David Ross, Miguel Montero and Willson Contreras become first trio of catchers in history to hit home runs in the same postseason
The Cubs made a lot of history Saturday night at Wrigley Field. And the three Cubs’ catchers etched their names in baseball’s history books when Willson Contreras hit a solo home run off Clayton Kershaw in the fourth inning.
The Cubs are the first team in the history of the baseball to have three catchers hit home runs in the same postseason.
David Ross hit a solo home run in Game 4 of the NLDS that tied the game at one. Ross became the oldest catcher and oldest Cubs’ player to hit a home run in the postseason.
Miguel Montero was called on to pinch-hit for Aroldis Chapman with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning of Game 1 of the NLCS. The Dodgers tied the game in the top half and had silenced the capacity crowd at Wrigley. Miggy changed that with one swing of the bat.
Montero became the first player in postseason history to hit a pinch-hit, go-ahead Grand Slam. Montero hit just the third pinch-hit Grand Slam in postseason history, joining Ricky Ledee (Yankees, 1999) and Mark Lewis (Reds, 1995). And Montero hit the fourth Grand Slam in postseason history at Wrigley Field, the first by a Cubs’ player.
Willson Contreras provided much-needed breathing room in the fourth inning of Game 6 of the NLCS. Contreras lined a homer down the left field line and gave the Cubs a 4-0 lead. Contreras supplied a big blast during a game in which he was calling a one-hit shutout. Contreras was behind the plate for all nine innings. Kyle Hendricks and Aroldis Chapman faced the minimum (27 batters) and allowed just two hits.
Contreras hit .400/.429/.550 (8-for-20) with a home run, four runs scored and four RBI for a .979 OPS in 10 games combined between the NLDS and NLCS. And Contreras drove in the tying runs in Game 4 of the NLDS and the game winner in Game 4 of the NLCS.
The Cubs catchers combined on a 30-100 regular season and contributed big hits in the postseason.