Milwaukee Brewers rookie outfielder Jackson Chourio motored around the bases for an inside-the-park home run Wednesday, taking advantage of a misplay by diving Texas Rangers center fielder Derek Hill, in the Brewers’ 6-5 victory.
Chourio circled the bases on a ball in play on the team’s last road trip in Anaheim, though that was ruled an error on right-fielder Jo Adell. This one, however, counts.
Milwaukee collected inside-the-park home runs in four straight seasons into the 2020 season, but Chourio’s feat is the first one since, and the 32nd in franchise history.
Here’s a look at some of the wackiest, plus a mention of the rest (including all six belonging to Robin Yount):
12. Ben Gamel: Blink and you’ll miss it
June 26, 2019, vs. Seattle
Gamel motored around at lightning-fast speed to pull Milwaukee within a run at 3-2 in the bottom of the sixth. Mac Williamson made a diving try on the liner to left field, but it bounced past him to the wall. At 14.89 seconds, it was the fastest round-tripper in baseball that season and fastest for the Brewers since StatCast started tracking speed of home runs in 2015. Still, it was a rough stretch for the Brewers, who lost the game, 4-2, and had suffered 10 losses in 12 games at that juncture.
11. Rickie Weeks: Wild comeback begins
July 8, 2011, vs. Cincinnati
Weeks nearly homered over the wall in the deepest part of the park in the third inning, but instead it caromed to the left and eluded the trio of Reds outfielders for the second baseman’s second career inside-the-park homer. That put the Brewers on the board, now trailing by a 4-1 count. Milwaukee ultimately came back to win on a Mark Kotsay two-run single with two outs in the ninth, 8-7, marking one of the most thrilling wins of the year.
10. David Hulse: Another major offensive funk snapped
Aug. 1, 1995, at New York Yankees
The Brewers only had one inside-the-park job in 13 years, and it belonged to a player who only hit three career home runs with Milwaukee. Hulse did it after a long at-bat against Mariano Rivera — then pitching in the seventh-inning and not yet the dominant closer he would become. The two-run shot gave the Brewers a 5-4 lead, but Milwaukee gave the lead back in the bottom half and lost, 7-5, giving Rivera the win. Hulse had struck out in seven of the previous eight at-bats, including five in a row with runners in scoring position. The shot to the left field corner eluded Randy Velarde and bounced around the outfield wall.
9. Bob Coluccio: Spoiled by a familiar face
Sept. 6, 1973, at New York Yankees
The thing about this home run is how insignificant Coluccio’s home run felt in the midst of other storylines, even though he gave the Brewers a 2-1 lead in the top of the third.
For one thing, it came one inning after Don Money executed a straight steal of home. And the game was spoiled in the eighth when Mike Hegan’s three-run homer capped a four-run rally to give the Yankees an 8-6 lead.
Hegan had been with the Brewers in 1971 and 1972 and still worked at WTMJ-TV doing offseason broadcasts. Channel 4, Hegan’s offseason employer, televised the game. Hegan’s playing career lasted until 1977, including a second stint with Milwaukee from 1974 to 1977, and then he moved into the Brewers’ TV broadcasting booth for 12 seasons.
8. Nori Aoki: A career first
April 20, 2012, vs. Colorado
It was Aoki’s first major-league home run, an opposite-field liner to left field in the fourth inning of a 4-3 loss. Carlos González made a diving try for it, and the ball skipped past him to the fence. It was the first baserunner of the game against Jhoulys Chacin, who had retired the first nine in order.
7. Robin Yount: A seven-run seventh
Aug. 27, 1979, at Kansas City
Yount hit six inside-the-park home runs in his career, and three of them came against the Royals. The craziest was this one, aided by the artificial turf at Kauffman Stadium (it was just Royals Stadium then). Milwaukee scored seven runs in the seventh inning after there were two outs and nobody on, including a bases-clearing double from Sixto Lezcano and Yount’s three-run homer off Dan Quisenberry. But Royals catcher Darrell Porter burned his former team, driving in runs in the seventh, the ninth and the 10th, with the latter a walk-off single in a 10-9 Royals win.
6. Christian Yelich: Eloy’s in the net
Aug. 6, 2020, at Chicago White Sox
Yelich had been mired in an offensive funk, and one way to snap out is a somewhat-humorously misplayed ball turning into a home run.
