Models Of Efficiency

Do More With Less.

It's a phrase many companies have trotted out in the past few years, in the name of "efficiency" which of course is just code for "money". Hot-take alert, there's a lot of money involved in baseball too. And this week some teams got a lot of "employee productivity" and some, well, didn't.


It Only Takes One

With one exception (trivia time!), the only possible way to win a baseball game is by scoring at least one run, and thus the most efficient win would be one which only requires one run (a 1-0 game). We had a spate of those this week, some with their own additional quirks. The Mariners on Wednesday started Marco Gonzales against the Athletics' Daniel Gossett. Marco allowed just two hits in seven scoreless innings, the first Seattle pitcher to do that in Oakland since Feliz Hernandez on July 7, 2007. Gossett, meanwhile, threw seven innings himself on just four hits, didn't allow an earned run, and lost. The last A's pitcher to pull that off was Kenny Rogers at Dodger Stadium on June 10, 1998. And the reason Gossett lost was because of an error on shortstop Marcus Semien; it was ruled that Guillermo Heredia would not otherwise have scored on the play, so the lone run of the game was unearned and there was no RBI credited. It's the fourth time in Mariners history that they won a game without driving in any runs, and if it feels like we looked this up before, it's because two of them have been this month! They did it in Minneapolis on the 14th when Dee Gordon scored from second on a sac bunt gone awry. The others were a 1-0 win in Anaheim in 2002, and a 1984 game against the Tigers where two runs scored on a "little league home run".

Honorable mention to the Indians, who also won a 1-0 game at Wrigley Field on Wednesday thanks to Michael Brantley's RBI single. Cleveland's last 1-0 win in Chicago was before interleague play and thus on the other side of Madison Avenue. It was the finale of the 1989 campaign (the next-to-last at old Comiskey) on a Dion James pinch-hit single in the 8th.

(Trivia answer: Score no runs and have the other team forfeit. There hasn't been any forfeit in the majors since 1995, and the last 0-run win? If you guessed the ill-fated White Sox "Disco Demolition Night" in 1979, well, that's groovy, man.)


Working From Home(r)

Our trivia desk can't come up with any more efficient way to score than hitting a home run (ideally on the first pitch). And you might have heard that the Yankees did a lot of that over the last 10 days.

It started innocently enough, with last weekend's pair of four-homer games in Kansas City relegated to "bottom of the bag" status. The Bombers then headed to homer-friendly Globe Life Park in Arlington and posted five more dingers in Monday's series opener. 21-year-old Gleyber Torres launched two of them to become the 14th player in Yankees history with a multi-homer game batting 9th. The last had been Russell Martin who did it twice in 2011.

New York also tallied five doubles in the 10-5 win, the fourth road game in their history with five two-baggers and five round-trippers. The last was April 9, 2013, in Cleveland. But that also gave the Yankees at least eight extra-base hits for the third straight game, something only accomplished in the live-ball era by the 2003 Red Sox, 1999 Indians, and 1935 Senators. None of those teams duplicated the feat a fourth straight time.

And, well, neither did the Yankees. Starter Domingo German got knocked around for six earned runs, though on only four hits. He became the first Yankee starter with that line since Ian Kennedy did it against the Rays on April 4, 2008. And while late homers by Miguel Andujar and Austin Romine teased another classic comeback, they would lose 6-4 and have only three extra-base hits in the game. The third, however, was another solo homer, this one by Torres again. He thus became the youngest Yankee to homer in back-to-back games since Melky Cabrera did it against the White Sox on August 9 and 10, 2006. And it did become only the third time in Yankees history where they had hit three homers in four straight games. One of the other streaks was last June, and the first was way back in July 1956.

Wednesday's series finale was the long-awaited slugfest, with the Rangers scoring seven unanswered runs for the strange final of 12-10. But there were those homers again, four of them, and including Torres for the third game in a row. That took him way out of Melky Cabrera territory and placed him as the youngest Yankee ever to go deep in three straight games. And Rangers starter Doug Fister got bailed out by the comeback after giving up 11 hits and eight runs. The last Texas pitcher to do that in a game the team ended up winning was our friend Kenny Rogers again, against Oakland on May 6, 2000. And the last time the Yankees hit four homers, scored 10 runs, and lost was-- wait for it-- a 12-10 game in Arlington on the 23rd of the month. It was August 1998, and Jorge Posada's two longballs couldn't overcome Orlando Hernandez getting tagged for seven runs.

Back home on Friday, the Yankees collected only two runs on five hits in the series opener with Anaheim, but still managed to win thanks to (who else?) Gleyber Torres's go-ahead homer in the 7th. We've already established that he's the youngest Yankee to homer in three straight, but now he's the youngest player for any team to homer in four straight since Giancarlo Stanton in 2011. And combined with his walkoff shot on May 6, that Friday dinger also made Torres the first Yankee under the age of 22 to hit two go-ahead homers in the 7th inning or later since first baseman John Ellis hit one in both halves of a doubleheader at Cleveland on May 24, 1970.


Bonus Track
We can't have a week with two notes about Kenny Rogers the pitcher and not link to at least one performance by Kenny Rogers the gambler.


Downsizing

Packing efficiently is always a plus, especially when you have to go through Customs. The Angels took their bags north of the border to Toronto this week, losing Tuesday's game 5-3 before defeating the Jays in the final two games of the series. That Tuesday game featured only four Angels hits, and that came on the heels of Sunday's finale with the Rays where they scored five runs on just four hits. That marked only the second time in franchise history that the Angels had four or fewer hits in back-to-back games but still scored at least three runs in both. The other contests were both losses to Kansas City on September 24 and 25, 1977.

Toronto-- who has to pack for 81 games in the States every season-- was also pretty efficient with those five runs on Tuesday, scoring all of them in the 1st inning and just waiting as the Angels chipped away. The Jays' last game with five or more runs, all in the 1st, was an 8-5 win at Baltimore on September 26, 2007.

Wednesday's game was a 5-4 Angels win in which they recorded exactly zero extra-base hits. Trailing 3-1 going to the 9th, they managed to load the bases before Shohei Ohtani hit a game-tying two-run single. Ohtani then stole second to put two more runners in scoring position, and Andrelton Simmons came through with the go-ahead single to score two more. That was the first time in Angels history that they'd had both of those hits (tying two-run single and go-ahead two single) in the 9th inning or later, much less the first time they were back-to-back. It was also the first time the Angels had ever won a game in Toronto, or scored five runs in one, without an extra-base hit (Rogers Centre is kinda known for those). Prior to Wednesday they had been 0-15 and scored a max of four runs in games without an XBH.


Your Workspace Is Un-Kemp-t

Over in the quiet corner we call the AL West, the Astros have, well, quietly, been battling the Yankees and Red Sox for the best record in the majors. On Wednesday they ran that mark to 32-18, the second-best 50-game start in team history. You might guess that the first-best (34-16) was last year, and we know how that turned out. But on Tuesday they slayed the Giants with an 11-2 win that featured 5 RBI from an unlikely source-- number-nine hitter Tony Kemp, who had just 12 RBI in his half-season (81 games) of major-league experience prior to that. Kemp also pulled that off with only two hits, and both of them were singles. They were both hit with runners on second and third, and he tacked on a 6th-inning sac fly for the heck of it. Kemp is only the fourth player in Astros history, at any spot in the order, to have 5 RBI in a game without an extra-base hit, and Sean Berry (both in 1996) is two of the others. The first was Jeff Leonard in 1979. And since RBI was first kept as an official stat by the leagues in 1920, only six number-nine hitters have had five of them without an XBH thrown in. Milwaukee's Scott Fletcher was the previous one, back on August 28, 1992. The rest of the list is Gary Allenson (BOS 1982), Freddie Patek (KC 1979), Johnny Murphy (NYY 1936) and our old friend Van Lingle Mungo (BKN 1935).

J.D. Davis, meanwhile, was on base for all three of Kemp's run-scoring events, but he walked on all three occasions and had only a strikeout as an official at-bat. He thus became the 14th player in Astros history to score three runs in a game where he didn't get a hit; the last was Lance Berkman against the Pirates on August 9, 2006.


Intermission
Because we haven't trotted this out yet this season, let's take a moment to reacquaint ourselves with the Van Lingle Mungo song.


A Scooter Might Help

Thanks to a rain delay, Tuesday's game between the Pirates and Reds actually started five minutes later than that Giants/Astros tilt mentioned above. Which gave Scooter Gennett the chance to "boxscore-watch" (not really, but roll with it). While Tony Kemp was piling up 5 RBI on just two hits, Scooter hit a 1st-inning RBI double and then a grand slam in the 5th inning to, at least temporarily, match him. And then, after Kemp's sac fly in the 5th, Scooter said, hey, I can hit one of those too, doing so in the 7th inning to drive in six runs on just two hits. The last Reds batter with 6 RBI on two hits was Devin Mesoraco against the Marlins on August 10, 2014; he also had a grand slam.

In that same game, Reds catcher Tucker Barnhart-- who had never batted higher than fifth-- was slotted to bat second. And he became part of those 6 RBI for Scooter, recording three hits and scoring twice. In the live-ball era, only three other Reds catchers have done that while batting in the top third of the order: Johnny Bench seven times, Smoky Burgess five times (all in 1955), and the random outlier that is Jason LaRue against the Cubs on August 9, 2005.

Meanwhile, Scooter wasn't done demonstrating his proficiencies for the week; on Saturday he hit a 1st-inning home run but then had sort of a conundrum. His remaining four at-bats, there was only one baserunner total. So he can't really pile up a bunch of RBIs unless he just keeps homering. And been there, done that. So instead he just hit singles. Every time. Four of them. That would be a five-hit game with only one run scored and one driven in (both on the homer). If you bet on the last Cincinnati hitter with that line to be Pete Rose (at Dodger Stadium, August 1, 1975), well, you just moved up in the bonus pool.


Falling Behind

This week we also had our share of teams who appeared to be doing a lot of work but obtaining very few results. Might be time for an "HR" intervention.

The Braves had a three-game series in Philadelphia this week and proceeded to get shut out twice while somehow winning the middle game 3-1. Atlanta hadn't been shut out multiple times in the same series in Philly since July 5-8, 1984, and that was the only time it happened at Veterans Stadium. Before that it was July 27 and 28, 1968, at Connie Mack Stadium (the Vet opened in '71).

That middle game, with the 3-1 win, was made possible by rookie phenom Ozzie Albies, who led off and scored all three Braves runs with two hits and a walk to set the table for the batters after him. Amazingly, no Braves leadoff hitter had scored 3+ runs, and had that be every run for the team, since Ray Powell did it at Wrigley Field on September 25, 1921! The last time it happened in a win was by Bill Collins in Cincinnati (at "The Palace Of The Fans") on May 24, 1910.


