St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt. Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Cardinals' Paul Goldschmidt caps historic month with 23rd extra base hit

By Adam Stites | Last updated 5/31/22

St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt was about as hot as it gets at the plate during the month of May.

Goldschmidt, 34, finished the month with a .404 batting average, .471 on base percentage, 13 doubles, 10 home runs, 33 RBI and 14 walks. He became the first Cardinals player since Hall of Famer Stan Musial in 1953 to finish a calendar month with at least 10 home runs and a batting average over .400. With a double to right center field in the third inning Tuesday night, Goldschmidt broke a Cardinals record by hitting his 23rd extra base hit of the month.

The streak continues! pic.twitter.com/cDNKUIQpR1
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) June 1, 2022

Musial (May 1954) and Albert Pujols (May 2003) were previously tied for the franchise record with 22 extra base hits in a month.

In the 10th inning Tuesday, the San Diego Padres decided to intentionally walk Goldschmidt rather than give him the chance at his second walk-off in eight days. Albert Pujols instead got to do the honors two hitters later with a sacrifice fly to left that brought home Tommy Edman.

Goldschmidt will bring a 22-game hit streak into June as well as a 36-game on base streak. His hit streak is still 11 games short of Roger Hornsby's franchise-record 33-game streak, and Goldschmidt needs to get on base in 19 more games to catch Musial's record of 55 games.

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