Hey Now, You're An (AL) All-Star

The All-Star break is upon us again, and for the last several years, our tradition here at Kernels has been to steal a page from MLB and select one "All-Star" from every team. This year we've split it into two posts; be sure to check out our National League team as well. But proving that we do scour every boxscore every day, we've come up with each team's most notable performance just from the past week.


Baltimore Orioles: Adam Jones, CF

Jones came through on Sunday (for the team, and for us, since we didn't have an Orioles note yet) with a pair of homers in an 11-5 victory in Minnesota. Jones was just the second Oriole this season to have a 2-HR, 5-RBI game, and the other was by a pinch hitter. Trey Mancini did it on June 7; that was the 11-inning game with Pittsburgh where he tied it in the 9th and then walked off.

Although Manny Machado had two homers and four RBIs on Friday, Jones was the first Oriole to have a two-homer, five-RBI game against Minnesota since Miguel Tejada did it at the Metrodome on September 18, 2004.


Boston Red Sox: Andrew Benintendi, LF

Depending on which post you read first, you may already know that Benintendi dominated Tuesday's 11-4 win in Texas with a five-hit, two-homer, six-RBI game. (Daniel Murphy posted a similar line in Washington earlier in the day to earn the Nationals' nomination.) Only three players younger than Benintendi have ever posted five hits and six RBIs; Andruw Jones of the Braves owns all kinds of "youngster" records from 1999. He's followed by the Giants' Jimmy O'Connell in 1923 and some guy for the Yankees named Joe DiMaggio in 1937. DiMaggio was the only one to also score four runs as Benintendi did. And that three-part line (5 H, 6 RBI, 4 R) has only been done three times in Red Sox history, by anyone of any age. Jackie Bradley Jr. had his breakout five-hit game from the 9-hole in August two years ago; the only other such game belongs to Fred Lynn against the Tigers on June 18, 1975.

"Beni" and "JBJ" were the 6- and 7-hitters in Tuesday's hitfest, but Christian Vazquez and Tzu-Wei Lin (the 8- and 9-) also had three hits on Tuesday. It marked the first time in (at least) the live-ball era that the 6 thru 9 hitters for the Red Sox all had three hits in the same game.


Chicago White Sox: Jose Quintana, SP

Quintana needed 103 pitches to get through 5.1 innings against the Rockies on Saturday, but he left with a 4-3 lead after striking out 10 batters. Tommy Kahnle would promptly blow the save but also get the win when Tim Anderson homered to lead off the top of the 9th. Quintana thus became the first White Sock to hit double-digit strikeouts in less than six innings since Alex Fernandez did it at Texas on April 22, 1996. But he became the first to do it and not get a win since May 16, 1985, when Floyd Bannister gave up back-to-back doubles to Cal Ripken and Eddie Murray of the Orioles to start the 6th. Bannister left trailing 3-2, the White Sox failed to score in B6, and then the game was called by rain.


Cleveland Indians: Carlos Carrasco, SP

Carrasco, like some others we've seen this year (and written about) is one of those pitchers who just leaves it over the plate and dares you to hit it. Those are the ones who end up with strange lines such as Carrasco posted on Friday: Nine hits allowed, but also 11 strikeouts and thus only two runs. He got his 10th win of the year as a result.

No Indians pitcher had gotten to 9 and 11 in the same game since Charles Nagy did it in the second year at Jacobs Field, and also against the Tigers. He won that 6-2 contest on August 26, 1995.

Friday's game also featured the year's fifth "immaculate inning", described appropriately in the record book as "three strikeouts on nine pitched balls". Nick Castellanos, Mikie Mahtook, and Jose Iglesias all went down swinging in the 5th. There were just three such innings in the previous two seasons combined, and Carrasco is just the second Clevelander known to have one. Justin Masterson did it against the Red Sox on June 2, 2014.


Detroit Tigers: Dixon Machado, SS

The 25-year-old Machado has been driving I-75 from Detroit to Toledo a lot the past couple seasons, but in 2017 he's stayed up for the entire year so far. He's used sparingly; Thursday was his 33rd game (of the Tigers' 84) but it brought about his first major-league home run, a two-run shot off the Giants' Chris Stratton (who, coincidentally, was making his first major-league start). By virtue of San Francisco being in the other league, Machado was just the second Tigers number-9 hitter ever to homer against the Giants; Ryan Raburn did so on June 17, 2008.

But Thursday marked Machado's 65th game in the majors, all with Detroit. That was the longest homerless streak to start a Tigers career since Hernan Perez made his debut in 2012 and never went yard before getting DFA'd in May 2015... after sixty-six games. (Oddly, Perez was waived four days after Machado's debut, though there's no indication that the two infielders were "exchanged" for each other.) The last longer streak was by outfielder Nook Logan, who went exactly 100 games into his Tigers career before picking up his first tater in June 2005.