Hit 'Em Again, Hit 'Em Again

Hits are generally a good thing (if you're the offensive team), but in most cases you can't just get a hit and be done with it. There are further action steps that need to be followed, things like stealing bases, having additional players get hits after you, etc. Several teams learned that lesson this week, and some even dared to repeat it.

The White Sox had 10 base knocks in Monday's series opener with the Orioles, including four doubles, plus five walks. They had two of those 15 runners thrown out on the bases by Trey Mancini, and stranded 11 of them for a 3-2 loss. They hadn't done that combo of 10 hits, 4 XBH, and = 2 runs in nearly four years. So on Tuesday they did it again, this time recording zero runs on nine hits through the first seven innings before putting together a late comeback in the 8th. This one was a Sox win, 3-2, but on 13 hits and again with 4 XBH. The South Siders hadn't gotten double-digit hits, but three or fewer runs, off the same opponent in back-to-back games since August 9 and 10, 1989, against Oakland. Incidentally, the Sox may have taken some pregame tips from the O's, who just last Sunday put together the first 0-13-0 linescore in nearly a decade.

That 8th-inning comeback happened after O's starter Kevin Gausman was out of the game, meaning he had the very strange line of allowing nine hits but zero runs. No Baltimore pitcher had done that since Rick Sutcliffe at Seattle on August 30, 1992. And much of the reason the Sox didn't convert any of those is because Gausman also struck out 10. No pitcher for any team had done that plus the 9-and-0 part since Roger Clemens threw a complete-game 10-hit shutout against the Yankees (for Boston) on September 30, 1987.

And Clemens at least got the win in that game. No pitcher in (at least) the live-ball era had done it in a loss, and the last one to do it and have his team not win, is a technicality of sorts. Chris Short of the Phillies and Rob Gardner of the Mets both threw 15 shutout innings on October 2, 1965 (Short had the nine hits and 18 strikeouts); the game was eventually declared a tie after the 18th. Even though the National League had abolished its 1 am curfew the previous year, New York City still had one that applied on Saturday nights.

After a brief interruption for an 11-1 win on Wednesday, the Sox were right back at it in the series finale with the O's on Thursday. This time instead of squandering the hit opportunities, they just never had any. After a hit batter and a dropped third strike, Jose Rondon hit a three-run homer for one of just two Chicago hits. (Omar Narvaez singled in the 7th.) It was the first time in eight years that the White Sox had only two hits but still managed to score three runs (April 7, 2010, vs Cleveland). And that futility was courtesy of Dylan Bundy, who threw a complete-game two-hitter with 14 strikeouts, just the fourth such outing in Orioles history. Erik Bedard on July 7, 2007, had been the most recent; Mike Mussina (2000) and Bob Turley (1954) had the others. And Bundy took his place alongside Ewell Blackwell of the Reds as the only pitchers in the live-ball era to throw a CG-2 with 14 strikeouts and somehow also give up three runs. Blackwell did it in similar fashion (three-run homer after a walk and an HBP) in a 10-inning walkoff win over the Cubs on July 1, 1950.

The White Sox were not the only Chicago team bitten by the "can't convert hits into runs" bug. Over on the North Side (a rare case of both teams being home at the same time), the Cubs dropped a 10-1 decision to Cleveland on Tuesday night, with the one run being a pinch-hit homer by Ian Happ in the 9th. It was the most runs the Indians had ever scored at Wrigley Field, and would have been their biggest shutout ever against an NL opponent, well, until. Along the way the Cubs got a triple from Javier Baez and a double from Kris Bryant, who were both promptly stranded. And that made it the first Cubs game in over a half-century where they had gotten 10 hits, including a team cycle, and only scored one run (on the homer that's predicated by having a cycle). Ernie Banks had the solo homer, and Ron Santo the triple (but didn't score), against the Phillies on April 19, 1964.


Have Good Walking Sox

If you only have to travel 90 feet, walking is probably the most efficient way... except in baseball where it usually takes five, six, seven pitches, involves no time pressure of beating a play at first base, and there's a lot of nothing going on. To their credit, the Red Sox are near the bottom of the majors in drawing walks this year, so it was particularly unusual when Mookie Betts and Andrew Benintendi combined for five of them on Wednesday. "Beni" had the first 3-BB game by a Bostonian this year (only Giants and Dodgers remain without one), and even stranger is the fact that neither player ever scored. Two of the walks got erased on double plays, and the others were all stranded. It's only the third time in the live-ball era that the starting 1- and 2-hitters for the Red Sox combined for five walks but zero runs. Julio Lugo and Kevin Youkilis did it on April 22, 2007, and the original pairing was Wade Boggs and Marty Barrett against the White Sox on April 27, 1989.

Benintendi, meanwhile, came back with a solo homer, a triple, and a single in Saturday's 8-6 win over that former Boston team, the Braves. It had been exactly eight years to the day since any Red Sox batter missed the cycle by the double; Adrian Beltre did it at Tampa Bay on May 26, 2010. Boston had gone more than four years longer than any other team without having a player do it; the longest drought (August 2014) passes to the Giants. Benintendi also got hit by a pitch on Saturday, the first Bostonian with the "HR, 3B, HBP" line (never mind the single) since Donnie Sadler against the Rangers on August 9, 1998.


Bottom Of The Bag

⚾ Kenta Maeda, Wednesday: First Dodgers pitcher not named Clayton Kershaw to strike out 12 while allowing ≤ 2 hits and 0 runs since Chan Ho Park against the Padres on September 29, 2000.

⚾ Juan Soto, Saturday: Youngest player in Nats/Expos history to have multiple extra-base hits in a road game. Youngest to do it for "Washington" since Harmon Killebrew at Kansas City, July 16, 1955.

⚾ Brandon Nimmo, Thursday: Fourth Mets batter ever to have three extra-base hits in Milwaukee (including the Braves years). The others are Michael Conforto (May 14, 2017), David Wright (2004), and Mike Piazza (2001).

⚾ Greg Allen, Sunday: By inning, latest walkoff homer (B14/0) for Indians since Brian Giles vs Texas, May 15, 1998.

⚾ Matt Adams, Wednesday: First player in Nationals history with 3 hits and a homer in an x-to-1 loss (i.e., his homer was the team's only run). Last for Expos: Vlad Guerrero at Dodgers, August 21, 2003.

⚾ Mike Trout, Saturday: Third player in Angels history with 5 hits, 4 extra-base hits, and 4 RBI in a game. Kendrys Morales vs Oakland, August 28, 2009; and Dave Winfield at Minnesota, April 13, 1991.

⚾ Tommy Pham, Monday: First Cardinals leadoff batter to strike out four times in a win (so it didn't matter, right?) since Royce Clayton, August 2, 1997, at Philadelphia.

⚾ Travis Shaw, Friday: Second player in Brewers/Pilots history to have three hits and a walkoff non-hit later in the same game. Marquis Grissom reached on an error against the Cubs on September 19, 2000.

⚾ Garrett Richards, Sunday: Fourth pitcher in Angels history to issue five walks and three wild pitches in a game. Previous: Nolan Ryan at Seattle, April 18, 1978.

⚾ Tim Anderson, Saturday: Sixth player in live-ball era to have two homers and make three errors. Last was then-Giant Bob Brenly vs Atlanta, September 14, 1986.

⚾ Josh Harrison, Wednesday: By inning, latest go-ahead triple for Pirates in a road game since Johnny Ray off then-Cardinal Jim Kaat, August 2, 1982.

⚾ Jose Altuve, Saturday: First player for any team with four hits, a homer, a triple, and two stolen bases since the only other Astro to do it-- Steve Finley against the Dodgers on October 2, 1992.

⚾ Ozzie Albies, Tuesday: First Braves leadoff batter to score 3+ runs, and every run for the team in a game, since Ray Powell at Wrigley Field, September 25, 1921.

⚾ Jose Altuve, Sat/Sun: First player in Astros history to have 4 hits in consecutive games and have the team lose both.


Did You Know?

There's a fairly famous picture of Wade Boggs and Marty Barrett together. We run into it all the time at nearby McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, R.I., the home of the famous 33-inning game from 1981. The iconic image is of Barrett stepping on the plate with the winning run. Boggs was on deck (for the 14th time).

Three's Company

Three is a fundamental number in this fine game of baseball that we all enjoy. Three strikes and you're out. Three outs and it's the other team's turn to bat. A three-game series. A three-team trade. The most important number in the game, nine, is of course three threes. So come and knock on our door, this week's Kernels have been waiting for you.


Stealing: Class 3 Misdemeanor

Mookie Betts found himself attached to several 3's this week, beginning on Thursday when the Red Sox leadoff batter collected three singles in a 6-2 win over Baltimore. Mookie regularly leads the team in three-hit games, so that part wasn't surprising. But when Betts also had a 3 next to "stolen bases", well, now we have something. Jacoby Ellsbury was the last Bostonian with a three-hit, three-steal game, and he did it twice-- exactly five years apart on May 30, 2008 (at Baltimore) and 2013 (at Philadelphia). But before that it hadn't been done since 1934. And the Red Sox hadn't had a player do it at Fenway since Charles "Buddy" Myer against the Yankees on July 24, 1928.

Mookie didn't need to steal three bases on Friday, mainly because he was already at second. Despite losing to the Orioles 7-4, Mookie cranked out two doubles and his team-leading 14th homer of the year to not only post another 3 in the hit column, but a 3 under "extra-base hits". It was his 14th such game, passing Red Sox great Bobby Doerr in that category. The team's only hitters with more such games are David Ortiz (21) and Ted Williams (19).

Although only one Bostonian had done the three-hit, three-steal combo in 70 years, Jean Segura, also known for his baserunning adventures, pulled it off for the Mariners on Tuesday. Seattle's had 10 players post that line in their 42-season history, but Segura took it one step (or 90 feet) farther and swiped a fourth bag. And only two other Mariners have ever done that: Ichiro Suzuki (twice) and outfielder Henry Cotto against Texas on June 23, 1990. And while he was not involved in the Mariners' walkoff run, Segura did score three runs before that-- the first in Seattle history with three hits, three runs scored, and three stolen bases in the same game.

In that same game on Tuesday, opposing catcher Robinson Chirinos also had three hits for the Rangers while driving in three runs. Alas, he was stranded at second on every trip around the bases, making him the first Rangers catcher with three hits and three RBIs, but no runs scored himself, since Sandy Alomar also did it in Seattle on April 9, 2005.

Because things must come in threes, Whit Merrifield of the Royals-- who are also known as a base-stealing squad-- dared to match the three-hit, three-steal line in Friday's win over the Yankees. He was the first opponent to post that line against the Bronx Bombers since Cleveland's Jason Kipnis on August 26, 2012. But Merrifield also had a three-hit, three-steal game against the Twins last July, making him one of just five Royals ever to do it twice. Amos Otis pulled it off six times, still good for a top-10 rank in the majors over the last 50 years. The others with exactly two such games are Vince Coleman, Freddie Patek, and Willie Wilson-- and all four of them (including Merrifield) led off. Those eight games, plus one of Otis's, account for all nine times where a Royals leadoff hitter has done it.

