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MLB players hit five grand slams on 5/5

By Alex Butler
Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant hit a grand slam against the St. Louis Cardinals when his team already had a 9-2 lead against its National League Central rivals. Chicago nows tops the division after a three-game sweep of St. Louis. Photo by Kamil Krzaczynski/UPI
Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant hit a grand slam against the St. Louis Cardinals when his team already had a 9-2 lead against its National League Central rivals. Chicago nows tops the division after a three-game sweep of St. Louis. Photo by Kamil Krzaczynski/UPI | License Photo

May 6 (UPI) -- The No. 5 played a big role in Major League Baseball on May 5, with five players hitting five grand slams.

The 5/5 slamfest included moonshots from Alex Bregman, Jay Bruce, Xander Bogaerts, Hunter Renfroe and Kris Bryant.

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Seattle Mariners left fielder Jay Bruce got the Cinco de Mayo party started. Bruce stepped up to the plate as the fifth batter of the game in the first inning of the Mariners' 10-0 win against the Cleveland Indians.

He settled in against Indians starter Cody Anderson. Bruce worked a 2-2 count against the right-handed pitcher before belting his seventh offering over the right center field fence for a 392-foot blast. The bases-loaded shot had a launch angle of 30 degrees and an exit velocity of 103 mph, according to Statcast.

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"I thought it was huge because it swung momentum our way early and it put [starting pitcher Erik Swanson] ahead right off the bat," Bruce told reporters, according to MLB.com.

"This has been an odd season for me so far -- not a lot of results -- but I'm doing what I can. I expected so much more, so I have been frustrated, for sure."

Bruce is tied for the American League lead with 11 homers on the season.

Xander Bogaerts hit the second grand slam of the day about four hours after Bruce's blast. The Red Sox shortstop went yard in the eighth inning of the Red Sox's 9-2 win against the Chicago White Sox on Sunday at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago.

Boston and Chicago were tied 2-2 entering the eighth inning. Mitch Moreland gave the Red Sox a 3-2 lead with an RBI single in the third at-bat of the inning. Eduardo Nunez singled in Michael Chavis for the Red Sox's fourth run of the game before Andrew Benintendi took a walk with the bases loaded.

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The bases remained juiced for Bogaerts as he stepped into the box to face Chicago reliever Juan Minaya. The White Sox righty threw a 94.3 mph fastball for a strike, before lobbing in a changeup. Bogaerts belted the offering over the left field fence for a 356-foot shot. The homer had a launch angle of 30 degrees and an exit velocity of 92 mph, according to Statcast.

Alex Bregman hit the next grand slam within the same hour, but his bases-loaded bomb came from more than 1,500 miles away from Chicago as the Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Angels 10-4 on Sunday at Estadio de Beisbol Monterrey in Monterrey, Mexico.

The Angels led 3-2 entering the top of the fifth frame. Robinson Chirinos, George Springer and Jose Altuve were on the base paths when Bregman stepped up with two outs in the inning. He took two balls from relief pitcher Cam Bedrosian before smacking his third offering to center field for his ninth home run of the season. The bomb had an exit velocity of 103 mph, according to Statcast.

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Renfroe hit the next bases-loaded slam a few hours later. That blast was of the game-winning variety in the San Diego Padres' 8-5 victory against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday at Petco Park in San Deigo. Renfroe stepped up to the plate to pinch hit in the ninth inning. He ended up taking Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen deep, clearing the left field wall for a 429-foot walk-off shot.

The blast had an exit velocity of 106 mph and a launch angle of 27 degrees, according to Statcast.

Chicago Cubs star Kris Bryant capped off the grand slam bonanza with a blast about three hours later in the eighth inning of a 13-5 win against the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

The star third baseman stepped into the box with his team leading 9-2. Bryant worked a 2-2 count against Cardinals reliever Dominic Leone. The Cardinals righty threw a 93.9 mph fastball for his fifth pitch of the exchange. Bryant obliterated the offering to center field for a 417-foot homer. The blast had a launch angle of 30 degrees and an exit velocity of 101 mph, according to Statcast.

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Bryant was 2-for-4 with four RBIs, two runs scored and a walk in the Cubs' lopsided victory over their National League Central counterparts.

"I really wanted that at-bat," Bryant told reporters, according to MLB.com. "Some people don't want that last at-bat, sometimes, when you're not going great. But I feel great. I really wanted it. I'm seeing the ball good. I got it in the air. It was just good. It felt really good to see results after all the hard work that I've been putting in."

The Cubs now lead the division after the three-game sweep of the Cardinals. Chicago takes a seven-game winning streak into a home series against the Miami Marlins, starting at 8:05 p.m. on Monday in Chicago.

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