Somehow, though, it was one of those weeks where a handful of players took the hitting part to heart, and a lot of teams, well, didn't.
Much Ado About Nothing
If you've been with us for any length of time, you know that we don't like no-hitters. First of all, it's hard to make up notes about something that didn't happen (would you watch your local news if the lead story every night was that thousands of area homes didn't burn down today?). And secondly, they sort of suck up all the oxygen in the room despite whatever interesting things might be happening in 14 other games that day. So we say leadoff doubles for everyone!
However, the week opened-- on a day with only 12 games, even-- with not one, not two, but an amazing five starting pitchers who allowed only one hit. Not all of them got to the middle innings where it starts to get scary, and thanks to the Rays' and Padres' "opener" experiments, it's happened a lot more often recently. But Monday was just the fourth day in the live-ball era where five different starters have done it, and all have been in the past five years.
John Gant of the Cardinals spun off seven innings of one-hit ball as the Indians found themselves shut out on ≤ four hits for the first time this season. Yan Gomes had the only base knock against him, and it was an infield single. That's not to say Cleveland was without its chances; Gant also walked five batters and needed 97 pitches to finish the 7th. In the past 30 years, only one other Cardinals starter has given up one hit but walked five, Garrett Stephenson against Arizona on September 25, 2002.
Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, rookie Jonathan Loaisiga was working on another impressive start for the Yankees, retiring the first 12 batters of the game and 15 out of 16 before Jorge Alfaro broke up the no-hitter to start the 6th. Loaisiga then gave up another walk, and it being still a 2-0 game at the time, was lifted for David Robertson. But he stayed in long enough to get the win, and at age 23, is the youngest Yankee pitcher to win a game while allowing one hit and striking out eight since Al Leiter did it against the Angels on May 24, 1988.
Mike Foltynewicz of the Braves also took a no-hitter into the 5th against the Reds on Monday, and only one ball got out of the infield before Scott Schebler finally hit one not just out of the infield, but out of the park. In this age of peak #bullpenning, that was enough for Folty; after one more infield groundout to end the 5th, he was pulled in favor of Lucas Sims. The last time an Atlanta starter allowed only one hit, but it was a home run, was June 30 of last year against Oakland. And that pitcher... was Mike Foltynewicz. In the live-ball era, only three other Braves starters have had two such games; they are Greg Maddux (1995), Rick Mahler (1982-87), and Wade Blasingame (1965).
You could say the move backfired, since Sims promptly gave up two runs to the first four batters he faced, including a bases-loaded walk. That meant the Braves were eventually forced to win in extra innings on a walkoff homer by Ozzie Albies. But that also gave us a couple more notes from that game; as with most things Braves- and age-related, he was the youngest Atlantan to hit a walkoff homer since Andruw Jones did it on April 26, 1997, three days after his 20th birthday. And that home run was Albies' third extra-base hit of the game; the last Braves batter with 3 XBH including an extra-inning walkoff was Marcus Giles against the Mets on April 7, 2002.
But none of those was even Monday's longest no-hit bid. That belonged to the Rays' Blake Snell, who walked the first two batters of the game but then retired 18 Washington Nationals in a row before Anthony Rendon led off the 7th with a double down the line. Along the way he fanned 10 batters, making him the first Rays pitcher with a 1-hit, 10-K outing (any length) since... Blake Snell on April 10 against the White Sox. Only one other Rays pitcher has done that twice at all, and his weren't in the same season. It was Matt Garza in 2008 and again in 2009.
The Milwaukee Brewers had an off day on Monday, but Freddy Peralta must have noticed this phenomenon and said, hey, let me try. On Tuesday against the Royals, he also spun a one-hit performance with 10 strikeouts in running his record to 3-0. (The one hit was at least in the 3rd, although he ended up retiring 14 straight after that.) The last Brewers pitcher with that line (again, any number of innings) was... yep, Freddy Peralta, on May 13 in his major-league debut. Amazingly, no pitcher in Brewers history has had multiple one-hit, 10-K games (until now), either in the same year or otherwise.
The Royals would end up with only three hits in the 5-1 loss, their most futile game against Milwaukee since back when the Brewers were in the AL. On April 13, 1996, they posted the rare 3-on-1 linescore (and won!) when Michael Tucker cranked a three-run homer following a pair of walks. The Brewers' "5" on Tuesday came largely from three home runs allowed by Jakob Junis, which is the fifth time already this year that he's allowed same. Ervin Santana in 2013 is the only other pitcher in Royals history to surrender three longballs five times in a season, and it took him until September.
Richard The Tenth
If you were counting above, you noticed we left out one of Monday's one-hit pitchers. That would be Joey Lucchesi of the Padres, who somehow needed 70 pitches to finish four innings despite allowing only one hit. But that leads us to one of the more obscure interleague series, San Diego at Texas, which popped up on the schedule this week-- and to yet another one-hit start.
