A mere three decades from now, binary fans the world over will be getting ready to welcome the year 100000000000. If you can't wait until 2048 (or are skeptical that it will even exist), we've got your 1's and 0's right here. Not to mention some "stars".
The Complete Dylan
Dylan Bundy must have read last week's post about one-hitters and said, hey, that looks like fun. Bundy, the Orioles' first-round pick in 2011, had shoulder surgery while trying to come back from elbow surgery and missed 2½ years, but made up for part of that on Tuesday with his first career complete game. And it wasn't just a CG, it was an SHO, and an SHO-1 at that. The lone hit was a 4th-inning bunt by Kyle Seager that Bundy himself ended up fielding.
The Orioles, who of course gave up five runs in nearly every game in June, hadn't even had a CG yet this year, and hadn't had an individual shutout since Miguel Gonzalez on September 3, 2014. That was the longest drought of any team in the majors, an honor which now passes to the Brewers (Kyle Lohse threw their most recent one three weeks later).
Bundy also struck out 12, becoming the second pitcher in Orioles history (1954) to throw an SHO-1 with a dozen K's. Mike Mussina did that against the Twins on August 1, 2000, with current Cubs broadcaster Ron Coomer breaking up the no-hit bid with a 7th-inning single.
Stephen's City
before this sign is a place named Stephens City. He seems like a good fit.
[Google Street View, US 522 SB, Front Royal, Va.]
Just down the road in Washington, another top draft pick couldn't just sit by and watch. Stephen Strasburg said, if the number-four pick in 2011 can do it, so can the number-one pick in 2010. On Wednesday he threw just the second complete game of his career; the other was in 2013 and was also a shutout (four-hitter vs Phillies).
Although Strasburg "only" struck out eight, which is exactly his average this season, he did Bundy one better. Thanks to being in the National League, Strasburg got to bat at Nationals Park. And in the 5th inning he broke a scoreless tie with the third home run of his career.
One of those other homers came on May 5 in Philadelphia; Strasburg joins Livan Hernandez in the Nationals' inaugural year (2005) as the only pitchers with two in a season. And he was the first Nats pitcher to break a scoreless tie by going deep since Gio Gonzalez on April 3, 2013.
But by finishing out the remainder of the game, Strasburg became just the second pitcher in franchise history to throw an individual (i.e., complete-game) shutout and homer in it. Floyd Youmans did it for the Expos against the Phillies on June 8, 1986 (won 12-0).
Royal Front
Before Bundy and Strasburg, the Kansas City Royals finished off a shutout streak of their own early this week. And not the good kind. After having three of their pitchers last week take no-hit bids into the 5th inning, Kansas City hung a different kind of zero. Repeatedly. With Monday's 12-0 loss to Tampa Bay, on the heels of a shutout sweep by the Indians, they created the first occurrence in team history of being blanked in four straight games. Counting the last seven frames of their August 22 game, the Royals went 43 innings without scoring, tying the American League record set by the St. Louis Browns in the same week 104 years ago (August 24 through 31, 1913).
The Sunday and Monday games-- both 12-0 losses, though to different opponents-- made the Royals just the second team in the last 100 years to lose consecutive shutouts by 12 runs or more. The St. Louis Browns got, well, "swept" may not be the word for it, in a doubleheader by the Tigers on September 22, 1936, by a combined score of 26-0. The Royals also managed just two hits in that Monday loss, and both of them happened to be extra-base hits by the same player (Lorenzo Cain had a pair of doubles). Only once before in team history had that happened; Billy Butler had a double and a homer in a 4-1 loss to Seattle on July 26, 2012.
Only nine other teams in history have been blanked in four straight games, and no one had done it since the Cubs in April 1992. Three of those eight probably qualify as expansion teams as well; the Astros did it in both 1963 and 1966, and the Second Senators pulled it off in 1964 en route to losing 100 games (that's really one hundred, not four in binary). And those Cubs were the only other team to break the shutout streak by scoring 6 or more in their next game, as the Royals did on Tuesday against Tampa Bay.
The Edge Of Seventeen
However, somehow all those Royals shutouts paled in comparison to Saturday. Although the score probably felt like 10001 to 0 (and in binary, it was!), the Twins somehow posted the largest shutout in franchise history (including the Senators, to 1901) on Saturday as they dominated the Royals 17-0. Their previous high had been a 16-0 against Boston on May 25, 1990. It also matched Kansas City's largest shutout loss ever, which had been July 19, 1991, against Detroit.
