Sunday, August 26, 2018
Small Victories
You usually hear this phrase applied to life's little tribulations like opening that jar of pickles, or finding a quarter on the sidewalk, or having the car ahead of you get pulled over for speeding, or finally getting that darned fly that's been buzzing around the desk while you write this intro.
This week saw baseball take a fairly radical turn from the 24-4 and 15-8 scores that lit up the scoreboard last week. At least until one particular blowup on Sunday afternoon, which we'll throw in at the end. But it doesn't matter if you win by 20 or by 1, as the Orioles and Royals can tell you, they still count.
A Pirate's Life For Me
The Braves piled up 10 hits at PNC Park in their series opener on Monday, which doesn't sound like it fits the title until you realize that they came in eight different innings. The 4th was their only 1-2-3 frame, and the only time they lumped multiple hits into an inning was in the 1st when Freddie Freeman hit a two-out double and then came around on a Nick Markakis knock. They went 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position and stranded nine.
They won. The Pirates only had seven hits, and the only time they got two in an inning, the first one was erased on a double play. So the two teams limped their way to a 1-0 final despite combining for 25 baserunners. For Atlanta it was their first game with double-digit hits, at least four extra-base hits, and only one run scored since their 2009 season finale with the Nationals when neither team seemed to want to go home for the winter and they played 14 innings. The only other time in the live-ball era they posted that line and won was on September 9, 1993, when Ron Gant's solo homer at San Diego decided things in the 10th.
The Braves now have three 1-0 wins this season after not having any in 2017. (There were other teams without one last year, so they're not terribly special in that department.) The last time they scored a 1-0 win over Pittsburgh was on June 4, 2005, on a 9th-inning RBI double by then-46-year-old Julio Franco.
And remember last week we covered the Cubs' trip to Pittsburgh where they won two 1-0 games and both runs came on solo homers? That gave the Pirates three 1-0 losses between Thursday and Monday, albeit to different teams. Only once before in team history (1882) have they suffered three 1-0 defeats in a five-day span, and the other took them only two days. On Labor Day weekend of 1917 they were scheduled to play four games with the Cardinals to make up for a rainout from May. Well, Thursday's game got rained out as well, forcing back-to-back doubleheaders on Friday (August 31) and Saturday (September 1). Pittsburgh won the opener 2-0, but then had the second game called after five innings by (surprise!) more rain as a 1-0 loss, then dropped both games on Saturday by the same score.
The Pirates' woes continued for the rest of that Braves series, dropping scores of 6-1 on Tuesday and 2-1 on Wednesday. Newly-acquired Kevin Gausman pitched eight scoreless innings in the Tuesday game before Gregory Polanco's shutout-disrupting homer in the 9th. Gausman is the first Braves pitcher with eight scoreless innings and at least five strikeouts in Pittsburgh since John Smoltz did it at Three Rivers on July 24, 1998. And combined with the last game of their prior homestand, a 2-1 loss to the Cardinals, the Pirates have gone eight straight home games without scoring more than 3 runs. That's the longest streak in PNC Park history, and the team's longest at home since May 1985.
They'd Rather Be At The Beach
The Braves then headed to Miami for the weekend and held the Marlins to four runs in four games-- and ended up with only a split. Both Atlanta wins were shutouts, including Sunday's finale where Kevin Gausman and friends allowed just one hit before the 9th inning. Since Marlins Park opened, Miami's been held to two hits there a whopping 13 times, and four of those are against the Braves. As for Gausman, he's the fifth Atlanta starter this season to allow zero runs and no more than one hit while also getting a win (this adds the five-inning minimum and gets rid of those pesky Rays "openers"). Four teams, and yes the Rays are still one of them along with the Pirates and Yankees, have had five starters do that this season; in the previous 98 seasons of the live-ball era, a total of four teams had done it. And there's still a whole month left.
On the other hand, Friday's game was one of those 1-0 wins, with the run coming in the 4th when Brian Anderson doubled and Derek Dietrich immediately singled him home. The Marlins' last 1-0 win over anyone was when Giancarlo Stanton homered against the Nationals on September 20, 2016; and the last time they had three or fewer hits, with no homers, and won a 1-0 contest, was May 7, 2014 against the Mets (that one featured six walks and a sac fly). Those two hits in the 4th were the only ones surrendered by Mike Foltynewicz, who became just the fourth starter in Atlanta history to allow no more than two base knocks, strike out at least eight, and lose. Aaron Harang (2014), Jo-Jo Reyes (2008), and Russ Ortiz (2004) make up the rest of that illustrious list.
Tiger Cubs
Back to the Cubs again, just when we thought that one-run theme ended with last week's post, they said, um, no, let's ride this thing as far as it'll take us. Well, it took them to the Motor City on Tuesday, but the only motoring done by the Chicago offense was Anthony Rizzo's solo homer in the 6th. Their other seven hits were all singles and-- you guessed it-- they scored only one run. Again. On a solo homer. Again. We already knew on Sunday that the Cubs were the first team in major-league history to score 1 run on a solo homer four games in a row, so obviously they're the first to do it in five. (And the second to do it in four straight, if you're into that whole streak-embedded-within-streak thing.) It was also just the second time in Cubs history that they'd posted exactly 1 run in five straight games (not 0), regardless of how said run scored. The other such streak was from August 27 to September 1, 1934.