White Sox outfielder Eloy Jimenez couldn’t flag down Yelich’s fly ball in the left-field corner, and Jimenez then fell into the netting in front of the seats along the third-base line. The ball bounced against the wall, giving Yelich enough time to come around and score for a game-tying inside-the-park home run in the fifth.
The Brewers won the game and logged an inside-the-park home run for the fourth year in a row.
5. Roberto Peña: The first was the grandest, but ouch to Al Kaline
May 30, 1970, vs. Detroit
Tigers Hall of Fame outfielder Al Kaline collided with Jim Northrup and was taken to the hospital, where he remained overnight, after trying to flag down Peña’s ball with the bases loaded in the first inning. It turned into the first inside-the-parker in Brewers history, a grand slam no less, that gave the Brewers a 5-2 lead. Milwaukee won the game, 9-7, but had to rally for two runs in the eighth.
4. Ben Oglivie: Did the go-ahead grand slam cost a pitcher the Cy Young?
Sept. 26, 1980, at Oakland
Facing Mike Norris in the ninth inning, the Brewers were trailing, 7-5, before Moore, Yount and Cooper loaded the bases. Oglivie sliced one away from outfielder Dwayne Murphy, and two sloppy relays led to the grand slam and a 9-7 lead. Gorman Thomas followed up with a regular shot for a 10-7 lead, just for good measure, the score the Brewers won by.
“I’ve never hit an inside-the-park homer,” said Thomas afterward. “I don’t want to. I don’t want to put out the effort.”
Did it cost Norris a Cy Young? He certainly came into the game as one of the favorites, but he allowed 10 of his 80 earned runs that year in this one battle with the Brewers. Norris finished the year with a 2.53 ERA and received 91 points in the voting. But though Steve Stone of Baltimore had just as many first-place votes (13), Stone got 100 points overall to win the AL award.
3. Cecil Cooper: The fog game
May 5, 1977, at Toronto
One of the weirdest innings in Brewers history could have led to an outfielder getting decapitated.
In the top of the fifth, the Brewers recorded two triples and an inside-the-park home run, and the dense fog in Toronto at Exhibition Stadium had a lot to do with it. Outfielder Ron Fairly said he had no chance to see Moore’s triple leading off the inning, but umpires decided to play on, determining the fog was starting to lift. Centerfielder Gary Woods said he couldn’t see Cooper’s drive, either, when it got past him and brought both runners around. Then, Lezcano tripled in Money for a 6-4 Brewers lead.
“If I had taken a couple steps in, it would have hit me in the head,” Fairly said of Lezcano’s triple.
The game was then delayed an hour. Toronto wound up scoring three times in the bottom half of the fifth and won, 9-8.
2. Paul Molitor: October scamper
Oct. 6, 1982, vs. California
Centerfielder Fred Lynn made an ill-advised diving attempt, and Molitor was able to motor around for a two-run homer that accounted for Milwaukee’s only runs in the game in the fifth inning of Game 2 in the American League Championship Series. But there wasn’t much celebrating; the Angels won the game, 4-2, and took a 2-0 lead in the series. The Brewers looked sunk. Spoiler alert: They were not, actually, sunk.
1A and 1B: Prince Fielder in all his glory
June 17, 2007, at Minnesota and June 19, 2008, vs. Toronto
It’s cheating to put these both at the top, but how can you not?
Lew Ford lost Fielder’s fly ball to center in the Metrodome lighting in the ninth inning, and it bounced behind him into untouched territory in 2007. Fielder gloriously rumbled around third and beat a relay throw up the line. Supposedly, he’s not the heaviest man to hit an inside the park home run, but at 267 pounds … it seems unlikely. The play brought the Brewers to within a run in the ninth, and Craig Counsell’s sacrifice fly tied it, but the Twins prevailed, 10-9, on a Justin Morneau walk-off home run.
Then, somehow, it happened again a year later.
Alex Ríos thought time should be called when Fielder’s liner into the right field corner lodged under the padding. But umpire Chad Fairchild ruled the ball was playable, and the big fella just kept running. He wound up scoring without a throw.
That game wound up being wild. Dave Bush didn’t allow a hit through the first seven innings as Milwaukee built an 8-0 lead, but the triple by ex-Brewer Lyle Overbay sparked something. The Blue Jays scored once in the eighth, then Overbay hit a two-run homer in the ninth and Joe Inglett hit a grand slam to pull the Blue Jays within 8-7. Solomon Torres stranded the tying run at first.
The others
Tyler Saladino: May 14, 2018, at Arizona. In a 7-2 win, Saladino added a cherry on top with a two-run inside-the-park shot against Fernando Salas in the top of the ninth. Arizona center fielder AJ Pollock injured his finger diving for the ball.
