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Scoring home runs is the be-it-all of baseball. In MLB games, they’re extremely important as they’re automatically 1+ points for your team, and with any bases loaded, that’s a whole lot of points.
Home runs aren’t extremely common, but they aren’t by any means rare in the MLB. For this article, we’ll outline the most home runs scored in a single baseball game and describe the 16 MLB games with exactly 8 home runs scored, along with 2 games where more than 8+ home runs have been scored.
Yankees vs. Athletics (June 28, 1939): The Yankees showed the Athletics no mercy in this one, winning the game 23-2 with 8 home runs in the bag.
Twins vs. Senators (August 29, 1963): Another ruthless old-time game where the Twins nearly washed out the Senators 10-1, with 8 home runs scored to rub salt in the wound.
Red Sox vs. Blue Jays (July 4, 1977): The Red Sox fired off a barrage of 8 home runs to wake a 9-6 victory over the Blue Jays.
Athletics vs. Angels (June 27, 1996): In an 18-2 smackdown, the Oakland Athletics romped the Los Angeles Angels with 7 runs to the Angels 1.
Indians vs. Brewers (April 25, 1997): The Cleveland Indians beat the Milwaukee Brewers 11-4 with 8 home runs scored throughout the game.
Tigers vs. Blue Jays (June 20, 2000): The Blue Jays managed to score 2 home runs, while the Tigers took the game with 6, winning a merciless 18-6.
Indians vs. Mariners (July 16, 2004): The Cleveland Indians came out strong with 7 home runs, compared to the Seattle Mariners 1, winning the game 18-6.
Rangers vs. Astros (May 21, 2005): The Houston Astros only scored 3 runs in this game, 2 of them homers, losing to the Rangers 3-18 with 6 home runs to total 8 throughout the game.
Rangers vs. Angels (June 30, 2005): The LA Angels tried to hold strong with 2 home runs but ultimately were crushed 5-18 by the Texas Rangers, scoring 6 for a total of 8 overall.
Tigers vs. Cubs (June 18, 2006): In this one, 6 different Detroit Tigers players scored 8 home runs, winning the game 12-3, with home runs totaling 75% of the Tiger’s score.
Yankees vs. White Sox (July 31, 2007): The New York Yankees showed no mercy to the Chicago White Sox, slotting home 8 runs and winning the game easily 16-3.
Red Sox vs. Tigers (September 4, 2013): David Ortiz scored two homers, leading the Boston Red Sox to score a total of 8 and blow out the Detroit Tigers 20-4.
Orioles vs. Phillies (June 16, 2015): Both Manny Machado and Chris Parmelee hit two of the Baltimore Orioles ‘ total home runs, winning the Game vs. the Philadelphia Phillies 19-3.
Twins vs. Orioles (April 20, 2019): Baltimore’s R. Nunez scored 3 home runs throughout the game, but it wasn’t enough as they fell short to the Minnesota Twins 7-16.
Twins vs. Angels (May 23, 2019): Miguel Sano and Jonathan Schooip of the Minnesota Twins each hit two homers for a franchise record of 8, winning the game against the LA Angels 16-7.
Athletics vs. Phillies (May 14, 2024): Three of the 8 Athletics home runs were hit by Lawrence Butler, and they’d easily win the game against the Phillies 18-3.
In an especially lopsided game, the Cincinnati Reds dominated the Philadelphia Phillies 22-3 with 9 total home runs scored throughout the game. A 19-run winning margin is pretty impressive, although it can’t match the record 35 to 4 score when the Chicago White Stockings demolished the Cleveland Blues back in July of 1882.
The Reds would go on to finish second in the NL Central Division, just a game and a half back of the Houston Astros, but would fail to make the playoffs that season. In fact, their season record of 96-67 is the best record in MLB history for a team that did not make the post-season.
On September 14, 1987, the Toronto Blue Jays set a Major League Baseball record by hitting 10 home runs in a single game against the Baltimore Orioles at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. That’s right, every single one of those homers was hit by Blue Jays players, namely: Ernie Whitt (3); Rance Mulliniks (2); George Bell (2); Lloyd Moseby (1); Fred McGriff (1) and Rob Ducey (1).
This remarkable display of power contributed to the Blue Jays’ pursuit of the American League East Division title, as they were in a tight race with the Detroit Tigers at the time. In fact, the Tigers would win that race in the end as the Jays went on a losing streak at the end of the season which allowed their rivals to get revenge for this historical beatdown.
We have seen the records for teams and games, but how about the record for most homers in a game by a single player? The MLB record for most home runs in a game is four, but this record is shared by no fewer than 18 players. The feat was achieved eighteen times between the years of 1894 and 2017, so it is hardly an everyday occurrence.
Here is that list, in case you want to check if a player from your team managed this prodigious feat:
If we want to broaden the conversation out beyond the MLB, the record for the most home runs hit by a player in a single professional game is eight, achieved by Jay Clarke of the Corsicana Oil Citys in the Texas League on June 15, 1902. As you might expect of a record like this hit in a Minor League game over a century ago, some aspects of the feat are a little murky. Some papers at the time reported that Clarke hit just 3 homers, and also there is a suggestion that the right field fence was particularly short, which may have aided the batter’s effort. Furthermore, the reported final score of 51-3 suggests that the standard of pitching from the opposition ‘Texarkana Casketmakers’ may not have been quite elite level!
Still, let’s not take the glory away from Mr Clarke, at least until someone else at least comes close to matching his epic feat.
Liam has been a major sports fan and soccer player for over a decade, with a particular focus on major top-level soccer leagues, including the EPL, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and MLS. He has written numerous promotional articles for various top sportsbooks and continues to publish historical and factual sports articles covering the NFL, MLS, NHL, MLB, EPL and more.