On the Tigers' side of things, they didn't really have it easy either. Jeimer Candelario hit a leadoff double to start a two-run "rally" in the 1st, but that was all they got against Kyle Hendricks despite nine more base hits after that. Hendricks became the first Cubs pitcher to give up 10+ hits, strike out only three batters, but still keep the damage to two runs, since Travis Wood did it against the Yankees on April 16, 2014. Candelario would add another double later in the game, the first Tigers leadoff batter with a multi-double game at home since Andy Dirks (who really did bat leadoff, 38 times even!) against the Royals on August 15, 2013.
For the Tigers it had been nearly six years since they scored 1 or 2 runs in the bottom of the 1st, didn't score at all the rest of the game, and they had those run(s) hold up for a win. Prince Fielder and Delmon Young completed a run of four 1st-inning singles, and then Anibal Sanchez threw a complete-game three-hitter, against the Royals on September 25, 2012.
And maybe the Cubs were just a day or two late on reading our previous post; on Wednesday they erupted for eight runs and three homers so we would finally stop talking about them.
Null And Voit
As soon as the Yankees acquired Giancarlo Stanton over the winter, the chatter immediately started about them breaking the team record for home runs (264 by the 1997 Mariners). After all, they came within two dozen of it last year without him, and through Sunday they're sitting on 211 with 32 games to play. Every so often, however, they have a strange game where they don't homer, and this week it was Tuesday in Miami. In the 4th Neil Walker hits the Yankees' third single of the inning to open the scoring, and a bit later Austin Dean hits his first dinger before the home "crowd", since league rules require Masahiro Tanaka to give up at least one per game. And then we sit. Of the next 27 batters, 24 are retired until the Marlins load the bases with one out in the bottom of the 9th. And don't score. They load them up again to start the 11th. And get a forceout at home (just when you think that "intentional walk" thing never works out), a strikeout, and a pop-up to third. Finally the Yankees think, hey we should try this, loading the bases with one out in the 12th thanks to a walk and a hit batter. Miguel Andujar sends a fly ball deep enough to left to score the run from third, and that's all we need. The Yankees played an extra-inning game, scored only two runs, and won; combined with their July 8 game in Toronto, it's their first season with two such road games since 1991. And the only time in team history they'd done it in a National League park was Game 2 of the 1950 World Series in Philadelphia.
Andujar's sac fly was the Yankees' first in extra innings this season, and also the first one they've ever hit in extras against the Marlins. The last one they hit in any inning while visiting the Marlins was by Scott Brosius on July 12, 2001 (in the 6th). And the Marlins went down in the bottom of the 12th, well, unceremoniously, with Isaac Galloway caught stealing with two outs as he tried to get in scoring position for the tie. That was the first time in team history that the Marlins had ever ended a game with an extra-inning CS, and it got Yankees journeyman Tommy Kahnle his fourth career save. The last time the Yankees ended a game by catching an opponent stealing was September 13, 2011, in Seattle, and that was a slightly more important save-- Mariano Rivera's 600th.
The Yankees actually didn't homer on Wednesday either, their first time doing it back-to-back in a National League park since a three-game set in St Louis in May 2014. But no worries, it's back to normal on Friday in Baltimore, with newcomer Luke Voit, playing in just his eighth game for the Yankees after being traded for Chasen Shreve at the deadline, hitting two homers including the ultimate decider in the 10th. Voit ended up driving in four runs, joining a fairly impressive list of big-name Yankees to have ever had a 2-HR, 4-RBI game with one of them coming in extra innings. Jason Giambi was the last to do it, at Fenway on August 20, 2006. Before that: Rick Cerone (1980), Mickey Mantle (1961), Aaron Robinson (1946), Joe DiMaggio (1938), Lou Gehrig (1935), and Babe Ruth (1926).
But even though Voit hit his two-run shot in the 10th, that wasn't the homer that gave the Yankees the lead. That had been a solo shot two batters earlier by Neil Walker. Combined, it was the first time that the Yankees had ever hit two extra-inning homers in the same game in Baltimore (either at Camden or Memorial). And the reason Voit's homer became the game-winning RBI, is because Chris Davis hit a solo dinger of his own in the bottom half to make the final score 7-5. Only one other player in Orioles/Browns history had homered in the bottom of an extra inning against the Yankees and had it not be a walkoff. Ken Williams hit one off Carl Mays on May 19, 1923, to cut a 6-4 lead to 6-5.
Voit helped lead the Yankees to a sweep on Sunday night with another three-hit outburst and another homer. Although several players have done it twice in a season, Voit is the first Yankee ever to have a pair of 3-hit, 2-run, 2-RBI games in the same series in Baltimore (either stadium).
