The Cycle of Life
Cardinals prospect hits for home run cycle, a feat so rare we didn't even know it was a thing
Nobody on the face of God’s beautiful green earth was hotter than Springfield Cardinals slugger Chandler Redmond on Wednesday night. The St. Louis Cardinals’ double-A prospect tore into the Amarillo Sod Poodles’ pitching staff like a rack of ribs, clubbing four home runs in four straight innings. But this was no ordinary four-homer game, if there is such thing as an ordinary four-homer game. Redmond’s four-course prix fixe included a solo jack, a two-run homer, a three-run bomb, and a grand slam, good for one of the rarest feats baseball you’ve never heard of:
The home run cycle.
Wild, wild stuff. But how wild exactly? Well, according to MLB scribes, only one other player has ever hit for the home run cycle. That was Tyrone Horne, who accomplished the feat on July 27th, 1998 (coincidentally enough for another Cardinals Double-A affiliate, the Arkansas Travelers). In the modern era, it has never happened at the MLB level.
Redmond’s history-making homer-fest was part of a record-setting performance for Springfield as a club, scoring 21 runs, the most in team history, on 21 hits, eight of which left the park, also a record. Redmond's 11 RBIs also set a single-game franchise benchmark. All in all, not a bad night at the office.