Pop top: 4 leadoff HRs begin 2 Friday tilts

August 20th, 2016

Several teams got off to quick starts on Friday with five leadoff hitters going deep in the first inning. It marked the first time five leadoff home runs were hit on the same day since Aug. 17, 2006.
Four of those leadoff homers came in two games -- Astros at Orioles and Cubs at Rockies -- which was also last done on that mid-August date 10 years ago.
Houston's sparked the trend with a homer in the first at-bat at Camden Yards, and the Orioles responded with historic power surge, homering four times against Astros pitcher in the bottom of the first. Those four home runs -- by , , and -- matched the Major League record for the first inning. It was the eighth time a big league club has accomplished the feat.
Orioles make history with four HRs before first out
Baltimore also became the first team since 1900 to go deep four times before recording an out. In total, the Astros and O's combined for nine home runs in the 15-8 Houston victory.
"I don't know if I've ever been blitzed like that before in my career," McHugh said. "Today's game in general was kind of a crazy game. To start out like that was obviously not the way you draw it up."
The Cubs and Rockies picked up right where the O's and Astros left off. After a 2-hour, 10-minute rain delay, made up for lost time by getting his Cubs on the board immediately with a leadoff homer to center field. Colorado's replicated the feat, sending his fourth career home run into left field in the home half.
The Yankees' was responsible for the fifth leadoff homer, one of four big flies the Yankees hit in their 7-0 win over the Angels on Friday in Anaheim.

The last time five players delivered leadoff homers in the same day, they were hit by the Orioles' Brian Roberts, the Yankees' , the Brewers' , the Royals' and the White Sox Pablo Ozuna. Roberts and Damon did so in the same game at Yankee Stadium, as did DeJesus and Ozuna, at U.S. Cellular Field.