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4 extra-base hits in a postseason game

Posted by John Autin on October 10, 2011

In game 2 of the NLCS, Albert Pujols went 4-5 with a HR and three 2Bs, driving in the first 4 runs in the Cards' series-tying rout (and 5 RBI total).

He tied the record of 4 extra-base hits in a postseason game, done thrice previously:

Rk Player Date Series Gm# Tm Opp Rslt PA AB R H 2B 3B HR XBH RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS WPA RE24 aLI BOP Pos. Summary
1 Hideki Matsui 2004-10-16 ALCS 3 NYY BOS W 19-8 6 6 5 5 2 0 2 4 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.265 5.338 .673 4 LF
2 Bob Robertson 1971-10-03 NLCS 2 PIT SFG W 9-4 5 5 4 4 1 0 3 4 5 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.254 4.736 .716 5 1B
3 Frank Isbell 1906-10-13 WS 5 CHW CHC W 8-6 5 5 3 4 4 0 0 4 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.372 3.410 1.034 3 2B
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 10/10/2011.

Pujols also became the 6th player with 2 postseason games of 3+ extra-base hits (and the only one to do that in one season):

Rk Player #Matching PA AB H 2B 3B HR XBH RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS SH SF IBB HBP GDP
1 Duke Snider 2 Ind. Games 8 8 6 3 0 3 6 6 0 0 .750 .750 2.250 3.000 0 0 0 0 0
2 Babe Ruth 2 Ind. Games 10 8 6 0 0 6 6 7 2 0 .750 .800 3.000 3.800 0 0 0 0 1
3 Alex Rodriguez 2 Ind. Games 11 10 7 4 0 2 6 5 1 1 .700 .727 1.700 2.427 0 0 0 0 0
4 Evan Longoria 2 Ind. Games 9 9 6 4 0 2 6 5 0 0 .667 .667 1.778 2.444 0 0 0 0 0
5 George Brett 2 Ind. Games 9 9 7 1 0 5 6 6 0 0 .778 .778 2.556 3.333 0 0 0 0 0
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 10/10/2011.

In his other 5 postseason games this year, Pujols has no XBH.

The outburst pushed his career postseason marks to .333 BA and .596 SLG. The BA is tied for 9th among hitters with at least 100 postseason ABs; here's the top 20 before tonight:

Rk Player PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA ▾ OBP SLG OPS SH SF IBB HBP GDP
1 Paul Molitor Ind. Games 132 117 43 5 3 6 22 12 15 .368 .435 .615 1.050 1 0 1 2 2
2 Lou Gehrig Ind. Games 150 119 43 8 3 10 35 26 17 .361 .477 .731 1.208 1 2 2 2 1
3 Thurman Munson Ind. Games 135 129 46 9 0 3 22 5 19 .357 .378 .496 .874 0 1 1 0 4
4 Babe Ruth Ind. Games 155 118 41 5 1 15 30 33 26 .347 .494 .788 1.282 1 1 2 2 3
5 Darin Erstad Ind. Games 127 118 40 9 0 3 12 5 17 .339 .368 .492 .860 2 1 0 1 3
6 Steve Garvey Ind. Games 232 222 75 8 3 11 31 8 32 .338 .361 .550 .910 2 0 4 0 4
7 George Brett Ind. Games 184 166 56 8 5 10 23 17 20 .337 .397 .627 1.023 0 1 6 0 4
8 Cal Ripken Ind. Games 124 110 37 10 0 1 8 12 22 .336 .411 .455 .866 0 0 0 2 1
9 Will Clark Ind. Games 132 117 39 8 1 5 16 13 19 .333 .409 .547 .956 0 0 3 2 2
10 Tony Fernandez Ind. Games 168 150 49 11 0 1 23 10 16 .327 .367 .420 .787 2 4 3 2 4
11 Harold Baines Ind. Games 113 102 33 4 0 5 16 9 12 .324 .378 .510 .888 2 0 4 0 5
12 Albert Pujols Ind. Games 265 223 72 13 1 13 37 38 33 .323 .426 .565 .991 0 1 13 3 6
13 Pete Rose Ind. Games 301 268 86 13 2 5 22 28 22 .321 .388 .440 .828 1 1 7 2 3
14 Nomar Garciaparra Ind. Games 127 112 36 7 1 7 24 12 18 .321 .386 .589 .975 0 2 4 1 3
15 Lenny Dykstra Ind. Games 134 112 36 6 1 10 19 18 23 .321 .424 .661 1.085 2 0 3 2 0
16 Roberto Clemente Ind. Games 113 107 34 3 1 3 14 6 21 .318 .354 .449 .803 0 0 2 0 1
17 Marquis Grissom Ind. Games 231 218 69 7 3 5 20 12 42 .317 .355 .445 .800 0 0 0 1 2
18 Pat Borders Ind. Games 119 111 35 5 0 2 13 5 10 .315 .339 .414 .753 1 2 1 0 3
19 Roberto Alomar Ind. Games 263 230 72 17 1 4 33 27 32 .313 .381 .448 .829 3 3 3 0 9
20 Hideki Matsui Ind. Games 235 205 64 15 1 10 39 27 33 .312 .391 .541 .933 0 2 2 1 5
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 10/10/2011.

