Whether that phrase reminds you of the Kit-Kat jingle, or the early '80s Nell Carter TV show, or just the state of exasperated disbelief that you might have gotten from looking at the scoreboard this week, we're also going to use it as a lead-in to having three days off. (There will be no nuggets about Celebrity Softball. We apologize for the inconv-- no we don't.)
Nineteen, Nineteen, Nineteen Eighty-Five
It seems like there are way too many times when we post something on Sunday, and a couple teams read it on Monday and think, hey, that's a neat idea, and then they go off and do it a couple days later. (Dare to dream.) So remember last week when the Phillies scored 17 and then the Dodgers scored 17 and then the Red Sox scored 15 and then the Nationals scored 18 and then the Diamondbacks said that's enough out of y'all and dropped a 20?
Reds starter Tyler Mahle and his bullpen friends got together and said, hey, there's a history involving our team and the number 19, what say we give up 19 runs and see if the offense can still win the game somehow? (We're sure they didn't actually do this.) Mahle did his part, giving up three in the 1st and then four in the 3rd on four straight singles and an error. Enter Tanner Rainey who lets in five more, including Jose Ramirez's second homer already. Rainey then gives up four more runs to start the 4th, and before much longer the Indians are up 17-0. The Reds' offense did get them four runs, but by the end of this mess we're left with the first 19-4 score (either direction) in Indians history, and the second in the Reds; they had another such loss, to Brooklyn on May 21, 1890. Since Jacobs Field opened in 1994, the Indians have hit 19 just three times there, once on July 4, 2006, against the Yankees (19-1), and in a record-setting 20-11 jamboree against the Rays on May 7, 1999.
Mahle and Rainey became the third Reds teammates in the live-ball era to each allow seven runs while getting no more than seven outs. Michael Lorenzen and Dylan Axelrod did it at Coors Field on June 26, 2015; and none other than Tom Seaver and Frank Pastore had not-so-good days against the Dodgers on May 25, 1979. Rainey took it one step further, giving up eight runs while getting just two outs. Mike Matthews (June 27, 2004, vs Pirates) was the last Cincinnati pitcher to pull that off, and the last in a road game was David Weathers in San Francisco (where they have some Rainey Weathers, see what we did there) on June 1, 1998.
Jose Ramirez may have had those two early homers and driven in five, but unlike some other outbursts, this was all up and down the order. Seven different Clevelanders finished with multiple hits and multiple RBIs, the first time the Indians have done that since July 29, 1928, in a 24-6 blowout of the Yankees (with no home runs because 1928).
And the last time one Ohio team dropped 19+ on another Ohio team? That would be in the 19th century, a time when the state had as many as four teams at once (Columbus and Toledo). This one was in reverse-- a 19-3 win by the same Cincinnati Reds over the NL's Cleveland Spiders. Yes, those Cleveland Spiders; this was loss #106 on their way to 134. They went 1-28 after this.
Back Home Again In Colorado
We tried to find a way to tie the Ohio theme into the number 19, but alas the Buckeye State was the 17th admitted to the union. (Trivia time: What actually is 19? It's nearby. And don't you dare say Pennsylvania.) But as "westward expansion" continued and modern transportation finally conquered the Rocky Mountains, Colorado became state number 38. So if you were going to have a pair of 19's on the same day, the Colorado capital is a perfect spot for the other one.
The Rockies made a neat puzzle out of rearranging the big green cards that are typical of hand-operated scoreboards, putting the 5 under column 1, the 1 under 5, the 4 under 2, the 6 under 4, let's leave the 3 where it is, and hmm... this 2, uh, here Diamondbacks, you do whatever you want with that. Maybe put it under the "Total" column. As you no doubt know by now, we thus ended up with the second 19-2 score in either team's history, the first being June 18, 2000, in both cases-- because it was against each other! Mike Lansing hit for the cycle as part of a 23-hit attack that day at Coors.
There were no cycles on Wednesday, but Charlie Blackmon and DJ LeMahieu each went for three hits and scored four times, the third set of teammates in Rockies history to do that. Troy Tulowizki and Kaz Matsui did so against the Brewers in another 19-run outburst on August 8, 2007; and Todd Helton teamed with Ronnie Belliard against the Dodgers on May 29, 2003. Add in Carlos Gonzalez's four runs scored, and they're the first trio of Rockies ever to cross the plate four times in the same game. The Astros' group of George Springer, Carlos Correa, and Colby Rasmus had been the last in the majors, on the final weekend of the 2015 campaign.
Gonzalez and Ian Desmond became the eighth pair of teammates in Rockies history to each have 5 RBI in a game (CarGo and Ramon Hernandez did it against the Mets in April 2012), and even pitcher German Marquez got in on the fun, recording two hits, driving in two runs, and later scoring two runs. Of the six previous Rockies pitchers with that line, Mike Hampton (all in 2001) had been the most recent three. (Brian Bohanon twice, plus Roger Bailey in 1997.)