In writing that Jean Segura paragraph, we actually did a search for three-steal games by the Brewers since we still haven't adjusted to him being in Seattle. (This is true of a lot of current Mariners, it's nothing personal.) But handy segue to Jesús Aguilar's game on Friday which featured three hits, three runs scored, and three driven in. He became just the second Brewer with a multi-homer game at Target Field since it opened in 2010; Ryan Braun (June 16, 2012) is the other. But remember that the Brewers and Twins were both in the American League for nearly 30 years and played each other on the regular. So how many Milwaukee hitters have posted a 3-hit, 3-run, 3-RBI game in Minnesota? Amazingly, only three. Before Aguilar was Nyjer Morgan (July 2, 2011), and the only one ever to do it at the Metrodome was Jim Gantner on July 27, 1983.


Walk Three Times On The Ceiling If You Want Me

If hitting stuff and running aren't your things, there's always walking, and the Cubs certainly got their steps in this weekend.

In a non-Joe-Maddon move, Ian Happ was slotted eighth for this weekend's series with the Reds, with the pitcher in the old-school ninth spot. The first two times Happ came to bat, it was with two outs and first base empty. The third time Happ came up, it was with one out and first base empty. So it's a pretty obvious move for the Reds to pass him and get to Jon Lester and his career batting average of .088. Happ thus became the first Cubs batter to receive three intentional walks in one game since Andre Dawson received five of them from the Reds on May 22, 1990. Except that was in a 16-inning game and three of them came in extras. The last to do it in a nine-inning affair was Bobby Thomson (yes, that Bobby Thomson) against the Phillies on June 4, 1958.

Thanks to all those walks (and remember, there were baserunners ahead of Happ every time), the Cubs stranded 14 runners and still won the game 8-1. It could have been a lot worse. But the last time the Cubs left 14 on and still won by at least 7 was in Pittsburgh on July 2, 1996. It was also the Cubs' first time collecting 15 hits at the homer-happy Great American Ball Park without any of them actually being homers. In fact, the Cubs hadn't done that in Cincinnati and won since July 12, 1979, at Riverfront.

In the day game of Saturday's doubleheader, however, the Reds took an entirely different approach when confronted with Kyle Hendricks' .095 career average. In this case Happ came to the plate five times, all with the bases empty (he actually led off three innings). So the Reds pitched to him. Oops. Double, walk, triple, homer, strikeout. He thus became the first Cub to miss the cycle by the single (which of course is the hardest to do) since Aramis Ramirez on July 1, 2006, and the first in (at least) the live-ball era to do it batting 8th or 9th. Only one other player in the majors has missed by the single this year, and it's another Chicagoan-- Yoan Moncada of the White Sox.

Happ then homered again in the night game, the first Cub to go deep in both games of a twinbill since Chris Coghlan, also in Cincinnati, on July 8, 2014. Before that no Cub had done it in the Queen City since Ron Santo at Crosley Field on June 20, 1965. With three more walks in Sunday's finale, Happ became the first Cub to have multiple three-walk games in the same series since Carlos Peña did it against Pittsburgh on September 3 and 4, 2011.

And as for those unusual feats (3 IBB and missing by the single) back-to-back? Never "Happ"-ened. In fact, since intentional walks were first officially split off in 1955, nobody's even done it in the same month. And the number of players who'd done it in the same season is, of course, three: John Olerud in 1991, Jeff Bagwell in 1997, and Garrett Jones in 2009.

Instead of Happ it was Kyle Schwarber who played the intentional walk game on Saturday, drawing two of those plus two other "unintentional" walks (i.e., pitching around him) with the bases empty. In his case it worked; Schwarber got forced at third, forced at second, and stranded at first twice. Jorge Soler (vs Pirates, May 15, 2015) was the last Cubs batter to draw four walks in a game but not score a run. That, however, was in a win. Cincinnati literally walked off in the 11th on Saturday when Billy Hamilton took a bases-loaded pass. (Hold that thought.) The last Cub with four walks and zero runs scored in a loss, also happened to be in a 1-run game. And that gives us our second Ron Santo reference; he did it against the Phillies on June 1, 1966 (lost 4-3).

And as for the Reds, they had gone the longest of any team, by over a year, without a helping of "shrimp" (as has become the phrase for a game-ending bases-loaded walk). Their last one was issued by the Padres to Ruben Mateo on April 26, 2003. (The Mariners had one in mid-2004 and now inherit the seafood allergy.) And their last one in the 11th inning or later was against the Giants on August 8, 1992. Bill Doran was the batter, Reggie Sanders was the runner who scored, and the walk was issued by Michael Jackson.

Two other players got an honorable mention with their three-walk games this week; on Friday Adam Frazier became the first Pirates leadoff batter with zero hits, but three walks and two runs scored, since Orlando Merced did it against the Phillies on September 22, 1991. And Curtis Granderson of the Jays also had the 0-hit, 3-walk line, but one of his came with the bases loaded and he got an RBI. The last Torontan to pull that off was... Curtis Granderson on April 30. He's the first in Blue Jays history to do it twice.


Intermission
You know we weren't going to let that reference to Michael Jackson and walking just go by, right? Also, this first public performance originally aired May 16, 1983-- thirty-five years ago this week.


Pitch Perfect 3

A three-hit game is pretty good if you're a batter. It's also quite good if you're a starting pitcher. Unless it's peppered with all those other strange non-hit things you could give up. Enter Carson Fulmer of the White Sox. On Friday he faced 17 Texas batters and allowed just three hits. Except the other 14 weren't outs. He walked five, hit two, and had one reach on a failed fielder's choice before leaving with nobody out in the 3rd. Eight of those baserunners scored, all earned. How tricky is that to pull off? Since earned runs were first kept by the league offices in 1912, only six pitchers have given up eight of them while allowing three or fewer hits, and it's actually not a bad list. Then-Tiger Dontrelle Willis was the last to do it, on June 9, 2008. Before him came Kerry Wood (2002) and Randy Johnson (1992). The remaining two are Ron Necciai, who pitched just 12 games for the Pirates in 1952, and the Athletics' Lou Brissie in 1950 (he would later be part of a three-team trade for Minnie Minoso).

Combined with Lucas Giolito's 6-out, 8-run adventure on April 21, it's the first season in White Sox history where two pitchers have both posted that line in a home game.

On the other hand, if you're a relief pitcher who's conditioned to only working one inning, a three-strikeout game seems ideal. Seattle's Marc Rzepczynski did that in the 9th inning on Wednesday, didn't allow a hit... and gave up three runs. After fanning Nomar Mazara and Joey Gallo, it went intentional walk, error, and then a third strikeout-- but with a passed ball on strike three allowing Ronald Guzman to reach and two runs to score. Guzman would eventually also come around before Dan Altavilla stopped the bleeding by getting the third out. So Rzepczynski's weird line: ⅔ of an inning, 0 hits, 3 runs, 0 earned, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts. Since earned runs were added to the equation (again, in 1912), it's the first such line in major-league history, and Rzepczynski's the first over that span to allow 0 hits, have more strikeouts than outs recorded, and give up three runs (be they earned or unearned).


Three-Cards Monte

Three-hit games are also not ideal if you're a relief pitcher. Jordan Hicks of the Cardinals faced three batters in Thursday's loss; all of them got hits and all of them scored. Although it was just three years ago, no St Louis reliever had done that since the Randy Choate era way back on July 7, 2015. The Cards did however have two batters with three-hit games on offense, Jose Martinez and Francisco Peña. The problem there was that neither of them scored a run, and neither of them drove one in. Two Cardinals hadn't done that in the same game since Felipe Lopez and Cesar Izturis against the Diamondbacks on September 22, 2008.

Martinez and Peña came right back on Friday with three more hits each, the first St Louis teammates to do so in back-to-back games since Aledmys Diaz and Jedd Gyorko on April 23-24, 2016. But those hits also came in the form of a homer, a double, and a single for each of them, making the first Cardinals teammates to miss the cycle by the triple in the same game at the current Busch Stadium. The last to do it anywhere were Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina in Pittsburgh, July 22, 2011.

Meanwhile, at the top of the order, Tommy Pham got in on the party with three hits, two walks, and three runs scored. No Cardinals leadoff batter had reached five times and scored thrice since Skip Schumaker did it against the Mets on July 26, 2008. And Martinez wasn't done. He actually had two singles for a four-hit game that also drove in five runs. And the last Cardinal to do that in a game was... Jose Martinez on April 12. Since RBI became official in 1920, only three other St Louis hitters have had a pair of 4-hit, 5-RBI games in one season, and the one who's not already in Cooperstown is surely headed there. They are Jim Bottomley (1929), Chick Hafey (1931), and Albert Pujols (2009).


Three Of Diamonds

Three-hit games for an entire team are also not all that great, but somehow the Diamondbacks have made the most of them. On Tuesday they pieced together three singles, four walks, two sac bunts, and a throwing error to score two runs, including a Daniel Descalso go-ahead hit in the 8th. They then held Milwaukee to only five hits and won 2-1. It was the third time in Diamondbacks history that they'd had three or fewer hits, with none of them for extra bases, and won the game-- and two of them are this season. On April 17 they beat the Giants 1-0 when Patrick Corbin took a no-hitter into the 8th. (The other game was September 19, 2004, against St Louis; all three hits, plus two walks, came in the same inning and they won 3-2.) The last team in the majors to win two such games in a season was the 2014 Padres.

On the other hand, the Reds struggled to hit their way out of a paper bag this weekend, in that series with the Cubs where J.A. Happ and Kyle Schwarber drew all the walks. They did reach eight hits in the day game on Saturday, but that took extra innings. Their three losses featured eight combined hits and just two runs, and they've already had seven games this season where they've been held to three hits or fewer. That's tied with the Tigers for most in the majors, and last season they had just five the entire year. And while we can't say three games in a row because of Saturday's doubleheader, this weekend marked the first time in at least the live-ball era that the Reds had three hits or fewer on three consecutive days. They last "achieved" it in a four-day span from August 3 through 6, 1984, against the Dodgers and Padres (and they won one of those games).


For Starters
(This is the last section, that's the joke.)

Ever since his glory days with the Long Island Ducks, Rich Hill has been a gift that keeps on giving. Last year's 10-inning escapade where he lost a perfect game in the 9th and then lost a no-hitter on a walkoff homer will forever be known as "The Rich Hill Game" (cf. The Rick Camp Game). But Hill developed a blister on Saturday during warmups and ended up leaving his start against the Nationals after only two pitches. With the count being 0-2 at the time, the at-bat was going to count toward reliever Scott Alexander regardless, meaning Hill became the first Dodgers starter on record (to at least 1908) to not officially face a batter. Which begs the question, who was the last to do it for any team? Glad you asked. Because believe it or not, that's Rich Hill. As an Oakland Athletic in 2016, he made a July 17 start against Toronto and-- yep-- developed a blister five pitches into the game. In that trove of data back to 1908 (thanks, Retrosheet), no pitcher has ever done it twice. (The last before that was another current Dodger, Alex Wood, thanks to a rain delay.)