Finally, Pujols is now the 8th player with an OPS of 1.000 or higher in at least 100 postseason PAs, joining Babe Ruth (1.282), Lou Gehrig (1.208), Lenny Dykstra (1.085), Paul Molitor (1.050), Hank Greenberg (1.044), George Brett (1.023) and Jay Buhner (1.021).

Yep -- he's still got it.

Related posts:

    Games of Wed., June 8: A.J.’s Crash’n’Burn; Bautista’s Slump; More Extra-Base Hits than Runs?
    Less than 5% of PAs are extra-base hits
    Winning with no extra-base hits
    Most plate appearances with no extra-base hits
    Most extra-base hits in a season with no singles

This entry was posted on Monday, October 10th, 2011 at 11:10 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

28 Responses to “4 extra-base hits in a postseason game”

  1. BCC Says:
    October 10th, 2011 at 11:29 pm

    Jay Buhner. Of course. Alas, no WS at bats for him.

    It looks like Mr. October was actually Mr. Late October; Reggie's WS numbers are great (OPS 1.212), but his ALCS numbers are weak (.679 OPS).

  2. NLCS Game 2: Pujols strikes back with big night, Cards even series | LiveFlashScore Says:
    October 10th, 2011 at 11:55 pm

    [...] of his career, going 4 for 5 with a home run and three doubles — tying a major league record for most extra-base hits in a playoff game. Via @ESPNStatsandInfo, Pujols is the first player in major league history to have two games with [...]

  3. Journeyman Says:
    October 10th, 2011 at 11:59 pm

    Does anyone know which players currently hold the record for most total bases in a single game for an LCS (AL & NL)? Or where I can find that list?

  4. jake Says:
    October 11th, 2011 at 12:02 am

    Wrong spot to post, I know. But I was curious whether anyone noticed that all four LDS series finished with the losing team scoring more runs than the winning team. That has to be rare.

  5. Johnny Twisto Says:
    October 11th, 2011 at 12:47 am

    Journeyman: http://bbref.com/pi/shareit/tX8Yt

  6. Doug Says:
    October 11th, 2011 at 1:16 am

    In Ruth's 2 games of 3 XBHs, all of them were homers. In Brett's 2 games of 3 XBHs, 5 of the hits were homers.

    Matsui's 4 XBHs came in a 5-hit game, one of only 7 such games in the post-season. These are the others:
    - Carl Crawford 2008-10-14 ALCS 4 TBR BOS W 13-4
    - Derek Jeter 2006-10-03 ALDS 1 NYY DET W 8-4
    - Mike Stanley 1999-10-10 ALDS 4 BOS CLE W 23-7
    - Marquis Grissom 1995-10-07 NLDS 4 ATL COL W 10-4
    - Paul Molitor 1982-10-12 WS 1 MIL STL W 10-0
    - Paul Blair 1969-10-06 ALCS 3 BAL MIN W 11-2

  7. Nick C. Says:
    October 11th, 2011 at 1:25 am

    #3....I'm guessing it's Bob Robertson who had 14 total bases in his big NLCS game while Matsui had 13 total bases in his big ALCS game.

  8. Doug Says:
    October 11th, 2011 at 1:37 am

    The Matsui game (game 3 of the 2004 ALCS) and the Mike Stanley game mentioned @6 (game 4 of the BOS-CLE 1999 ALDS) have the following in common:
    - both involved the Red Sox
    - are the two highest run totals for one team in a post-season game
    - winning team had one player with 5 hits, two players with 3 XBHs, and four players with 2 XBHs, all post-season records

    http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS199910100.shtml
    http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS200410160.shtml

  9. Doug Says:
    October 11th, 2011 at 1:45 am

    @3, @7.