Monday's opener was highlighted by a 5th-inning dinger from Manuel Margot that gave the Padres a 3-0 lead, and since the teams don't play all that often, Margot became only the second player in Padres history to hit a three- or four-run homer in Arlington. Greg Vaughn had the other one, off Bobby Witt on June 7, 1998. That lead, naturally, didn't last; after Lucchesi's departure, the Rangers rattled off seven runs on 11 hits, even though only one of them (a Robinson Chirinos double) went for extra bases. Arlington is of course known as a longball park, especially when it's hot (Wednesday's temperature was listed as 101°), and it had been nearly 30 years since the Rangers had a home game where they scored seven runs with only one "extra base" (second on the double) and no more than three walks. That previous contest was an 8-0 shutout of the Twins on June 20, 1990.
Tuesday's game, a 3-2 Padres victory, was uneventful aside from being the third interleague road game in San Diego history where they scored three or fewer runs, struck out 11 times, and won. Their Friday game against the Pirates would also feature only three runs (and a loss) despite the Padres picking up 12 hits. They were 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position before getting all those runs in the final two innings; it was San Diego's first game with 12 hits but ≤ 3 runs since a 3-1 loss in Minnesota on August 5, 2014. Every other team had pulled it off at least once since then.
Back in Arlington, however, there was still some Padres hitting going on, but it was on the pitching side. Clayton Richard plunked three batters, the first San Diego pitcher to do that since Jhoulys Chacin last August. And though he lasted seven innings, Richard also gave up 10 base hits to the Rangers, joining Andy Ashby (August 23, 1998, at Milwaukee) as the only pitchers in Padres history to allow 10 hits and plunk three batters. It was also Richard's 13th start where he gave up 10 hits and took the loss, tying him with Randy Jones for the most in franchise history (and five of Jones's games were CGs).
The Padres may have wanted Richard to pitch to their own batters as well. On the other side of the diamond, Rangers starter Mike Minor took a perfect game into the 7th before Eric Hosmer roped a single up the middle. Minor was then removed in favor of Chris Martin (101°, remember?) and the bullpen finished off the 5-2 victory. Minor thereby became the first Texas pitcher to throw at least seven innings with one hit and no walks since Yu Darvish did it on April 2, 2013. You remember that one. Where Marwin Gonzalez stood between him and a perfect game and promptly singled to center. Before the Darvish outing it had been Roger Pavlik at Detroit on May 4, 1996.
And back to our original protagonist, Joey Lucchesi. He started Saturday's game for the Padres against Pittsburgh and this time needed 85 pitches to finish five innings. He walked four, which didn't help. But yet again he gave up only one hit (and got the win this time since he made it through five frames). That makes him just the second pitcher in team history with back-to-back appearances of at least four innings and one hit allowed. The other was Chris Young on September 17 and 22, 2006. You are probably aware that San Diego is the only current franchise to never throw a no-hitter; in that game of the 22nd, Young got the second-closest to history when Joe Randa homered off him with one out in the 9th. (Steve Arlin had one broken with two outs in 1972; if we only knew then that 46 years later they'd still be searching.)
Romeo And Juliet
Love 'em or hate 'em, the Yankees and Red Sox have a very long relationship, and it usually consists of trying to poison each other. (That's the plot of the play, right? Right?) Friday's series opener was over pretty early when CC Sabathia induced a lot of early grounders and then Miguel Andujar and Greg Bird hit back-to-back jacks in the 4th. The Sox did bloop a few through the infield, but CC ended the day with one run on six hits, the 11th time he's held Boston to those numbers or less. That takes over the all-time Yankee lead in such a thing; Andy Pettitte, Red Ruffing, and Bob Shawkey each did it 10 times.
Ah, but turnabout is fair play. (Not Shakespeare, but we did have to check.) We were at the Yankees' double-A affiliate in Trenton, N.J., on Saturday when the first score update flashed across the videoboard: 4-0 Boston in the 1st. Oof. Then 6-0. Then 7-0. Our game ended before we saw the final carnage: 11-0 with the Yankees held to just two singles against Chris Sale. It matched the Red Sox' largest-ever shutout in New York; Tim Wakefield got the better of Roger Clemens on September 9, 2003. And the last home game where the Bronx Bombers were shut out on ≤ 2 hits and whiffed at least 12 times was earlier that same season-- the Astros' infamous six-pitcher no-hitter on June 11.
Sale was responsible for 11 of those 12 Yankee strikeouts Saturday, the first pitcher in nearly 18 years to strike out 11 Yankees and allow them just one hit (in any number of innings). That hurler who did it back in 2000 is still pitching, and was actually in another game on Saturday at the same time as Sale. Yep, it's Bartolo Colón, then with Cleveland, who had a no-hitter broken up by Luis Polonia on September 18 of that year. Sale is the first Boston pitcher to allow 1 hit, 1 walk, and fan 11 against any opponent since Hideo Nomo one-hit the Blue Jays on May 25, 2001.