As sometimes happens with these ridiculous games, it was mostly a team effort, with Brian Dozier, Joe Mauer, Byron Buxton, Jorge Polanco, and Eduardo Escobar taking turns scoring runs and driving each other in. Those top five starters in the Twins lineup all finished with at least two scored and two RBIs, a first in franchise history (at least since RBI were official-ized in 1920). Escobar's line did stand out just a bit; all he did was hit two homers and a triple. Only one other Minnesotan in the past 20 years has done that, Jason Kubel against the White Sox on September 23, 2008.
The occurrence before Kubel belongs to Rich Becker on July 13, 1996. That game was unique in that it was a 19-11 loss to Cleveland, but Becker had 6 RBI in addition to his two homers and triple. As did Escobar on Saturday. That brings to three the total number of players in Twins/Senators history to have that line; Hall of Famer Al Simmons also did it against the Red Sox on May 14, 1938.
The first four Minnesota runs came off Onelki Garcia who was making his first major-league start. He got one out. No Royals starter had done that combo in over a decade; Mark Redman gave up nine runs while getting just one out on September 23, 2006. But the reins were then turned over to Andres Machado who was making his first major-league appearance. That didn't go terribly well either; Machado got out of the 1st inning but then gave up six more runs to start the 2nd before departing. He became the first pitcher, for any team, to give up 6 ER and get two outs in his MLB debut since Warner Madrigal did it for the Rangers on July 2, 2008.
Dodger Ball
While only one was a shutout, the Dodgers had an unfortunate streak this week as well, losing not just one or two games (which has been uncommon enough), but five straight to the Brewers and Diamondbacks.
Los Angeles hadn't even lost two straight since July 20-21, and had been the only team in the majors not to do it just in August. The five straight marked their longest losing streak since April 2016; they had gone the longest of any NL team without such a slump (Boston and Cleveland go back two years in the AL).
Chris Taylor managed to drive in three runs in the 7-6 loss on Tuesday. Which happened to be his 27th birthday. Amazingly, no Dodger had posted a 3-RBI game on his birthday since Dusty Baker did it on his 28th (he's now 68), June 15, 1977.
The Dodgers did "rebound" with a 1-0 win (is that really a rebound?) on Friday over San Diego, a game where Justin Turner had three hits and scored the run. That duplicated Taylor's feat from July 18 against the White Sox, and marked the first time in (at least) the live-ball era that the Dodgers had two players do it in the same season.
Mil-Walker
As you probably picked up from the theme, that Dodgers game wasn't the only 1-0 contest of the week, or even of Friday. One of the day's most-hyped pitching matchups pitted Tanner Roark of the Nationals against Jimmy Nelson of the Brewers, who had no-hit the Dodgers for 5⅔ innings in his previous start.
Neil Walker, acquired from the Mets three weeks ago, launched a solo homer off Roark as the second batter of the game. From then on it was pretty much strikeout city. Roark fanned 10, Nelson fanned 11 (though he did give up two early hits this time), and neither allowed another run. Nor did their bullpens which worked the 8th and 9th. Walker's homer held up for Milwaukee's first 1-0 win, and Washington's first 1-0 loss, of the season. Roark became the third pitcher in Nationals history to strike out 10, give up one run, and lose; the others were also in much-hyped pitching matchups. Max Scherzer lost to Matt Harvey on May 1, 2015, and then-Pirate Francisco Liriano outdueled Stephen Strasburg on July 24, 2013.
Roark's 10 strikeouts matched the number by Dinelson Lamet in that Padres/Dodgers game; they are the first pair of hurlers to strike out 10, allow 1 run, and lose on the same day since Bob Moose and Dock Ellis did it on September 12, 1969. The keen eye may notice that both of them played for Pittsburgh at the time; that day was a doubleheader against the Mets and the Pirates lost both games 1-0. Those were games 8 and 9 of a 10-game win streak that propelled the Miracle Mets from 4½ back to 3½ up, and, well, you know the rest.
As for Nelson, he hooked up with Clayton Kershaw back on June 2 in one of the other two games this season where both starters fanned 10 and gave up no more than one run. He joins Zack Greinke (2012) and Ben Sheets (2004) as the only Brewers to have multiple such starts in the same season.
And it was just the third time in Brewers history that a solo home run in the 1st inning had held up for a 1-0 win. Current manager Craig Counsell hit one against the Cubs on July 5, 2004; and Don Money (who made about $90,000 that year, we've covered this before) did it against the Angels on April 26, 1976.
Intermission
Remember that "2048" game that took the Internet by storm a few years back? The one you haven't played in forever? Here's your chance.
