Horner Hits Four Homers : But His Feat Isn’t Enough to Give Atlanta a Victory

There was just one out remaining Sunday at Atlanta when Bob Horner became only the 11th player in major league history to hit four home runs in a game.

Horner became the first player in 25 years to accomplish the feat in nine innings and it still wasn’t enough to win the game. The Montreal Expos completed the humiliation of the Braves’ pitching staff by hammering out an 11-8 victory.

Andre Dawson, Mitch Webster, who was 5 for 6, and Al Newman hit home runs for the Expos, who had 34 runs and 45 hits in the last three games over the weekend.

Horner, for almost a decade one of the top sluggers in the game, had never hit more than two home runs in a game. He hit home runs off Andy McGaffigan in the second, fourth and fifth innings and off Jeff Reardon with two out in the ninth. The fifth-inning smash came with two runners on. In the seventh, the 28-year-old right-handed hitter fouled out to first.

After his home run in the ninth, the crowd of 18,153, most of whom were still there, gave Horner a five-minute standing ovation. When it subsided, Reardon got Ken Griffey on a grounder to end the game.

The last major leaguer to hit four home runs in a game was Mike Schmidt of the Philadelphia Phillies in 1976. Schmidt hit his fourth in the 10th inning to win the game. Previously, in 1961, Willie Mays hit four in a nine-inning game at Milwaukee.

“It’s a day I’ll always remember,” Horner told United Press International. “Of course, I wish we had won the game, but it’s a day in my career as a ballplayer I’ll never forget.

“It’s hard to put my feelings into words. That last ball I didn’t think I hit hard enough to get out, but it went out.

“In my wildest dreams I never expected to do this. I had a good week today.

“The home run pitches were a fastball, two breaking balls and the last one off Reardon was another fastball. It’s just one of those things that can happen and you can’t explain it. I certainly don’t expect that to happen again anytime soon.”

The home runs came on a 1-2 count, a first pitch, a full count and again on the first pitch. Two of them went to left, the other two to left-center. Most teams play the Braves’ first baseman as a pull hitter.

Horner’s burst of power gives him a shot at his first home-run title. Two things have prevented Horner, who went straight from Arizona State University to the majors, from winning a home-run title. Without exception he has had terrible Aprils and, almost every season, he has spent a lot of time on the disabled list with various injuries.

So far this season he has avoided injuries, having missed just three games at the halfway point. He did not, however, avoid the April slump.

Horner opened the season by going 0 for 21. He was 8 for 49 with just two home runs after 18 games. Then, he started to show steady improvement.

With his 4-for-5 effort, he now has raised his average to .287 and he leads the Braves with 17 home runs and 55 runs batted in. His career highs are 35 home runs and 98 RBIs.

This was the season in which Horner expected to get off to a good start. The right wrist, broken in 1983 and again in 1984, was finally completely healed. After playing in only 32 games in 1984 because of the wrist, Horner, who began as a third baseman in 1978, underwent experimental surgery that involved a bone graft and a screw implant.

He admitted he played tentatively, because of the wrist, at times last season. Despite a painfully slow start, he finished with 27 home runs and 89 RBIs. After being switched from third to first in mid-season, he had a solid second half, hitting 16 home runs and driving in 51 runs.

“The wrist wasn’t even on my mind coming into this season,” Horner said. “I felt that all those injuries were behind me and I thought sure I would get off to a good start.

“One thing I don’t do is get discouraged after the slow start. I don’t like it, but by now I’m used to it. It’s not a comfortable feeling, knowing you aren’t contributing. But since I’ve been through those early slumps so often, I know that eventually, I will start to hit.”

There has been added pressure on Horner this season because the other half of the Braves’ powerful one-two punch, Dale Murphy, has been in a prolonged slump.

Last month Horner hit eight home runs and the Braves moved to within two games of first place in the West.

But the Expos came in and tore apart the pitching staff after David Palmer beat them, 3-1, last Thursday.

While the Expos were hammering the Brave pitchers, Murphy and Horner, too, were doing little. In the first three games, Murphy was 1 for 11, while Horner was 2 for 11. Horner broke loose on Sunday, but Murphy, batting ahead of him, went 0 for 5.

With the loss the Braves fell into fourth place in the West, 3 1/2 games out of first.

THE 4-HOMER CLUB

Bobby Lowe Boston (NL) May 30,1894 Ed Delahanty Phil.(NL) July 12, 1896 Lou Gehrig NY (AL) June 3, 1932 Chuck Klein* Phil. (NL) July 10, 1936 Pat Seerey** Chicago (AL) July 18,1948 Gil Hodges Brooklyn (NL) Aug. 31, 1950 Joe Adcock Milw. (NL) July 31, 1954 Rocky Colavito Clev. (AL) June 10, 1959 Willie Mays San Fran. (NL) Apr. 30, 1961 Mike Schmidt* Phil. (NL) Apr. 17, 1976 Bob Horner Atlanta (NL) July 6, 1986

*--10 innings **--11 innings