When Saturday's score changed from 0 to 4 so quickly, we kinda thought someone might have hit a slam. What we didn't know yet was what Rafael Devers would do for the rest of the game. That would be singles in the 3rd, 5th, and 9th, and a double in the 7th that was so close to the yellow line that it was reviewed to check that it wasn't another homer. That's five hits including a grand slam, the first time a Red Sox batter has done that since Jim Rice against Oakland on July 4, 1984. And he's only the second player to do that at any incarnation of Yankee Stadium, joining Russell Martin in the famous "three grand slams" game on August 25, 2011.
As we've mentioned before (and it's still true), Devers won't turn 22 until the week of the World Series. So his line from Saturday makes him the youngest player with five hits, four runs batted in (via slam or otherwise), and three runs scored in the same game since Pirates HOF'er Joseph "Arky" Vaughan did it against Brooklyn (for whom Vaughan would finish his career 15 years later) on June 24, 1933.
To wrap up the week, the Yankees said, oh yeah?, if you're going to make us drink 11 runs,... All rise for the second batter of the game, Aaron Judge, to crank one to center. Giancarlo Stanton and Didi Gregorius both get hits. Gleyber Torres (probably): "Drink this" into the short porch in right. And suddenly, just like Saturday's game, it's 4-0 by the sixth batter of the game, this time the other direction. You can question leaving David Price in the game, especially against Luis Severino and his string of only allowing one run. But out goes the wily veteran for the 2nd inning and here's Aaron Hicks. Wham, 6-0. Price got through the 3rd unscathed, but welcoming him to the 4th inning is triple-A catcher Kyle Higashioka, subbing for the injured Brett Gardner. 7-0. Two batters later here's Aaron Hicks again. 8-0. That was finally enough, but not before Price became the first Red Sox pitcher to give up five taters since Clay Buchholz, also against the Yankees (but at Fenway), on April 20, 2012. The last Bostonian to do it in the Bronx was Dennis Eckersley, 39 years earlier to the day (July 1, 1979); he at least took seven innings. No pitcher in Red Sox history had given up five home runs in an outing of less than 4 IP.
With this game also basically decided, the teams cruised through the middle innings (to the extent that the Yanks and Sawx can "cruise") until Hector Velazquez is summoned for the 8th. Leadoff batter: Aaron Hicks. Wham. 10-0. Hicks joined Lorenzo Cain (Royals), J.D. Martinez (then of the Tigers but who was presently sitting in the other dugout), and Curtis Granderson (April 19, 2012) as the only players to hit three dingers in the 10 seasons of the current Yankee Stadium. He's the first leadoff batter in team history to do it, and the youngest-- even at 28½-- to do it since Bobby Murcer against the Royals on July 13, 1973. He's also the first ever to do it against the Red Sox in a home game (Bronx, Manhattan, or even those two weird years at Shea); Mark Teixeira (2010) and Lou Gehrig (1927) each went deep thrice against Boston, but their games were both at Fenway.
Even throwing out the three homers, Hicks is the team's first leadoff hitter with three hits, three runs scored, and four driven in at Yankee Stadium since Chuck Knoblauch against his former mates, the Twins, on August 13, 1999. And although most of the hype deservedly went to one Aaron, the other one (Judge) got his licks in as well. Together "the Aarons" are the first Yanks one-two hitters in (at least) the live-ball era to have three hits, three runs scored, and at least one homer in the same game.
Sandy Leon would break up a really great note about the teams exchanging two-hit shutouts (which has still only happened once, in 1947) with a double in the 9th and a run on a subsequent groundout. But the final of 11-1, combined with Saturday's 11-0 the other way, gave us the first occurrence in history of the Yankees and Red Sox exchanging double-digit wins in back-to-back games. They had twice before (August 1940 and May 1910) done it in the same series, but each time with another game in between.
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Back in the day, kids dreamed of being Bill Mazeroski or Joe Carter or maybe even David Freese, up to bat in the bottom of the 9th with the World Series on the line and hitting the game-winner. A few kids got to live that dream this week.
Continuing our theme of hitting or not hitting, the Rockies and Giants took a scoreless tie into the bottom of the 9th on Wednesday, with Kyle Freeland and Madison Bumgarner both dealing at least seven innings on four or fewer hits. At the halfway point of the season (which was reached Friday night, incidentally), it's already the 10th game of 2018 where both starters did that; the modern record for same is 11-- and that was done in the "year of the no-hitter", 1990.
