Monday: Holiday. Celebration.
Last Sunday night Matt Holliday went deep as the Yankees rolled over Boston 9-3 in the teams' final meeting of the year (until the ALCS, of course ☺). We made the joke on Twitter that Holliday really needed to homer on Monday to complete his slate of, well, holidays. He did not in fact homer on Monday. But J.D. Martinez of the Diamondbacks did. Martinez made it 2-0 Arizona in the 4th inning, and was largely forgotten while Robbie Ray perfect-gamed the Dodgers through 5 innings. Logan Forsythe finally shot that down with a leadoff single in the 6th, after which Martinez homered again in the 7th. And the 8th as the D'backs sent 14 batters to the plate, scoring seven times, in those two innings. He was thus due up fifth in the 9th in a game that Arizona was already leading 9-0. There's no way... right?...
Of course two of the first three batters reach, A.J. Pollock singles them both in to make it 11-0, and Martinez adds his name to the history books. Of the eighteen players to hit four home runs in a game, Martinez is actually the first one to do it in a game where his team shut out the opponent (by any score, to say nothing of 13-0). It's also the first time there have ever been two 4-HR games in the same season; Scooter Gennett memorably did it in June.
It was the first time the feat had been accomplished at Dodger Stadium, and no other visiting player had even hit four homers there so far this season. Combined with Adam Rosales and Brandon Drury, the Diamondbacks became only the second visiting team in the 55-year history of Dodger Stadium to hit six home runs in a game there; the Reds did it on August 2, 2001 (Dmitri Young and Jason LaRue each hit two). And for what it's worth, in the 4853-game history at Chavez Ravine (including those early Angels years), the home team's only done it four times.
Speaking of Brandon Drury, he had his own big game on June 21 when he collected four hits and six RBIs in a 16-5 thumping of the Rockies at Coors Field. Ignoring the base value of each hit, he and Martinez make just the second pair of Diamondbacks in team history to have a 4-hit, 6-RBI game in the same season. Erubiel Durazo and Chad Moeller each did it during the 2002 campaign.
And hey, remember Robbie Ray's perfect game? Obviously it ended, but he wound up recording 14 strikeouts and 0 walks before departing with two outs in the 8th. Only three pitchers in Diamondbacks history have ever thrown a 14-K game, and the other two (of course) are Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling. Johnson, on July 25, 2004, is the only other pitcher in team history to fan 14, walk 0, and not give up a run. And that wasn't his perfect game (which happened about two months earlier); in fact, Randy Choate pitched the 9th, blew the save, and Arizona actually lost that game 3-2.
Tuesday: Hey Nineteen
(R.I.P. Walter Becker. You certainly did reel in the years. It's a shame you can't go back, Jack, and do it again.)
Personally we were in Norwich, Conn., at the final home game for the short-season Connecticut Tigers. They won on a 10th-inning walkoff. On the way home we heard the 10th inning of the Red Sox game. Then the 11th. Then the 12th. And now it's getting interesting.
Although the Blue Jays had baserunners in the top of innings 16, 17, 18, and 19, it was the bottom of the 19th-- reliever Chris Rowley's fourth frame-- until Mookie Betts hit a leadoff double and then Hanley Ramirez walked us off in a game that lasted exactly six hours. By inning, it was the latest walkoff in Red Sox history (not just Fenway Park, not that those are much different), topping a game from (really) 90 years earlier to the day. On September 5, 1927, in a Labor Day doubleheader (which was very common then), Ira Flagstead's double with one out in the 18th brought home Buddy Myer to beat the Yankees 12-11. Myer had also doubled; the crowd that day was so large that it overflowed into the outfield and, by the rules of the time, any fair ball rolling under the ropes into the crowd was an automatic two-bagger.
The second game had to be shortened to five innings due to darkness (the "Murderer's Row" Yankees won 5-0).
One person who was not on the playing field at the end of the game was Josh Donaldson. He took exception to a called strike to start the 18th and got tossed in mid-at-bat. Miguel Montero finished it by grounding out. Donaldson became the first person ejected in an 18th inning or later since 1982, in a 21-inning affair at Wrigley Field. The game started on August 17, and was suspended after 17 innings because remember Wrigley didn't have lights until '88. Jay Johnstone and Cubs manager Lee Elia had already been ejected by that point, and when the game resumed the next day, bench coach John Vukovich-- still subbing for Elia-- got thrown as well. However, the "first since" mark goes to Ron Cey and Tommy Lasorda; the former was picked off first in the top of the 20th, bumped the umpire while arguing the call, and then Lasorda, well,...
