his team was down 2-1 (worth .24).

Incidentally, Ty Wigginton, who appears on the above list twice, is the only player to have 2 such games since 1920.

Related posts:

    Pinch-hitting in each of the first 11 games of the season
    The 20 biggest post-season pinch-hitting appearances
    Doubling up on 1B, 2B, 3B
    Doubling up
    Oldest player to hit a pinch HR in the post-season

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 2nd, 2010 at 9:47 am and is filed under Game Finders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

6 Responses to “Justin Maxwell and doubling twice after pinch-hitting”

  1. Larry R. Says:
    September 2nd, 2010 at 10:10 am

    It never happened prior to 2001??

  2. Andy Says:
    September 2nd, 2010 at 10:13 am

    Heh no, my bad. That list above is since 2001. But Wigginton is the only guys to do it twice since 1920.

  3. Djibouti Says:
    September 2nd, 2010 at 10:16 am

    They played a baseball game yesterday? I thought it was a WWE event

  4. Noodle Says:
    September 2nd, 2010 at 10:21 am

    Who onlt 'two doubles' as opposed to two extra base hits after pinch hitting. I think M Cairo did it for the Yankees vs Red Sox in the 2004 (Jeter dives into the stands) game.

  5. Whiz Says:
    September 2nd, 2010 at 11:53 am

    21 players have had 3 XBH after subbing (not necessarily PH, it includes fielding subs that bat later on in the game); no one has done it twice and none have had 4 hits after subbing.

    The most recent was Cody Ransom on 2008-09-26 with a 2B and 2 HR. Art Shamsky had the best game with 3 HR on 1966-08-12.

  6. DoubleDiamond Says:
    September 2nd, 2010 at 9:09 pm

    I saw the Florida 16 Washington 10 score and wondered if the Redskins were playing an exhibition, I mean pre-season, game against a college team (which is not unheard of in baseball's training season). I also felt that the Redskins were quite capable of losing to a college team, too.

    I hope this marks the beginning of Justin Maxwell's career finally starting to happen. I've mentioned here before the relative shortage of major league players from the Washington, DC, area. I hope that the presence of the Nationals helps to bring more players along. Maxwell is from suburban Bethesda and played for the University of Maryland. He was drafted by the Nationals in their first year in DC, 2005.

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