TV Land

Scooter found himself heavily involved with Kernels this week.
(Catherine Bulinski on Flickr / CC BY-ND 2.0)


The Muppet Show

We confess we didn't know the story behind Ryan Gennett's nickname until Tuesday night. But whether Ryan or Scooter, Gennett added his name to one of MLB's most exclusive clubs on Tuesday, becoming the 17th player ever to homer four times in one game, and very nearly the first ever to accomplish the elusive "home run cycle".

Gennett dropped a 2-out RBI single in the 1st inning for Cincinnati's first run of the night, but when he hit a grand slam in the 3rd we started paying attention. The Reds would eventually pile up nine earned runs off Adam Wainwright, tying a career high which was also set against Cincinnati (August 28, 2013) and knocking him from the game after Eugenio Suarez cleared the bases with a 4th-inning triple.

Gennett greeted Josh Gant with his second homer, a two-run blast to score Suarez, and already making him just the second Reds batter ever to have two homers and drive in seven runs against St. Louis. The other was none other than Johnny Bench in a 12-5 win on July 26, 1970, less than a month after the opening of Riverfront Stadium.

When Scooter hit a solo shot in the 6th he became the fourth player in Reds history with a 3-HR, 8-RBI game, the most recent being Forrest "Smoky" Burgess (nicknamed, most likely, after North Carolina's Great Smoky Mountains from which he hailed) on July 29, 1955. After the Reds went 1-2-3 in the 7th, Scooter would be up fourth in the next inning; two baserunners and one out would give him the chance at history.

Arismendy Alcantara grounded out. Scott Schebler walked. Alas Suarez whiffed to take the three-run homer out of play. But the walk extended the inning instead of leaving Scooter on deck to end the game. And sure enough, a liner to right-center just cleared the wall and "scooted" Gennett into the record books.

The two-run shot gave him 10 RBI, joining Mark Whiten in 1993 as the only players with four homers and ten driven in. Oddly, Whiten did it for the Cardinals against the Reds; Gennett did it for the Reds against the Cardinals. Anthony Rendon had the season's other 10-RBI game back in the Nationals' 23-5 lovefest on April 30; since RBI became an official stat in 1920, there have never been two such games in a season.

The Twittersphere couldn't help but notice that Gennett "called" his historic performance by wearing jersey number 4. Only one of the other 4-HR hitters can claim that, and that was Lou Gehrig (who hit his on June 3, 1932). (Partial credit to Mike Cameron who was #44 when he did it in 2002.)

And remember that inconspicuous RBI single from the 1st inning? That made Gennett just the sixth player ever with five hits and 10 RBI in a game (never mind the four homers). Rendon is another; before them were Fred Lynn (1975), Reggie Jackson (1969), Walker Cooper (1949), and Jim Bottomley (1924).

For a kid who didn't want to wear his seat belt, he certainly buckled down and made a name for himself.


Touched By An Angel

Anaheim leadoff batter Cameron Maybin collected three hits in Friday's 9-4 win over the Astros, but it was what he did after reaching base that got our attention. Maybin stole second base three times, and then third base once, to become just the fourth player in Angels history-- and first since Chad Curtis in 1993-- to swipe four bags in a game. He's the first of those four to also score four runs.

Oddly Maybin never had anyone on base before he came up, so he also got the dubious note of being the third leadoff batter in Angels history with three hits, four runs scored, but zero driven in. Mike Trout did it in June 2012, and David Eckstein was the first on September 5, 2002.

On Sunday Maybin was at it again, reaching three times (two singles and a walk), stealing twice, and scoring on all three trips as the Angels doubled up Houston 12-6. Add in his May 27 game against the Marlins, and Maybin has three games already this season where he reached three times, scored three times, and stole at least two bases along the way. The only other player in Angels history to post that line thrice in a season was Luis Polonia in 1991.