With the score 14-1, we have already reached "position player pitching" mode in the bottom of the 4th inning as Daniel Descalso made the earliest pitching appearance by a non-pitcher (excluding the conversion experiments such as Christian Bethancourt last year) since Sal Bando took the mound for the Brewers in the 4th on August 29, 1979, against the Royals and turned a 13-4 blowout into a 17-4 blowout. (Buck Martinez also made his only career pitching appearance in that game.) It wasn't a huge stretch for Descalso, however; he'd appeared in four other MLB games, including the end of an 8-0 shutout by Houston on May 4, and had been the number-1 starter on his high-school team for three seasons. But one of those two hits that Rockies pitcher German Marquez had? Mm-hmm, dinger. The previous home run hit by a pitcher off a position player (it's supposed to be the other way around) was on June 23, 1986, when Mike LaCoss of the Giants took Padres left fielder Dane Iorg deep in an 18-1 masterpiece.
First baseman Alex Avila ended up pitching the last two innings (and only allowing one hit!), making him and Descalso the first pair of position players to throw 2+ in the same game since the O'Brien brothers (Johnny and Eddie) did so for the Pirates on July 31, 1956. And even that's somewhat questionable; Johnny had appeared in four other games over the past month (though most were blowouts) and would appear in three more in August, almost like an audition to see if he could transform into a pitcher. (He didn't.) And by replacing Avila at first base, Descalso became just the second player in the live-ball era to play second, first, and pitch in the same game (with those all-nine-positions stunts excluded, of course). Nick Franklin of the Rays did it in a 16-4 blowout by the Nationals on June 16, 2015.
The Diamondbacks, of course, were on the opposite end of that 20-run game from last Saturday; they became the first squad to score 19+ and allow 19+ in the same season since the 2000 Mariners. And if you're wondering (and, really, would you be here if you weren't?), the last time two teams scored at least 19 runs on the same day was September 30, 2000, when the AL West apparently decided to double its season output on the last weekend. That's the day those Mariners had their "score 19" game, dropping 21 in Anaheim while the Athletics were busy hanging a 23 on Texas. But the last time two teams scored exactly 19 runs on the same day. That's back in the 19th century again: August 15, 1889. And Cleveland (the Spiders) was one of them.
(Trivia answer: Bonus hint in the section header. Indiana (December 11, 1816).)
Heinz 57 And French-Fried Potatoes
So if Colorado is 38, what do we do when we suddenly need to get to 57? If you were to turn the District of Columbia and all the inhabited U.S. territories into states, that would make 56. We say the Rays need to figure that out (lop off that panhandle or something), because guess who dropped 19 more in Minnesota on Saturday. (Maybe Minnesota could split off that little part that you can't get to except through Canada.)
The game was actually a fairly calm 6-4 affair through the 6th inning, the Twins had just taken the lead against reliever Adam Kolarek, Mallex Smith walks to lead off the 7th (it always starts with a walk, as they say), and pandemonium ensues. Zach Duke allows two inherited runs (blowing the save) plus three of his own and now it's 9-6. Matt Belisle, pitch the 8th. Okay, six hits, five more runs, a homer by C.J. Cron, and only escaped the inning when Joey Wendle was out stretching at second. Cue the position player. That would be 2B Willians Astudillo, two weeks removed from his MLB debut, who did pitch in one game in the minors, but we have no idea what other pitching experience he has (if any). We do know that his major-league experience consists of giving up five more runs, including a homer to Carlos Gomez, to make our final score 19-6. The Rays became the first team with three 5-run innings in a game since the Mets did it in an 18-5 win at Wrigley on September 5, 2010, and the first with three consecutive 5-run frames since the Giants did that in Philadelphia on July 14, 1991. The last team to score 15 or more runs from the 7th inning onward was the Rangers in what will forever be "The 30-3 Game" in Baltimore on July 22, 2007 (whose linescore ended 0-10-6). Astudillo, for his part, is the first Twins/Senators position player to give up five runs since infielder Ralph "Red" Kress did it in Boston on July 3, 1935.
Combined with our 19-2 and 19-4 from Wednesday, plus the Diamondbacks scoring 20 the previous Saturday, it's the first time in the live-ball era that four teams have reached 19 runs in an eight-day span. The previous set of those scores occurred from May 11 to 15, 1911, when the Phillies (twice), the White Sox, and the Giants all did it (two of them breaking 20). And the only other time that exact scores of 19-2, 19-4, and 19-6 all happened in the same season (much less a week!) was in 1890, a year that also featured the breakaway Players League (where two of those finals were recorded).
Saturday's game, of course, was quite the turnaround from Friday when the Twins made short work of Nathan Eovaldi and withstood a Rays comeback attempt for an 11-8 win. Eovaldi gave up 11 baserunners and eight of them scored; only four pitchers in Tampa Bay history have done that without finishing the 3rd inning. The others on that dubious list are Alex Cobb (2012), Seth McClung (2006), and Tanyon Sturtze (2002). Joe Mauer, back to the top of the order after various experiments elsewhere in the lineup, chipped in four RBIs, the first Twins leadoff batter to do so since... Joe Mauer on June 29 against the Cubs. The last Minnesota leadoff batter with two such games so close together was Jacque Jones, who did it seven days apart in 2002.
And by the end of Friday's contest, rookie Jake Cave had explored all the bases, collecting a single, double, triple, and chipping in two RBIs as well. Mauer was also the last Twins batter to do that, in Cleveland on August 3, 2016. But the last with that line batting 8th (as Cave was) or 9th was Carlos Gomez against the White Sox on August 25, 2008.
