Former Brewers second baseman Scooter Gennett ate a full bowl of Wheaties, picked out a big boy bat and then did some real good work Tuesday night, amazingly making Major League Baseball history with an astonishing offensive performance for the ages in the Cincinnati Reds’ 13-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.
And now the name "Scooter" is in the MLB record books.
Gennett became the first player ever to produce five hits, four home runs and 10 RBI, according to Elias Sports Bureau. He becomes just the 17th player all-time to belt four homers in a game, and the first to do it with the five hits and 10 RBI.
With a 5-for-5, 4-homer, 10-RBI night, Scooter Gennett has a legit claim to putting up the single best offensive game in baseball history. — Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) June 7, 2017
It’s all the more impressive given that Gennett entered the game with only three dingers this season, and 38 for his career. He’s not exactly a power hitter.
"It feels pretty cool; it’s something that I never thought I would do. Even three home runs would be pretty crazy for me, so obviously it was a good night," Gennett said after the game. "I made a few adjustments, not so much with my stance but just more trying to relax, and I think I was able to swing at better pitches, and the end result was pretty good. So I’ve just got to stay there.
"But overall it was a great day."
Gennett, 27, spent his first four years in Milwaukee, where he made Bernie Brewer slide 35 times in 456 games and was a fan favorite for his scrappy play and likable personality – not to mention the eminently chant-able name. He was a surprise cut late in the 2017 spring training, as the Brewers decided to go with Jonathan Villar at second base and use Hernan Perez as a utility man. A month into the season, the team called up Eric Sogard to back-up at second.
Gennett’s full box score against St. Louis was imposing: 5-for-5 with four home runs, 10 RBI and four runs scored, lifting his batting average from .270 to .302 and raising his OPS an incredible 156 points. The story gets even better because Gennett is from Cincinnati and he grew up watching and cheering for the Reds, who’d never before had a player hit four homers in a game.
"It’s surreal, I’m truly blessed," said the 5-foot-10, 193-pound Gennett. "To do something that’s never been done, I can’t put words on it, but it’s an honor for sure. It’s pretty crazy, man. It really is. Especially when you think of a guy like me, not a huge guy, but that’s baseball. It’s not how big or strong you are, it’s how efficient and sometimes lucky you are."
Gennett had only one hit in his previous 20 at-bats and on Tuesday night joked with reporters, "You guys weren’t all here when I was 0-for-19; it’s good to see you again," before shouting-out his bat company. After he smacked his fourth home run, Gennett said he "kind of laughed" as he rounded first base, no doubt as incredulous as the rest of us at what he’d done.
"It’s just crazy, for a guy like me to do that, it’s amazing, maybe a little short of a miracle," Gennett said. "Baseball’s an amazing game. You go from 0-for-19 to a game like this, it’s pretty wild. It’s a crazy game; that’s why you never give up."
Meanwhile, the Brewers beat the San Francisco Giants, 5-2, with starter Chase Anderson pitching 7 2/3 shutout innings and Sogard – playing second base and batting leadoff – going 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored. Villar, a revelation last season who was expected to replace and be an improvement over Gennett at second, has been mired in a season-long slump, putting up a miserable .207/.281/.315 slash line with 73 strikeouts and only 14 stolen bases.
Wish we kept him and traded villar — 🍿GFXbucks🍿 (@GFXBucks) June 7, 2017
But, if Gennett wasn’t able to have his historic night for the Brewers, at least he was able to do it against the Cardinals (and especially Adam Wainwright). Congratulations, Scooter.
Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.
After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.
Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.