Wander Over Yonder

This is an animated Disney show about an "intergalactic traveler" who fights "Lord Hater"'s attempts to put the kibosh on people's fun. And what's more fun than a scheduled doubleheader? Before Saturday there hadn't been one since 2011, so the Athletics and Rays decided to even add one extra inning before Evan Longoria walked off Game 1 in the 10th. Obviously Longoria's most famous walkoff hit will forever be his line-drive homer to end the 2011 regular season, but this was his fourth in extra innings to give him the all-time Rays lead in that category. Travis Lee, Greg Vaughn, and Ben Zobrist each had three.

Although they lost the first game, Yonder Alonso went 3-for-5 with two doubles among the Athletics' 16 hits. Turns out he was just getting started. In Game 2, he recorded four singles for a total of seven hits on the day. The Athletics banged out 16 more hits, their first time reaching that mark in both games of a twinbill since August 30, 1942 (at Washington).

As for Yonder, it was only last season that Josh Reddick also had seven hits in a doubleheader (May 7 at Baltimore), but only one went for extra bases. The last Oaklander with seven hits and two extra-base knocks in a DH... wasn't an Oaklander. That would be Jerry Lumpe of the Kansas City Athletics, who also did it on August 20 and also against the Senators. That year was 1963, the Washington team was the second-iteration Sens, and Lumpe's second XBH was a walkoff home run to win Game 2 in the bottom of the 14th.


Twin Peaks

The Twins and Giants started a three-game set in San Francisco on Friday night, with Ervin Santana dominating his way to a four-hit shutout and the fourth "Maddux" of the year (a Maddux, named for Greg who did it at least 16 times, is an individual shutout on fewer than 100 pitches). Edinson Volquez's no-hitter last Saturday was one; Ivan Nova and Masahiro Tanaka have the others. Santana never faced more than four batters in a frame and never had an inning longer than 15 pitches. (For reference, most pitchers hope to average 15 an inning, not max out at it.)

Santana has already thrown three shutouts this season; no other pitcher has more than one. The last Twins hurler with three, allowing no more than four hits in any of them, was Scott Erickson in 1992. And thanks to being in the other league, only one other pitcher in franchise history ever threw an individual shutout against the Giants. That was Earl Whitehill in Game 3 of the 1933 World Series, when the Twins were the Washington Senators and the Giants were in New York.

Santana made just as many headlines on Friday for his bat. Playing in the NL park, he stepped to the plate for just the third game since joining the Twins, and the first time ever at AT&T (including his 2014 season with the Braves). In the 4th inning he ripped a bases-loaded double, the third XBH of his career, and plated three of Minnesota's ultimate total of four runs. Even in the 20 years of interleague play, no Twins pitcher had driven in three runs in a game since before the designated hitter rule was added. The last to do it was Luis Tiant against the newly-minted Milwaukee Brewers on May 28, 1970.

And Santana is just the sixth pitcher in franchise history to throw an individual shutout and drive in three runs at the plate. James "Mudcat" Grant did it against Cleveland on August 27, 1965. Since we're all about the nicknames today, "Mudcat" got his moniker at a minor-league tryout when another player thought he was from Mississippi (he's not) and called him that as somewhat of a pejorative. The other Twins/Senators to do it, incidentally: Jim Kaat (1963), Dean Stone (1954), Bob Porterfield (1953), and Irving "Bump" Hadley (1928).


Saved By The Bell
(Because we couldn't find a note involving Austin Slater and not go there.)

The Giants and Twins finished that series at AT&T Park with a Sunday slugfest in which the orange-and-black prevailed by a 13-8 count. Only once before had the Twins scored eight runs in an NL park and lost; that was an 11-10 affair at Wrigley Field in 1999.

The Giants collected 17 hits, nine of them for extra bases, but despite the hitter-friendly confines of South Beach, exactly zero of those hits were homers. The Giants hadn't had 9 XBH in a game without at least one homer since August 5, 1922, against the Cubs, and naturally at the Polo Grounds (with its 483-foot center field fence).

Buster Posey and (here he is) Austin Slater each had three hits and four runs batted in, but obviously neither of them homered. Only two other sets of Giants teammates had ever pulled that off in the same game: Marvin Benard and Matt Williams on June 5, 1996 (at Cincinnati); and Matty Alou and Harvey Kuenn in Pittsburgh on July 25, 1961.

