The term “crooked numbers” can’t even begin to describe the offensive onslaught that occurred between the Cedar Rapids Kernels and the Lansing Lugnuts at Jackson Field on Saturday night. A final score of 23-15 is enough to give scoreboard operators the ick, but a deeper look into the box score reveals that the game was not just notable but historic.
The two teams combined for 48 hits, the kind of production at the plate that even Minor League Baseball -- the place where oddities abound -- hadn't seen in nearly 10 years. And in the big leagues? You’ll have to dive way deeper into the archives.
The last time two teams combined for 48 hits in a Minor League game was when Peoria and West Michigan played 15 grueling innings with the game ultimately ending in a 9-9 tie on July 22, 2016.
At the big league level, you’ll have to go way back to 1979 when "My Sharona" by The Knack was topping the Billboard charts. In a year highlighted by a one-hit wonder, hits in the big leagues were plentiful, as not one but two games reached the 50-hit mark -- Phillies/Cubs on May 17 and A's/Rangers on July 1. Both were also extra-inning affairs.
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It didn’t take long for the hits to start piling up Saturday. Marek Houston, the Twins’ No. 7 prospect, doubled in the top of the first and was promptly brought home as Eduardo Tait (MIN No. 3/MLB No. 42) crushed his 11th home run of the season. The floodgates had officially opened.
As you’d assume with 48 combined hits, it was a career night for several of the High-A players. Houston tacked on four singles, giving him the first five-hit game of his career. The 2025 first-rounder is now batting .326 for Cedar Rapids, which puts him third in the Midwest League.
Entering the day, Houston’s teammate Jay Thomason had never had more than three hits in a game in 136 contests. He got that elusive fourth hit in the fifth inning -- and he kept going. He finished the game with six hits, all singles, accounting for a fifth of the team’s production.
Across the diamond, the Lugnuts made some history of their own. As part of their 18-hit night, shortstop Jared Sprague-Lott hit for the cycle, becoming the first Lansing player to do so since 2023. It was the first four-hit game in the career of the former Arkansas Razorback.