Cardinals minor leaguer Chandler Redmond accomplished the rarest of baseball feats on Wednesday night.
The Double A second baseman hit for the home run cycle, clubbing a solo shot, a two-run homer, a three-run homer and a grand slam in the same game. The 25-year old Redmond tallied 11 RBIs while going 5-for-6 as the Springfield Cardinals romped past the Amarillo Sod Poodles 21–4 in a Texas League game.
The home run cycle has been accomplished only once before in the history of organized professional baseball, also in the Texas League. Tyrone Horne of the Arkansas Travelers was the first to do so in a 1998 game at San Antonio. Coincidentally, the Travelers were a Cardinals affiliate at that time.
No MLB player has ever hit for the home run cycle, although 18 players have hit four home runs in a single major league game. J.D. Martinez was the most recent to do so, in 2017 as a member of the Diamondbacks.
“I just went up there trying to see something up in the zone,” Redmond told MLB.com. “I stayed away from anything low that I could ultimately drive into the ground. My focus was to get something up that I could get underneath and lift it, and potentially hit it out.”
It should be noted that Hodgetown in Amarillo is definitely a hitter’s ballpark. It sits at approximately 3,600 feet above sea level, and the warm Texas weather provides added distance on fly balls. Earlier this season, Sod Poodles first baseman Leandro Cedeno unleashed a mammoth 527-foot homer at the stadium.
Redmond, in his third pro season, played his college ball at Gardner-Webb. He’s hitting .242/.325/.488 with 17 homers and 61 RBIs in 73 games this season.