Pedro Guerrero replaced Cey at third base, and then Fernando Valenzuela actually replaced Guerrero in right field. It was one of just two games in his long career where Valenzuela played any other position (the other was in 1989 at 1B).
For the Jays, meanwhile, it was their second straight season, and third of the last four, playing a 19-inning contest (or longer, though none of them were). Cleveland beat them 2-1 on July 1 of last season, and they walked off against the Tigers on August 10, 2014. Strangely those are the only three 19-inning games in Jays history. They became the first team to lose 19-inning games in consecutive seasons since the 1992-93 Indians, and just the fourth in the live-ball era (Padres 1979-80, Dodgers 1972-73).
Wednesday: Triples and Trifectas
Triples are the least common of all major-league hits; over the weekend we finally got the 700th one of the season out of just over 37,000 base knocks.
Will Middlebrooks of the Rangers decided to make triples a bit more common on Wednesday, and he had two games to do it thanks to a Tuesday rainout in Atlanta. In the day game which was already a 4-3 affair by the 4th inning, he pinch-hit for pitcher Miguel Gonzalez who was at 60 pitches, but with runners on second and third, Jeff Bannister rolled the dice and Middlebrooks came through with a two-run, go-ahead triple. The American League naturally uses fewer pinch hitters since they don't have that pesky pitcher's spot coming around every couple innings, and thus Middlebrooks' was just the third go-ahead pinch-hit triple in Rangers history, regardless of inning. The others were by Matt Treanor in 2010 and Geno Petralli in 1990.
In the nightcap, well, he went back, Jack, and did it again. Rookie Drew Robinson started the night game at 3B, moving Joey Gallo over to 1B and giving Mike Napoli a game off (although he pinch-hit as well), but with Middlebrooks capable of subbing at 3B (which he did), he was sent up to lead off the 6th with the Rangers trailing 5-3 and the pitcher's spot up next. And boom. Pinch-hit triple. He's the leadoff batter, so it wasn't a go-ahead hit this time, but he did score on Cole Hamels' groundout that followed.
Middlebrooks is only the third player in Rangers/Senators history to triple in both games of a doubleheader, joining Larry Parrish in 1983 and Fred Valentine in 1966. But he is the first player in (at least) the live-ball era-- for any team-- to have a pinch-hit triple in both halves of a twinbill.
As for the "trifecta" part of our header, here at Kernels we have a saying that "balks make everything funner". (Yes, we know funner isn't a word. But it's funner that way. Don't @ us.)
Baseball has so many stats that just adding one random thing can turn a note from "meh, that happened last year" to "wow, that last happened in 1952". We try not to do this excessively. But each boxscore has a little section for the possible gaffes by a pitcher: hitting a batter, throwing a wild pitch, and/or committing a balk. Very rarely does the same hurler show up in all three sections, to the point where we call this the Kernels Trifecta. And Tyler Skaggs of the Angels pulled it off on Wednesday.
Skaggs became the second pitcher this year with a wild pitch, a hit batter, and a balk in the same game; Jake Junis of the Royals did it back on June 23. The last Angels pitcher to pull off the trifecta was C.J. Wilson against the Astros on June 23, 2015. When you're that erratic, it's hard to also strike out nine batters, either because they won't swing, or because you don't stay around very long. But Skaggs also did that on Wednesday, making him just the second pitcher in Angels history with the entire line (9 K, WP, HB, BK) in one game. Frank Tanana was the other, against Milwaukee on April 24, 1977.
Forgetting all the other stuff, Skaggs still managed to strike out nine Athletics and lose. Teammates Alex Meyer (June 7) and J.C. Ramirez (April 19) also did that earlier in the year. The last time three Angels pitchers had such a game (9+ K in a loss) in the same season was 1976, by Tanana, Nolan Ryan, and Gary Ross.
Thursday: Thirsty For A Win
That J.D. Martinez four-homer game from Monday was the third straight loss for the Dodgers, which was rare enough in this season where it appeared they would threaten the all-time wins record. As mentioned, that was the first time ever that there had been a 4-HR game in a shutout, but unfortunately the Dodgers missed the memo about scoring runs again. Tuesday's final was 3-1, the lone run being a homer by Yasmani Grandal off former teammate Zack Greinke. Wednesday was also a 3-1 final, and the Rockies dropped a 9-1 on Los Angeles in the start of the weekend series on Thursday. Not only did that take the losing streak up to six (hold that thought), but it marked the first time the Dodgers had been held to 1 run in four straight games at Chavez Ravine since 2009 (June 30 to July 17, interrupted by a road trip and the All-Star break). The asterisk to that is that one of those games was a 1-0 win!