Houston Astros: George Springer, CF; Jose Altuve, 2B; Josh Reddick, RF

Any of their games individually would have been really good, but it's the combination that was noteworthy in Tuesday's 16-4 thumping of Atlanta. The top three in the Astros' order, each of them ended up with three hits including a home run, and they combined for 10 hits, nine RBIs, and eight runs scored. It was the first game in Astros history where the top three in the order each had three hits including a homer.

Reddick's homer in that game was a 9th-inning grand slam to turn an 8-run lead into a 12-run lead. There had only been one other such slam in team history; Jim Wynn hit it at Shea Stadium on July 30, 1969, to cap an 11-run 9th inning. (Fred Gladding, who entered when it was 5-3, got a save.)

Springer added four more hits, four more runs, and five RBIs as the Astros moved on to Toronto on Friday. Only four Houstonians have ever had that line, and Springer is the first to do it from the leadoff spot. Jeff Bagwell (2001), Cesar Cedeño (1976), and Lee May (1973) were the others.

Honorable mention to Carlos Correa, who nearly duplicated Springer's line in Sunday's 19-1 outburst which set an Astros record for victory margin. Correa only scored three runs as opposed to Springer's four, but even with that slightly-lowered threshold, no two Astros had ever had that line in the same season, much less in three days.


Kansas City Royals: Salvador Perez, C

Few things stir a reaction from east-coast baseball fans like "extra innings in Seattle". Perez made sure we didn't stay up too late on Wednesday, hitting a two-run shot in the top of the 10th to ultimately win the game 9-6. Amazingly, that was the first extra-inning home run ever hit by a Royals player in Seattle, whether at Safeco, the Kingdome, or yes, even Sick's Stadium which was home to the '69 Pilots.

Perez was also the first Royals catcher to hit a go-ahead homer in extras since Matt Treanor's 3-run walkoff against the Angels on April 3, 2011.


Los Angeles Angels: Ricky Nolasco, SP

We did specify "notable". Which around here doesn't always mean "good". The Angels scored just 16 runs in their six games this week, lost four of them, and the wins were a 2-1 and a 3-0. The losses were, well, not that close. In fact our "notable" tag falls to Nolasco for allowing eight runs to the Rangers on Friday-- all with two outs-- and getting pulled without finishing the 2nd inning. Back-to-back homers by Adrian Beltre and Rougned Odor were the last straw.

Only three pitchers in Angels history have allowed eight earned runs and a pair of homers while getting five outs or fewer. Tim Lincecum did it last July while attempting a comeback (after two more starts that were only slightly better, the Angels DFA'd him), and Don Sutton dropped that line against the Mariners on April 15, 1986.


Minnesota Twins: Max Kepler, RF

Speaking of Angels losses, their first one of the week was a 9-5 decision on Monday against the Twins. That's a game in which the top four in the Minnesota lineup combined for 11 hits and seven RBIs. 24-year-old Max Kepler, who was optioned back and forth to triple-A for most of last season, is now entrenched as their cleanup batter, and he chipped in four of those hits including a solo homer. In the past 85 years, only one younger cleanup batter for the Twins/Senators has had a four-hit game that included a homer, and that was Miguel Sano on May 22. Before that the trail goes to 23-year-old future Hall of Famer Joe Cronin in July 1930.


New York Yankees: Clint Frazier, LF

In a month where the Yankees have won just two games out of eight so far, this one was fairly obvious. After being no-hit by Brent Suter for four innings, Frazier broke that up with a 5th-inning single, and then tripled in a run in the 7th to get the Bronx Bombers within 1. After two walks in the bottom of the 9th, Frazier hit a three-run walkoff homer, the Yankees' first one against Milwaukee since before Frazier was born. Roberto Kelly's solo shot on September 18, 1991, was the prior one, owing largely to the Brewers' move to the NL.

Melky Cabrera was the last Yankee younger than 23 to hit a walkoff homer, doing so on July 18, 2006, against the Mariners. His, however, was a solo shot. The last Yankee younger than Frazier with a multi-run walkoff homer was none other than Mickey Mantle, who did it against the Red Sox on April 23, 1953, at age 21½.

And remember that 7th-inning RBI triple? That made Frazier just the second player in Yankees history to have a three-bagger and a walkoff home run in the same game. The other is someone named Babe Ruth, against the White Sox on August 18, 1922 (the Yankees' last year at the Polo Grounds before Ruth built a "house" of some type).


Oakland Athletics: Franklin Barreto, SS

Wouldn't you know it, New York and Oakland are next to each other alphabetically. And it turns out Clint Frazier wasn't the only player this week to have a triple and a walkoff homer in the same game. He wasn't even the first player younger than 23. On Tuesday against the White Sox, Barreto drove in a run with a three-bagger in the 4th, then walked off on a solo shot with one out in the 9th.

