#TBT: On This Date in History, Cincinnati Reds explode for 24 Runs Against Rockies

We hop in the time vault and go back to a record-setting day at the plate in Cincinnati Reds history.

The Cincinnati Reds may be struggling these days, but on this date, May 19, 1999, their offense certainly did not struggle. It exploded for 24 runs against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.

The Reds won the game 24-12, and ended up setting three franchise records in doing so. In a game where neither starting pitcher (Denny Neagle for the Reds and Brian Bohanon for the Rockies) made it out of the third inning, the Reds combined for 28 hits, including 15 extra-base hits, and 55 total bases.

The Reds jumped all over the Rockies, getting up 6-0 after the first inning, courtesy of three home runs. The sixth and the seventh innings were the other two big innings for the Reds, when they scored five and six runs, respectively.

Some notable player performances included first baseman Sean Casey and outfielder Jeffrey Hammonds each setting individual best performances by scoring five runs each. Hammonds went 4-for-6 with five RBI and a walk. Casey bested him by going 4-for-4 with six RBI and three walks.

Every one of the starting eight that day had at least two hits, with five players having three hits each. Even Neagle contributed at the plate with a hit and an RBI of his own. There were nine doubles and six home runs in total from the Reds. Three of those home runs came from Hammonds, while Casey hit two.

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It’s a good thing that the Reds bats came to play on this particular day because it was one of those days at Coors Field when the balls were flying and the pitching staff couldn’t get consistent outs. Neagle gave up six runs on seven hits in just 1.2 innings. Steve Parris gave up three hits and three runs, but got the win, likely only because he pitched 3.1 innings, the most of any of the four pitchers that day. Gabe White pitched an inning and gave up three runs as well. Ron Villone pitched three innings and was the only Reds pitcher who did not give up a run.

For those who got the chance to see it, either in person or on TV, I can only imagine how fun of a game it was for Reds fans or even baseball fans in general. Reading the box score, it looks like it was a very back and forth game up until the sixth inning when the Reds blew it open. It’s not often a team scores 24 runs in a game, so I’m sure even though it was a 3:05 start time on a Wednesday in Cincinnati, fans either heard about it or took time to watch the highlights of this one.

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