The St. Louis Cardinals broke out of their four-game losing streak in powerful fashion, launching a quintet of home runs in their 10-3 drubbing of the Philadelphia Phillies at Busch Stadium Monday evening.
Researcher Tom Orf points out that Monday was the first time in Cardinals team history that the hitters in the sixth (Matt Adams), seventh (Aledmys Diaz), eighth (Kolten Wong) and ninth spots (Adam Wainwright (see photo) and Randal Grichuk) in the batting order went deep in the same contest.
With their 40 home runs through 26 games, the Cardinals are the improbable long ball leaders across all of MLB. As such, it may not be surprising that the five-home run burst is not the team’s highest output this season. St. Louis blasted six home runs off Cincinnati pitching on April 15.
Even with their early success, the 2016 Cardinals still have something to shoot for, however. While the April 15 outburst is tied for second all-time and Monday night’s five-homer game is among the top 13 in club history, one contest remains alone on top.
On May 7, 1940 at Sportsman’s Park against the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Cardinals blasted a team-record seven home runs. They were struck by catcher Don Padgett, second baseman Eddie Lake (two), first baseman Johnny Mize (two), third baseman Stu Martin and left fielder Ducky Medwick. Mize and Medwick have permanent plaques in Cooperstown.
Here are the top 13 home run games in Cardinals team history, ranked by number of home runs and date, courtesy of Orf. Note that while four clubs from the same year appear on the list twice, no team has hit at least five home runs three times in a season – at least not yet. The 2016 Cardinals still have five months of play ahead.
| Date | Opp | Rslt | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO |
| 5 07 40 | BRO | W 18-2 | 43 | 18 | 20 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 18 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 15 16 | CIN | W 14-3 | 39 | 14 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 14 | 4 | 5 |
| 4 09 00 | MIL | W 11-2 | 39 | 11 | 16 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 11 | 6 | 6 |
| 5 02 16 | PHI | W 10-3 | 38 | 10 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 4 | 7 |
| 6 06 13 | ARI | W 12-8 | 40 | 12 | 17 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 12 | 4 | 6 |
| 6 24 05 | PIT | W 8-1 | 33 | 8 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 2 | 6 |
| 9 20 00 | HOU | W 11-6 | 34 | 11 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 11 | 3 | 6 |
| 8 14 98 | PIT | W 10-5 | 30 | 10 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 6 | 5 |
| 4 14 98 | ARI | W 15-5 | 35 | 15 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 15 | 8 | 5 |
| 7 01 94 | COL | W 11-4 | 38 | 11 | 17 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 11 | 1 | 6 |
| 4 14 55 | MLN | W 8-7 | 42 | 8 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 6 |
| 1954-05-02 (1) | NYG | W 10-6 | 37 | 10 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 5 | 6 |
| 1940-09-08 (1) | PIT | L 14-16 | 41 | 14 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 14 | 7 | 0 |
Follow me on Twitter.