How Derek Lilliquist slugged two homers against Mets

From SABR member Mark Tomasik at RetroSimba on May 2, 2012:

Since 1900, no Cardinals pitcher has hit two home runs in a game. But their present pitching coach, Derek Lilliquist, did it when he was a pitcher for the Braves.

That’s just one of many facts to be found in the re-released updated version of “Great Hitting Pitchers”, originally published in 1979 as one of the first publications produced by the Society for American Baseball Research. The 2012 version, edited by L. Robert Davids, updated by Mike Cook, and aided by David Vincent, has an Ebook price of $5.99 and a paperback cover price of $9.95. Starting against the Mets on May 1, 1990, at Atlanta, Lilliquist earned the win by limiting New York to three hits over seven innings and hitting a pair of solo homers off Ron Darling in the Braves’ 5-2 victory.

“This guy is going to be the next Babe,” Braves manager Russ Nixon told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “He hit those balls hard.”

Lilliquist’s home runs, leading off the third and fifth innings, were two of four solo shots yielded by Darling in five innings. The others were hit by center fielder Oddibe McDowell and catcher Ernie Whitt.

“Everyone had told us how good a hitter he was and I went out tonight and proved it,” Darling said to the Associated Press. “We should have studied that chart on Lilliquist a little better.”

Read the full article here: http://retrosimba.com/2012/05/02/how-derek-lilliquist-slugged-two-homers-against-mets/



Originally published: May 3, 2012. Last Updated: May 3, 2012.