You'll Never Walk Off Alone
The Marlins trailed the Brewers 2-1 going to the 7th inning on Monday, but wasted no time welcoming reliever Josh Hader to the game. You might remember Hader as that pitcher from early in the season who would pitch two or three innings and strike out seven every time. At the end of May he was still averaging two strikeouts per inning (which has never been done over a full season; only Aroldis Chapman and Craig Kimbrel have even approached it). And Hader had allowed just two home runs in 29 appearances.
You can double one of those numbers, and it's not the strikeouts. Starlin Castro fouled off six pitches before finally connecting for the tying homer to start the inning. Brian Anderson promptly deposited the very next pitch to an empty seat in center for the lead. Only twice before in Marlins history had they hit a tying homer and a go-ahead homer on back-to-back pitches in the 7th or later; Dan Uggla and Cody Ross did it against the Cubs in 2009, while Mike Lowell and Kevin Millar were the "power couple" against the Jays in 2000.
Naturally that 3-2 lead evaporated in the next inning when Lorenzo Cain hit a leadoff single, stole second, and beat a play at the plate with two outs. So after two more innings of nothing happening, Miguel Rojas was ruled by replay to have been hit with a pitch in the bottom of the 10th. The door is open slightly. Cameron Maybin drew a four-pitch walk, after which the Marlins pulled off the first extra-inning double steal in team history. Bryan Holaday then singled in the winning run. Stop us if you've heard this one, because the Marlins also walked off last Monday when Yadiel Rivera singled in the 10th against the Rays. Since we bothered to check, this could be a promotional idea, because it's the first time in team history they've walked off on consecutive Mondays.
But at the same time, over at Tropicana Field, the Rays and Tigers were playing some back-and-forth ball as well. With a 7-3 lead, Jaime Schultz faced three Tigers. One got a hit. One got hit. One walked. All three scored. Jeff Ridgway in September 2007 had been the only pitcher in Rays history to pull off that particular set of outcomes to three batters. Diego Castillo then blew the save on a Jose Iglesias double.
But C.J. Cron and Joey Wendle both doubled in the bottom of the 7th to retake a 9-7 lead. That also didn't last; Jake Bauers made an ill-advised throw trying to end the inning on a Mikie Mahtook grounder, and we're back to 9-9. And finally in the bottom of the 10th the Rays break through as well. Kevin Kiermaier hit the eighth extra-inning triple in team history (previous by Logan Forsythe, June 15, 2016). And when Daniel Robertson singled him home two batters later, we had-- within the span of 21 minutes-- just the second time that both Florida teams had walked off on the same day. The other was August 13, 2003, when Mike Mordecai homered against the Dodgers and Travis Lee doubled home Rays great Rocco Baldelli to beat the Orioles.
For the Tigers, it was the first time they'd ever scored nine runs at Tropicana Field and lost. And to their credit, they scored those nine runs with no hits above a double. Detroit hadn't mustered that kind of "small ball" offense since Opening Day against the Pirates. Except they lost that game too, 13-10. The last season where the Tigers pulled this off twice (scored 9+ with no triples or homers, but still lost) was 1926.
And as for the Marlins, they walked off again on Wednesday when Starlin Castro singled in the bottom of the 12th. That was the first time they'd had two extra-inning walkoffs in the same series since Gaby Sanchez and Hanley Ramirez hit them against Houston in April 2012.
Wanna Split A Cheesesteak?
As noted in the lead to last week's post, the Phillies were involved in one of the longest doubleheaders in major-league history, and one which, 25 years later, is still the latest (4:40 am local time) that a game has ever ended. And having just posted about that game on Sunday night, it was fresh in our minds on Monday when the Phillies played another doubleheader, this time with the Mets, and the first game was tied after nine innings. Hmm, how long might this take? It was still only 7:30 pm, and it wasn't raining, but you still never know. (At least for now. We'll save thoughts on the minor-league tiebreaker rule for another day. Or even a "hitting contest".)
Fortunately it really didn't take long. After Tim Peterson escaped from two leadoff hits to start the 10th, the Phillies summoned Victor Arano to, well, not give up a walkoff homer. And the Mets summoned pinch hitter Wilmer Flores to, well, at least get on base. Wilmer actually thought he had, claiming to have been hit by the fourth pitch of the at-bat, causing a delay for a review, but ultimately having it called Ball 3 that missed him. Hmmph. The Mets universe is nothing if not ironic, though, so on the very next pitch-- yeah, walkoff homer. It was the 10th walkoff anything of Flores's career, the most in Mets history (breaking a tie with David Wright), and also his fifth walkoff hit in extra innings, also setting a Mets record (Ron Hodges and Kevin McReynolds had four). And Arano became the first Phillies pitcher to give up a walkoff dinger to the first batter he faced since Jose Contreras served it to then-National Adam Dunn on September 28, 2010.
The nightcap would be 3-0 Phillies after Aaron Nola broke up the no-hitter with a bases-loaded double because there has to be something Mets-ian in here. The last Phillies pitcher with a three-run double (or triple, though there haven't been any) was Roy Halladay against the Reds on August 30, 2011. That remained the visitors' only hit until an inconsequential infield single by Carlos Santana in the 9th. Tommy Hunter, having already worked the 8th and gotten five outs, gives up an RBI double to our buddy Wilmer Flores to break up the shutout. Michael Conforto walks. First and third with the Mets down by two. Pinch hitting this time, Devin Mesoraco. And we might not know what's in Gabe Kapler's head at this point, but in a move that is going to result in either redemption or history (but a #Kernel either way!), let's go retrieve Victor Arano again. I mean, he only threw five pitches in the first game, why not.
