Mauer’s Monday feat was historic
KANSAS CITY — Joe Mauer’s 5-for-5 night at the plate with seven RBIs on Monday was not only an impressive feat, it was rare as well.
Mauer became just the third catcher in history to go 5-for-5 and record at least seven RBIs. And while there was a lot of focus around baseball on the no-hitter thrown by former Twin Matt Garza on Monday night, Mauer’s feat is actually much less common.
According to the Twins’ baseball communications department, there have been 159 no-hitters compared to 23 games in which a player has tallied five-plus hits and seven-plus RBIs since 1952. That averages out to one no-hitter every 718.4 games and a player delivering a five-or-more hit game with seven-or-more RBIs once every 4966.3 games.
The night was just a culmination of some successful hitting for Mauer of late. The catcher is batting .386 since the start of the second half and .318 in the month of July.
“He gets five hits all the time, doesn’t he?” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire joked on Tuesday. “That’s the way it seems to us. Last night they all fell in and everything. We’re kind of on the side that he hits it pretty good all the time. For him to get five hits is great for his numbers and all those things. We see him hit it so hard all the time that it doesn’t surprise us.”