Seattle Mariners Double-A infielder Hogan Windish had what nearly amounts to a perfect game as a batter on Tuesday night for the Arkansas Travelers. He went 4 for 4 against the Springfield Cardinals, the Double-A affiliate of St. Louis, homering four times and walking once while driving in nine runs as part of a 9-4 victory. (You can check out the full box score by clicking here.)
Windish hit a grand slam in the third inning to kick off his personal home run derby. He added a two-run shot in the fifth, and then another two-run shot in the seventh. Windish would put a bow on his night by launching one last home run, a solo blast, in the ninth inning. In other words, he fell a single baserunner short of hitting for the proverbial "home-run cycle." Take a look at his final homer on the evening:
MAKE IT A FOUR-HOMER NIGHT ‼️
— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) June 26, 2024
4-for-4, 4 homers, 9 RBIs for Hogan Windish 😲@ARTravs | @MsPlayerDev | @Mariners pic.twitter.com/n6UpDFE35f
The MLB record for most home runs in a single game is four, a mark that has been accomplished on 16 separate occasions, including most recently by J.D. Martinez in 2017. The all-time professional record is eight, established by Jay Clarke in 1902. (Though, as SABR notes, that mark is highly disputed.) According to SABR, five players have homered five times in a game: Pete Schneider (1923), Lou Frierson (1934), Cecil Dunn (1936), Dick Lane (1948), and Parker DePasquale (2023), who did so last year as part of the Frontier League.
It's fair to write that Windish was an unlikely candidate to have such an evening. The 25-year-old was originally a seventh-round pick by the Mariners in 2022 by way of UNC Greensboro. He entered Tuesday night having hit .205/.326/.315 this season with three home runs and 19 runs batted in over the course of his first 58 games. For his career, he had hit .263/.370/.451 with 27 home runs in 196 professional contests.
Nevertheless, Windish can now boast having one of the best offensive games possible.