Arano threw five pitches again. Mesoraco swung at the last two. Problem is, he missed both of them. 3-1 final in favor of the Phillies, and thanks to those two runners on base, Arano just got a save to make up for his loss in Game 1. The last pitcher to give up a walkoff homer in the first game of a doubleheader, and then record a save in the second, also did it in a Mets affair. It was Jesse Orosco against the Giants on August 19, 1984 (Brad Wellman hit the homer). We did find an honorable mention for Lance McCullers (that's Senior) who got the win in the nightcap after a walkoff homer in 1986. It was the first time the Phillies had won a game where they had two hits or fewer since September 30, 1988, when Chris James homered and Ron Jones doubled and scored for a 2-1 win in Montréal. Only the Royals and Rockies had failed to do it so far this century.
And that three-run double by Aaron Nola? Since RBI became official in 1920, he's just the third Phillies pitcher to have three of them and account for all the team's runs in a game. Robert Person also had a bases-loaded double against the Cubs on April 8, 2001 (another 3-1 win), and Schoolboy Rowe's three-run homer came up short against the Reds on September 28, 1943 (lost 4-3).
On Wednesday the Mets ended the series the same way they began it, and for once in the Mets Universe, that's a good thing. After Vince Velasquez traded zeroes with Jacob deGrom (who still didn't get a win out of this), Brandon Nimmo was summoned to the plate in the bottom of the 10th after Amed Rosario doubled and Jose Reyes walked. First pitch, three-run walkoff homer, the first walkoff pinch-hit tater in a scoreless tie in Mets history. They'd only had three of the non-PH variety, and the most recent had been by Dave Kingman on June 17, 1976. (Jerry Grote in 1971 and Tommie Agee in 1969 had the others.) The Phillies hadn't given up a walkoff homer in a 0-0 game since the Marlins' Alex Gonzalez took Ricky Bottalico deep on September 26, 1998.
And remember Wilmer Flores on Monday? Combined, he and Nimmo are the first set of teammates in Mets history to connect for walkoff pinch-hit homers in the same season. The only other years where the Mets hit two were both by the same batter: Chris Jones in 1995 and Marv Throneberry in 1962.
So Nice They Named It Twice
The Mets weren't the only New York team playing a doubleheader on Monday. Thanks to a bunch of rainouts in April, which for a while created the weird situation of the AL East team with fewer wins actually being ahead in the standings, the Yankees also got 18 innings of fun at Camden Yards. The last time the New York teams combined to play four games on a day was October 3, 2015, and all that happened then was Max Scherzer's no-hitter at Citi Field. So the bar's pretty high.
The opener was fairly bland, a 5-4 Orioles win that turned when Danny Valencia hit a three-run homer off CC Sabathia (who always seems to get left in one inning too long) in the bottom of the 6th. The Orioles have hit just five homers this season to turn a deficit into a lead in the 6th inning or later, but three have been against the Yankees (Adam Jones and Anthony Santander did it in those few non-rained-out games in April). And Sabathia became the first Yankee pitcher to give up five extra-base hits including two homers at Camden Yards since... CC Sabathia did it in another 5-4 loss on September 8, 2012.
In the second game, however, the Yankees took "double"header to heart, firing off seven two-baggers and rolling to a 10-2 win, their first time hitting double digits at Camden Yards since September 9, 2012 (won 13-3). Only once before had the team collected seven doubles at OPACY-- July 29, 2007 in a 10-6 victory, but Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera each had two in that game. Monday's were dropped by seven different Yankees, just the ninth game in the live-ball era where that's happened, and second this decade. They also did it two years and four days earlier in Chicago.
Brett Gardner had a homer and two singles in addition to his required double, the first four-hit game by a Yankee in Baltimore since Derek Jeter in April 2012. Adding in Gardy's 3 RBI gets us back to Johnny Damon in a 10-9 walkoff loss on May 27, 2008. Substitute three runs scored for the three driven in, and no Yankee had done that in Baltimore since Alfonso Soriano on September 15, 2003. Soriano, of course, batted leadoff and also had 3 RBI in that game; it was the last time any Yankee leadoff hitter had done all three in any game, at Camden Yards or otherwise.
Big Kosher Pickle
You know you've had it in your head for about three sections now. We'll go grab some French-fried potatoes while you sing along. Intermission!
Lower The Jolly Roger
(Seriously, would they have to do that between games? Or do they just use two flagpoles? Someone investigate this.)
