Rusber Estrada's four-homer night powers Charleston's record-setting rout

Rusber Estrada turned Charleston’s 26-2 win over Lexington into a record-book overhaul, going 5-for-6 with five runs scored, seven RBI, four home runs and 18 total bases. The catcher homered in four consecutive at-bats on July 17, 2024, becoming the first player in Atlantic League history to hit four home runs in a game.

Estrada’s ninth-inning double pushed him to 18 total bases, three more than the previous league standard, and gave him five extra-base hits in a game that the Atlantic League said left him alone atop multiple single-game records. Charleston finished with 61 total bases, a league record, while also tying league marks with nine home runs, 26 RBI and 16 extra-base hits. The 24-run margin of victory was the largest in Atlantic League history.

The scope of the outburst was not limited to Estrada. Charleston’s lineup produced hits across the board, and the game was wrapped up in nearly three hours, a pace that only underscored how quickly the score spun out of control. Even in a league built on offense, the combination of four homers from one hitter and a team line that reached 61 total bases is the kind of box score that becomes shorthand for an entire era.

Charleston’s next offensive eruption showed the same ceiling from a different angle. In a 17-16 win over Long Island in 12 innings, the Dirty Birds hit 10 home runs and tied the professional baseball record. James Nelson, Keon Barnum, Chad Sedio and Alsander Womack each hit two, while Zach Daniels and Joseph Rosa added one apiece. Andy Shea, Charleston’s owner and CEO, called it an “incredible team accomplishment.”

The Atlantic League has long sold itself as a place where extreme games can happen because the league is filled with experienced professionals. Founded in 1998 by Frank Boulton, it became MLB’s first Professional Partner League in 2019 and says more than 40 percent of its players have major league service time. The league also says it has grown to 10 teams in 2026 and has drawn nearly 50 million fans all time.

That history helps explain why the league’s record pages still matter. Charleston’s 10-homer game matched the professional mark previously reached by the Toronto Blue Jays against the Baltimore Orioles on Sept. 14, 1987. In the Atlantic League, though, Estrada’s four-homer night and Charleston’s 24-run rout now stand as the clearest benchmarks for just how far one offense can stretch the game.