Meanwhile, the Rays rolled out an unorthodox pitching strategy over the weekend, bringing in closer Sergio Romo... in the 1st inning. Rather than having him enter in the 9th at whatever point the lineup sits, Romo already knows he's facing the top three or four in the opposing order and then the actual starter doesn't get them a third time until the 8th or 9th inning (if he's even still around). As a result, Romo "started" Saturday's game and retired the Angels in order before turning things over to Ryan Yarbrough for six more frames. Yarbrough also had a five-inning, one-run relief appearance on May 4, and is the first Rays pitcher ever to do that twice.

But wait, thanks to only throwing one inning, Romo-- like most relievers-- can easily come back the next day and "start" again. He became the first pitcher to start consecutive team games since Zack Greinke in 2012, but that was on either side of the All-Star break. And it's also happened after rain delays and when the pitcher gets ejected in the 1st inning. The Athletics' Steve McCatty, in April 1980, was the last to start back-to-back games and pitch at least one inning in both; he gave up eight baserunners at the outset of the first game but came back the next day to throw eight full frames. And again on Sunday, Romo recorded four outs and allowed two walks before departing in the 2nd inning. Technically that means he left back-to-back games with a no-hitter intact. Which made our inner Johnny Vander Meer ask, when's the last time that one happened? Well, it's been done fairly recently by several relievers who were, like Romo, making spot starts due to injuries or doubleheaders or whatnot. But those games were all months apart with a bunch of relief appearances in between. The last to do it in back-to-back games where both were starts was Mike Moore of the Mariners in 1985. Moore left his May 30 start against Baltimore in the 2nd inning after pulling a groin muscle, thought he could make his next start on June 4 against the Tigers, but after three walks to start the second inning, he (and his groin) got pulled again, eventually landing on the disabled list.


Bottom Of The Bag

⚾ Braves, Sunday: Scored 10 runs (and walked off, just as a bonus) without an extra-base hit. Last time they pulled that they were in Milwaukee. August 23, 1953, had 17 singles in a 10-2 win over the Cubs.

⚾: Dansby Swanson, Sunday: First player in Atlanta Braves history (1966) to lead off inning with an out, then bat again later in same inning and hit a walkoff of any type.

⚾ Charlie Morton, Friday: First pitcher in (at least) live-ball era to start a season 6-0, where all games were starts and he allowed =4 hits and = 1 run in every game.

⚾ Khris Davis, Thursday: Second Athletics batter in live-ball era with four hits and a hit-by-pitch in same game. Other is Sal Bando at Kansas City, September 1, 1973.

⚾ Yankees, Saturday/Sunday: First time hitting at least four homers in back-to-back road games in the same city since June 17 and 18, 1961, at Tiger Stadium. (You may have heard a thing or two about the '61 Yankees.)

⚾ Tyler Saladino, Monday: First pinch-hit inside-the-park home run in Brewers/Pilots history. Last for any team was by the Nationals' Stephen Drew on May 31, 2016.

⚾ Ozzie Albies, Wednesday: Third career game with both a double and a triple. Joins Hank Aaron as the only Braves players since 1900 to do it three times before turning 22.

⚾ Jake Cave, Saturday: Third player in live-ball era (and stolen-base rules changed a lot before that) with a multi-run homer and a steal in his major-league debut. The others are "only" Len Dykstra (Mets 1985) and Bert Campaneris (Athletics 1964).

⚾ Orioles, Sunday: First team in majors with 13 hits but zero runs scored since the 2008 Dodgers. Only other time Baltimore did it was May 14, 1961, at Cleveland.

⚾ Justin Verlander, Wednesday: With Gerrit Cole May 4, first time two Astros have thrown shutouts on the road in same season since Randy Wolf and Roy Oswalt in 2008.

⚾ Dodgers, Saturday: First time sweeping a doubleheader from "Washington" since May 13, 1899 (scores of 12-1 and 7-3 vs the old National League Senators).

The (New York) Sun, May 14, 1899. (For additional colorful journalism, click here
and zoom in on the first column.)

Did You Know?
Our buddy "Buddy" Myer from the first section is in the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. There's one problem: While his father was ethnically Jewish, neither he nor Buddy practiced the faith at all, and Buddy's mother was Baptist. His name and heritage also got him into several brawls during his playing days, including one of the all-time "greats" between him and the Yankees' Ben Chapman in 1933. But apparently no one bothered to ask him until the 1970s when he was quoted by Esquire as saying, "I'm not Jewish, I'm German."

In The Cards

At last check, baseball cards were still being produced and sold, though you have to look a little harder for them these days. And this week felt a little like buying a pack of them-- you'd get a few stars, you'd get a few players you'd never heard of, sometimes you'd get the same guy twice, and you'd occasionally-- without knowing it-- get the rookie card that's going to be worth something in 20 years. If you don't actually touch it, that is.


Commemorative No-Hitter Card

One of those players who tends to fly under the radar is Seattle's James Paxton, whose 16-strikeout game against the Athletics got relegated to a brief mention in last week's post after a Dodgers no-hitter and Gerrit Cole's one-hit shutout. Well, he'll show us, won't he? On Tuesday Paxton threw the season's third no-no (on May 8!) in shutting out the Blue Jays 5-0. That feat was even more remarkable given the "bandbox" reputation of Rogers Centre; it's only the third no-hitter thrown there. The last was by Justin Verlander seven years and one day earlier, and the first was by Oakland's Dave Stewart on June 29, 1990, famous as The Day With Two No-Hitters (Fernando Valenzuela). And Paxton-- who hails from Ladner, British Columbia-- became just the second Canadian native to throw a no-hitter, joining Dick Fowler in 1945. Fowler missed most of the 1943-45 seasons while serving in the Canadian Army, and his no-hitter for the Athletics on September 9, 1945, was his first start in the majors in three years. That game was at Shibe Park against the St Louis Browns....


Crunchy Stick Of Gum

...Who of course would become the Baltimore Orioles within a decade, and for whom Dylan Bundy started Tuesday's game against the Royals. Bundy's designs on throwing a no-hitter disappeared in three pitches when Jon Jay beat out an infield single. It was really the next six batters that were an issue. Bundy walked two of them... and the other four all homered. He was pulled after seven runs, five hits, and zero outs recorded. Only one other starter in Orioles/Browns history had given up seven earned runs and not recorded an out, Joe Coleman in Cleveland on July 6, 1954. And Bundy became the first pitcher (starter or reliever) in major-league history to throw 0 IP and give up four homers.

The Royals would go on to pile up the first double-digit inning in the majors this season, and the second 10-run 1st inning in team history. The other was August 23, 2006, against the Indians, and they ended up losing that game in extras after allowing four runs in the 9th. The Orioles had not given up a 10-run 1st since September 20, 1983, in Detroit.

The second of those four homers off Bundy came from Mike Moustakas, who would go on to hit a two-run dinger in the 5th and drive in five runs. Only one other Royal has had a 2-HR, 5-RBI game at Camden Yards... and it's Mike Moustakas (September 12, 2015). For even more synergy, those are the only two games in Moose's career where he's had that line.

Bundy did rebound on Sunday to throw seven shutout innings and defeat the Rays (if by "defeat" you mean just the second 17-1 victory in Orioles/Browns history). However, you've gotta think he was offering a knowing nod to the opposite dugout, where reliever Andrew Kittredge entered in the 4th inning after Ian Snell had been tagged for three homers. Kittredge faced seven batters, allowed six hits and a walk, and six of the runs scored. Look familiar? Aside from the seventh run being stranded, it's Bundy's exact line from Tuesday (0 IP, 7 BF). The last time any two pitchers did that within a week of each other was when the Pirates' John Hope (not the late Weather Channel hurricane guy) and Montreal's Gil Heredia posted that line on July 1 and 7, 1995. In similar fashion, one (Heredia) was a starter and one did it as a reliever. If you narrow the window to six days, it goes back to July 7 and 11, 1913, when Earl Moore of the Phillies and Doc White, appropriately of the White Sox, both managed it.


I Think I Have This Guy Already

Thursday's Royals/Orioles game looked a lot like Tuesday's, with Chris Tillman surrendering six runs and getting pulled after four outs. The difference this time is that the O's fought back with eight unanswered runs off Ian Kennedy and ended up winning 11-6. The Orioles hadn't won a home game where they gave up four in the top of the 1st since September 15, 2009 (vs Rays), and Kennedy was the first Royals pitcher to allow nine runs and three homers after having a four-run lead (at any point).

The Royals' first four batters all reached base, culminating with Salvador Perez's grand slam to give them the 4-0 lead. That was the fifth grand slam in Royals history to be hit by their fourth batter of a game (which of course is the earliest it can happen); the previous one was by Jermaine Dye on April 26, 2000.

As for Tillman, it was a familiar refrain for both him and Orioles fans; he gave up seven runs on three outs in his previous start in Anaheim. Only one other Orioles/Browns pitcher in the live-ball era has had back-to-back starts with six runs and four or fewer outs; that was Zach Britton in 2011, and he had a DL stint in between them (July 8 and 30).

The Orioles' comeback was led by the top two in the order, Mancini and Adam Jones, who each had three hits and three runs scored. The franchise hadn't had its 1- and 2-hitters each do that since Bob Dillinger and Ray Coleman on June 24, 1947, and the last time it happened where both also homered was by Chet Laabs and Johnny Lucadello against the Yankees on September 16, 1940.


Wait, Maybe I Have Three

Aside from the venue being Cleveland and not Baltimore, amazingly Friday's Royals game started much like Thursday's. Kansas City did come up with four runs in the first three innings, but Jason Hammel gave up longballs to Jose Ramirez, Yonder Alonso, and Michael Brantley for a 9-4 deficit in the 4th. Yep, that would be nine earned runs and three homers-- exactly the line that Ian Kennedy posted the day before. Since earned runs were first kept officially in 1912, only one other team has had starters do that in consecutive games. Howard Ehmke and Hooks Dauss pulled it off for Detroit on June 13 and 14, 1921.

However, unlike Thursday's game, it would be Kansas City who would score six unanswered runs and end up winning the game 10-9. Lucas Duda, with three doubles, joined George Brett (1988) and Hal McRae (1974) as the only Royals to do that against Cleveland. It's also worth mentioning that Brantley's homer was a grand slam that knocked Hammel out of the game. He thus became the first Clevelander to hit a grand slam in a loss since... Michael Brantley did it last week against Texas. Only two others have done it twice in a season, Andre Thornton in 1979 and Al Rosen in 1951.