To find the last time the Dodgers lost four straight home games and scored no more than 1 run in each, you must journey back to June 1968. They were swept in a three-game series by the Mets (1-0, 3-0, 2-1), went on an absurd 14-game, four-city road trip, then lost to the Braves 3-0 upon their return. That turns out to be the only other such streak in Dodger Stadium history; the previous such occurrence was at Ebbets Field in 1913!
In Thursday's game Clayton Kershaw had the strange line (especially for him) of giving up four earned runs without finishing the 4th inning, but still striking out seven Rockies hitters (he only got 11 outs to begin with). Since earned runs were first kept by the National League in 1912, only four other Dodgers have done that: Chan Ho Park (2001), Fernando Valenzuela (1982), Don Sutton (1966), and Johnny Podres (1961).
And while the game was already in hand by this point, Edward Paredes was summoned for the 7th, faced four batters, and got none of them out. He was the third Dodgers pitcher this season with that line (4+ BF, 0 IP); the second was on Monday when Pedro Baez gave up the second of J.D. Martinez's four homers. But the first... was on Sunday! Fabio Castillo did it in their 6-4 loss at San Diego. And that made them the first trio of Dodgers pitchers in (at least) the live-ball era to pull that off within the same week.
Intermission
Title of our post is from a 1994 "hit" (it peaked at #20) by the female R&B group Jade, the lyrics to which consist of frequently listing the days of the week. (In case you didn't know them. At least they all rhyme.) Somewhere we have 3 minutes of a mix tape devoted to this.
Friday: Taylor-Made
Michael Taylor of the Nationals still insists on using his middle initial "A." to distinguish him from other major-leaguers named Michael Taylor. (There aren't any.) We insist Taylor can drop that initial after putting his name in the history books on Friday. The 3rd inning started with two walks and an error to load the bases, and then, well, this happened.
"This", if you didn't click on it, is an inside-the-park grand slam when Odubel Herrera mistimed his jump and the ball got all the way to the wall.
It is the second "IGS" (as we score it, not that we've ever seen one in person) in the majors so far this century, and believe it or not, the other one also came at Nationals Park in a game against the Phillies. That was September 25, 2015, when Aaron Altherr lined a ball just in front of a diving CF and it rolled all the way to the wall. That diving Nationals CF? Yep. Michael "A." Taylor.
The Nats/Expos franchise had only hit one other IGS in its history, by Jesús "Bombo" Rivera against the Pirates on June 26, 1976. And then in the 8th inning, Taylor proceeded to hit a triple to score what would prove to be the game-winning run.
The last player to hit an IGS and a triple in the same game? Why, that's none other than Pirates Hall-of-Famer Kiki Cuyler, against the Dodgers (actually the "Robins" that year) on June 20, 1925.
The Phillies rallied back to 11-10 on a Maikel Franco homer in the 9th, but Sean Doolittle struck out three straight to end the game. That marked the first time any Philadelphia team had reached double digits in Washington and lost since a 10-inning, 12-11 win by the old National League Senators on June 22, 1897. (That's one of the teams that got thrown out of the NL the following year and went on to start the "fledgling" American League.)
Taylor wasn't the only one hitting grand slams on Friday either. The Tigers jumped out to a 4-0 lead in Toronto when Nick Castellanos cranked one in the top of the 3rd. He's the first Detroit batter ever to hit a slam at Rogers Centre, even when it was still called SkyDome. Their last one in "the 6" was hit by catcher Matt Nokes at Exhibition Stadium on September 26, 1987, in a game they ended up losing 10-9.
Three innings later the real fun started. Justin Smoak and Kendrys Morales (who seems to come up every week lately) singled with nobody out in the 6th. First and second, no out, always sends up that little flag of, hmm. But it never really ends up as a triple play, now, does it?
Candelario to Kinsler to Navarro doesn't have a ring like Tinker to Evers to Chance, but wham, ((5)-4)-3 TP to end the inning. With that the Tigers turned their first triple play on defense since retiring three Mariners at the same time on August 1, 2001; only the Angels and Cubs (who both had their last in 1997) had gone longer without turning one.
And the combination of GS+TP was something that had been done just six other times in major-league history. The Mets were the previous team to pull it off, on May 17, 2002, against the Padres. (Mike Piazza hit the slam, but the TP involved at least two players you forgot were ever Mets: Edgardo Alfonzo to Roberto Alomar to Mo Vaughn.) And one of those others was the famous unassisted TP by Cleveland's Bill Wambsganss in the 1920 World Series.
