May 10, 2022

By Neil Munro

Canadian Baseball Network

On Monday night, Mississauga, Ont., native Josh Naylor had the performance of his life, as he produced one of the most outstanding batting exploits in the history of the game.

Many players have had more home runs and RBIs in a game, but perhaps none in such dramatic fashion. Naylor’s output ties him with four other Canadian-born batters who registered eight RBIs in a major league game.

The full details of the other Canadian batters producing eight RBIs, and also those who had a three-run home run and a grand slam in the same game, are given below. However, none of them produced their impressive outputs in such clutch situations.

The Guardians were down by an 8-2 score in this contest against the Chicago White Sox going into the ninth inning. They had closed the gap to 8-4 on an Andres Gimenez home run and a Chicago fielding miscue when Naylor came to bat with the bases loaded and two outs. Facing Liam Hendriks, one of the best closers in the game, Naylor smacked the first pitch (a 99 mph fastball) into the right field stands to tie the game. The ball clubs traded runs in the 10th inning, when each team started with a runner on second in the extra-inning contest.

Naylor was up again in the 11th inning with the game on the line once more. The Guardians had two men on base, but with two outs, they were down to their last gasp. White Sox manager, Tony La Russa, admitted after the game that he contemplated walking Naylor to load the bases, but he elected to have Ryan Burr face the Canadian. Naylor made him regret that decision by pounding his second homer over the right field wall. In the bottom of the inning, Cleveland’s Trevor Stephan sent down three straight opposing batters to ensure the victory.

Naylor also had a run-scoring double in eighth inning to secure his place in the Canadian batting record book. With so many betting sites covering every possible situation these days, Baseball Savant had given Cleveland a 0.2% chance of winning the game entering the ninth inning.

Interestingly, Naylor couldn’t remember if he had ever hit a grand slam even in his amateur career. It also made Naylor the only player with at least eight RBIs from the eighth inning on in a single game, since RBIs became official stat in 1920, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Besides that statistical feat in baseball history, Naylor also managed even more instances of note:

-He is the first in MLB history to club two homers that drove in three or more runs in the ninth inning or later in the same game.

-Naylor became only the third player in Cleveland history (after Willie Kirkland and Earl Averill) to hit two homers in the ninth inning or later

Here are the details of the other Canadian 8-RBI games:

George Selkirk New York (AL) – August 10, 1935 vs Philadelphia A’s

Going 3-for-5 in the game, Selkirk (Huntsville, Ont.) had a grand slam in third inning, an RBI single in the fourth and then a three-run homer in the eighth inning in the 18-7 victory. He also had a home run in the first game of this doubleheader.

George Selkirk New York (AL) – August 12, 1938 vs Philadelphia A’s

In a 3-for-6 outing, Selkirk had a three-run home run in the fourth inning, a sacrifice fly in the fifth and a grand slam in the seventh inning in the 16-3 victory. The run-scoring sacrifice fly did not become an official statistic until the 1954 season, but batters were credited with the RBI before that time. This was the first game of a doubleheader and he also had a base hit and two walks in the second game.

Larry Walker Colorado (NL) – April 28, 1999 vs St. Louis

Walker (Maple Ridge, B.C.) was 4-for-5 in his eight-RBI game, hitting a three-run home run in the first inning, a three-run home run in the second inning and a two-run home run in the seventh inning. He also had a single in the 9-7 victory.

Jason Bay Pittsburgh (NL) – September 19, 2003 vs Chicago

Bay (Trail, B.C.) went 4-for-5 in the game with a two-run double in the third inning, a two-run double in the fifth, a two-run home run in the seventh and another two-run double in the eighth inning in the 13-2 victory

Jason Bay Pittsburgh (NL) – July 2, 2004 vs Milwaukee

In his second eight-RBI game, Bay went 3-for-4 in the game. He had a grand slam in the second inning, a two-run home run in the fourth inning and a two-run double in the fifth inning in the 10-9 loss.

Michael Saunders Toronto (AL) vs Baltimore (AL) – June 17, 2016

Saunders (Victoria, B.C.) went 3-for-5 in the game with a three-run home run in the first inning, a three-run home run in the fourth and a two-run homer in the sixth inning in the 13-3 victory. Saunders came to bat in the eighth inning with the bases loaded but unfortunately grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Canadian batters with a Grand Slam HR and a Three-Run HR in the Same Game

In addition to George Selkirk’s two games, which featured him belting a three-run shot and a grand slam (with the details given above), and Josh Naylor’s game last night, Justin Morneau (New Westminster, B.C.) also turned the trick.

Justin Morneau Minnesota (AL) – July 20, 2009 vs Oakland

Morneau socked his grand slam in the second inning and his three-run home run in the third inning for seven RBIs in the game. He also had a double in the game, which ended in a 14-13 loss for the Twins.

Two other Canadian batters have driven in seven runs in a game (besides Morneau’s outburst in 2009) since the 1920 season. They are:

-Jeff Heath (Fort William, Ont.) on August 27, 1941 with Cleveland (AL) vs Philadelphia (AL)

-Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Montreal, Que.) on April 27, 2021 with Toronto (AL) vs Washington (NL)

Game logs are not available for the years of major league baseball before 1901, but it is worth noting that Tip O’Neill (Woodstock, Ont.) had two home runs in a 28-11 victory for the St. Louis Browns against the Cleveland Blues (of the American Association) in 1887. It may well be that O’Neill actually had the most RBIs by any Canadian batter in that contest.

Several other Canadian batters have had seasons with 100 or more RBI in the 19th century, and since games in that period often featured very high totals for runs scored, there may be several other Canadian players with impressive single-game RBI performances that remain to be discovered.