Dangit, Stop Giving Me This Guy

The Royals' pitching woes continued through the weekend, with Jake Junis's 4-run start on Saturday looking like a relative masterpiece (though they still lost). On Sunday it was Danny Duffy's turn to take one for the team, once again posting nine earned runs-- though, showing improvement, only two homers this time. Together with Kennedy and Hammel, it was the first time any team had three starters give up at least nine earned runs in a four-day span since 1951. The Senators did it in three straight games over Memorial Day weekend that year, with Connie Marrero, Sandy Consuegra, and Al Sime pulling it off at Fenway Park.

Yan Gomes and Jose Ramirez each took Duffy deep for a three-run homer and a double, something two Indians teammates hadn't done in the same home game since August 27, 2010. That was also against the Royals (although off different pitchers), by Chris Gimenez and Jayson Nix.


Wish I Had His Rookie

Scooter Gennett had a few respectable seasons in Milwaukee beginning in 2013, but made the league minimum for four years and was eventually waived during spring training last year. The Reds gave him a home and Scooter took to it immediately, famously breaking out with his four-homer game last June. On Thursday he led the Reds to a win at Dodger Stadium with three hits, three RBIs, and an 8th-inning homer for the final run. On Friday he did it again, except change three hits to four (and the homer to the 5th inning). That was after going deep in two games against the Mets earlier in the week, and created Scooter's first career four-game homer streak. But as for Thursday and Friday, Scooter is the first Reds hitter in six years to have three hits, three RBIs, and a home run in back-to-back games. Brandon Phillips did it against Cleveland on June 13 and 14, 2012. But the last to do it where both games were on the road? That's none other than Davey Concepcion in 1979-- and (with an asterisk) on the same dates also (May 10 and 11). The asterisk is that the May 10 game with the Cubs was suspended after nine innings due to a travel curfew and wasn't resumed until July 23. So even though it counts as a continuation of the May 10 game, Concepcion didn't get his third hit until 2½ months later. If you want to avoid the asterisk, the last to do it without disturbing the time-space continuum is Johnny Bench at the Astrodome, May 30 and 31, 1972.


Special Double Card

Aaron Nola and Vince Velasquez of the Phillies aren't blipping anyone's radar of "big stars", and you can credit the San Francisco offense for much of this, but they combined to strike out 24 Giants as Philadelphia swept the four-game series. Nola's outing on Tuesday was just the second time in the live-ball era that a Phillies pitcher had fanned a dozen Giants and allowed no more than one run. The other is that rookie card you wish you had-- Steve Carlton on April 25, 1972 (Carlton gave up a leadoff single in that game for the only hit). On Thursday Velasquez also had two hits at the plate, the first Phillie to do that and have a dozen strikeouts since Cliff Lee in 2013. But the combination was the first time since at least 1907 (probably ever) that two Phillies pitchers have each recorded a dozen strikeouts in the same series.

Incidentally, the opener of that series on Monday ended with an 11-0 shutout in which four different Phillies hit a multi-run homer. That latter part hadn't happened since Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, and Raul Ibañez did it against the Cardinals on July 26, 2009. And the 11-0 score matched the largest home shutout in Phillies history against the Giants; the other such game was played on May 12, 1899.

Perfect timing for us to be at the Phillies' spring-training facility in Clearwater, Fla., this week and happen upon this giant Aaron Nola banner hanging on a light pole. Spoiler alert: Next time Odubel Herrera does something cool, we're ready for that too.

Fabulous Feats

Last week we could have issued a special commemorative "milestone" card to acknowledge Albert Pujols' 3000th hit. In lieu of that we're going to throw in a bonus action card of George Springer, who on Monday became the first player-- for any team, including the A's-- to have a six-hit game at Oakland Coliseum. On the obverse we'll dig up some old photos of Hall of Famer Joe Morgan, because he owns the only other six-hit game in Astros history. That came July 8, 1965, in Milwaukee (the Braves' final year there), and took 12 innings. Springer also scored four runs and drove in three, becoming just the sixth leadoff batter ever with that line. Charlie Blackmon, whose six-hitter during the first week of the 2014 season comes up at least once a month in these pages, had the last one; Ian Kinsler (2009) and Willie Harris (2007) also did it; and the first two were both White Sox (Lance Johnson in 1995 and Rip Radcliff in 1936).

You could also double up Springer's card with Andrew McCutchen's six-hit game on the other side of the Bay on April 7. Not only is it the first time there have been two such games in the Bay Area in the same season, but there had only been two total in the previous 60 seasons of baseball in northern California. Rondell White of the Expos (1995) and Jose Cardenal of the Cubs (1976) had the others, both at Candlestick Park.


All-Stars

So about that Charlie Blackmon game coming up all the time... well, here's the May edition.

Francisco Lindor of the Indians, runner-up in 2015's Rookie Of The Year voting and who will almost certainly make his third All-Star Game this summer, was a one-man wrecking crew in Saturday's win over the Royals (in which, as mentioned earlier, Jacob Junis "only" gave up four runs). Lindor led off the game with a double, scored three pitches later, homered in his own right in the 3rd, led off the 6th with another double-- scoring four pitches later this time-- homered again in the 7th, and then was stranded on deck to end the game. Count 'em, that's four extra-base hits and four runs scored, the first Cleveland leadoff batter to do that in (again, at least) the live-ball era. Only six other Indians hitters have ever done it, the last being Kelly Shoppach on July 30, 2008, and the others being Manny Ramirez (1999), Joe Carter (1986), Rocky Colavito (1959), Bobby Avila (1951), and Pat Seerey (1945).

Toss in the two runs Lindor drove in, and since RBI became an official stat in 1920, Lindor is just the ninth leadoff batter ever to post that line. The previous one? There's your Charlie Blackmon six-hitter (April 4, 2014).

On Sunday Lindor collected three more hits and got plunked once by the Danny Duffy Express mentioned earlier. Although he had only one extra-base hit, it did mean he reached base four times again, something no Cleveland leadoff batter had done in consecutive games in exactly three years. Jason Kipnis did it May 12 and 13 of 2015 against the "Cards".


Intermission
Part of the original thought for this post was a collection of things those "Cards" did this week. Then they didn't really do anything interesting and we folded. They did, however, finish Tuesday's game with a Jose Martinez home run and a Francisco Peña single as their only offense... while also committing three defensive miscues. That gives them the first "1-2-3" linescore in the majors since the Reds did it at Wrigley on July 9, 2008. And that was so long ago it even predates the Britney Spears song.


The Rare Misprint

Chicago is famous for its "L" (or "el" for "elevated", depending on whose style you go with), so it's somewhat appropriate that both Chicago teams have catchers with "L" issues. Willson Contreras-- who has two L's in his first name instead of the common spelling with one-- celebrates his 26th birthday on the day of this post, and he made the most of his last few days of being 25. On Wednesday he legged out two triples and a double in the Cubs' 13-4 beatdown of the Marlins, the first Cub to post that line since Billy Williams against the Cardinals on June 29, 1969. No Cubs catcher had run that far (we're counting homers as more of a "jog" here) around the bases since Hall of Famer Gabby Hartnett did that against the Cardinals on May 9, 1936... 82 years to the day before Contreras's game. The last Cubs catcher to just have the two triples was Steve Swisher on August 11, 1976.

Contreras came back on Friday with his best Francisco Lindor impression, capping a 5-run 1st inning with his second career grand slam, and then tacking on an automatic double, a 6th-inning solo homer, and another two-run double in the 7th to finish the Cubs' 11-2 win. That's four extra-base hits and a whopping seven runs batted in. (The automatic double (commonly referred to as a "ground rule" even though it's not) would have been an eighth had the runner not been forced to return to third on the dead ball.) Only one other player in Cubs history had recorded 4 XBH and 7 RBI in a game, and it was another catcher, George Mitterwald against the Pirates on April 17, 1974. He became the first Cub with back-to-back 3-XBH games since Billy Williams also did that later in the 1969 season (September 8 and 10). And even the four hits (never mind the extra-base part) and seven driven in hadn't been done at Wrigley since Andre Dawson against the Astros on June 2, 1987.

On Saturday he cooled off just a bit, only posting a home run and two singles, but still driving in three. That was a back-to-back first (3 H, 1 HR, 3 RBI) since Sammy Sosa did it on August 10 and 11, 2002. Contreras also became the first Cub with a three-game streak where he had three hits, at least one of which was for extra bases, at least one run scored, and at least one RBI, since Mark Grace in August 1998 (and two of his games were at Coors).

Naturally, on Sunday, his actual birthday, Contreras went 0-for-3 with a walk. It's no fun getting old.

Meanwhile, across town, Welington Castillo-- who has only one "L" instead of the usual two, and who used to be a Cub, further confusing things-- had two homers and three runs batted in on Tuesday against the Pirates. Castillo did that in September 2013 during his Cubs days, and joins George Bell, Jay Johnstone, Vance Law, Ron Santo, Sammy Sosa, and Geovany Soto on a list of seven players to have such a game for both teams. (Soto, of course, is the only other catcher on the list.)


Award Winner

Sparky Lyle, who won the 1977 AL Cy Young while helping the Yankees to a World Series title, was until recently a manager in the indie-ball league near us (not with our friends the Long Island Ducks, but the same league). But imagine our surprise when he popped up as the answer to two different notes this week.

The Yankees, of course, ended their remarkable stretch of 17 wins in 18 games, with the finishing blow to the streak being dealt by Boston's J.D. Martinez, who started the 8th inning on Thursday with a solo homer that would hold up for a 5-4 win. That, however, came on the heels of a 4-run Yankee 7th that made us think they were up to their old comeback tricks again. They hadn't scored at all off starter Eduardo Rodriguez, who joined Josh Beckett (2009) and Ray Culp (1968) as the only Red Sox starters to hold the Yankees scoreless on ≤ 1 hit over any number of innings. But Martinez's blast was the first time the Red Sox had homered to lead off an inning numbered 8 or higher, after the Yankees had just tied the game in the prior inning, since April 8, 1973. Holding a 3-2 lead after 8, Felipe Alou scored on an error in the 9th to tie it, but then Orlando Cepeda homered off Sparky Lyle as the first batter of the 9th for the walkoff.

Sparky, however, was one of those rare players who was traded to the Yankees from the Red Sox, being dealt during spring training in 1972 for backup infielder Danny Cater and minor-leaguer Mario Guerrero, who actually made his MLB debut in that game of April 8, 1973, and singled off Lyle in the process. (That would remain the last trade between the two rivals until the Don Baylor deal in 1986.) And while playing for Boston, Sparky was on the opposite end of our next note.

The finale of that Yankees 17-in-18 streak was made possible by Brett Gardner's 8th-inning triple on Wednesday (just the third three-bagger ever allowed by Craig Kimbrel). It turned a 6-5 deficit into a 7-6 lead, and was the first such triple for the Yankees since Johnny Damon hit one in Philadelphia on June 20, 2006. But the last Yankee with an 8th-or-later triple against Boston to change a deficit into a lead? That's off the bat of Roy White, but the arm of Sparky Lyle, on June 21, 1969.

