Pitchers Swinging The Lumber

Chris Carpenter had himself some kind of afternoon. In his final tune-up for the postseason, he threw five shutout innings at the Reds, allowing just four base runners and striking out six batters in the process. But that’s not all that unusual for Carpenter, whose dominance is one of the main reasons the Cardinals are going to the playoffs.

It is Carpenter’s bat that got him noticed today. In the first inning, he came up with the bases loaded and deposited a Kip Wells pitch into the seats for a grand slam home run that put his team up 5-0. Then, in the fifth inning, he came up with runners at first and second and doubled them both in, giving himself six RBI on the day.

Carp became the seventh pitcher since 1954 to drive in six runners in a game. The other notable big hitting pitcher games?

Tony Cloninger, July 3rd, 1966. 3-5, 2 HR, 9 RBI.
Robert Person, June 2nd, 2002. 2-3, 2 HR, 7 RBI.
Micah Owings, August 18th, 2007. 4-5, 2 HR, 6 RBI.
Blue Moon Odom, May 4th, 1969. 3-3, 2B, HR, 6 RBI.
Dave Giusti, August 21st, 1966. 2-4, 2 2B, 6 RBI.
Babe Birrer, July 19th, 1955. 2-2, 2 HR, 6 RBI.

Cloninger’s game is easily the most impressive, as both of his home runs were grand slams, and he threw a complete game to boot. Talk about winning a game by yourself.

Perhaps the most amazing performance belongs to Birrer, however. He came into the game as a relief pitcher, and worked four innings. When he went to the ballpark, he was not scheduled to play. He went home having pitched four shutout innings and launching a pair of home runs. He only recorded one other hit in his major league career.