Saturday In The Park
(If only Taylor had waited a day, "Saturday Inside-The-Park" would have been so perfect. Sigh.)
Remember our post from a couple weeks ago explaining our "love" of no-hitters, and how a quirky one-hitter is infinitely more fun? (If not, bookmark it for later, shameless plug.) Luis Severino of the Yankees decided to oblige us. After four perfect innings, he walked Joey Gallo to start the 5th, and then Brett Nicholas roped a double down the right-field line to break a scoreless tie. And that would be the only hit for the Rangers the entire day. While the offense was off scoring three runs, Severino allowed another walk in the 6th, but threw a perfect 7th; David Robertson threw a perfect 8th; and Aroldis Chapman closed it out in the 9th.
The Yankees still haven't had a no-hitter since David Cone's perfect game on July 18, 1999, and they are pretty far up there on The List. But they hadn't thrown a one-hitter on the road since June 27, 2009, and that was only across town at Citi Field. Their only other one-hitter against either Texas team (home or road) was by Catfish Hunter on July 31, 1975; Cesar Tovar got the Rangers' lone hit in the bottom of the 6th.
And the weird part? Because it was still 1-1 when Severino came out, he did not get credit for the win despite pitching seven innings of one-hit ball and striking out 10. He's the first Yankee in (at least) the live-ball era to claim that dubious distinction, and just the second this season for any team. The other is Rich Hill-- in the no-hitter-breaking walkoff mentioned at the top of this section.
Meanwhile, over in Chicago, the White Sox were laying a beatdown on the Giants (which hasn't been all that difficult this season), while also recording another of our favorite baseball happenings: the cycle. Jose Abreu turned in the seventh one this season, the most since 2009 matched the record with eight (and there's still three weeks to go!). Four of those seven this season have "needed the triple"-- one of our most hated phrases since hundreds of players do it every year-- and actually gotten it last, in Abreu's case on a two-run job in the bottom of the 8th. It was the first cycle by a White Sock since Jose Valentin did it against Baltimore on April 27, 2000. Chicago "boasted" both the fourth- and fifth-longest droughts without a cycle; the Cubs haven't had one since 1993. The Royals go back to 1990, the Reds to 1989, and the Marlins have never had one.
Abreu's 1st-inning homer would only be the beginning of Saturday's 13-1 thumping. Tim Anderson made it 2-0 in the 2nd with another homer, Yolmer Sanchez went yard in the 4th (5-0), and Avisail Garcia kept the trend going in the 5th (6-0). In the 7th, Yoan Moncada and Nicky Delmonico both homered off Josh Osich, who became the first Giants pitcher to appear in a game, not record an out, and give up two dingers, since Matt Herges at Coors Field on July 18, 2004.
It was the first time in White Sox history that the top five hitters in the order had all gone yard, and just the second time in team history that six different hitters (regardless of position) had homered in one game. The other, naturally, was last year.
As mentioned, Abreu, Anderson, and Sanchez all homered, and Abreu tripled to finish the cycle, but darned if Anderson and Sanchez didn't triple as well. The Sox had recorded three triples in a game just twice in the past 15 years, and one of those was at Coors in July. But the combination of three players all recording a home run and a triple for the same team in the same game, well, that last happened on September 6, 1930! Johnny Frederick, Babe Herman, and Glenn Wright all did it for Brooklyn in a 22-8 win over the Phillies.
Of course Abreu turned right around on Sunday and hit two more homers as the White Sox won again 8-1. In doing so, he became the first player to hit for the cycle in one game, and then hit two homers in the team's very next game, since Sam Chapman of the Philadelphia Athletics did it on May 5 and 6, 1939. Honorable mention to George McQuinn of the St. Louis Browns, who did it on back-to-back days (July 19-20, 1941), but the 19th was a doubleheader and the nightcap was stuck in between (he went 1-for-4).
Sunday Funday Runday
Earlier this year the Nationals inspired us to finally create "the matrix" of all the score combinations in MLB history and when they last happened. Proving that everything's bigger in Texas, the Yankees got in on some big-number fun on Sunday by hanging a 16-7 score on the Rangers, the highest-scoring game of the week (either by one team or combined).