But then enter Brandon Crawford. With Freeland out of the game and Harrison Musgrave trying to send it to extras, Crawford crushed a 1-1 pitch for the walkoff solo homer, the Giants' first to win a 1-0 game since Steve Decker took then-Astro Curt Schilling deep on April 21, 1991. The team's only other 1-0 walkoff against Colorado (homer or not) was on May 3, 2009, when a Rich Aurilia single drove in catcher (and former Norwich Navigator) Steve Holm.
Giants fans will (probably longingly) remember the first two games of the 2018 season, against the Dodgers. Score in both: 1-0. The one run in both: A Joe Panik solo homer. Crawford made this the first season in Giants history (all of it, to 1883) where they won three 1-0 games with the one run coming on a homer (not necessarily a walkoff).
Among the celebrants of Crawford's homer on Wednesday was Gorkys Hernandez. We're pretty sure no kid dreams of a go-ahead bases-loaded walk. (If you know any, please contact us; we'd like to study them.) But Hernandez's free pass on Tuesday was the catalyst for the Giants' 3-2 win in the prior game. The Giants hadn't had one in the 8th or later since Buster Posey, well, walked off against Toronto on May 11, 2016. On the losing side of that game, Ian Desmond became the first Rockies hitter with a homer and a double at AT&T Park since... Ian Desmond did it in a 6-1 win on May 18. The only other Coloradans to do it twice-- and neither was in the same season-- are Nolan Arenado and Troy Tulowitzki, while Dante Bichette was the only one to do it twice at Candlestick.
While it wasn't a walkoff-variety homer, Jake Marisnick connected for a solo shot off the Rays' Ryan Yarbrough on Thursday. Yarbough, of course, is part of the great "opener" experiment, usually entering in the 2nd inning and throwing most of the remainder of the game. Thus Thursday was his third "relief appearance" this year lasting five innings or more, the first pitcher with three such outings in a season since Melido Perez of the White Sox did it in 1991. The Rays' total of five is the most for any team since the 1990 Yankees.
But back to Marisnick. That 1-0 homer would be the only run of the game, although of course he didn't know that at the time. He's the first number-9 batter in Astros history to win a 1-0 game with a homer. The last in the majors was a pitcher, then-Pirate Gerrit Cole on August 26 (vs Cincinnati). And while the Astros' previous 1-0 win via solo homer was already six years plus one day earlier (Matt Downs, June 27, 2012, vs Padres), their previous six had been at home. Houston hadn't scored a 1-0 win on the road thanks to a solo homer since August 19, 1986! Kevin Bass homered off Mike Bielecki at Three Rivers Stadium that day. Houston held the distinction of being (by far) the team to go the longest without such a victory; the White Sox last did it in 1995, and all 28 other teams have done it just in the last decade.
While that 1-0 score didn't go in the Rays' favor, their 1-0 win against Washington on Tuesday did. With an off-day on Wednesday, it was the first time in Tropicana Field history that there had been consecutive 1-0 games played there, and that includes the three seasons where it hosted hockey. The Rays were also on the correct end of the 11-0 score against Washington on Monday; that was the game mentioned earlier where Blake Snell took a no-hitter into the 7th. Since the move from Montréal, it was the first time the Nationals had been shut out in back-to-back games by an American League opponent. The Expos did do it in their final season, June 11 and 12, 2004, at Seattle.
And Nate Eovaldi's line on Tuesday? Six innings, no runs, two walks, and yep, one hit (this one a double by Bryce Harper). Combined with Snell, it was the first time in Rays history that consecutive starters had allowed ≤ 1 hit and gotten the win (this latter part still requires five innings and thus weeds out the "opener" thing). The last starters for any team to do it were Clayton Kershaw and Scott Kazmir, in the Dodgers' first two games of 2016 (versus Padres). Neither the Nationals nor the Expos had ever been shut out on ≤ 3 hits by the same opponent in back-to-back games; they hadn't even done it against different teams since June 1974.
The Tempest
Those back-to-back shutouts for the Nationals were part of a six-game streak where they scored a total of 16 runs and won only one game. So what the heck happened on Friday? Oh, only the most runs the Nats/Expos franchise has ever dropped on their division-mates the Phillies, and a tie for the most runs any visiting team has scored at Citizens Bank Park (the Cubs won a 17-2 game there last August).
Still-19-year-old Juan Soto launched a 1st-inning two-run homer off Nick Pivetta and a 9th-inning three-run shot off Hector Neris, with two more singles in between. His line blew up an already-blown-up boxscore and made him the youngest player since RBIs were officially recorded in 1920 to have five of them, plus four hits, plus three runs scored. Giants HOF'er Mel Ott was about seven months his senior when he set that mark, also in Philadelphia (but at Baker Bowl), on June 19, 1929.
