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King Conger! Astros’ catcher hits 2nd grand slam, drive in five

September 4, 2015

Houston Astros’ Hank Conger watches the ball go over the wall for a grand slam against the Minnesota Twins in the fourth inning of a baseball game Friday, Sept. 4, 2015, in Houston. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)

Hank Conger hit a grand slam as the Houston Astros beat the Minnesota Twins 8-0 on Friday night.

The 27-year-old Korean American, whose Korean name is Choi Hyun, upped the lead to 7-0 with the grand slam in the fourth into the Crawford Boxes in left field. After Evan Gattis, Jed Lowrie and Carlos Gomez led off the inning with singles, Twins starter Mike Pelfrey (6-9) struck out the next two hitters to set up Conger’s second grand slam of the season.

Conger, who had not hit a grand slam before this season, hit his first career grand slam Aug. 1, against Arizona Diamondbacks. He added an RBI single in the eighth.

The grand slam was Conger’s 10th home run of the season, giving the Astros 10 players with 10 or more home runs, breaking the franchise record of nine set in 2000. This is the first time Conger has reached double-digits in home runs in a single season.

The major league record is 11 players with 10 or more home runs set by the Detroit Tigers in 2004.

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*AP materials were used in this article.