The Braves won the first game of today’s doubleheader against the Phillies- and they won in style with multiple hitting milestones reached today.
The Atlanta Braves hit the Phils early and often today, but also notched a couple of notable entries in the record books:
- Brandon Phillips became the 12th active player, the second Brave, and the second this month to get to the career 2,000 hit level. You can read about that here.
- Ender Inciarte tied a record today – the newest Brave ever to get 5 hits in a game three times.
.@enderinciartem has tied the Atlanta #Braves franchise record today with his third five-hit game of the season! #ChopOn pic.twitter.com/D5qdpJmMIn
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) August 30, 2017
Inciarte was (kind of) denied the chance for 6 hits on the day for one reason: he was walked in the 9th. He was scheduled to be the 5th hitter in the Braves’ half of the ninth inning, and pinch hitter Lane Adams reached to give him the chance, but 3 straight balls after a 1-2 count put him on with a free pass.
Inciarte had a triple among his swings today – taking advantage of a lazy reach for the ball by outfielder Hyun Soo Kim.
Now a bit of history…
The Active 2,000 Hit Club
Since 1995, 50 players have reached 2000 hits. Adrian Gonzalez (2,004) was the most recent to do so. Nick Markakis was the next-most-recent. He now has 2,023.
Those still active are:
- Ichiro Suzuki (3,069)
- Adrian Beltre (3,034)
- Albert Pujols (2,937)
- Carlos Beltran (2,714)
- Miguel Cabrera (2,623)
- Robinson Cano (2,340)
- Jose Reyes (2,063)
- Victor Martinez (2,036)
- Gonzalez, Markakis, and now Phillips
Another Brave – A.J. Pierzynski – got his 2,000th with the Braves in 2016.
Braves With 6 Hits in a 9-inning Game
This comes via Baseball-Almanac.com:
- Sam Wise, Boston Beaneaters (6 for 7, 6/20/1883)
- King Kelly, Boston Beaneaters (6 for 7, 8/27/1887)
- Bobby Lowe, Boston Beaneaters (6 for 6, 6/11/1891)
- Fred Tenney, Boston Beaneaters (6 for 8, 5/31/1897)
- Chick Stahl, Boston Beaneaters (6 for 6, 5/31/1899)
- Felix Millan, Atlanta Braves (6 for 6, 7/6/1970)
- Willie Harris, Atlanta Braves (6 for 6, 7/21/2007)
Harris may have been the least likely of the group – he was a fringe major leaguer for a lot of years with a lot of teams between 2001 and 2012. He was only a Brave for the 2007 season (117 games, 391 plate appearances), though he did hit a career high .270 that season (.238 for his career in the majors).
Next: Tyler Flowers to the Disabled list
Now the question will be how many hits Inciarte – and Phillips – can muster in the second game of this double dip.