LOS ANGELES -- Dating back to their Brooklyn days, the Dodgers organization has had 31 three-homer performances in a game. They’ve also had two players tie the Major League record of four homers in a single game.
There’s a surplus of great single-game hitting performances. But we’re going to do our best to rank just the top five single-game performances in Dodgers history. There will surely be some disagreements, but that’s only because of the large number of moments to pick from.
1) Shohei Ohtani, Sept. 19, 2024, vs. Marlins
We're often at a loss to find the superlatives to describe Ohtani, and this game is his finest achievement as a hitter. Ohtani went 6-for-6 with three homers and 10 RBIs while swiping two bases, becoming the first player in Major League history to hit 50 homers and steal 50 bases in a season. He had 17 total bases on the day, two shy of Shawn Green's franchise-record 19 in a single game.
When it comes to all-time offensive performances like Ohtani's and Green's (more on his below), they can be great for different reasons. But for the sheer number of unprecedented feats from Ohtani in his 50-50 game, he gets the top spot.
1a) Shawn Green, May 23, 2002, vs. Brewers
As incredible as Ohtani's 50-50 performance was, Green still has a claim to one of the best single-game performances in franchise and Major League history alike.
Green went 6-for-6 with six runs scored, seven RBIs and a record 19 total bases in a 16-3 win over the Brewers. It was the most impressive game of the best stretch in Green’s career. He hit 17 home runs in a 23-game span. Greene finished the season with 42 long balls and made his second All-Star appearance.
“That day, and that week, I had a very calm sense of being in the zone,” Green said. “As opposed to other times, when you’re in the zone and you almost start pressing. because you don’t want to waste that great feeling you have. When that happens, in some ways you feel more pressure when you’re in that zone. But for that week, I was just very relaxed. Everything slowed down. All the clichés.”
3) Gil Hodges, Aug. 31, 1950, vs. Braves
While Ohtani's and Green’s performances stand in their own class, Gil Hodges’ monster game in a 19-3 drubbing against the Boston Braves is nothing to look past.
Hodges went 5-for-6 and became the first Dodgers hitter to record a four-homer game. He totaled 17 total bases, which was the team record before Green topped it 52 years later. Hodges drove in nine runs, which is tied with James Loney for most in a single game in franchise history.
4) Davey Lopes, Aug. 20, 1974, vs. Cubs
Davey Lopes hit 20-plus homers in a season just once in his career, but he showed off his power by going deep three times in the Dodgers’ 18-8 win over the Cubs at Wrigley Field.
Lopes went 5-for-6 and finished with 15 total bases, the third-most in franchise history. He’s also the only Dodgers starting second baseman to hit three home runs in a game. That’s the tidbit that separates him from some of the other three-homer games in Dodgers history.
5) Yasmani Grandal, July 8, 2016, vs. Padres
Yasmani Grandal couldn’t be stopped at the plate in the Dodgers’ 10-6 win over the Padres, delivering one of the best single-game performances by a backstop in history. Grandal went 5-for-5 with three homers in the win. He almost hit for the home run cycle, launching a three-run homer, a two-run shot and a solo dinger.
The 14 total bases by Grandal are still the most by a Dodgers catcher in a game.