Meanwhile, Trea Turner also chipped in a 1st-inning two-run homer off Nick Pivetta (hey, a theme!), plus two more hits and a walk, scoring on all four trips around the bases. If it wasn't for the strikeout, he'd have posted the first 5-4-3-2-1-0 batting line (AB-R-H-RBI-BB-K, in order of MLB's boxscore headers) in nearly six years. (Ryan Ludwick's trivia answer is safe for now.) Instead he'll have to settle for tying Tim Wallach's franchise record of four games where he had at least three hits and four runs scored. There are currently no players in Nats/Expos history with three, and the only active people with two are Anthony Rendon and Ryan Zimmerman.
Soto and Turner, however, weren't even responsible for half of the Nationals' homers on Friday. Rendon hit one off Pivetta in the 2nd inning to knock him out of the game. Bryce Harper did Bryce Harper things. Mark Reynolds hit one in between strikeouts (three true outcomes!). Even Brian Goodwin got in on the fun. That's seven, count 'em, seven dingers, and in a road game no less. Only one other road game in team history had that many; Larry Parrish hit three of the seven in a 19-0 win in Atlanta on July 30, 1978, that remains the team's largest victory margin ever. (Second place is that 23-5 win against the Mets last season which destroyed a lot of potential notes from Friday's game.) Speaking of the Mets, they've had three 7-HR games at CBP since it opened in 2004, but until this week, they'd been the only team ever to do it there. And yes, that includes the Phillies.
And we must give some love to Pivetta and Neris who were on the mound for six of those seven taters. The kicker being that neither of them got more than five outs. Since 1900, they are the first pair of teammates to each give up 3 HR while pitching under two innings. They're the first set of Phillies ever to do it while pitching less than three.
Intermission
We really couldn't link all the section headers to YouTube videos of Shakespeare because apparently he hasn't released the Internet rights to them yet. Get with the times, bard. So instead here's something from his sister. The '90s were strange.
The Tempest, Act II
There were, however, a handful of players this week who took a real liking to this "hitting" thing and kept doing it-- sometimes when nobody else on the team was.
Alex Bregman of the Astros connected for a double in the 3rd inning Tuesday. Okay, he's done that before. And hey, leadoff doubles for everyone! (It was his second at-bat, but we'll take it.) It was the remainder of the game that got interesting. Double to left in the 5th. Double to left in the 7th. And two-run homer (to left, of course) in the 8th to put the final touches on a 7-0 win over Toronto.
Yep, count 'em, that's four extra-base hits, just the fourth player in Astros history to do that in a single game. Jose Altuve did it as part of a 3-0 win last May 17 at Marlins Park. Jeff Bagwell (June 14, 1996) and our old friend Kevin Bass (June 27, 1987) both did it at Candlestick Park. Which also means Bregman's the first Astro ever to do it at home. Only two visiting players have done it at Minute Maid Park, Reggie Sanders of the Cardinals (2005) and the Giants' Doug Mirabelli (2000). Edgardo Alfonso of the Mets was the only one ever to do it at the Astrodome, in its final season (1999).
Bregman nearly out-hit the entire Blue Jays team, and he did double them up in total bases, 10 to 5. That was thanks largely to Charlie Morton who struck out 13 batters and kept them off the scoreboard for seven innings. Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander also had games (both in May) with 13 K and 0 runs allowed, and no matter how many innings pitched, it's the first time in Astros history that three different pitchers have accomplished that in the same season. The only other time they had three such games at all was when Randy Johnson did it by himself in 1998. In Toronto's storied baseball history (happy Canada Day, eh?), they've only played three road games with zero runs, five or fewer hits, no extra-base hits, and where they struck out 15 times. One of the others was also against Randy Johnson, who was a Mariner on July 15, 1995; and the other is only Nolan Ryan's final no-hitter (May 1, 1991, for Texas).
While Bregman was, uh, Bregmanning on Tuesday, Matt Carpenter of the Cardinals was getting good wood on the ball and building a nice little game of his own. Carp recorded five hits and scored on all five trips as St Louis pummelled Cleveland 11-2. No Cardinals hitter had posted a 5-hit, 5-run game since Wally Moon did it in Pittsburgh on May 12, 1954, and the only other one in the live-ball era was Stan Musial in 1948.
Carpenter also homered twice, the first Cardinals batter to do that within a five-hit game since Ryan Ludwick against the Pirates on September 4, 2009. And no Cards leadoff batter had even had one homer within a five-hit game since Lou Brock at Cincinnati on April 17, 1968.
The 11-2 win tied for the third-largest over an AL opponent in Cardinals history; the top of that list is only their 13-1 win over Milwaukee in Game 6 of the 1982 World Series. The usually-reliable Corey Kluber became just the second Indians starter ever to give up six earned runs in an interleague game without finishing the 2nd inning; Jaret Wright did that against the Reds on June 10, 2001.
Two Gentlemen Of Minnesota
(There is a Verona, Minn., population 400-ish, about two hours south of Minneapolis. Now you know.)