If New York and Philadelphia and Baltimore have a bunch of doubleheaders to squeeze in, it's a good bet that Pittsburgh does too. So they made Saturday's return trip by the Brewers a 2-for-1 special and then made the first game a 2-to-1 special. Except you had to be there on time. The 12:37 first pitch was followed at 12:47 by a Starling Marte solo homer as the Pirates' second batter of the game (Corey Dickerson lined out to short). Now that was followed by one of those pesky reviews, so at least if you missed it, you had a few extra minutes to get to your seat. And thus no excuses when 12:52 brings a solo shot by the next batter, Gregory Polanco. And then not much happens. Ivan Nova scatters seven hits but isn't exactly mowing people down, taking 83 pitches to trudge through 4⅔ innings. At 2:13 you get to see the Brewers score a run on a Christian Yelich single. And then nothing. By 3:40 it's still 2-1, so raise the jolly roger and make note of this little piece of Pirates history. It's certainly not the first time that two of Pittsburgh's first three batters had homered. Andrew McCutchen and David Freese did that in Colorado as recently as April 2016. But it is the first time since the team's founding in 1882 that two of the first three batters of a game homered, and then the Pirates didn't score any other runs for the rest of the game.
Happily, because it's a doubleheader, you get the chance to see them score more runs in the second game. Not 19, mind you, we're done with that whole mess, but six feels good. Good enough to take the sweep. And especially when five of those six come on solo home runs, two by Jordan Luplow, playing in just his sixth game this year after a call-up from Indianapolis. The game marked the first time the Pirates had gone yard five times in a home game at PNC Park since July 22, 2009, also a win over Milwaukee (8-7). Every other team in the majors except the Giants has hit 5 HR in a home game since then, although the two that have moved (Marlins and Braves) haven't done it at their new place yet.
And if you did show up sometime after 12:52 and missed the Marte-and-Polanco back-to-back show, well, the reprise is at the end of the album too. In the bottom of the 8th, Marte took the fourth pitch he saw to left field, making him the first Pirate to homer in both games of a doubleheader since Sean Rodriguez did it in Cincinnati in September 2016. And then Polanco took the fourth pitch he saw to right-center, making him the first Pirate to homer in both games of a doubleheader since... well, yeah, Starling Marte about 2 minutes ago.
In general, the same two teammates homering in both games of a doubleheader isn't terribly rare; Josh Donaldson & Yangervis Solarte did it for Toronto in May. The Pirates, however, hadn't had teammates do it since Don Hoak and Smoky Burgess each collected three homers in a twinbill at Crosley Field in Cincinnati on May 31, 1959. That sweep (6-2 and 14-11) was also the last time Pittsburgh hit at least seven homers in a doubleheader (four in each game).
But back-to-back by the same two hitters in both games? That's been done three times. Ever. And the Pirates are two of them. Frank Thomas and Dick Groat pulled it off at the Polo Grounds on July 7, 1957, and exactly 11 years later, our buddy Sal Bando, then with the Athletics, teamed with Reggie Jackson to do it at Tiger Stadium, although Oakland ended up losing both games.
You'll Never Walk Off Alone (Reprise)
Toronto had the Red Sox on the ropes for most of the game Saturday, holding onto a 2-1 lead but giving the Yankees hope of gaining at least half a game in that messy AL East race. But as we head to the 9th, Joe Biagini gets removed after 17 pitches and only an infield single allowed in the 8th. Tyler Clippard for the (blown) save. Leadoff batter Xander Bogaerts doubles, and after a failed (or faked) sac bunt attempt by Jackie Bradley, he swings at the second pitch and hits another double to tie the game. Clippard gets out of that jam, but off we go to extras. Now it's Chris Rowley in the 10th, and after Mookie Betts reaches on an error and Brock Holt singles, there's an intentional walk to J.D. Martinez to set up an inning-ending force double play at every base. But here's Xander again. And the only thing he wants to do with every base is to touch them. Saying he didn't even remember running the bases, Bogaerts mashed a grand slam into the flagpole in center field.
It was the first walkoff homer of any type for the Red Sox this year, leaving five teams still without one. (Trevor Story took that down to four with a winner for the Rockies on Sunday.) It was the first extra-inning walkoff slam in the majors this season (Howie Kendrick had one last August), and the first for the Red Sox since Jim Rice gave Boston some Independence Day fireworks by beating the A's on July 4, 1984 (his 10th-inning shot scored Dwight Evans, Glen Hoffman, and Marty Barrett). The Sawx hadn't hit any walkoff slam, including the 9th inning, since Rico Brogna downed the (then-Devil) Rays on August 14, 2000.
Xander then came up as the second batter of Sunday's series finale and gave Boston a 1-0 lead with a deposit over the Green Monster. The last Red Sox batter to hit a walkoff home run (at all, not necessarily a slam) in one game, and then a 1st-inning homer in the following game? Don't have to look far for that answer. It's Jim Rice again; after those Independence Day festivities in 1984, the Angels came to town and Rice's three-run shot begat a 12-7 victory the next day.
Meanwhile, up in Minnesota, that bizarre Rays/Twins series (11-8 and then 19-2, remember?) would not go gently into that good All-Star break. In the lowest-scoring game of the series, it was 7-7 after nine innings on Sunday before our friend Jake Cave hits a leadoff double in the bottom of the 10th. Much like the new extra-inning rule in the minors, we all know what's coming next with a runner on second and nobody out. And then we all know what's coming with a runner on third and one out. However, the second intentional walk by Matt Andriese to load the bases was a little more curious. (That was actually Andriese's third IBB of the game counting one in the 9th; he's the fourth pitcher since the rule change last year with three in a game. Saving us a total of 48 pitches in two years. Hmmph.)
