On July 27, 2009, Nationals’ outfielder Josh Willingham became the 13th – and so far the last — player to hit two grand slams in a game. He did it in consecutive at-bats in consecutive innings against the Brewers in Milwaukee.
The game was a highlight of Willingham’s career, but came during a lost season for the Nationals, already deep in last place at 30-68 when the night began. Josh’s eight RBIs, then a team record, were the difference in a 14-6 Washington victory. A crowd of 37,311 was on-hand at Miller Park to watch the Brewers fall a game under .500.
In addition to his two slams, Willingham also doubled. His 3-for-5 night r
aised his batting average to .298 and on-base percentage to .410. His average tailed off to .268 the rest of the way, but his OBP for the season was a healthy .389.
The homers were 15th and 16th of the 24 he hit for the 2009 Nats, who ended up 59-103, the second of two straight 100-loss seasons. Surprisingly, four regulars in the Nats lineup this night were hitting .295 or better.
Down 2-0 going to the fifth, the Nationals had tied the score off starter Jeff Suppan on a bases-loaded walk to Adam Dunn. Willingham then hit Suppan’s first pitch off the facing of the second deck in left-center to put the Nats ahead, 6-2.
The Brewers knocked out Washington starter Craig Stammen with three runs in the bottom of the fifth. Suppan was lifted in the sixth after yielding a two-run double to Cristian Guzman and an intentional walk to Ryan Zimmerman. Dunn greeted reliever Mitch Stetter with a ground-rule double to right-center, knocking in Guzman. Fortunately for Willingham, Zim was forced to stop at third.
After Stetter walked Nick Johnson, Mike DiFelice was summoned to face Willingham. On an 0-1 fastball, Josh hit his second slam over the Brewer’s bullpen in left-center to put the Nationals up, 13-5.
According to SABR’s Games Project story by Mike Huber, Willingham told reporters, “When I was coming up to the plate the second time, I knew I had a chance to do it….. I wasn’t trying to do it. But when the game is over and you look back on it – for years to come, when I look back on it – it’s going to be something that will be very special.”
“Willingham described both home runs as ‘driving-range shots,’” Chico Harlen of the Washington Post wrote. “I was just trying to get a good pitch to hit and hit it hard.”
A couple of weird coincidences surrounded Willingham’s two slams, Huber wrote. Rudy York of the Red Sox hit two grand slams on July 27, 1946, 63 years to the day before Willingham. Fernando Tatis, who in April 1999 became the first and only player to two hit two grand slams in the same inning, hit another grand slam as a pinch hitter the same night as Willingham’s two slams.
Of the 13 players who have hit two grand slams in the same game, Willingham became the sixth who did it in consecutive innings.
During a few different decades (1950s, 1980s, 2010s and — so far — 2020s), no player hit two grand slams in an inning. Tony Lazzeri of the Yankess was the first in 1936 to do it. One pitcher, Tony Cloninger of the Braves in 1966, hit two of them in a game; one switch hitter, Bill Mueller of the Red Sox in 2003, hit one from each side of the plate.
Mike Rizzo, in his second off-season as GM, gave up on Willingham a bit too soon. Josh was traded to Oakland in December 2010 for reliever Henry Rodriguez and outfielder Corey Brown, neither of whom panned out for the Nats.
Willingham. meanwhile, went on to have his best two seasons – 29 HRs and 98 RBIs for the A’s in 2011 and 35 HRs and 110 RBIs for the Twins in 2012, winning a Silver Slugger award after signing as a free agent.
Long-tenured Nick Johnson, who scored on one of Josh’s slams, was starting one of his final three games as a National. After the Nats played three more games in Milwaukee, Johnson was traded to the Marlins on July 31, 2009.
Starting pitcher Sammen went on to better things as a reliever for both the Nationals and the Padres, the team he was named to manage in 2027. He may be best remembered as a player, however, for yielding four consecutive home runs on June 9, 2019, to the Nationals’ Howie Kendrick, Trea Turner, Adam Eaton and Anthony Rendon.
Washington baseball history 