The Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates saw their game shortened by rain Monday, but not before the two teams combined to hit a Great American Ballpark record 10 home runs. Play is set to resume Tuesday, at which point the two teams will have three innings left to set the all-time record for home runs in a single game.
Reds, Pirates combine for record 10 home runs in rain-shortened game
The Reds and the Pirates will have a chance at the MLB record for combined home runs in a single game when play resumes Tuesday.
Joe Robbins
The National League record for combined homers in a game is 11, a feat that has been achieved four separate times. The first came in 1966 when, coincidentally enough, the Reds and Pirates faced off and mashed 11 times between them in a 13-inning game. The Chicago Cubs and New York Mets tied that number a year later in a standard nine-inning contest. In 1977, the Cubs and Reds had 11 blasts in another 13-inning game. The last time two teams combined to go deep 11 times in the National League was in 1979 in a 10-inning game between the Cubs (again) and the Philadelphia Phillies.
In the American League, the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox were involved in the MLB record-setting and record-tying games. The first came in 1995 and the second in 2002, with the teams combined for 12 homers.
In all six of these games, the most home runs hit by one club was seven. The Pirates currently have six of the 10 combined blasts in the unfinished matchup, giving them an additional chance to grab a slice of history.
What’s surprising about the outburst of homers is that they arrived on a rainy, windy day in 60-degree temperatures in Cincinnati. All of the record-setting games took place some time from mid-May through August, when the weather was warmer and chilly April air wasn’t killing would-be homers mid-flight. If temperatures had been warmer Monday, the record might have already been broken. The two teams get a chance at history Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. ET.
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