Anyway, so it was that Brian Dozier strode to the plate and, yep, uncorked the second walkoff grand slam in as many days for an 11-7 final. It was the first walkoff slam for the Twins in any inning since Joe Crede hit one against the Tigers on May 13, 2009, also in extras. Turns out May 13 is kind of a special day for walkoff slams; that date in 2012 was the last time there were two so close together. Giancarlo Stanton beat the Mets that afternoon, and then a few hours later, Joey Votto hit a winner against the Nationals that came up just this past Tuesday when he hit a go-ahead single to propel the Reds to win over Cleveland. Oddly those two May 13 slams were two of the three in the majors that entire season. As for back-to-back days, the last time that happened was July 27 and 28, 2002, by Alex Rodriguez to beat Oakland and Jim Thome to beat Detroit.
Thome's slam in 2002, however, was in the bottom of the 9th. Both Bogaerts and Dozier hit theirs in the 10th. In all the available play-by-play, we can't find an occurrence of walkoff grand slams in extra innings on back-to-back days. There is one instance of it happening on twice on the same day-- that's June 11, 1980, when the Mets' Mike Jorgensen hit one off Rick Sutcliffe to beat the Dodgers in the bottom of the 10th, and Tony Armas went deep for the Orioles in the 14th after a leadoff triple and two intentional walks by the A's. Alas we wanted to say "24 hours" and twist this note around, but Saturday was a day game in Toronto so it missed getting in under the wire.
Mid-Year Participation Awards
It being All-Star week, we continue our tradition of including at least one note from each of the 30 teams, some more deserving than others, while also snubbing Blake Snell. Here are the ones who didn't earn a "starting spot" in all those paragraphs above.
⚾ Braves: Ozzie Albies connected for two homers and four RBIs in Wednesday's win over Toronto, the first multi-homer game for the 21-year-old. He became the youngest Atlanta hitter with a 2-HR game since Jason Heyward in 2010, and like most things Atlanta- and age-related, the youngest to do so at home since Andrew Jones against the Reds on August 6, 1998. Albies added a sacrifice fly, the first Braves player-- of any age-- to also do that in a 2-RH game since Jones pulled that off at Dodger Stadium on May 14, 2005.
⚾ Orioles: Aside from the obvious excitement of winning two games in a row (and with the break, it's very possible they might actually go a full week without losing), they started Sunday's game against Texas by issuing three straight walks to load the bases. Daniel Cabrera was the last Orioles pitcher to begin a game that way, doing so against Oakland on September 6, 2008. The Rangers, who hadn't gotten such early freebies since July 10, 1993 (at Toronto), then got a grand slam from Ronald Guzman to take a 4-0 lead. Overcoming that for an eventual 6-5 win rendered Guzman the third player in Rangers/Senators history (Mike Hargrove 1975 and Dick Nen 1965) to hit a 1st-inning slam in a loss. But it was the second time this year the Orioles had pulled a win out of that situation. On May 10, Salvador Perez hit a slam as the Royals' fourth batter of the game, but Baltimore ralled for eight unanswered runs and won 11-6. It's the first time in franchise history (to 1901) that they've allowed two 1st-inning slams in a season and won both games.
⚾ Cubs: Kyle Hendricks matched wits with Andrew Suarez on Monday, both pitchers allowing just one run (in Hendricks's case, unearned) and sending the game to extras as a 1-1 tie. The Cubs eventually lost on a Pablo Sandoval walkoff in the 11th, but that gave Hendricks a fairly unique line in Cubs history. Since the National League first recognized earned runs in 1912, Hendricks is only the fifth Cubs pitcher to throw *more than* eight innings, allow 0 ER, strike out at least eight opponents, and not get a decision. The one before him had been Greg Maddux, who traded zeroes with the Phillies' Pat Combs on May 17, 1991, before the Dickie Thon finally won a 1-0 game in the 16th.
⚾ White Sox: If Yoan Moncada ever ages, we're gonna be in trouble. The 23-year-old Cuban infielder drew three walks in Friday's 9-6 win over Kansas City, then joined 26-year-old Daniel Palka in collecting three hits including a homer in Sunday's finale. The first game made him the youngest White Sox hitter with three walks since Mike Caruso did that against Seattle on August 9, 1999, and the youngest to do it from the leadoff spot since John Cangelosi against the Red Sox on April 13, 1986. And on Sunday, the pair became the first set of White Sox teammates, each Palka's age or younger, to have three hits, a homer, and three runs scored in the same game. Aaron Rowand was eight days older than Palka when he and Juan Uribe teamed up to do it against the Twins on May 23, 2004.
⚾ Astros: Gerrit Cole and Oakland's Frankie Montas traded six innings' worth of zeroes in Monday's series opener, with Brad Peacock eventually surrendering the go-ahead run in the 7th. (This is not the game with the weird walkoff, but wait for it.) Cole, as he is prone to doing, struck out 11 batters, the third time this year he's fanned 11 and not given up a run. That already ties the Astros team record for such a thing. But in two of those games, Cole hasn't gotten the win either. He also left a 0-0 tie against the Padres on April 7. And he's the first pitcher in Houston history to do that twice in the season. Nolan Ryan is the only other Astros hurler to do it at all, and his two games were in different years.