That triple was Gardner's third hit of the game, and the other two times he was content to stop at second. Since the current version of Yankee Stadium opened in 2009, only one other player-- for any team-- has recorded a triple and two doubles in the same game there... and it's Brett Gardner. That happened June 12, 2011, against the Indians, and since the move across the Harlem River in 1923, only one other player has ever had two such games in the Bronx. Third baseman Red Rolfe recorded them in June 1936 and June 1939.

Gardner's triple was followed by (of course) an Aaron Judge home run for the final 9-6 margin. That meant the top two batters in the Yankee order each collected three hits, three runs scored, and two RBIs. And that hadn't happened in the same game since Hank Bauer and Jerry Coleman did it in a 20-6 win in Baltimore on August 14, 1955.


Legends Of The Game

You don't necessarily have to be a baseball fan to know the story of Honus Wagner and why his baseball cards are so rare. (In the early 1900s cards were distributed with cigarette packs, not sold by themselves, and Wagner-- while not totally anti-tobacco as is commonly thought-- demanded that he not be included.) So it was a fun find this week (and sort of the inspiration for the theme) that Corey Dickerson of the Pirates pulled off something so rare that Wagner was the last to do it.

Admittedly this is largely a quirk of scheduling, since interleague play (other than in the World Series) didn't exist until the mid-1990s. But Dickerson collected four hits in Tuesday's game with the White Sox. That's all. Just your standard average four-hit game. One of them was a double. Meh. Except the Pirates and White Sox don't play all that often, and Pittsburgh had never had a four-hit game at either incarnation of Comiskey Park (never even played a game at the old one). In fact, Tuesday's game was the first time the Pirates had ever scored 10 runs there without hitting a home run. But even though the White Sox are now commonly referred to as the South Siders, fans of stadium history will know that before moving to Weeghman Park (now Wrigley Field) in 1916, the Cubs played at a field called the West Side Grounds, which is now the site of the UIC Medical Center. It's six blocks south of Madison which is the zero line. And the Pirates did play the Cubs for all those years. So the last Pittsburgh batter with a four-hit game on the "South Side" of Chicago? Yep, it's Honus Wagner, in the team's final visit to the West Side Grounds on September 5, 1915.

Special bonus card, and one you might put in your bicycle spokes only to regret it later, to Colin Moran, who on Wednesday became just the second Pirate ever to hit a go-ahead homer against the White Sox in the 9th inning (or later). Freddy Sanchez walked off against them at PNC Park on June 29, 2006.


Braves Future Stars

Ronald Acuña and Ozzie Albies are held up as two of the best young stars in the league (at least for now), and being on a Braves team that's finished 71 games under .500 over the past three years doesn't hurt. But they each had a notable game this week, and in unusual fashion, it wasn't the same game.

Acuña hit a solo home run in the 3rd inning at Tropicana Field on Tuesday to open the scoring in this week's interleague series. Six innings later, it would turn out Acuña also closed the scoring; that home run would stand up for a 1-0 victory. The Braves hadn't won a 1-0 game via solo homer since Evan Gattis hit one against the Marlins on August 31, 2014. They'd only done it once before in an interleague game-- and you might be old enough to remember that one. It was David Justice's World Series clincher in 1995 Game 6.

Acuña is also the youngest player whose solo homer was responsible for a 1-0 team victory since 19-year-old Phil Cavarretta did it for the Cubs at Sportsman's Park in St Louis on September 25, 1935.

By Thursday the Braves had headed across Alligator Alley and beat up on the Marlins 9-2 thanks to a 7-run 6th inning that included an Albies grand slam. Going all the way back to the start of the Braves franchise in 1876, only one player younger than Albies has hit a slam for them, and like most things Braves- and age-related, the answer is Andruw Jones. That happened at Fenway Park on August 31, 1997.

Freddie Freeman also had five hits in the Thursday win, but the only time he scored was when he also homered in that big 6th inning. The last Braves batter with a five-hit game that included a homer, but who only scored that one run (i.e., got stranded or retired on the other four trips around), was Mark Kotsay against the Cubs on August 14, 2008.

And Sean Newcomb put together two tremendous starts this week, his first one on Tuesday overshadowed by the yin and yang that were Paxton and Bundy. After seven innings of two-hit ball against the Mets on May 2, Newcomb throw six more innings of two-hit ball at Tropicana Field on Tuesday, and then one-hit the Marlins for six innings on Sunday. He thus became the first Braves pitcher in (at least) the live-ball era to throw 6+ scoreless innings with ≤ 2 hits in three consecutive outings. The last to do it twice in a row was Greg Maddux in 1999.


Bottom Of The Bag

⚾ Eric Lauer, Friday: First Padres pitcher to allow four homers in a game at Petco. Last at Qualcomm was Brett Tomko vs Cubs, May 2, 2002.

⚾ Carlos Carrasco, Wednesday: First American League pitcher in DH era to throw a complete game with 14 K and have an RBI on offense. Previous was Nolan Ryan vs Rangers, July 27, 1972.

⚾ Lucas Giolito, Sunday: Second pitcher in live-ball era (and the definition of an SB changed a lot before that) to allow five stolen bases and uncork three wild pitches. Other was Nolan Ryan vs Reds, October 1, 1982.

⚾ Josh Donaldson & Justin Smoak, Friday: First Jays teammates ever to strike out four times each in a win.

⚾ Charlie Morton, Saturday: With Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander, first time three Astros pitchers have had a 14-K game in same season. Team already has 12 double-digit-strikeout games, halfway to team record of 24 set in 1969.

⚾ Brent Suter, Tuesday: First relief pitcher (for any team) to homer against the Indians in the DH era. Previous was Spaceman Bill Lee for the Red Sox, September 11, 1972.

⚾ Brent Suter, Saturday: Third pitcher in Brewers history to have a homer and a double (either order) in back-to-back games. CC Sabathia did it in July 2008, and Yovani Gallardo had three such sets.

⚾ Carlos Santana, Wednesday: First Phillie with 5 RBI on 0 homers, 0 triples, and ≤ 1 double (no limit on singles) since Delmon Young at Dodger Stadium, June 28, 2013. First to do it at home since George Vukovich vs Padres, May 6, 1982.

⚾ Justin Bour, Sunday: Hit Marlins' third pinch-hit homer this season; Bour has all of them. Only other Marlins with three in a season: Wes Helms 2006, Preston Wilson 1999.

⚾ Nick Williams, Sunday: Hit Phillies' second pinch-hit homer this season; Williams has both of them and both have put team ahead. Last Phillie with two go-ahead pinch-hit homers in a season: Tony Longmire 1995.

⚾ Cole Hamels, Friday : Second starter in Rangers/Sens history to work at least 4 innings and allow more hit batters than actual hits. Ferguson Jenkins in a CG-2 vs OAK, Apr 22 1975.

⚾ Mike Trout, Saturday: First Angels batter to draw four walks in a game since... Mike Trout, May 1 vs Orioles. Only others to do it twice in a season are Chris Iannetta in 2013 and Fred Lynn in 1984.


Did You Know?

As the saying goes, Mets gonna Met.

Their actual submitted batting order on Wednesday started Nimmo-Cabrera-Flores-Bruce-Gonzalez. Brandon Nimmo struck out on three pitches, no big deal. Wilmer Flores grabs a bat and strikes out on three pitches, no big deal. Asdrubal Cabrera doubles off the wall and the Reds finally say, heyyy, wait a minute here.

So who's out for missing his turn? The Reds actually played this smartly, because in a way it's both Cabrera and Jay Bruce. There are three potential spots where they could have intervened: If it was noticed (most likely by the Mets) while Flores was batting, he can just be pulled back, and Cabrera finishes the at-bat correctly with whatever the inherited count is. If the Reds had appealed after Flores struck out, but before a pitch to Cabrera, then yes, Cabrera would have been out for missing his turn, but Flores would get to bat again since it now really is his turn.

Under rule 6.03(b)(5), the pitch to Cabrera (even though it shouldn't have been Cabrera) legalizes Flores's improper at-bat. So his strikeout stands and Cabrera's original number-two spot is just skipped. Two down.

But now, since Cabrera doubled, and we haven't thrown another pitch yet, hold everything. Under 6.03(b)(7), once Flores was established as the "correct" previous batter, then the next one up should be Jay Bruce. So when the appeal is made after the double, it's actually Bruce who gets called out for missing his turn and thus ends the inning. (Under 9.09(b)(6), this putout goes as a 2-unassisted since there have to be 27 outs accounted for.)

So who leads off the 2nd inning? Back to 6.03 again, since Bruce was called out for missing his turn, and another pitch was not thrown (which would legitimize yet another improper batter), the order is now allowed to "reset". Bruce is out to end the 1st, and the order picks up after his spot, with Adrian Gonzalez (who legitimately singled).

And of course the Mets ended up losing that game on a walkoff. Because, well, Mets gonna Met.

We included all the automatic "2-unassisted" putouts because it's an amusing list. Especially the last two. And yes, this is really the 2018 edition of the rule book.

Trail Blazers

Last week we brought you stuff that happened repeatedly, usually in quick succession. This week featured a bunch of stuff that hadn't happened before, at least not in a particular team's history. Also, that basketball team from Portland got swept in the first round.


South Of The Border

The Padres, back in 1996, were the first major-league team to throw a regular-season pitch outside the U.S. or Canada (trivia: who threw it?), and of course they are still setting a trend as the only active team to never throw a no-hitter. So when the Padres returned to Mexico on Friday, against the Dodgers in Monterrey, it seemed perfect that those worlds would collide. Instead of throwing the no-hitter, the Padres became the first team ever to get no-hit outside the U.S. or Canada, losing 4-0 and striking out 13 times versus Walker Buehler and three other Dodgers hurlers. (Trivia answer: Think Dodgers hurlers, Mexico, and trail-blazers. Mm-hmm, a late-career Fernando Valenzuela.) Only one other no-hitter has been thrown in a neutral-site game, that being by Carlos Zambrano in a 2008 game that should have been in Houston, but was moved to Miller Park in Milwaukee due to hurricanes. (Oddly, that's still the only NH at Miller Park; there's never been one in a Brewers game.) The Padres also became the first team to get no-hit and strike out 13 times, but also manage to draw five walks, since the Twins did it in Nolan Ryan's third NH on September 28, 1974.

It was the first combined no-hitter in Dodgers history, and Buehler was the team's first starter to throw at least six no-hit innings and be removed since Rich Hill did it on September 10, 2016. That's not the Josh Harrison walk-off game from last season, although you could certainly make the case that Hill should have been pulled from that one with the NH still intact. And Hill, of course, paved the way for pitchers in their mid-30s to experience a triumphant comeback by way of the Long Island Ducks.


