Saturday was the first day in MLB history with five National League grand slams
By
Andrew Mearns
Saturday set records, as teams combined to hit seven grand slams in a single day for the first time in MLB history. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, though, it was the first time that five of the slams came from one league -- the National League. Perhaps most impressively, four of the five grand slams were go-ahead blasts, playing a pivotal role in each game. The day began with Kyle Schwarber breaking out of his early-season slump with a seventh-inning slam off Mike Leake to put the Cubs in front, en route to a 5-3 win.
Newcomer Matt Adams crushed yet another homer since being acquired by the Braves, belting a slam in the fifth against Scott Feldman. He went on to hit another blast in the 12th inning as Atlanta beat Cincinnati, 6-5.
Out in Colorado, José Torres allowed a slam to Ian Desmond. It wasn't a go-ahead shot, but it changed the scope of the game entirely, changing a 4-1 lead over the Padres to 8-1. The Rockies wound up winning, 10-1.
Next up was Travis Shaw of the Brewers, who took Dodgers reliever Josh Fields deep in the seventh inning to put the Brewers up, 7-4.
However, the Dodgers struck back just two innings later against another Torres. Just two outs away from a loss, Chris Taylor hit the game's true decisive slam off Carlos Torres, guiding the Dodgers to a 10-8 victory.
Over in the American League, Albert Pujols and Mike Zunino provided the coup de grâce, as Pujols launched a slam for his 600th career home run, and Zunino set the record with slam No. 7, a drive off the Rays' Alex Cobb. Only once in Major League history had teams combined to hit even six grand slams in one day -- May 21, 2000. On that day, Adrián Beltré, Garret Anderson, Shawn Green, Jason Giambi, J.T. Snow and Brian Hunter all hit slams. The Majors beat that mark on Saturday, and never before had one league done such heavy lifting.