As you might expect from the team name, there were two Twins who had notable lines in the hitting department this week. The first was Ehire Adrianza, who on Tuesday collected his first career four-hit game despite Minnesota losing to the White Sox. But check out the rest of the team. Brian Dozier had a single. That's it. The Twins finished with five hits in the game, and Adrianza had four of them. He's the first player since the team moved in 1961 to manage that. The last franchise player to have four hits in a game where the team only had five was Jim Lemon against Kansas City (that's the A's) on July 28, 1959.
Then on Friday, Joe Mauer drove in five of the Twins' six runs against the Cubs, even though they still ended up losing on Addison Russell's grand slam in the 5th. Mauer has been put back in the Twins' leadoff spot the last couple months, ironically to move Dozier down and get him more RBI chances, given that the leadoff spot usually doesn't get many. (Because the guys at the bottom of the order are usually bad and don't reach base a lot. But will the trend of "openers" beget another trend where teams bat their heavy hitters in like the 7-hole? Throw that around your offseason water cooler.)
Anyway, since they don't play all that often, Mauer became the first player in Twins/Senators history to have a 5-RBI game against the Cubs. And he's their first leadoff batter to do it in a loss since Kirby Puckett in Anaheim on April 18, 1996. For Russell's part, his grand slam was just the second the Cubs have ever hit against Minnesota; Dexter Fowler had the other one at Target Field on June 21, 2015.
Turnabout is fair play. (You might have heard this before.) On Saturday the two teams sweltered through a game that Joe Maddon called the hottest he's ever been (and he's been known to get hot). Usually in such conditions teams swing at everything just to get back into the shade and the game takes about 2:15. Unfortunately when these two teams swung at everything, the fielders were too boiled to go get them; the game ended up as a 14-9 slugfest with 31 hits, 12 walks, a whopping 32 at-bats with runners in scoring position, and a nice tidy game time of 3:44. It was only the second 14-9 loss (exact score) in Twins/Senators history; the other was to Detroit on May 12, 1948. And instead of one player standing out, and partly due to all the heat-related substitutions, eight different Cubs chipped in at least one hit and one run scored; they'd only done that once in the past decade, a 16-9 win at Fenway Park on July 2, 2014. It was also Chicago's first game with 14 runs scored but no homers and no more than three extra-base hits (they had 17 singles) since September 5, 1988, when they beat the Phillies 14-3.
Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. (Also not Shakespeare. Winston Churchill.) Sure enough, the Twins and Cubs returned to 93-degree Wrigley Field on Sunday and spewed out another slugfest with 21 runs and 30 hits, and only one minute shorter than Saturday's affair. The Cubs erupted for an eight-run 2nd that included Jon Lester's second career homer, the first three-run shot by a Cubs pitcher since Travis Wood on April 21, 2014. In spite of that (and the heat) the Twins attempted to claw their way back, scoring twice in both the 5th and 6th, tagging Dillon Maples for a five-run 8th, and eventually losing 11-10. The last time the Cubs had an eight-run inning and failed to win by at least two runs was a 16-13 loss against the Phillies on August 10, 1989. (The Phillies had a 7 of their own in that one.) The game also created the Cubs' first four-game streak of double-digit run totals since June 1 through 6, 1930 (mostly at Boston).
The Twins, of course, scored 19 runs in those two games but gave up 25. It was only the second time in Twins/Senators history (1901) that they had scored nine or more in consecutive games and lost both. The other pair of games came at Tiger Stadium... before it was called Tiger Stadium. It was Navin Field, after the Detroit owner who built the venerable park, when Washington lost 13-10 and 17-11 on May 15 and 16, 1921.
Merchant Of Venice Beach
Before returning home for that wacky weekend with the Twins, the Cubs got a side trip to Los Angeles for an unusual four-game series. They split the series with the Dodgers, but all four games were winners in the #Kernels department. Duane Underwood made his major-league debut in the first game on Monday, already just the second Cubs pitcher ever to have the Dodger Stadium mound be the first one he stepped onto. John Koronka, who pitched just four games for Chicago before going to Texas for a year, was the other, on June 1, 2005. Underwood gave up only a solo homer to Enrique Hernandez and a single to Justin Turner, but needed 77 pitches to get through four innings and couldn't stick around long enough to get the win. Which wouldn't have mattered anyway, since the Cubs never erased that 1-0 deficit and Underwood took the loss instead. In the live-ball era, only five pitchers have made their MLB debut as starters, given up 1 run on 2 hits, and gotten the loss. And two of them have been Cubs. Chris Rusin, on August 21, 2012, at Milwaukee, was the other tough-luck newbie; Brad Hand, Cliff Lee, and the Twins' Brad Havens in 1981 are the others.