Turn Around, You Just Missed It

Gerrit Cole, meet Jason Schmidt. The Dodgers' no-hitter, as such things always do, overshadowed almost anything else that happened in baseball on Friday (Editor's note: Still bitter.), including Albert Pujols' 3,000th career hit. That might have even bumped Cole's game to third place, so you're forgiven if you didn't catch his complete-game one-hitter with 16 strikeouts against the Diamondbacks. Chris Owings' 5th-inning double-- hit while the Dodgers' no-hitter was moving through the 7th-- and a walk to David Peralta were the only blemishes on Cole's game. In the live-ball era, only two other pitchers have thrown a one-hit shutout (not an NH) while allowing only one walk and striking out 16. Kerry Wood's 20-strikeout game, the 20th anniversary of which is the day this column is being posted, is one of them. The other was a Nolan Ryan outing against Boston on July 9, 1972, in which he allowed the hit and the walk in the 1st inning and then retired 26 Red Sox hitters in a row.

Cole also had an interesting strikeout line... on the offensive side. He went 0-for-5, which is unusual for a pitcher to start with, but guess how all five of those plate appearances ended. Yes, the old "platinum sombrero" which has been achieved just five times in Astros history (strangely, all in victories). Colby Rasmus had the previous one on July 6, 2016. But the last pitcher, for any team, with a 5-K game at the plate was Ted Lilly of the Cubs on June 30, 2008. And the last American League pitcher to pull it off (remember, we're playing NL rules in Arizona) was Boston's Ray Jarvis, who made just 12 starts for the Sawx over two seasons. But his first MLB victory came against Cleveland when Ken Brett gave up three hits and three walks to the first seven batters of the game, and Jarvis proceeded to throw 8⅔ innings of relief. That was at Fenway on the 57th anniversary of its opening-- April 20, 1969.

And if you were wondering about the Jason Schmidt reference, well, that harkens back to May 18, 2004. Many fans still recognize that date as belonging to Randy Johnson's perfect game for the Diamondbacks in Atlanta. Many fans do not remember that there was also a one-hit shutout that day. Schmidt threw it for the Giants at Wrigley Field in Chicago; that was the last time multiple teams were one-hit and fanned 13+ times on the same day.

And we would be remiss without one paragraph of love for James Paxton's 16-strikeout outing for the Mariners on Wednesday against Oakland. More impressive is that it came in only seven innings (come on, leave him in and try for 22!), the first of those since Michael Pineda of the Yankees fanned 16 Orioles on May 10, 2015. But it was only the third 16-K game in Mariners history, and guess who threw the other two. They're both Randy Johnson shutouts as well-- a five-hitter with 19 K's against the White Sox in 1997, and a 3/16 against Toronto in 1995.


Colónoscopy

Of course, not all of Randy Johnson's games were complete gems, and nine days before his 45th birthday, he gave up four homers to the Cardinals. Bartolo Colón, who continues to inspire 40-somethings throughout the baseball universe, accomplished the same "feat" on Friday, just twenty days before his 45th birthay. Only three others have done it at 44 or older: Gaylord Perry, Charlie Hough, and the most recent, Jamie Moyer, who on May 27, 2012, finally concluded that was the proof he should hang it up-- and did, the next day.

Meanwhile, two pitchers made their major-league debuts this week who weren't even born when Bartolo's pro career began. Fernando Romero of the Twins went 5⅔ scoreless innings on Wednesday, struck out five Blue Jays, and got the win when Eddie Rosario's 2nd-inning homer held up. He thus became the first Twins/Senators pitcher since at least 1920 to do that in his debut, though two pitchers (Doug Corbett and Jeff Holly) threw five scoreless with five strikeouts in relief. And Mike Soroka of the Braves-- not born until four months after Colón's MLB debut in 1997-- threw six innings and gave up just one run on Tuesday, the youngest pitcher in Atlanta history to do that in his debut. Scott Kazmir, in 2004, was the last in the majors, and the previous such outing in Braves history goes way back to Boston; James "Lefty" Wallace threw a 1-run, 6-hit complete game in his debut on May 5, 1942, when he was four days younger than Soroka.

Incidentally, that Braves win on Wednesday featured the odd line of 3 runs on 15 hits, the team's first such game since June 10, 1996 (also against the Mets). They hadn't won such a game since 17 years after Wallace's debut-- May 5, 1959, against the Dodgers at County Stadium in Milwaukee. And on Wednesday, another relative Newcomb-er (that's pitcher Sean who debuted last June) became the second Atlanta pitcher to go 7+ innings, give up no runs on two hits, strike out eight, and also have an extra-base hit on offense. Another long-tenured hurler, Tim Hudson, did it against Toronto on June 20, 2011.


Trust The Gordon's Mariner

In other "40-something" news, Ichiro Suzuki transitioned into a "front office role" with the Mariners this week, although we're not sure if he's formally retired yet or not. (Fool us once,...) One of the trailblazers for MLB's Japan pipeline, not to mention the "popularity" of infield singles, was honored by Dee Gordon on Thursday both on his cap and in the stat column. Gordon had three hits and stole two bases in the Mariners' win over Oakland. It was the fourth time Gordon had posted that line... this season. That's a full third of the major-league total of 12 such games; one of the other eight is by his teammate Jean Segura. It also topped Ichiro's 2010 and 2011 seasons in which he had three such games, and chances seem good for Gordon to match or exceed the Mariners' single-season record of six... set by Ichiro in his first season in the States, 2001.

That wasn't Gordon's only Ichiro tribute this week. On Tuesday he collected five hits and stole two bases, the first Mariners leadoff hitter with a 5-hit game since... Ichiro did that in San Diego on June 29, 2008. Guess who was the last to do it at Safeco. Yep, May 15, 2007, against the Angels. And the last player in the majors with five hits and two steals? Nope. But he's nearby. Jean Segura, who hit right below Gordon on Tuesday, did that as a Diamondback on August 19, 2016. (And no, that was not the game where he stole second base twice.)


Cub Scouts

Wrigley Field has a long and storied history spanning 105 seasons. So surely everything has happened there, right? Ah, baseball. Charlie Blackmon of the Rockies opened Tuesday's game with a leadoff homer. That part wasn't unusual; while it's his first one this season, Blackmon leads the majors in leadoff homers over the past five seasons, and he and George Springer often swap the leaderboard. But two pitches later, when David Dahl also went deep and blazed the way to a 3-1 Rockies victory, well now we're talking. Only once before in Wrigley Field history had a visiting team begun a game with back-to-back dingers; Roy Johnson and Harold "Rabbit" Warstler did it for the Braves on August 6, 1937.

We weren't done. That one run that the Cubs scored in the game? Why, that came in the bottom of the 1st when Anthony Rizzo led off the Chicago order with a first-pitch homer. And that wasn't unusual either, nor was the leadoff homer ending up as the only run the Cubs scored. Kosuke Fukudome was the last to pull that off, on June 1, 2011. But the combination of both teams hitting a leadoff home run? That was indeed a first among over 8,200 games played at Wrigley.


You First. No, You First.

The Rays and Tigers opened a series on Monday by not being able to decide who would score first. With zero runs and just five hits between them after eight innings, Tampa Bay finally unloaded two homers off Shane Greene in the 9th to take a 3-0 lead. The Tigers then said, oh, that looks fun, scoring two runs in the bottom half on a Victor Martinez single but leaving the bases loaded to end the game. It was the first time in Rays history that they'd had ≤ 4 hits in Detroit and won, and Chaz Roe-- who did the aforementioned loading of the bases-- became the first pitcher in team history to hit two batters, give up two runs, and still get credit for the stat everyone loves to hate, a "hold". Only 14 pitchers in the majors have gotten one in that situation since it became an official thing in 1969.

Milwaukee's Josh Hader entered Monday's game in Cincinnati hanging on to a 6-5 lead with 1 out in the 7th. He worked the remainder of the game, facing nine batters. He walked Tucker Barnhart. The other eight struck out-- all of them swinging, including Billy Hamilton on a bunt attempt. That set a live-ball-era (and likely an all-time one, though we can't verify) for the most outs recorded by a reliever with all of them coming via the K. Dylan Bundy of the Orioles (July 6, 2016) had been the last to get seven such outs.

Cole Hamels also struck out eight batters on Monday; he of course was the Rangers' starter on the other side of Ohio in Cleveland. It took him 104 pitches to get through five innings, but he left with a 2-1 lead (which the bullpen promptly blew). Along the way Hamels uncorked three wild pitches and a hit batter, becoming the first pitcher in (again, at least) the live-ball era to post that entire line (8 K in ≤ 5 IP, but 3 WP and an HBP). The three wild pitches by themselves hadn't been done by a Rangers pitcher in a road game in over a decade, and that was also in Cleveland. Kason Gabbard pulled that off on August 2, 2007.

Cleveland made their own team history on Tuesday when they took a 6-2 deficit into the bottom of the 9th, but loaded the bases against Keone Kela and then turned things over to Michael Brantley. With two outs and two strikes, Brantley unloaded the bases with a grand slam. Although the Indians have had multiple walk-off grand slams over the years (last by Nick Swisher on June 19, 2014), Brantley's shot was the first tying grand slam hit with the Indians down to their final out. It was the first one by any team when down to their final strike since Kyle Seager did it for the Mariners on June 5, 2013.

The Rangers then re-opened that game when Joey Gallo and Isiah Kiner-Falefa both went deep in the top of the 12th and ultimately an 8-6 victory. Only twice before had the franchise hit back-to-back homers in an extra inning, and one of those was in its second season. Jim King and Harry Bright did it at Metropolitan Stadium in Minneapolis (against the Twins, whom the Rangers/Second Senators had replaced in Washington) on July 12, 1962; the more-recent pair was Chris Davis and David Murphy in Arizona on June 25, 2009. Kiner-Falefa's homer was his fourth hit of the game; Davis also did that in the 2009 game, and the only other player in Rangers history with four hits including an extra-inning dinger was Mike Hargrove in August 1977.


Cleveland Rocks

Since we're on the Cleveland topic, let's veer off into that weird doubleheader they played on Thursday. The one where the rest of the baseball world (at least those who were not Former New Britain Rock Cats fans) learned how to pronounce "Yangervis Solarte". (He is the first "Yangervis" in major-league history if that counts as trail-blazing.) The first game of the twinbill, listed as a 1:10 start, didn't end until (really) 7:50 thanks to a two-hour rain delay, and oh yeah, the fact that it was a 13-11 game that took 11 innings. Solarte stepped to the plate in the 11th with four hits and two RBIs under his belt, but with the bases loaded. You know where this is going (and where the ball is going). Only one other player has ever collected five hits, six RBIs, and an extra-inning grand slam, and he's the poster child for squeaking into the Hall of Fame on the 15th ballot (and the last ever to do so now that the rules have changed). Jim Rice hit a walkoff slam against the Athletics for his fifth hit on July 4, 1984. The only other player in Toronto history with 5 and 6 (never mind the slam) was Roy Howell on September 10, 1977, at Yankee Stadium. And only Gregg Zaun (2008) and George Bell (1985) had hit slams for the Jays in the 11th inning or later. The game would also be the first time in Jays history they collected nine extra-base hits in a game in Cleveland (either stadium).