Hunter Pence added three doubles, the first Giant to have two-baggers against three different pitchers in one game since Dave Roberts on August 3, 2007 (at San Diego).


Intermission
You know you have the theme song in your head now. Indulge the earworm.


Judge Aaron
(It may not have the title, but it's definitely a show.)

The Yankees unloaded on Orioles starter Chris Tillman on Saturday, batting around in a 6-run 1st inning that included homers by Aaron Judge and Didi Gregorius. Starlin Castro went deep in the 2nd to knock Tillman out of the game after nine earned runs and only four outs. Only one other pitcher in franchise history had that disastrous a start for the Orioles/Browns, Kurt Ainsworth against the Angels on May 14, 2004. And Tillman was only the fourth pitcher ever to allow 9 ER and three homers against the Yankees in 1⅓ or less; all did it in the Bronx. Jeremy Guthrie (2015) and Brian Bannister (2008) both did it as Kansas City Royals, and Travis Harper of the Rays was the first, in 2005.

Things wouldn't get a whole lot better against a parade of Orioles relievers; Gary Sanchez would also collect three hits and four RBIs en route to a 16-3 thumping. He, Judge, and Castro each ended with a home run, a double, at least three RBIs, and at least two runs scored. They were the first trio of Yankees to do that in the same game since RBI became an official stat in 1920. And the Yankees' total of 11 extra-base hits were the second-most by any team at the current Yankee Stadium; the Indians had 13 in the first homestand there in 2009, a game where they famously had a 14-run inning.

Court was in session again Sunday as the Yankees collected four more homers-- two by Judge-- and blew out Baltimore again, 14-3. The tallies marked the first time the Yankees had scored 14+ in consecutive games since July 21-22, 2007, against the Rays; and the first time the Orioles had given it up since June 15-16, 2001, to Philadelphia.

Just when the scoreboard operators at Yankee Stadium had put away the "6" from Saturday, they needed a "5" for Sunday's 1st inning as well. That marked the first time the Bronx Bombers had posted consecutive 5-run 1sts since August 25, 1939, when they swept a doubleheader from this same franchise (then the St. Louis Browns) at Sportsmans Park, 11-0 and 8-2.

Kevin Gausman, doing his best Chris Tillman impression, surrendered eight hits, six walks, and seven runs, the first Orioles starter to pull that off since Rick Sutcliffe against the White Sox on April 27, 1993. Throw on two wild pitches and it was a first in Orioles history (1954). Ned Garver was the last to do it for the Browns, in a complete-game win over the Tigers on May 15, 1949.

Judge added a double and a single on Sunday to become the first Yankee since Hideki Matsui in 2009 (August 13 at Seattle) with four hits, four runs scored, and two homers. And his friends Castro and Sanchez both homered again as well, creating a first in major-league history. The trio each had a homer and 3 RBIs on Saturday, then the same three players each had a homer and 3 RBIs on Sunday. No three players had ever done that in consecutive games. In fact, only two teams (the 1950 Red Sox and 1925 Pirates) ever had consecutive games where three teammates homered and drove in three, but in both those cases it was a different set of players in each game.


Max Headroom

We were still digesting Scooter Gennett's four-homer game when Max Scherzer decided to go on another strikeout spree in Los Angeles. Although the Dodgers got two singles, an error, and an unearned run in the 1st, Scherzer would record the first six outs of the game via the K, and then have a bizarre 3rd inning that involved a passed ball on strikeout number eight. By the 4th he had pitched 3⅔ innings with 11 K, but with a Corey Seager lineout mixed in. Only four other pitchers (Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, Zack Greinke, and Alex Cobb) have had 11 K through the first four innings of a game; even in Scherzer's historic 20-K game last year he "only" had nine.

Scherzer would be pinch-hit for in the 8th, finalizing his strikeout total at 14. And with that 1st-inning run being unearned, it gave the Nats their second 14-K, 0-ER performance in 11 days. Stephen Strasburg fanned 15 Padres on May 27; the Nationals are the first team in MLB history with two such games that close together.