If only Javier Baez had gotten an advance on some of Tuesday's hits. (If only it were that easy.) After Monday's 2-1 yawner, Chicago erupted for 15 hits, and it was Baez's line that was worthy of inclusion in our earlier section: 4-for-5, two homers, a double, and five RBIs because, oh yeah, one of those homers was a grand slam. In the 57-season history of Dodger Stadium, only three Cubs have had a 2-HR, 5-RBI game there, all coincidentally in years ending with 8. Dave Kingman did it in a 15-inning game on May 14, 1978; and HOF'er Billy Williams recorded that line on July 21, 1968.
The last Cubs batter with four hits including a grand slam? No, it's not Baez again, which is how we usually set these things up. But it was earlier this year, by Willson Contreras against the White Sox on May 11. The Cubs haven't had two players with that line in the same season since Barry Foote and Bill Buckner both did it in 1979.
And let's not forget Ben Zobrist and Addison Russell, who also had three hits each as the Cubs piled up their largest hit total (15) at Chavez Ravine since June 1, 2005. The previous trio of Cubs teammates with three hits in a game at Dodger Stadium includes two Hall of Famers... and a guy who got one vote on his first ballot in 2008. But you've heard of all of them-- Ryne Sandberg, Andre Dawson, and Shawon Dunston on April 29, 1990.
Contreras, meanwhile, obviously saw Baez matching his feats and on Wednesday decided to raise the bar. He unleashed a two-run homer in the 1st and a two-run double in the 8th to collect four more RBIs. The last time Chicago had a player drive in four runs in back-to-back road games against the Dodgers, it was totally the opposite direction (and they probably took a train to get there). Hank Sauer, Bruce Edwards, and Randy Jackson all did it in a doubleheader at Ebbets Field on July 14, 1951. And while Contreras drove in four of the Cubs' five runs on Wednesday, that still wasn't enough becuase Kyle Hendricks gave up six. Jon Lester, against the Mets on July 3, 2016, was the team's last starter to allow six runs in a road game and not get through the 3rd inning. And thus Contreras also joined Ryne Sandberg in the club of Cubs to have 4 RBI in a loss at Dodger Stadium. Sandberg did it on June 18, 1991; the only other member of said club is Bill Madlock on August 28, 1974.
For "getaway day" on Thursday, Anthony Rizzo brought along four hits and three RBIs as Chicago erupted for an 11-5 victory. That was the most runs they'd scored at the Ravine since (really) June 30, 1984, when they won a 14-4 contest with the Dodgers. When you combine Rizzo's game with Baez's from Tuesday, it's only the second time multiple Cubs have posted that line at Dodger Stadium in the same season... and the other two did it in the same game They were Neifi Perez and Derrek Lee on June 1, 2005-- backing up our friend John Koronka in winning his major-league debut.
As You Like It
If your offseason watercooler can't come to a consensus about moving the power hitters down in the order, then just rehash the old "designated hitter" debate that's been raging for 45 years now. Because Jon Lester wasn't the only pitcher this week sending baseballs gently into that good night (again, not Shakespeare, but certainly sounds like it could be).
Dan Straily of the Marlins started our week of #PitchersWhoRake by dropping the first pitch of the 3rd inning into center for a double. An inning later he drew a seven-pitch walk after Shelby Miller fell behind 3-0 (Derek Dietrich singled on the next pitch and knocked Miller out of the game). Straily ended up becoming just the third Marlins pitcher to record an extra-base hit, a base on balls, and score multiple runs. The others were Dontrelle Willis (not a surprise) in 2005 and Chris Hammond in 1995.
Rookie pitcher Shane Bieber recorded his first base hit on Wednesday, and it was a first-pitch double off the Cardinals' Jack Flaherty. Bieber, of course, plays for Cleveland, which is always great fun (sometimes good, sometimes bad) when AL pitchers are forced to hit during interleague play. To that end, the last Cleveland pitcher with any extra-base hit was Josh Tomlin in Cincinnati more than two years ago (May 19, 2016). But their last one in St. Louis was nearly 65 years ago. But wait, you say, interleague play didn't exist back then. Nope. But the Browns still did. Bob Lemon had a pair of doubles at the original Busch Stadium on August 16, 1953.
Zack Greinke has always qualified as a pretty good hitter. One of our favorite facts a few seasons ago was that he actually led the Dodgers in on-base percentage if there were no qualifiers. (Then some September callup went 1-for-1 as a pinch hitter and destroyed the note, but oh well.) Greinke, of course, is now in Arizona, where on Thursday he recorded two singles, stole a base (after the Marlins even threw over to keep him close), and later scored a run. Only one other Diamondbacks hurler has done two hits and a steal, Joe Saunders against the Astros on September 4, 2010... and he ended up stranded at second.