Aaron Judge reached the 40-homer plateau (and then 41 later in the game), while Gary Sanchez also went deep twice to bring his season total to 30. They were the first Yankee teammates to have two homers in the same game in Arlington since Jason Giambi and Tino Martinez did it on July 20, 2005. And while they didn't do it in the same game, the pair created another note alongside two more Yankee legends. Sanchez also doubled, was hit by a pitch, and scored four runs. That matched Judge's 3-XBH, 4-runs-scored game from June 11 against Baltimore. And two different Yankees haven't had such a game in the same season since 1948. That season it was only Joe DiMaggio (May 20) and the great Snuffy Stirnweiss (June 21).
Meanwhile, Didi Gregorius didn't homer on Sunday, but he did collect three singles, a double, and 4 RBIs. Only one other Yankee this year-- Aaron Hicks, June 1 in Toronto-- had a 4-hit, 4-RBI game, but Sir Didi had one gaping hole in his line: He scored zero runs himself. And no Yankee had posted that combination of lines since Nick Johnson in a 10-7 win at Fenway Park on August 30, 2003. Giambi and Bernie Williams, the two batters after him, combined to go 0-for-8.
In these slugfests we always say there's one guy left out. And on Sunday it was Starlin Castro, who went 0-for-6 and was the main source of Gregorius getting stranded all the time (he bats next). It's a little unusual to get six at-bats in a nine-inning game to start with, since it requires at least 19 extra baserunners (a combination of runs scored and left-on-base), but Castro took it one step further by grounding into a double play in the 3rd inning. (He also made an inconsequential error in the 1st, but those are hard to search, so we're letting him slide.) That made him the first Yankee to go 0-for-6, plus a GIDP, in a nine-inning game since none other than Snuffy Stirnweiss again. That was August 14, 1948, in a 14-3 win over the Philadelphia Athletics.
And as for the 16-7 score, our matrix already had that one checked off thanks to Houston's win over Toronto on August 4. But it's the first time there's been two of them in a season since 2006... and the Yankees posted one of those also, a July 2 win against the Mets.
Bottom Of The Bag
⋅ Andrew Cashner, Monday: First pitcher in Rangers history (1972) to hit a sacrifice fly. The designated hitter, of course, came the following year and they haven't batted much since. Last for Second Senators: Camilo Pascual on September 5, 1968.
⋅ Josh Reddick, Friday: First player in Astros history to reach base five times and drive in four runs in a game the team ended up losing.
⋅ Anibal Sanchez, Tuesday: First Tigers starter to face just one batter (hit by Whit Merrifield comebacker) since Les Cain on May 28, 1972 (his last MLB game).
⋅ Yolmer Sanchez, Thursday: First player in White Sox history to hit leadoff homer with team already trailing by 4 or more.
⋅ Chase Anderson, Saturday: First Brewers pitcher with 2 hits, 2 RBI, and a run scored in a road game since Bill Parsons at Texas, September 2, 1972.
⋅ Royals, Wednesday: Defeated Tigers 13-2. Since the 2015 All-Star break, Kansas City has won five games by 11 runs or more. All are against the Tigers.
⋅ Athletics, Saturday: First team to score 11+ in both games of doubleheader since Twins at Baltimore, September 13, 2008. Last time A's did it was July 22, 1975, at Detroit.
⋅ Travis Wood, Tuesday: Third pitcher in Padres history to homer at the plate in back-to-back starts, joining Tim Lollar (April 1982) and Mike Corkins (May 1973).
⋅ Nick Williams, Friday: Second Phillies batter ever with a 4-hit, 3-RBI game on his birthday. Other is Joe Morgan, September 19, 1983.
⋅ Rob Brantly, Thursday: First White Sox position player to give up a home run (as a pitcher, obviously) since LF Ernie Carnett at Cleveland, August 25, 1944.
⋅ Jacob deGrom, Sunday: Fifth 10-strikeout game this season where he didn't get a win. Ties Mets' single-season "record" for such a thing; others are Dwight Gooden (1984) and Tom Seaver (1970).
⋅ Braves, Thu-Sat-Sun: First time with three walkoff wins in same series since July 20-21 versus San Diego (21st was a DH). Of their nine walkoff wins this year, five are against the Marlins, their most over one opponent in one season since 1949 (Reds).
Did You Know?
George Stirnweiss got his "Snuffy" nickname following his 1940 promotion to the International League's Newark (N.J.) Bears. (Then, as now, the IL was one level down from the majors.) He had attended the University of North Carolina, played in the minors in Norfolk, Va., and thus "produced an array of tobacco products" upon his arrival in Newark. A teammate remarked that the one product he didn't have was snuff. Stirnweiss tragically died in a train crash in 1958 along what is now an NJTransit commuter line.
No comments:
Post a Comment