Baseball is a game filled with wonder and excitement in each and every pitch. Sometimes, a team rides a wave of momentum, scoring gobs of runs in a single inning that simply boggles the mind. Sometimes, a player finds a bit of luck within that momentum and etches his name in the annals of the major leagues. On July 8, 1970 in Atlanta, Georgia, the Giants' Jimmy Ray Hart scored six runs in a single inning.
His big day at the plate began in the second, hitting a double before hitting an RBI single in the third. Two innings later, the Giants bats came alive against the usually intimidating Phil Niekro. Hart was the fifth man in the rotation that inning and immediately hit a three-run homer against the Hall of Fame pitcher. Nine batters followed him after that and by the time he reached home plate, Hart was the 14th Giants batter in the inning, this time facing a beleaguered Aubrey Gatewood. The Braves setup man proved to be no match for Jimmy Ray Hart's bat that day, giving up a bases-loaded triple and helping Hart etch his name into the annals of the game.
After that deflating blast, the Braves made their second pitching change of the inning, going with Rick Kessler who promptly retired Frank Johnson to end the inning. In that inning, the Giants had sent 15 batters to the plate and came away with 11 runs. But it was Hart who stood alone, having hit for the cycle and scoring an incredible six RBI. For the day, the man who was a career .278 hitter with 578 RBIs to his name went 4 for 5 and had seven RBIs. But it was those six that would stay with him long after that 13-0 demolition was over
He joined an exclusive club that afternoon, becoming the seventh man to accomplish such a feat. Five more men would join the club after that before the record was broken in 1999 when the Cardinals' Fernando Tatis hit two grand slams in the third inning against the Dodgers.
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