But none of that is any match for the Reds' Michael Lorenzen. Last Sunday he was called upon as a pinch hitter for starter Sal Romano. Boom, solo homer. Not bad. But Lorenzen actually had another home run last season as a pinch hitter, and thus became the first Cincinnati pitcher to do it twice since Charles "Red" Lucas in the 1930s. Lorenzen went on to make a few one- or two-batter platoon appearances through the week before replacing Romano again on Friday. He retired the side on nine pitches, so yeah, let's leave him out there another inning. His spot's batting in the meantime, and guess what. Solo homer to left-center. So now, counting his first career homer back in 2016, he has two as an actual relief pitcher. The only other Cincinnati player in the live-ball era to homer twice as a relief pitcher wsa Danny Graves in 2000 & 2001. And since the DH came along in 1973, only Don Robinson (who played for both the Pirates and Giants from 1978 to 1991, has had four total homers as either a reliever or a PH.
You know the rest, right? On Saturday the Reds batted around in the 7th inning against Milwaukee, meaning the pitcher's spot was up again when they probably weren't planning on it. Hey Mikey, see if you like this one. Oh by the way, the bases are loaded. And that would be a pinch-hit grand slam, the first one by any Reds batter since Chris Heisey against the Rays on April 13, 2014. But it's the first one, for any team, by a pitcher in a pinch-hitting role since Tommy Byrne of the White Sox (who had 6 HR in his career) went deep off Yankees all-star Ewell Blackwell on May 16, 1953. He's the first pitcher with a pair of pinch-hit dingers in the same season since Boston's Gary Peters did it in 1971. And combined with Anthony DeSclafani's grand slam in his start last Saturday, the Reds are the first team to have two different pitchers hit slams in the same season (as either P or PH) since Bob Gibson and Rick Wise of the Cardinals in 1973.
By the way, after writing this section, Jose Peraza came back on Sunday afternoon and also hit a slam as the Reds rolled to another victory. That made it the first time Cincinnati had slams in consecutive games since Jay Bruce and Jolbert Cabrera hit them againt the Cubs on September 5 and 6, 2009.
Bottom Of The Bag
⚾ Mookie Betts, Tuesday: Third leadoff homer of season against Angels (also April 17 & 19 in Anaheim). First Red Sock to hit three in a season off same opponent since Nomar Garciaparra versus Toronto in 1997.
⚾ Ozzie Albies & Ronald Acuña, Saturday: Second set of teammates, each age 21½ or younger, with three hits, two runs, and two RBIs in same game. Tony Conigliaro and Tony Horton did it for Boston against Detroit on August 21, 1965.
⚾ Andrew Knapp, Sunday: Tied Todd Pratt (June 21, 2003, vs Boston) for latest pinch-hit walkoff homer (1 out B13) in Phillies history.
⚾ DJ LeMahieu, Thursday: First Rockies batter with a 3-hit, 5-RBI game since Charlie Blackmon's six-hit game during the first week of 2014. (We keep telling you, it comes up about once a month. And this post is also going up on Blackmon's birthday, so.)
⚾ Aaron Hicks, Tuesday: First Yankee to hit a leadoff homer in Philadelphia since Snuffy Stirnweiss against the Athletics on August 5, 1944 (they'd never hit one against the Phillies).
⚾ Red Sox, Wednesday: First time hitting a solo, 2-run, and 3-run homer in same inning since Kevin Millar, David Ortiz, and Manny Ramirez did it in San Francisco on June 18, 2004.
⚾ Nick Castellanos, Sunday: Joined Nelson Cruz (whose birthday is also the day of this post) and Jose Canseco as the only visiting players to hit multiple grand slams at SkyDome/Rogers Centre. His other was September 8 of last season.
⚾ Marco Gonzales, Friday: Fewest pitches (96) in a nine-inning complete game for Mariners since Felix Hernandez did it in 95 against the Angels on August 28, 2006.
⚾ Phillies, Monday: Third time in team history collecting three hits or fewer against Yankees. Suffered a 5-0 loss on June 21, 2006, and did it in Game 1 of the 1950 World Series when Vic Raschi threw a two-hit shutout at Shibe Park.
⚾ Max Kepler, Thursday: By inning, latest bases-loaded walk drawn by a Twins batter since Jim Roland got a game-winning one in the 14th against Detroit on July 13, 1968.
⚾ Astros, Wednesday: First team to begin a game with a catcher's interference call and end it with a walkoff anything since the Mariners defeated the Twins on April 23, 1986 (Dave Henderson home run).
⚾ Ryon Healy, Saturday: First Mariner with four hits, a home run, and three RBIs batting seventh or lower since-- really-- Josh Bard at Cleveland on August 14, 2010. Because of course.
All's Well That Ends Well
Thought we forgot the trivia question, didn't you? Turns out the only rule that precedes "the objective is to score runs" is the even-more-simple one that specifies there are two teams of nine players each. Those of you on the "no DH" side of that last argument can take that one back to the watercooler ("it says nine, not ten!").
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