Andrew McCutchen's Tying and Winning Home Runs

Andrew McCutchen did something awesome in Cincinnati last night. He led off the top of the ninth inning with a game-tying home run, then with two down in the 11th he swatted another homer that would be the game-winner.

Using the Play Index*, I grabbed all tying ninth-inning home runs and all go-ahead extra inning home runs. Then thanks to some nifty conditional formatting in Excel, I found the following games that appeared in both lists. I also added Raul Ibanez's playoff game from 2012.

* The Play Index has complete play-by-play data since 1974, is only missing a handful of games from 1953-73 (98.8% of games) and has partial data from 1940-52

Date	Batter	Team	Opp	Tying HR in 9th	Winning HR in Extras
7/12/2014	Andrew McCutchen	PIT	at CIN	solo, 0 out, Jonathan Broxton	11th, solo, 2 out, J.J. Hoover
8/13/2013	Paul Goldschmidt	ARZ	vs BAL	solo, 0 out, Jim Johnson	11th, solo, 0 out, T.J. McFarland
10/10/2012	Raul Ibanez	NYY	vs BAL	solo, 1 out, Jim Johnson (PH)	12th, solo, 0 out, Brian Matusz
5/17/2011	Brian McCann	ATL	vs HOU	solo, 2 out, Mark Melancon (PH)	11th, 2-run, 1 out, Jeff Fulchino
4/18/2009	Jeremy Hermida	FLA	at WAS	2-run, 2 out, Joel Hanrahan	11th, 3-run, 0 out, Wil Ledezma
8/20/2004	Adrian Beltre	LAD	vs ATL	solo, 0 out, John Smoltz	11th, solo, 1 out, Juan Cruz
8/3/2004	Tony Batista	MON	at STL	2-run, 0 out, Jason Isringhausen	12th, Slam, 2 out, Dan Haren
5/20/2003	Ken Griffey	CIN	at FLA	solo, 0 out, Braden Looper	11th, solo, 2 out, Armando Almanza
8/27/2002	Joe Crede	CWS	vs TOR	2-run, 1 out, Kelvim Escobar	10th, Slam, 1 out, Felix Heredia
6/14/2002	Aaron Boone	CIN	vs PIT	solo, 1 out, Mike Williams	11th, solo, 0 out, Mike Williams
7/29/2000	Ed Taubensee	CIN	at MON	solo, 2 out, Javier Vazquez	11th, solo, 1 out, Julio Santana
7/23/2000	Ryan Klesko	SD	at COL	solo, 1 out, Jose Jimenez	10th, 2-run, 2 out, Stan Belinda
4/11/2000	Ed Sprague	SD	vs ARZ	solo, 1 out, Omar Daal	13th, solo, 0 out, Russ Springer
4/5/1999	Raul Mondesi	LAD	vs ARZ	3-run, 2 out, Gregg Olson	11th, 2-run, 2 out, John Frascatore
6/10/1998	Robin Ventura	CWS	vs STL	solo, 2 out, Curtis King	11th, 2-run, 1 out, Sean Lowe
5/8/1990	Andre Dawson	CHN	vs ATL	solo, 0 out, Joe Boever	11th, 2-run, 1 out, Dwayne Henry
4/8/1986	Jim Presley	SEA	vs CAL	2-run, 0 out, Donnie Moore	10th, Slam, 2 out, Ken Forsch
4/29/1985	Donnie Scott	SEA	vs MIL	solo, 0 out, Rollie Fingers	10th, 2-run, 2 out, Ray Searage
5/14/1978	Dave Kingman	CHN	at LAD	2-run, 2 out, Mike Garman	15th, 3-run, 2 out, Rick Rhoden
9/17/1971	Mike Lum	ATL	at LAD	solo, 1 out, Jim Brewer	11th, solo, 2 out, Hoyt Wilhelm
8/15/1966	Boog Powell	BAL	at BOS	solo, 1 out, Jim Lonborg	11th, 2-run, 1 out, John Wyatt
6/18/1961	Del Rice	LAA	at KCA	solo, 0 out, Norm Bass (PH)	11th, 2-run, 1 out, Norm Bass
8/27/1949	Jeff Heath	BSN	vs CIN	solo, 0 out, Ewell Blackwell	10th, solo, 2 out, Ewell Blackwell
9/2/1944	Butch Nieman	BSN	at PHI	solo, 2 out, Bill Lee	13th, solo, 2 out, Bill Lee

I am so very happy to see Kingman's 1978 three-homer game on here, but for Pete's sake, don't ask Tommy  Lasorda for his opinion of Kingman's performance (NOT SAFE FOR WORK).*

* The young reporter who asked for Lasorda's opinion and set off the legendary rant was Paul Olden, who would become a play-by-play broadcaster and is now the P.A. voice of Yankee Stadium.


Jim Presley's walk-off grand slam came on Opening Day in 1986 and when he hit another on July 17, he became the only player to hit two walk-off grand slams in the same season. Presley has a connection to the other Opening Day game on this list. As the great Mark Simon points out, when Raul Mondesi hit tying and winning homers against the Diamondbacks in the 1999 opener, Presley was in the opposing dugout as Arizona's hitting coach.

Below are a few games that didn't exactly qualify for this list, but showed up in my original search and deserve a mention.

On June 30, 1980 in Atlanta, Jose Cruz hit a tying homer in the top of the ninth for the Astros off of Larry Bradford, then put the Astros ahead in the 11th with a homer off of Al Hrabosky. Houston lost in the bottom of the 11th on Glenn Hubbard's two-run walk-off blast off of Joe Sambito.

On September 14 of that same year, Eddie Murray hit a tying homer in the top of the ninth and a go-ahead shot in the 11th, but the Blue Jays rallied to extend the game before winning it in the 13th on a Bob Bailor single.

On June 18, 1961, the same day as Rice's game listed above, Jim Pagliaroni had quite a day for the Red Sox. In the first game of a doubleheader, Boston trailed 12-5 in the ninth before roaring back and tying it up on Pagliaroni's grand slam. Three batters later, Russ Nixon's single capped an eight-run inning and won it. Pagliaroni then hit a walk-off dinger in the 13th inning of game two.

On August 6, 1961, Dale Long hit a tying homer in the top of the ninth in both ends of a twinbill, but his Senators dropped both contests in the bottom of the ninth.

How about hitting two go-ahead homers in extra innings? Vern Stephens did it for the Browns on September 29, 1943 and Matt Adams did it for the Cardinals on September 4, 2013.