And while they did not win the night game thanks to 11 more Indians runs, Yangervis had a homer, double, and single in the nightcap, falling one shy of the doubleheader hits record last done by Lee Thomas in 1961, the first season of the Expansion Era for the newly-created Los Angeles Angels. Solarte did become the first player in Jays history to homer and double in both games of a twinbill, and the first with just the homer since Shawn Green (who would go on to have a four-homer game a few years later) on September 4, 1995.

Speaking of four-homer games, Thursday was the first time in Indians history that they had scored 11+ in both games of a doubleheader and not swept it. In fact, no team had managed that since the Cardinals did it on September 7, 1993. If that date looks familiar, it's because the second game of that DH was Mark Whiten's four-homer, 12-RBI game which still shares both records (but is the only game with both).

It just so happens that Yangervis Solarte and the Jays joined Kernels at Tropicana Field
this weekend, making for the perfect scoreboard shot to accompany this section.
And yes, we got the "tropical shirt" too.

Apple Jacks

Unfortunately for Cleveland, their weekend was destined to be spent in New York, and not playing the dysfunctional Mets either. Instead they met the completely functional Yankees, who not only swept the Indians in dramatic fashion, they went 6-1 on a road trip to Anaheim and Houston, and as of this writing, have won 15 of their last 16. That's the winningest stretch for the Bronx Bombers since rattling off 15 straight wins to finish the 1960 regular season (en route to getting walked off by Bill Mazeroski in the World Series).

After Monday's 2-1 loss, the Pinstripes started May with back-to-back 4-0 wins over the Astros. In Tuesday's contest, Gary Sanchez hit a 3-run homer in the top of the 9th to break what had thus far been a scoreless tie; it was the first such hit for the Yankees (3-run or grand slam) since May 31, 1959, when they were 0-0 with the Senators after 8, and Bill Skowron's 3-run shot in the 9th scored Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra for the win. That fourth run on Tuesday scored on a passed ball later in the inning, giving Sanchez all 3 RBI for the team in the game. (Remember this part.)

Wednesday's game was dominated by Luis Severino, who allowed five hits, struck out 10, and came within a dozen pitches of the fabled "Maddux" (an individual shutout on under 100 pitches). It was the Yankees' first SHO-5 (or better) in over a year, since Masahiro Tanaka did it at Fenway last April, and their first to also feature double-digit shutouts since Mike Mussina fanned a dozen Devil Rays on September 24, 2002. On offense, however, it was Giancarlo Stanton 4, Astros 0. Stanton homered twice, becoming the first Yankee ever with 2 HR and 4 RBI in Houston (either stadium), and the second to do it against Houston (Derek Jeter at YS in 2010).

But combined with Sanchez's game on Tuesday, that means each of those games featured at least 3 Yankees RBI, with a lone batter responsible for driving in all of them. That hadn't happened since May 5 and 6, 2009, when Johnny Damon and Mark Teixeira did it... but they lost both those games. The last occurrence of that phenomenon in back-to-back games, where the Yanks won both, was on August 2 and 3, 1945, when Nick Etten (at Fenway) and Oscar Grimes (at Shibe Park) pulled it off.

While Gleyber Torres didn't have all the Yankees' RBIs in Thursday's win, he did have three of them despite recording only one single. (It was a two-run job and he also had a sacrifice fly.) Only seven number-9 hitters in Yankees history have driven in three runs with one non-extra-base hit; the previous had been Melky Cabrera on September 18, 2007. And when Torres ended the weekend with a walkoff homer, he not only became the first Yankee to hit one against Cleveland since Alex Rodriguez on April 19, 2007, but he became the youngest Yankee ever to hit any walkoff homer-- besting Mickey Mantle (April 23, 1953 vs Red Sox) by 41 days.


Trail Mix

Much like the argument about "can you have a one-game streak", can you really have a trail with only one data point?

Orioles fans may (or may not want to) remember last June when almost every starting pitcher got rocked for at least five runs. Chris Tillman was the first one to that party on Thursday, giving up seven earned to the Angels and being pulled before recording an out in the 2nd inning. He was the first O's starter to do that since... Chris Tillman in Pittsburgh, May 21, 2014. Since earned runs were first recognized by the American League in 1913, he's the first pitcher in Orioles/Browns history to do it twice.

Meanwhile, Jace Peterson capped a five-run 9th inning for the O's on Wednesday (although they trailed by 8 at the time, so oh well) with a pinch-hit bases-loaded triple. The last Oriole to hit one of those in any inning was Harold Baines on April 16, 1994, and Peterson's was the first one for the Orioles/Browns in the 9th inning or later in the live-ball era.

Chad Kuhl of the Pirates got taken deep four times in Tuesday's loss to the Nationals. The last Pittsburgh hurler to allow four homers in a game? Of course that's Chad Kuhl, last September 15 against Reds (all were solo shots). The Pirates' previous pitcher to do it twice was Oliver Perez; both of his games came in 2004.

The name William Hayward Wilson probably doesn't do much for you. But thanks to some creative grandparents in South Carolina, baseball was treated to "Mookie" Wilson for 12 seasons (and the Mets were indirectly treated to a World Series championship). The only other "Mookie" in MLB history, though not named for Wilson, is currently playing for the Red Sox, and Betts made some history this week also. On Wednesday had a four-hit, three-homer game against the Royals, the first for Boston since... Mookie Betts did it on August 14, 2016, against Arizona. Mo Vaughn is the Red Sox' only other player with two such games. And on Thursday, Betts drove in four runs from his perch at the top of the batting order, even though it wasn't enough to overcome an 11-5 Texas win. The last Sox leadoff hitter with 4 RBI in a loss was, of course, Mookie Betts, last May in Milwaukee. And he's the first in team history to do that twice.


Let's Rap Some Knuckles

Phil Niekro didn't invent the knuckleball, but he (along with brother Joe) certainly popularized it in the '70s and '80s, likely influencing some younger pitchers. Julio Teheran doesn't throw a knuckler, but on Thursday he pulled off something only Niekro had done before in Braves history-- and it was on offense. Teheran collected two hits, a sacrifice bunt, and a sacrifice fly in an 11-0 beatdown of the Mets. Keith Lockhart in 2000 was the last Atlantan to do all that in one game, but the only previous pitcher was Niekro, also against the Mets, on August 28, 1979. Jason Vargas, meanwhile, became the third pitcher in Mets history to give up 9+ hits and 6+ runs in each of his first two appearances in a season, joining Bill Pulsipher in 1995 and Al Jackson in 1962. It also marked the third time in Mets history they had been shut out on ≤ 3 hits in consecutive games, and strangely, all of them have been on the 2nd and 3rd of a month. The Braves also did it to them in July 1999, as did the Reds in September 1963.

When Zack Wheeler also gave up 10 hits, six runs, and two homers in Friday's loss, he and Vargas became the first Mets to have that line in back-to-back games since Eric Hillman and Mike Birkbeck pulled it off in a doubleheader on August 31, 1992. And the Mets were shut out on six hits again Saturday, the first time they'd had three such games in a four-day span since a dreadful series with the Cubs from April 17-19, 1973.

Before the Niekros, the most popular knuckleballer may have been Hoyt Wilhelm, who started with the Giants but is inducted in the Hall of Fame with a White Sox cap. In between, however, he played for the Orioles for several years, and on Saturday, Mychal Givens harkened back to his greatness (briefly). After Kevin Gausman and Trevor Cahill battled to a scoreless tie through nine innings, Givens worked a perfect 10th and 11th, striking out five of the six batters. While Gausman became the first Oriole to go nine scoreless on two hits and not get a win since Mike Morgan in 1988, Givens became the first Oriole since Hoyt Wilhelm to post a 0-hit, 5-K line entirely in extra innings (versus pitching, say, the 9th and 10th). Wilhelm did that against the Angels at Memorial Stadium on September 9, 1962.

And while we're dropping knuckleballs, Nick Kingham of the Pirates got a win in his second MLB game on Friday, a 6-4 victory over Milwaukee. Kingham, of course, gave us a no-hitter scare in his debut last weekend, so he thus became the first Pittsburgh pitcher to win each of his first two MLB games, while striking out seven in each game, since Tim Wakefield in 1992.


Bottom Of The Bag

⚾ JaCoby Jones, Wednesday: First Tiger to hit a leadoff triple in the 12th inning or later since Walter "Hoot" Evers at CHW, September 10, 1950.

⚾ Xander Bogaerts, Monday: First player to hit two grand slams at Fenway in same month (also April 7) since Carl Everett, April 24 & 27 2001.

⚾ Brewers, Sunday: Third time in nine days being shut out on ≤ 2 hits. Last team in majors to "accomplish" that: 1991 Indians (June 7, 12, 13). First in Brewers history.

⚾ Ryan Yarbrough, Friday: Second reliever in Rays history to throw 5+ innings and allow only one baserunner. Esteban Yan did it against the Twins on April 13, 1998, in the first extra-inning game at Tropicana Field.

⚾ Dexter Fowler, Sunday: First player in Cardinals history to hit a walkoff home run in the 14th inning or later with the team trailing at the time (i.e., multi-run dinger).

⚾ Bryce Harper, Friday: Second player in Nats/Expos history to lead off game with a home run and then go deep again in the 2nd inning. Ron LeFlore at Dodger Stadium, June 18, 1980.

⚾ Nick Hundley, Monday: Walkoff pinch hit for Giants against Padres. Also had walkoff pinch hit for Padres (May 30, 2010, vs Nats). Only other player with one for both teams is Jack Clark.

⚾ Wilmer Difo, Sat/Sun: First in Nationals history (2005) to make a game's final out while representing at least the tying run, and then end the next game with a walkoff.

⚾ Jorge Soler, Tuesday: Latest homer (by inning) the Royals have ever hit at Fenway, surpassing Jeff Keppinger's 12th-inning shot on September 9, 2006.

⚾ Yankees, Saturday: First time scoring 5+ runs on ≤ 4 hits, where none of the hits was a homer, since September 19, 1995, when they beat Toronto with three hits and 10 walks.


Did You Know?
Like other players named "Rabbit" (Maranville being the most famous), Harold Warstler got his nickname because of his quickness in the field and his small size at just 5'7", 150. He was a last-minute fill-in on the American League All-Star tour of Japan in 1934 when Joe Cronin broke his wrist; he played alongside Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Charlie Gehringer, and many others under the watchful eye of Connie Mack. His son was nicknamed "Buddy". (This article has a few more facts and photos from the tour.)