I Wanna Schoop, Baby
Sometimes a 1-0 game is the sign of a great pitching duel, and sometimes it's, well, not. (We are told the same is true of soccer also, but we can't sit through an entire match to find out.) Kevin Gausman of the Orioles and Joe Biagini of the Rays took the hill Friday and "dominated" mostly in the sense that neither offense ever got anything going. They combined to allow 10 hits, nine of them singles, and four of them to the infield, as the teams snoozed their way to a 0-0 tie through nine innings.
Finally in the bottom of the 13th, just as we were looking up the last time the Orioles played 13 scoreless innings (it's in 1974, by the way), Manny Machado led off with yet another infield single and Jonathan Schoop hit a gap double for the 1-0 walkoff. That marked the first time in Orioles history (1954) that they had won a 1-0 game via walkoff double, and it was their latest walkoff double by inning since Earl Williams brought home Bobby Grich in the bottom of the 16th against Texas on June 17, 1973.
That leadoff single in the 13th was Machado's fourth hit of the game; he became just the third player in the past 40 years to have four hits and score the run in a 1-0 game. As mentioned above, Chris Taylor did it for the Dodgers back on July 18; the other was Evan Gattis for the Phillies on April 16, 2014. Prior to that, no one had done it since 1975; among those to do it earlier were Rogers Hornsby, Billy Southworth, Richie Ashburn, and Pete Rose.
Friday marked the first day with three 1-0 scores since September 28, 2014, which was the final day of that season-- which had the most 1-0 games (69) since 1976.
Ender's Games
Of course, they can't all be 1-0 games (I mean, they could, but) and into each week a few crooked numbers must fall. And it would be impossible to wrap up this week without Ender Inciarte. The Braves' usual leadoff batter started Wednesday's rainout-induced doubleheader in Philadelphia with a single to center, but then added RBI knocks in the 2nd and 3rd as Atlanta jumped out to an early 8-0 lead. The last Braves batter to have a hit in each of the first three innings was... Ender Inciarte, who did it in a 13-8 win over Cincinnati on June 4. He's just the fourth player in Atlanta Braves history (1966) to pull that off twice. The others are Chipper Jones, Marquis Grissom, and Ralph Garr, and none of them did it in the same season.
Inciarte would add a single in the 5th inning, a triple in the 7th, and a walk in the 9th. That marked the second time this season (the June 4 game again) where he'd reached base six times as the leadoff batter in a nine-inning contest. The last player for any team to pull that off twice in one season was Dom DiMaggio in 1950. And ignoring the "leadoff" part, he's only the third player in history to post multiple games of six times on base and four RBIs in one campaign. Phil Weintraub did it for the Giants in 1944, and Cubs Hall-of-Famer Frank Demaree did it in 1936.
Doubleheaders are often a chance for managers to use some lesser-known backup players, give the "first string" a day off, and especially when you had five hits in the first game. You've done plenty, go have a beer. But Inciarte started the second game as well, this time collecting three singles and an RBI, though the Philies did finally manage to get him out twice.
Inciarte thus became the first player to have eight hits in a doubleheader since Christian Yelich did it for the Marlins on the next-to-last day of the 2015 season, also in Philadelphia. And it was well-publicized that the major-league record for same is nine. But count up the RBIs as well. Two of his singles in the first game came with the bases loaded, giving him a total of five on the day. That made him the first player with eight hits and five RBIs in a twinbill since Tony Oliva did it for the Twins (he had 5 RBI on two homers just in the second game) against the Royals on June 29, 1969.
Break A Leg
Kendrys Morales will forever be remembered for this incident in 2010, but he added another notable game to his resumé on Thursday. Now with Toronto, Morales cranked three homers out of Oriole Park at Camden Yards and drove in seven of the Jays' runs in their 11-8 win. He's the fourth player in Blue Jays history with that line, joining Michael Saunders (who did it last June 17, also at OPACY), Edwin Encarnacion in 2015, and Otto Velez in 1980. Morales is the first of those batters to have a fourth hit in addition to the three homers (he singled home Ryan Goins for the other RBI).
Morales also scored four runs, making him the fifth player in the majors this season with a four-hit, four-run, seven-RBI outburst. The others are Anthony Rendon (remember his 10-RBI game?), Trea Turner, Nolan Arenado, and Scooter Gennett (of 4-HR fame). Since RBI were officially recorded by both leagues in 1920, that sets a record for the most players to post that line in one season. There were four-- Walt Dropo, Ralph Kiner, Gil Hodges, and Bobby Doerr-- in 1950.
Thursday's game also marked the first time the Orioles had 16 or more hits at OPACY and lost since a 13-11 slugfest with the White Sox on July 29, 2006.
