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Post-Season Go-Ahead Pinch Hit Home Runs When Trailing

Posted by Raphy on October 10, 2010

Eric Hinske had a huge home run tonight that went for naught. His 2 run pinch-hit home run temporarily gave the Braves an eighth inning lead over the Giants. In post-season history only 2 previous players had hit pinch hit home runs that took their team from behind and put them into the lead.

Cr# Gm# Date Series Gm# Batter Tm Opp Pitcher Score Inn RoB Out Pit(cnt) RBI Play Description
1 1 1988-10-15 WS 1 Kirk Gibson LAD OAK Dennis Eckersley down 4-3 b9 -2- 2 7 (3-2) 2 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Line Drive to Deep RF); Davis Scores
2 1 1992-10-18 WS 2 Ed Sprague TOR @ATL Jeff Reardon down 4-3 t9 1-- 1 1 (0-0) 2 Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep LF); Bell Scores
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/10/2010.

18 Responses to “Post-Season Go-Ahead Pinch Hit Home Runs When Trailing”

  1. Gerry Says:

    Nice find. Not quite qualifying, but still a biggie, was Dusty Rhodes' game-winning pinch-hit home run with the score tied in the bottom of the 10th in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series.

  2. Gonzo Says:

    This never happened before 1988? That seems strange.

  3. DoubleDiamond Says:

    A side note on that game and something else connected to the Braves' performance of the past couple of weeks: As someone who was an Orioles fan during their glory days, I couldn't imagine any infielder with the fairly uncommon first name of Brooks being a poor fielder.

  4. Tommy Says:

    still completely helpless against good pitching. i feel bad for Conrad.

  5. Johnny Twisto Says:

    DD, I seem to recall you are a Phillies phan now. If true, when and why did you move from the O's?

  6. Tommy Says:

    that, and Bobby Cox retired back in 2000. he's only now making it official is all.

  7. Zachary Says:

    I'm still trying to figure out why Eck threw Gibson that meatball ...

  8. DoubleDiamond Says:

    I grew up in the DC/Baltimore area. I started out as a Washington Senators fan, but when the Orioles won the World Series in 1966, I became more of a fan of that team, although I still continued to hope for a Washington Senators success until the second Senators team moved after the 1971 season. At that point, I became a full-time Orioles fan. After I moved to the Philadelphia area in the 1986/1987 off-season, the Phillies became my #1 team, even though they didn't always deserve it. The Orioles remained my favorite American League team until Cal Ripken, Jr., retired in 2001. The way they are playing now, I am not currently a fan of the team, and I don't have a favorite AL team now. Well, maybe whoever the Yankees are playing, unless it's one of the teams that deserted DC. So, my hope for the AL champ this year is Tampa Bay, but I may come to resent this if they exploit a Phillies weakness that the Rangers, Twins, or even Yankees wouldn't have caught on to.

    I am happy that Washington has a baseball team again, but I hope that the DC/Baltimore area can support two teams, especially two that are doing so poorly right now. I have hopes that some year in the future, the Nationals can finish second to the Phillies in the NL East and become the Wild Card team.

    I am not allowed to talk about the 1983 World Series to my friends in Philadelphia.

  9. John Q Says:

    Bernie Carbo's 1975 Pinch-Hit HR didn't make his team go ahead but he did tie the score with that 3 run blast. It's also pretty impressive because the Red Sox were down 6-3 going into the bottom of the eighth inning.

  10. Larry R. Says:

    @1

    Mantle did it also. 1964, Game 3. Bottom of the ninth, broke a 1-1 tie. Hit it off Barnie Schultz, into the upper deck in right of the old (original) stadium.

  11. Jim Says:

    Never heard if that gibson guy or that hr he hit

  12. TheGoof Says:

    Jim, I've heard something about a guy named Gonzalez hitting a bloop in the World Series, but I'm pretty sure it was an episode of mass delusion.

  13. TheGoof Says:

    Hinske has very little in terms of postseason numbers, but man, he picks his teams like Nostradamus. Talk about making the most of being a role player! I'm glad to see him still making an impact. It was great watching him in AAA.

  14. Tom A. Says:

    I remember in the same postseason two NL pinch homers, one from Rick Monday of the Dodgers against the Expos and the other from George Vuckovich of the Phillies. I thought those were huge and I remember the giving their teams leads, especially the Monday homer. Up to now I could have sworn they brought their teams from behind.

  15. Tom A. Says:

    BTW that was in 1981 the only season prior to 1995 that had a NLDS.

  16. Tom A. Says:

    OK Rick Monday's wasn't a PH Homer but it gave his team the lead in the top of the 9th of Game 5 that sent L.A. to the World Series. Vuckovich was a PH Game winner bottom of the 10th that broke up a 5-5 tie and forced a game 5 which Montreal won to advance to the NLCS against the Dodgers.

  17. Post-Season Pinch-Hit Home Runs » Baseball-Reference Blog » Blog Archive Says:

    [...] the comment section of another thread here has been a bit of a discussion about post-season pinch-hit home runs. You can create the entire [...]

  18. daHOOK Says:

    Double Diamond: The next time you find yourself on the south side of Chicago, don't mention Tito Landrum.