⚾ Royals: We'll go out on a limb and say it's not their year. But they do still have a few flashes of brilliance, such as Tuesday's 9-4 victory in Minnesota in which Whit Merrifield recorded two doubles and two walks. He became the first Royals leadoff hitter to reach base four times, with that including a pair of extra-base hits, since... Whit Merrifield against Boston on Sunday. No one in team history had done it twice in three days, though Johnny Damon did set the bar at four days back in September 2000. In that same win, number-9 hitter Adalberto Mondesi drove in four runs (three of them on a 2nd-inning homer) and also stole a base, joining Brent Mayne in July 2002 and Jerry Grote in June 1981 as the only players in Royals history with that line out of the 9-hole. (Grote, like Mondesi, included a homer; Mayne did not.)
⚾ Angels: It's Kole Calhoun's weekend, the rest of us are just living in it. On Friday the Anaheim right fielder hit two solo homers to provide the team's only significant offense; their only other extra-base hit was a pinch-hit double by Shohei Ohtani in the 9th, but David Fletcher grounded into a game-ending double play to strand him. Calhoun is the first Angels batter with a multi-homer game at Dodger Stadium since Garret Anderson did it on June 26, 2004-- but the first to do it in a loss since Lee Thomas on August 21, 1962. That game came during the Angels' four seasons at Chavez Ravine during construction of The Big A, and was an 11-4 extra-inning (!) loss to the Yankees, who hung a 7-spot in the top of the 10th. And speaking of the top of the 10th, Calhoun went deep again Saturday to win the middle game of the series after Blake Parker had blown the save in the bottom of the 9th. Though Anderson did hit one with one out in the 10th back in 2001, we always consider two outs to be further along in the inning. Especially when it results in Calhoun hitting the latest Angels home run at Dodger Stadium since... yep, they were the home team again. Leon Wagner's two-run walkoff in the 11th beat Cleveland on September 22, 1962.
⚾ Dodgers: Opened series in San Diego on Monday by collecting five extra-base hits in an 8-2 win. It was their fourth 5-XBH game at Petco this season, the most in a single year since it opened in 2004. The Dodgers only had one other season with four 5-XBH games in San Diego; that was 1996 at Jack Murphy/Qualcomm. They would round out the season series with 36 XBH at Petco, three shy of their season high set two years ago. While Max Muncy didn't homer on Monday, he did enjoy an unconventional trip around the bases. They started him at second (no, this isn't the minor-league extra-inning rule, it'll make sense), and when Chase Utley was double-switched in the 7th inning, Muncy moved over to first. One inning later, Enrique Hernandez got double-switched into right field, sending Cody Bellinger (who had been temporarily stashed out there) back to first and moving Muncy over to third. He thus became the first Dodger in (at least) the live-ball era to officially play all three bases on defense in the same game. One other player in the majors has done it this year, David Bote of the Cubs on June 27-- against the Dodgers.
⚾ Brewers: Starter Junior Guerra struggled in Friday's loss to Pittsburgh and was pulled in favor of Brandon Woodruff. Woodruff not only threw three innings of one-hit ball, that meant he got the chance to bat. And of course he homered. You may remember Milwaukee's game from May 8 where Wade Miley pulled an oblique muscle and left his start in the 1st inning. That turned things over to Brent Suter who promptly homered in the spot's first plate appearance in the 3rd. So Woodruff made the Brewers the first team to have two relief pitchers go yard in the same season since Craig Lefferts and Tim Stoddard both did it for San Diego in 1986. Much was also made of Michael Lorenzen's home-run outburst for the Reds about two weeks ago; he, like Woodruff, also had a game in which he pitched three one-hit innings in relief and hit a dinger at the plate. That hasn't happened twice in a season since we let the AL guys stop hitting. Pittsburgh's Nelson Briles and Jim York of the Royals both posted that line in 1971.
⚾ Athletics: After mounting a valiant four-run comeback in the 9th on Tuesday, Stephen Piscotty's home run in the top of the 11th gave Oakland a lead. Which they would promptly blow on a bizarre walkoff play in the bottom of the 11th, but still, stop us if you've heard this one. Because Piscotty also homered in the 11th inning last Saturday against Cleveland. Only one other player in all of A's history (1901) has hit a pair of homers in the 11th or later within a span of four days. That's Mark McGwire, who did it in back-to-back 16-inning games played in Toronto on July 3 and 4, 1988.
⚾ Padres: Eric Lauer got through eight scoreless innings Tuesday on 101 pitches. He had a 4-0 lead. So yeah, let's let him go for the shutout, of which the Padres have had just one in the past three-plus seasons. Lauer got two fly-ball outs and then, well, a fly-ball non-out. Max Muncy deposited one into the seats to make it 4-1 and break up the shutout. Still, two outs and a three-run lead with nobody on. Nope, sorry. No CG for you. Go get Kirby Yates and wait five minutes for him to get the last out instead.
⚾ Mariners: Wednesday's game in Anaheim, a typically ho-hum 3-0 affair (although the Angels managed just two singles), did feature one interesting bit of trivia. Seattle's 2- through 4-hitters-- Jean Segura, Mitch Haniger, and Nelson Cruz-- all got one hit in the top half of the boxscore... and then were listed again in the bottom half of the boxscore for being hit, with a pitch. Only one other trio in Mariners history has each gotten a base hit and been HBP'd in the same game, and that was also against the Angels. Chris Snelling, Richie Sexson, and Kenji Johjima did it at Safeco on August 30, 2006.
