Kris Bryant’s dominant performance leads to historic stat line
Breaking news: Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant is good. OK, fine, everyone knows that by now. Bryant has had high expectations ever since he began destroying pitchers in the minors. He entered last year as one of the top prospects in the game, and proved he belonged in the majors with a standout rookie season.
While it’s too early in Bryant’s career to start saying he’s going to be a historically great player, he was able to turn in a historically great performance Monday in an 11-8 win against the Cincinnati Reds.
Bryant was a one-man wrecking crew, absolutely destroying the Reds every time he stepped to the plate. Below is a summary of Bryant’s results during each of his five plate appearances from Monday’s game:
- 1st inning: RBI double to left
- 3rd inning: Solo home run to left center
- 4th inning: Three-run homer to left
- 6th inning: Double to left
- 8th inning: Solo home run to left center
Yes, you read that right. Bryant finished the contest 5-for-5, with three home runs and two doubles.
And now, courtesy of Baseball Reference, here’s a list of all the players who have accomplished that feat:
Oh … uh … well … this is awkward. As the official Baseball Reference Twitter account noted, no player has ever managed three home runs and two doubles in a single game according to their database. That database, by the way, goes all the way back to 1913.
As if that wasn’t impressive enough, Bryant also set the Cubs single-game record for total bases with the performance. All told, Bryant managed 16 total bases during the game.
The least impressive fact about Bryant’s performance is that he merely tied a career-high with three home runs in a single game. We’re kidding, but it certainly speaks to how much he accomplished during the outing.
How many times is a three home run game completely overshadowed by a player’s other contributions?
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