And to bring the Morales story full-circle, Cliff Pennington hit a go-ahead grand slam in the 7th inning of the Angels' game on Wednesday to give them a 10-8 win over Oakland. That was the first such homer (go-ahead slam in 7th or later) by Anaheim at Angel Stadium since... yep. The Morales walkoff.
Minor-League Minute
It's not offiically Minor League Baseball™, so yes, asterisk, but the independent Atlantic League gets some love for its quirkiness (Pete Rose as guest manager, anyone?) and the fact that many of its teams are close by us here in Connecticut. (We maintain that the Long Island Ducks have a secret list of "major-leaguers you haven't heard from in six years" and throw darts at it once a month.)
Our local friends the New Britain Bees (the stadium's new tenant, replacing the "former New Britain Rock Cats" we are always dropping into this column) went to Central Islip on Friday to face a Ducks team featuring David Aardsma, Ruben Gotay, Quintin Berry, Nolan Reimold, John Lannan, Alfredo Simon, and 41-year-old Lew Ford. (See what we mean?) The Bees won 16-2, but it was the performance of one Craig Maddox-- who never made it above low-A in affiliated ball-- that got noticed. Maddox cranked two grand slams and 11-- that's actually eleven, not three in binary-- RBIs.
Naturally we can't verify whether this is a league record because they don't keep such things, at least not online, and they didn't even put out a recap about the game. Welcome to indie-ball. But of course, only four major-leaguers have ever had 11 RBI in a game, the most recent still being Mark Whiten's 4-HR, 12-RBI game in 1993.
And two grand slams in a major-league game has only been done 13 times, most recently by Josh Willingham in 2009. Only two of those 13 hit their first slam as the fourth batter of the game, which was the case for Maddox on Friday; those were Jim Gentile of the Orioles (1961) and Nomar Garciaparra (1999).
The only player ever to do both (2 GS, 11 RBI) is the famous game by Tony Lazzeri of the Yankees, who crushed the Athletics 25-2 on May 24, 1936.
Bottom Of The Bag
⋅ Cubs, Wednesday: Scored 17 runs for first time since... well, last Saturday (August 26). First season with two such games since 1974. First time with two in five days since July 25 and 26, 1936 (beat Phillies 17-4 and 18-5).
⋅ Andrew Benintendi, Friday: Hit fifth homer of season at Yankee Stadium. Only other Red Sock ever to hit five in a season in road games at Yankees is Jim Rice in 1983.
⋅ Max Kepler, Thursday: First "plunk-off" (game-winning HBP) for Twins since Paul Molitor was hit by KC's Jeff Montgomery on May 1, 1996.
⋅ Adam Morgan, Sunday: First Phillies pitcher to throw 3+ innings of hitless relief and get a win since Mike Hartley at Montréal on September 22, 1992.
⋅ Ben Gamel & Danny Valencia, Monday: Second pair of Mariners ever to have a home run and an outfield assist in the same game. Other was Ken Griffey and Jay Buhner, August 7, 1994. (Also, that's Former New Britain Rock Cat Danny Valencia. ?)
⋅ Braves/Cubs, Saturday: First 14-12 score in the majors since June 15, 2009 (Brewers over Indians). Was the lowest score combo (except for ties) that hadn't happened yet this decade.
⋅ Rajai Davis & Andrew Benintendi, Tuesday: First Red Sox teammates with two hits and two steals in same game since Marty Barrett and Spike Owen versus White Sox, August 18, 1987.
⋅ Jose Abreu, Tuesday: Fourth time this year collecting four hits in a loss. Most such games by a White Sock in one season since Carl Reynolds had five in 1930.
⋅ Tigers, Friday: First time losing the first game of a doubleheader (by any score), and then getting shut out by 10 or more in the second, since August 12, 1947 (1-3 and 0-11 vs Indians).
⋅ Jose Ramirez, Sunday: Third Clevelander in live-ball era to have five extra-base hits in a game, joining Kelly Shoppach (2008) and HOF'er Lou Boudreau (1946). Indians are only team with three players on the list.
⋅ Chasen Bradford, Tuesday: Third pitcher in Mets history to give up 7+ runs without recording an out. Joins Jeremy Hefner in 2012 and Bobby Jones (that's "J.", remember there were two?) in 1997.
Did You Know?
Tony Lazzeri batted 8th in that 1936 game where he became the first to hit two grand slams. He also had a triple. No other player in the modern era (1900) has recorded 15 total bases while batting 8th or 9th. The 25-2 score remains a Yankee record for both runs and victory margin, as well as one of just two such scores in major-league history (the other is Pittsburgh over St. Louis on August 1, 1893).
Remember When?
...You finally managed to beat the game? Yeah, us too.
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