Francisco Lindor Just Did Something Very Rare

Issue #106

Yesterday the Mets beat the Diamondbacks 9-0. Carlos Carrasco pitched his best game of the year thus far, going 8 IP while allowing only 3 hits. The opposing starter, Ryne Nelson, had a bad night letting up 9 hits and 7 ER in 3 IP. Pete Alonso hit his 26th HR and Francisco Alvarez hit his 16th HR.

But the biggest performance came from SS Francisco Lindor, who otherwise is having a down year offensively. Lindor did something that has only been done six other times in the history of major league baseball:

• 5+ Hits

• 1+ HR

• 2+ Triples

Here are the other six players who have accomplished this rare feat:

Dmitri Young - On May 6, 2003, while playing DH for the Tigers, Young had a big game against the Orioles. The Tigers barely won the game 7-6, but Young went 5-5, with two HR, two triples, and a single, scoring just twice, but getting five RBIs.

Overall Young played 13 seasons for the Cardinals, Reds, Tigers, and Nationals, from 1996-2008. That game in 2003 was one part of his best season in which he hit 29 HR with 85 RBI, and had a .297/.372/.537 slash line and 144 OPS+. A two-time All-Star, Young played a mix of 1B, OF, and DH, and ended his career with 171 HR, a .292/.351/.475 slash line, and 114 OPS+.

Willie Mays - On May 13, 1958, Mays' Giants played the Dodgers and won the high-scoring game 16-9, with Mays hitting two HR, two triples, a single, and walking once. Mays had four RBIs and scored four runs, while also stealing a base and getting caught stealing once. The Giants that day banged out 26 hits, with four players contributing four hits each: Orlando Cepeda, Bob Schmidt, Danny O'Connell, and Daryl Spencer (who had two HR, a triple, and a double). The Dodgers used five pitchers that day, with Don Newcombe starting but lasting only 2.1 IP, and then a young Sandy Koufax was one of the relievers.

Hoot Evers - On September 7, 1950, LF Hoot Evers of the Tigers had a big day against the Indians. This game was a battle between top clubs, as the Tigers were 82-48 and the Indians were 80-54. The game went into extras, but ended in a 13-13 tie after 10 innings. Evers went 5-6 and was the only player on this list to hit for the cycle, hitting one HR, two triples, a double, and a single. He scored three runs and had six RBIs. The starting pitcher for the Indians? Hall of Famer Bob Feller, who interestingly hit a HR himself as part of a 7-run first inning, but then gave up 4 ER in just one-third of an inning and was taken out.

Evers had a long career, starting with a couple years in the minors, but then missing three full years because of military service in WWII. When he returned he played in the majors from 1946-56, mostly for the Tigers, but also had short stints with the Red Sox, Indians, Orioles, and Giants. Playing mostly CF and LF, he was an All-Star in 1948 and 1950, the two seasons he had 100+ RBI. Overall he hit 98 HR, with a .278/.353/.426 slash line and 107 OPS+.

Rogers Hornsby - On June 28, 1916, the future Hall of Famer Hornsby, in his first full season, playing 3B and batting fifth, had a huge game for the Cardinals against the Reds. He went 5-5 with one HR, two triples, and two singles. He only scored two runs with two RBIs, but his Cardinals won the game 9-6.

Cy Seymour - On April 20, 1907, CF Cy Seymour of the Giants had a great game helping them win 13-2 against the Boston Doves (the franchise that is today the Atlanta Braves). He went 5-6 with one HR, two triples, and two singles. He added a stolen base, scored two runs, and drove in six. He and his teammates backed Hall of Famer Joe McGinnity who pitched a complete game, allowing only fives hits and two earned runs.

Seymour had an interesting career in that he started out primarily as a pitcher for the Giants from 1896-1900. He had some success, leading the NL in strikeouts twice, but was also wild and led the league in walks three times. A capable hitter, he switched to the outfield and played for Baltimore and Cincinnati before returning the Giants during the 1906 season. His best statistics came the year before when for the Reds he led the NL with 219 hits, 40 doubles, 21 triples, 121 RBI, a .377 average, .559 SLG, and 181 OPS+. Overall for his career he had a 61-56 record as a pitcher with a 3.73 ERA and 102 ERA+, and as a batter had 1,724 hits, 229 doubles, 96 triples, 52 HR, 222 SB, a .303/.347/.405 slash line and 118 OPS+.

Harry Davis - On July 10, 1901, 1B Harry Davis and the Philadelphia Athletics beat the Boston Americans (Red Sox) by a score of 13-6. Davis went 5-6 with one HR, two triples, and two singles, while also stealing a base, scoring four runs, and driving in three. Davis batted second that day, and right behind him was Lave Cross who also went 5-6, with one double and four singles.

Davis had a long career, starting in 1895 with the New York Giants, then playing for Pittsburgh, Louisville, and Washington before spending his best seasons for the Athletics from 1901-1911. He was a player-manager for the Cleveland Naps in 1912, and then returned to the Athletics from 1913-1917 as a coach and occassional player, though he only accumulated 33 more plate appearances during those final five seasons. He was a solid hitter during his prime, leading the AL in doubles three times, RBIs twice, and HR four times in a row with totals of 10, 8, 12, and 8 from 1904-1907. Over his career he had 1,841 hits, 361 doubles, 145 triples, 75 HR, 285 SB, a .277/.335/.408 slash line and 119 OPS+.

Given that it was twenty years between Young and Lindor posting a game with 5 hits, two triples, and at least one homer, I wonder how long it will be before we see that stat line again?

All data is from Baseball-Reference.com, and also their subscription service Stathead.com. If you are a big sports fan, be sure to check out the latest features at Stathead and the Sports Reference family of sites.

Did you know? I wrote a book with the same title as this Substack newsletter / blog: Now Taking the Field: Baseball’s All-Time Dream Teams for All 30 Franchises. It was published in early 2019, by ACTA Sports, the publisher of the annual Bill James Handbook and other popular titles. You can learn more about it at www.NowTakingTheField.com, or buy directly at Amazon and other booksellers.