And while last Saturday was the first day ever with a no-hitter (Volquez) and a 600th home run (Pujols), Tuesday was amazingly not the first day with a four-homer game and a 14-strikeout game. On July 6, 1986, Bob Horner of the Braves and Bobby Witt for the Rangers pulled off the same combo.

Scherzer would go on to strike out 10 more on Sunday, but wound up losing because Brian Goodwin's leadoff homer was the Nats' only scoring. It was the fifth time in his Washington career that Scherzer had fanned 10, allowed no more than two earned runs, and lost. Since the move in 2005, all other Nationals have three such games combined, and five ties the franchise "record" held, of course, by Pedro Martinez.


Chirinos, Texas Ranger

Unfortunately for the Nats, Scherzer can't pitch every single game, and the Rangers made a particular mess of the Nationals' bullpen on Saturday. Shin-Soo Choo led off the 9th with a solo homer to bring them within 1, Elvis Andrus singled, and a Nomar Mazara double sent the game to extras. It was the Nationals' 10th blown save of the year, seven of them in front of the home fans on South Capitol Street. They had only three at home all of last season, the fewest in the majors.

Robinson Chirinos then blasted a three-run homer in the 11th off Shawn Kelley to complete the comeback; it was the Rangers' first three- or four-run shot in extras since a Leonys Martin walkoff on July 30, 2013. And more notably, the last time the franchise hit any extra-inning dinger in Washington, it was the Washington team. Don Mincher's walkoff in the 15th gave the Second Senators (now the Rangers, of course) a win over Detroit on May 15, 1971.


Rio Bravo
(We know, it's a John Wayne movie, not a TV show. Don't @ us. But the title was too good not to use.)

Speaking of walkoffs, the Braves sent 23-year-old rookie Rio Ruiz up as a pinch hitter against the Mets on Friday. He promptly ripped the first pitch thrown by reliever Josh Edgin into left for a walkoff single that scored Dansby Swanson.

It was the first time the Braves had beaten the New Yorkers on a pinch hit since Cito Gaston singled home Glenn Hubbard on July 18, 1978. And Ruiz, by one day, missed becoming the second-youngest Braves player in the live-ball era with a walkoff pinch hit. Mickey O'Neil holds that mark (22 years 58 days) in the first year of said era, 1920, while Buddy Gremp (23-017) hit one to beat the Phillies on August 22, 1942.

Edgin, meanwhile, became the first Met to give up a walkoff hit on his first pitch since Mike Stanton served up a solo homer to Jose Vidro of the Expos on April 13, 2003.


Bottom Of The Bag

⋅ Corey Seager, Saturday: Youngest Dodger with a walkoff double since Pee Wee Reese also did it against Cincinnati on April 30, 1941.

⋅ Matt Szczur, Friday: First Padres batter to have an extra-base hit as a pinch hitter, stay in game, and have another extra-base hit, since Ken Caminiti against the Brewers on August 23, 1998.

⋅ Kyle Schwarber, Wednesday: First Cubs batter to have three extra-base hits while batting 9th since Hall of Fame pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander did it against the Phillies on June 20, 1925.

⋅ Steven Souza, Friday: Missed cycle by the double. Had missed it by the single on April 20, becoming first player in Rays history to record both those "near-cycles" (ever, not just in same season).

⋅ Craig Kimbrel, Tuesday: Recorded 5 K but only four outs because of a wild pitch on strike three. Also had a 4-K inning on May 25; first in (at least) live-ball era to have two games in same season with more strikeouts than actual outs.

⋅ Cubs, Friday: Scored 3 runs on only 3 total bases (nine walks helped). Last time they managed that was April 23, 1974, in a 5-3 loss to the Reds.

⋅ Rajai Davis, Wednesday: First Oaklander ever with 4 hits and 4 runs scored in a loss. Last to do it for the franchise was Norm Siebern when they were in Kansas City, August 8, 1960.

⋅ Kenta Maeda, Friday: Second Dodger this year to get a 4-inning save, joining Hyun-Jin Ryu (May 25). Last time the team had two in a season was 2000 (Alan Mills, Matt Herges).


One For The Road

How many chances will we have to link a freaky music video from 1986 that had Max Headroom in it? Not enough, is our answer. And yes, this charted.