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Washington Nationals’ third baseman Anthony Rendon started Sunday’s series finale in the nation’s capital with a .226/.316/.250 line, two doubles, five RBIs, 11 walks and 19 Ks over the first 22 games and 95 plate appearances this season.
Six hits, three home runs, five runs scored, and 10 RBIs later, the 26-year-old, 2011 1st Round pick had a .278/.356/.411 line, three doubles, three homers, 15 RBIs, 11 walks and 19 Ks on the season, with
Rendon went 6 for 6 with three home runs, five runs scored and 10 RBIs in the Nats’ 23-5 win over the New York Mets in Nationals Park.
GET AN ANTHONY RENDON 6 FOR 6, 3 HR, 10 RBIs TOPPS NOW CARD
Dusty Baker was asked after the win if that was the kind of game that could get the previously scuffling infielder going.
“Well, it can take you from .240 to .280 in a hurry,” Baker said, guesstimating and coming close to Rendon’s actual average before and after the game.
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“Especially this early in the season and it couldn’t happen to a finer guy. I think last year he had one home run and maybe one RBI in the whole month, but he finished extremely strong this month, in April.”
Rendon did indeed finish April of 2016 with one run batted in and a .242/.310/.286 line, four doubles, nine walks and 12 Ks in 23 games and 100 PAs.
He went on to put up a .275/.355/.481 line, 34 doubles, 20 HRs, 85 RBIs, 56 walks and 105 Ks over the next 133 games and 547 PAs last season.
Rendon’s 10 RBIs on Sunday were the most in a single game since 2007 when Garret Anderson of the Los Angeles Angels did the same.
And then there’s this via @NationalsPR:
“According to the Elias Sports Bureau, “only one other player drove in at least 10 runs in a so-called ‘perfect day at the plate’ — that is, every at-bat resulting in a hit: Jim Bottomley, who went 6-for-6 with two homers and 12 RBIs at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn in 1924. Bottomley’s record of 12 RBIs in one game was equaled only once, by Mark Whiten, and never surpassed.”
Rendon finished the month strong. Bryce Harper has been strong from the start this season after a “down year” in 2016.
With a 2 for 4 game against the Mets, in which Harper walked twice, hit a home run, and scored four runs, he set an MLB record for runs scored in the month of April, with 32, passing Larry Walker, who scored 29 times in April of 1997.
GET A BRYCE HARPER MLB RECORD FOR RUNS IN APRIL CARD
Harper finished the month of April with a .391/.509/.772 line, eight doubles, nine home runs, 22 walks and 20 Ks in 25 games and 114 PAs.
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Informed that Harper set the major league mark for runs scored in a month, Baker joked that, “He was on base enough.”
The Nationals’ skipper also noted that it’s not Harper alone in the lineup getting it done.
“When you’ve got a guy as hot as [Ryan Zimmerman] has been, he’s driving in Bryce a lot,” Baker said.
“And then you’ve got [Daniel Murphy] after him, who’s also driving in Zim or Harper, and so it was nice to see Anthony get going today, so we just have to build on it and we’ve got a long way to go and hopefully a lot more runs to score.”
Rendon and Harper, as you might have noticed above, got the Topps NOW treatment for their big days in Nationals Park.
FROM TOPPS: Topps NOW offers trading cards featuring MLB's best moments immediately after they occur. Topps will print and deliver only the amount that is purchased within the allotted 24-hour time frame.