When Luis Urías hit a grand slam on Saturday at Yankee Stadium, it was the first time that a Red Sox number nine hitter collected a salami in the Bronx, and only the second time ever for the man at the bottom of the Boston order to go deep against the Yanks with the bases loaded. Luis Rivera had done it at Fenway Park on August 31, 1990, and that was it.
Overall, the Yankees still have a 4-2 lead in ninth-hitter grand slams against their rivals, three by pitchers: Red Ruffing in 1933, Don Larsen in 1956 (months before his World Series perfect game, what a year), and Mel Stottlemyre (inside the park) in 1965, all at Yankee Stadium. Fred Stanley took Mike Torrez out of Fenway on June 20, 1978 – sort of the opposite of Larsen, as Torrez would go on to give up Bucky Dent’s division-deciding blast over the Green Monster.
The Yankees last had their No. 9 batter hit a grand slam in 2021, Gary Sánchez off Baltimore’s Keegan Akin. The Red Sox’s last No. 9 slam before Urías was… also Urías. Last Thursday. Two days earlier.
So, in a span of three days, Urías went from having hit 46 home runs as a major leaguer without a grand slam to 48 homers with two grand slams, both out of the No. 9 hole. Only three players have done that more in an entire career: Rich Reese (for the Twins in 1969, 1970, and 1972), Dick Schofield (for the 1985 and 1986 Angels, and 1994 Blue Jays), and Yuniesky Betancourt (for the 2007 Mariners, then two for the 2010 Royals).
Betancourt’s pair in 2010 came on July 17 and August 21, but there are 29 players now, including Urías, with two career grand slams out of the No. 9 hole, and 34 days was not the record for temporal proximity there.
The record for games between grand slams by a number nine hitter is 0, set by Tony Cloninger when the Atlanta pitcher gave himself all the run support he would need on a first-inning slam off Bob Priddy, grounded out against Priddy in the third, then hit another granny off Ray Sadecki in the fourth. Cloninger gave up a solo shot to Sadecki in the fifth, but got himself a ninth RBI in the eighth, driving in more than half the runs on his way to a 17-3 complete game win.
There have been a few other No. 9 hitters with two slams in a season. Brandon Inge had a week for the 2004 Tigers, hitting a grand slam off Cleveland’s Jason Anderson on April 23 and Anaheim’s Scot Shields on the 27th, the closest anyone got to Cloninger until Urías.
In 1996, Kevin Elster hit grand slams out of the nine-hole for the Rangers on April 19 and August 5. Like Don Larsen, Madison Bumgarner had a more memorable moment in the 2014 World Series, but also hit grand slams on April 14 and July 13, both in San Francisco. The following year, Hank Conger hit grand slams for the Astros as the number nine hitter on August 1 and September 4.
The players who did it in back-to-back seasons, in addition to Reese and Schofield?
Dizzy Trout (1949 and 1950 Tigers)
Tom Brookens (1987 and 1988 Tigers)
Milt Cuyler (1991 and 1992 Tigers)
Jose Valentin (1994 and 1995 Brewers)
Sean Berry (1995 Expos and 1996 Astros)
Mike Matheny (1996 and 1997 Brewers)
Darren Bragg (1996 and 1997 Red Sox)
Hunter Renfroe (2018 and 2019 Padres)
Raimel Tapia (2018 and 2019 Rockies)
Martín Maldonado (2021 and 2022 Astros)
And the ones for whom the second grand slam was a repeat of more years gone by?
Rick Wise (1971 Phillies and 1973 Cardinals)
Casey Blake (2006 and 2008 Cleveland)
Jake Rogers (2021 and 2023 Tigers)
Omar Vizquel (1993 Mariners and 1996 Cleveland)
Byron Buxton (2016 and 2019 Twins)
Julio Lugo (2003 Devil Rays and 2007 Red Sox)
Camilo Pascual (1960 Senators and 1965 Twins)
Denny Neagle (1995 Pirates and 2001 Rockies)
Bob Gibson (1965 and 1973 Cardinals)
Kelly Johnson (2008 Atlanta and 2016 Mets)
Champ Summers (1975 Cubs and 1984 Padres)
Glenallen Hill (1989 Blue Jays and 1998 Cubs)
And the record for the longest time between grand slams as a number nine hitter? Jim Sundberg, at Fenway Park for the Rangers off Rick Wise (who should’ve known to be careful with No. 9 hitters, shouldn’t he?) on June 9, 1975, and then 12 years later as a Cubs pinch-hitter, blasting a game-tying slam off Lance McCullers (Sr.) of the Padres, followed by four more Chicago runs for a wild 12-8 triumph.
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