⚾ Giants: A day after beating the Cubs in that 1-0 Sandoval walkoff game, their offense mustered another nine-inning 0, this time losing to Chicago 2-0 on only three hits. Derek Holland was charged with the game-winning run, even though it scored on a wild pitch plus an error after he left the game. That earned him a distinction, though, as just the second Giants pitcher in the live-ball era to allow one run, strike out at least eight, walk nobody, and lose. The other hurler to do it was John "Count of" Montefusco (so christened by Al Michaels) against the Braves on April 18, 1978.
⚾ Cardinals: Since Cards managers have been in the news this weekend, it's worth remembering that Tony La Russa was among (if not) the first to jump on the "bat the pitcher eighth" bandwagon. It doesn't matter in an AL park such as the one the White Sox call home, but Kolten Wong managed to collect four hits, including a homer and double, out of that 9-hole in Tuesday's 14-2 thumping of Chicago. The last Cardinal with a four-hit game batting ninth was a result of that TLR bandwagon: Brendan Ryan at Florida on June 10, 2009. But the last Cardinal to also homer in such a game-- that was a pitcher. Jesse Haines did it against the Phillies... on August 11, 1920.
⚾ Rangers: Saturday marked just their second 1-0 loss ever at Camden Yards (1992); the other was September 14, 1998, when Aaron Sele and Juan Guzman matched zeroes before the bullpen gave up the run in the 8th. They had never been shut out (by any margin) on four or fewer hits there; Texas's last time doing that in Baltimore was a 4-0 loss to Pete Harnisch at Memorial Stadium on May 20, 1990.
⚾ Blue Jays: Devon Travis earned himself two notes this week, first (on Wednesday in that game where Ozzie Albies homered twice) becoming just the second Toronto player ever to hit a grand slam in Atlanta. The other was by Carlos Delgado off Kevin Millwood on June 7, 2000. The Jays then went to the more-familiar Fenway Park over the weekend, and on Thursday Travis had the strange line of four hits but zero RBIs as Boston won 6-4. Only seven players in team history have collected four hits at Fenway without driving in a run; the last had been former Bostonian Shea Hillenbrand on April 18, 2005. But Travis is the first of those seven to also not score any runs himself despite four safe base knocks.
⚾ Nationals: We haven't used the #PitchersWhoRake hashtag much (if at all?) this year, so let's round it out with the batting adventures of Tanner Roark. Leading off the 3rd inning on Friday, Roark blooped the second pitch from opponent Noah Syndergaard about two feet fair down the right-field line for a single. Then things got weird, with the ball rolling along the top of the padding, out of Brandon Nimmo's reach, and Roark standing at third with a triple. Wilmer Difo then doubled him home, although in a game that was fairly symbolic of the Nats' week, they still lost 4-2. Since the move from Montréal, however, Roark is only the third Nationals pitcher to record a triple... and all of them have done it against the Mets. Livan Hernandez hit one at RFK Stadium on September 24, 2005, and Joel Hanrahan hit his only career three-bagger at Shea on July 28, 2007.
Bottom Of The Bag
⚾ Matt Carpenter, Sat-Sun: First Cardinal with leadoff homers in back-to-back games since Rafael Furcal at Milwaukee, August 31 & September 1, 2011. BUT first Cardinal to do it at home (any home) since one Jack Crooks on May 10 and 11... 1892!
⚾ Amed Rosario, Tuesday: First Met not named Jose Reyes with two triples in a loss since Lee Mazzilli against the Reds, August 30, 1981.
⚾ Jose Peraza, Saturday: First Reds batter to collect five singles in a game since Jeff Keppinger did it against the Mets on May 10, 2008. Before him was Davey Concepcion in 1976.
⚾ Justin Verlander, Sunday: Fifth pitcher in live-ball era to strike out 12+ but also allow four homers. Previous was Colby Lewis for Rangers on May 10, 2012.
⚾ Kevin Pillar, Friday: Fourth Jays batter with a 4-hit, 4-RBI game at Fenway Park, joining Ryan Goins (2014), Lyle Overbay (2010), and Alex Gonzalez (1996).
⚾ Juan Soto, Monday: Youngest player (19-257) ever to homer at PNC Park, breaking Jason Heyward's mark by over a year. Only players younger than Soto to homer at Three Rivers were Andruw Jones (of course) and Houston's Cesar Cedeño when the park opened in 1970.
⚾ Austin Romine, Saturday: Hit go-ahead double with the bases empty. (Let it sink in.) Romine scored on his own batted ball when Brandon Guyer bobbled it allowing him to go to third, and then the relay throw by Erik Gonzalez ended up out of play for the award of home. First Yankee to hit a go-ahead non-homer with the bases empty since Kenny Lofton tripled and scored on an error to lead off the game on May 23, 2004. The last time it happened in the 7th inning or later (that we know of, some play-by-play before 1955 is missing) was on August 3, 1930, when Tony Lazzeri also came home on a triple-plus-error against the A's.
Did You Know?
Back to our theme of multiple 19's equalling 38, Colorado was officially admitted as a state on August 1, 1876, about three months after the first officially-recognized "major league" game.
On August 1, 1876, the NL's St Louis Brown Stockings (no relation to either the AL Browns or the current Cardinals)... scored exactly 19 runs. Against Cincinnati. You can't make this stuff up.
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