    Bob Robertson is correct for most total bases in any post-season game. Adrian Beltre's 3 homers against the Rays in the LDS cracks the top 5 in post-season total bases (all of the 12 total base games are 3-homer games).
    - Bob Robertson 14 1971-10-03 NLCS 2 PIT SFG W 9-4
    - Hideki Matsui 13 2004-10-16 ALCS 3 NYY BOS W 19-8
    - Adam Kennedy 13 2002-10-13 ALCS 5 ANA MIN W 13-5
    - Adrian Beltre 12 2011-10-04 ALDS 4 TEX TBR W 4-3
    - George Brett 12 1978-10-06 ALCS 3 KCR NYY L 5-6
    - Reggie Jackson 12 1977-10-18 WS 6 NYY LAD W 8-4
    - Babe Ruth 12 1928-10-09 WS 4 NYY STL W 7-3
    - Babe Ruth 12 1926-10-06 WS 4 NYY STL W 10-5

  10. The Original Jimbo Says:
    October 11th, 2011 at 2:23 am

    So the top 3 in career post season OPS>

    Ruth
    Gehrig
    Dykstra

    Sick numbers for Dykstra.

  11. Daniel Longmire Says:
    October 11th, 2011 at 2:27 am

    @4 - Jake, I noticed this too, and sent Andy an e-mail about it last night. It has to be rare or even unprecedented, right?

  12. The Original Jimbo Says:
    October 11th, 2011 at 5:56 am

    If you used 100 PA's instead of 100 AB's, Carlos Beltran has been a post season beast, 2nd in BA with .366 and 1st in OPS at 1.302.

  13. Jacob Says:
    October 11th, 2011 at 6:07 am

    @ 10: Dykstra is one sick dude.

  14. Pageup Says:
    October 11th, 2011 at 8:12 am

    I was wondering where Brock was, but he only has 92 PAs, all in the WSs

  15. John Says:
    October 11th, 2011 at 8:58 am

    You guys getting fatigued or something?

    Where's my list of extra-inning walkoff grand slams in postseason history?

  16. w.k.kortas Says:
    October 11th, 2011 at 9:34 am

    Bob Robertson, the position-player Steve Blass.

  17. Larry R. Says:
    October 11th, 2011 at 9:34 am

    @15

    Here you go, JA. Nelson Cruz.

  18. Tim L Says:
    October 11th, 2011 at 9:58 am

    You used the word "thrice."

    Conan O'Brien salutes you.
    http://teamcoco.com/content/campaign-make-thrice-cool-word

  19. John Says:
    October 11th, 2011 at 9:58 am

    (I'm honored, but I'm not JA. Different John.)

  20. Chris A. Says:
    October 11th, 2011 at 10:28 am

    That third chart helps explain how the Blue Jays own their two World Series. Molitor, Fernandez, Borders, and Alomar. I miss those days.

  21. John Autin Says:
    October 11th, 2011 at 11:51 am

    @12, T.O. Jimbo -- That's a good point about Beltran, and actually, I did think I had used 100 PAs (not ABs) as the threshold for the OPS list. I'll have to check what went wrong there.

  22. jason Says:
    October 11th, 2011 at 1:13 pm

    if only pujols could have done this the last day of the season lol

  23. jake Says:
    October 11th, 2011 at 1:46 pm

    @11 Did a quick check and found it has never happened before in the LDS. I am not sure if we have ever even had 2 or 3 losing teams outscore their opponent. (I didn't have time to look up every series).

  24. shaqfearsyao Says:
    October 11th, 2011 at 6:00 pm

    darin erstad? didn't know he was that good in the postseason considering he had one big year(steroids?).

  25. Harlock Says:
    October 11th, 2011 at 7:31 pm

    Umm...something definitely went wrong with your selection criteria for post-season 1.000+ OPS. While Bone did, in fact, have an OPS of 1.021 in the post-season, he did it on 98 PA (85 AB).

  26. John Autin Says:
    October 11th, 2011 at 8:43 pm

    @25, Harlock -- Thanks for the correction on Buhner's 98 PAs. I know how the process went wrong; no point boring anyone with all the details, but it comes down to the fact that compiling the postseason leaders list using a targeted threshold of PAs took more manual intervention and attention to detail than I was able to pull off while rushing to get the post up. (Translation: I goofed.)

    P.S. Who else thinks that B-R's minimum of 40 PAs to make the career postseason rate leaders is a little too low? That's about 10 games, or two series. That might be a reasonable standard for World Series leaders, but with 3 postseason rounds now, it doesn't seem quite right that a player can qualify for a career leaderboard in just one season.

  27. Journeyman Says:
    October 11th, 2011 at 8:44 pm

    @5 Johnny Twisto, @7 Nick C, & @9 Doug

    Thx!! Great info!

  28. Daniel Longmire Says:
    October 12th, 2011 at 1:39 pm

    @23: Very interesting stuff. Thanks for the research!

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