Orlando Arcia: June 17, 2017, vs. San Diego. Arcia sent one to the deepest part of the ballpark against Dinelson Lamet, and the ball was still on the warning track when Arcia was rounding third. The shot tied the game at 1-1, but it turned into a frustrating loss. San Diego scored twice in the 10th and, though Keon Broxton homered to tie the game again, San Diego scored twice more in the 11th for a 7-5 win
Yuniesky Betancourt: June 25, 2011, vs. Minnesota. It was already 6-1 when Betancourt delivered a solo homer against in the fifth. Delmon Young crashed hard into the wall chasing it and sprained his right ankle.
Carlos Gómez: May 28, 2011, vs. San Francisco. Gomez shot a ball down the right field line that rolled past the backhanded attempt of outfielder Cody Ross and trickled to the wall. The speedy Gómez flew around and dove head-first to the plate despite no throw. It gave the Brewers a 1-0 lead with one out in the first. The Brewers won on a Jonathan Lucroy squeeze in the ninth for a 3-2 win.
Rickie Weeks: Aug. 7, 2010, vs. Houston. Weeks led off the bottom of the first against Brett Myers, and Fielder later added an RBI groundout for a 2-0 start in a 5-2 win. Weeks’ deep drive to left-center caromed off the high part of the wall and rolled away from Jason Bourgeois, who had made a jumping attempt to catch it.
Corey Hart: June 4, 2008, vs. Arizona. Two batters after a Ryan Braun triple, Hart’s drive past a diving Justin Upton rolled to the wall, and he came all the way around to score on a three-run homer, part of a 10-1 win over the Diamondbacks.
Eric Young: May 11, 2003, at Cincinnati. The Reds had a 7-0 lead when Young hit a two-run inside-the-parker against Jeff Austin, though Cincy held on for a 7-5 win.
Robin Yount: May 3, 1990, vs. Kansas City. When the ball got past a diving Jim Eisenreich, Yount was able to score standing up for a three-run homer in the fourth, part of a 9-5 Brewers win and Yount’s final career inside-the-parker.
Mike Felder: Sept. 26, 1989, vs. Baltimore. In a 7-3 win, Jaime Navarro threw a complete game, and Felder led off the bottom of the first with an inside-the-parker against Dave Johnson.
Robin Yount: Sept. 13, 1988, at Chicago White Sox. Nieves threw a complete game one-hitter in a 4-0 win to back up Yount’s inside-the-parker in the first.
Robin Yount: June 19, 1982, at Detroit. Yount already had a two-run homer in the first when he hit a two-run inside-the-parker in the second, part of a 10-3 win.
Jim Gantner: Sept. 13, 1980, vs. Seattle. His three-run homer off the fence turned a 5-0 lead into an 8-0 lead in the eighth.
Robin Yount: June 14, 1980, vs. Kansas City. His two-run homer took team’s 3-2 lead and made it 5-2 in second inning, which wound up as the final score. John Wathan slammed into the wall trying to catch it.
Ben Oglivie: May 21, 1980 vs. Seattle. Seattle scored five in the eighth for a 6-5 win, but it wasn’t Oglivie’s fault. He hit two home runs, once over the wall in the sixth and again with an inside-the-parker in the eighth to give his team a 4-1 lead.
Robin Yount: June 1, 1979, at Kansas City. His homer made it 3-2 in the top of fifth when Willie Wilson misplayed the ball. The Brewers won on a two-run Lezcano double in the eighth, 5-4.
John Briggs: June 19, 1973, vs. Boston. Briggs delivered against former Brewer Marty Pattin in the bottom of the second to tie game at 1-1. Darrell Porter hit a home run later in the inning, but Pattin faced the minimum over the final six innings. Boston scored three in the eighth and four in the seventh to win, 8-4.
Dave May: June 11, 1973, at Minnesota. A two-run home run in the top of the third broke a 1-1 tie, getting past future Brewer Larry Hisle’s attempt at a shoestring catch. Milwaukee, winners of nine of 10 at that point, won the game 10-6.
Tommy Harper: June 13, 1970, at Cleveland. Harper came around for a three-run inside-the-parker that pulled Brewers to within 7-5, but Milwaukee lost 10-6.
A first version of this story published in 2020. JR Radcliffe can be reached at (262) 361-9141 or jradcliffe@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JRRadcliffe.