We'd love to say that the last Oaklander to have a triple and a walkoff homer was some all-time great like Rickey Henderson or Reggie Jackson or Bert Campaneris. It's Mark Canha, who did it on May 19 against Boston. Shrug. But the fact that both of them did it does create a note; it's the first time in Athletics history (to 1901) that two players did it in the same year.

And Barreto just turned 21 in February. He's the youngest Athletics batter with a triple and a homer (never mind the walkoff part) in the same game since Elmer Valo on May 30, 1942. And he's the youngest with a walkoff homer (never mind the triple) since an all-time great, Jimmie Foxx against the Indians on May 14, 1928.


Seattle Mariners: Jean Segura, SS

The AL West tends to give us a lot of snoozefests, so Segura's game on Thursday was really the Mariners' only notable line of the week. As the leadoff man, Segura came up with four hits including a double, but thanks to a caught-stealing and Ben Gamel (who batted after him) going 0-for-4, he never made it beyond second base. He's the first Mariners leadoff hitter to have four hits but score zero runs and drive in zero runs since... Jean Segura did it on May 30 against the Rockies. And that makes him the first Mariner ever to have that line twice in a season. The only other player in team history to do it twice was Ichiro Suzuki, whose games came four years apart in 2005 and 2009.


Tampa Bay Rays: Mallex Smith, CF

Mallex was the one-man offense for the Rays on Wednesday as they dropped a 7-3 decision to the Cubs at Wrigley. Smith had half of Tampa Bay's eight hits in the game, and driven in by Corey Dickerson and Evan Longoria after him, also scored all three Rays runs. He's the first (Devil) Ray with four hits and three runs scored in a loss since Dioner Navarro did it at Fenway on September 11, 2007, and the first ever to do it out of the leadoff spot.

Smith was also the first leadoff batter in team history to score every run for the Rays in a game where they scored at least 3. Only one other leadoff batter in the majors has pulled that off in the last six seasons; that was Jonathan Villar of the Brewers in a 9-3 loss at Arizona last August.


Texas Rangers: Nomar Mazara, RF

Our parade of "youngsters" continues with the 23-year-old Mazara scoring three runs and driving in three runs as the Rangers laid their biggest shutout ever on Anaheim, 10-0 on Friday. (The Senators did drop 13-0 on the Angels once, on June 2, 1965.)

Only three players younger than Mazara had ever had three runs and three RBIs for the Rangers or Senators; Joey Gallo did it in his memorable MLB debut on June 2, 2015. The others, as with most Texas age-related things, were Adrian Gonzalez (2004) and Ruben Sierra (1987).

Honorable mention for "quirkiness" to Andrew Cashner, who on Wednesday became the second pitcher in team history to throw seven-plus innings of three-hit ball, allow zero earned runs, and yet also give up a homer. Xander Bogaerts' 6th-inning tater came after a two-out error extended the inning.

The other Rangers pitcher to do that was knuckleballer Charlie Hough at Detroit on August 30, 1987-- a game in which he gave up seven runs, but none were earned because catcher Geno Petralli set a single-game record with six! passed balls.


Toronto Blue Jays: Russell Martin, C

Catchers aren't known for their speed, mainly because their knees are all shot. So it's unusual when one bats toward the top of the order (Buster Posey also being a notable exception), and also unusual when they leg out a bunch of hits. Martin did both of those on Thursday when he hit two singles and a solo homer in the Jays' 7-4 win over Houston. Only one other Toronto catcher has ever had three hits including a homer from either of the top two spots in the order. Ernie Whitt, who like Martin batted second, had a pair of solo dingers in an extra-inning win at Yankee Stadium on August 11, 1988.

Honorable mention to Ezequiel Carrera, who put the "1" in Sunday's 19-1 loss to Houston... with a solo homer with two outs in the 9th inning. The Blue Jays had never homered at any point in a game when trailing by more than 16 (Darrin Fletcher did that in a 23-1 loss to Baltimore on September 28, 2000). And it's the first home run in (at least) the live-ball era to be hit with 2 outs in the 9th inning and the batter's team trailing by 19 or more.


Did You Know?

Joe Cronin may have been the next-youngest player for the Twins/Senators to have a four-hit game from the cleanup spot, but the one before him was another Hall of Famer, Goose Goslin. Goslin pulled it off four times as a 23-year-old during the Senators' lone title year in 1924. One of those games, on August 28, was against the Yankees. And while "hitting for the cycle" didn't become a big thing until around the 1960s, Goslin did it in that game. It remains the last cycle by the Twins/Senators against the Yankees, and the last time a Yankee hit two homers but a player on the other team cycled against them. You may have guessed the Yankee with two homers that day. That was Babe Ruth too.