Dueling Banjos
Without further information (such as, say, a boxscore) it's hard to tell whether a low-scoring game is really a pitcher's duel or just two inept offenses trying to play a day game on five hours' sleep and connecting for eight meaningless singles before someone accidentally hits a walkoff double and let's just go home. There are plenty of these latter kind of games; we affectionately call them "turnips", after the old line that you can't get blood (in our case Kernels) out of one.
Thursday's matchup of NL East aces Max Scherzer and Aaron Nola was the gem that is becoming rarer-- an actual pitcher's duel in which they combined for 15 innings, seven hits, 19 strikeouts, and the game was decided by one stray "accidental" homer, off the bat of Odubel Herrera. The Phillies only had three hits the entire game, but that was the one that mattered and they won 2-0. It's actually the third game so far this season that the Phillies won with only three hits, the most in the majors at the moment, and the team's most since 2009. Nola, with eight scoreless innings and nine of those strikeouts, was the first Phillies hurler to post that line in a road game since Cole Hamels no-hit the Cubs on July 25, 2015. And Herrera was the first Phillie to hit a two-run homer for a 2-0 victory since Bobby Abreu did it against the Dodgers on July 29, 2003.
And good old Max Scherzer, sometimes it just takes one mistake pitch. (This is profferred as a reason why no-hitters are so special, because every pitcher throws a mistake or three somewhere in a game.) He became the first Nationals pitcher to strike out 10, allow two hits, and lose since... yep, Max Scherzer did it in Miami on June 21 of last season. Only one other pitcher in team history has done it twice; that was Floyd Youmans, whose games both came in 1986 for the Expos.
The Nationals, however, didn't really have the "Aaron Nola" excuse when they headed to Citi Field for the weekend. They instead met up with Jason Vargas, whose 3-8 record and 7.67 ERA don't exactly lend themselves to "ace" status no matter how little you believe in pitcher wins. And naturally Vargas threw six scoreless innings, held the Nationals to just three baserunners (all singles, no walks), and struck out eight batters. Only one other pitcher in Mets history had posted that line against the current Washington franchise, regardless of the number of innings; Sid Fernandez threw eight scoreless innings with one hit (a Mitch Webster double in the 5th), two walks, and 10 strikeouts at Stade Olympíque on June 12, 1988. (And the Mets eventually lost on a walkoff, because Mets.) Gio Gonzalez took the loss on Friday despite allowing just 1 run in seven innings; he now has the Washington "record" with four games doing that; Tanner Roark and Jordan Zimmermann each have three.
Speaking of Roark, it was his turn on the bump on Saturday, and he also allowed just one run, although he only pitched six frames instead of seven. Which in this case is good, because if he had thrown seven, he would have re-tied Gio Gonzalez by losing again. The sputtering Nationals offense managed only seven hits, all singles, against Zack Wheeler, to the point where the first two batters of the game came out bunting. That still didn't work; Washington lost 3-0 and thus recorded the first streak in Nationals history of getting shut out in three consecutive games. Their last time doing it in Montréal was April 13 to 15, 2004, in their final season; and the last time a Washington team did it was April 12 and 13, 1969, when the Senators (now Texas) did it in Baltimore (the 13th was a doubleheader).
(We know about Sunday, Nationals fans. You waited for three days to see them score a run, you can hang on a couple more paragraphs. Here's some obviously-fits-the-title music while you wait. Intermission!
Giant Sucking Sound
After getting blown out by Cincinnati on Sunday, the Giants continued their eastward trek by returning to their New York roots for a four-game series with the Mets. Amed Rosario, as he is prone to doing when he doesn't homer, led off the game with a single, and Wilmer Flores doubled him home for a 1-0 Mets lead in the 1st. Then nothing. Derek Holland somehow needed 102 pitches to finish five innings while Zack Wheeler struck out 10 batters before Alen Hanson's fly ball in the 7th was strangely misplayed by Rosario into a double. Now we have a 1-1 tie, and usually you just have a feel for these. If it's 9-9 and both teams are scoring at will, extra innings aren't as bothersome because it'll probably only take one, maybe two. If we are in "inept offense" mode, well, we might sit here all night. Both teams put a runner in scoring position in the 11th. Nope. The Mets work two walks in the 12th. Nope. In classic Mets fashion, it takes two errors and a wild pitch to finally give the Giants the lead in the 13th, which Derek Law then holds in the bottom half for the win. (Also, Jason Vargas-- a pitcher pinch-hitting for another pitcher-- made the final out of the game, because Mets.) San Francisco has now won four games this season of 13 innings or longer, the team's most since the 1966 campaign.
Errors are a little bit tricky because they can get attached to pretty much any other play, but the one that scored the winning run was a straight-up "reached on error" for the batter, in this case a fly ball to left that Dominic Smith just booted. Not a throwing error where another runner was safe, or a bobble on a base hit to advance the batter another base. Catch the ball and the inning's over. By inning, it was the latest one of those committed by the Mets since 3B Howard Johnson airmailed a ground ball by Cubs great Ryne Sandberg on April 17, 1990. Joe Girardi scored on that play, which should have been the third out and forced the game to another inning. On the Giants' side, it was the first time they'd received such benevolence since Bob Burda reached on an error by Padres first baseman Nate Colbert on May 11, 1970.
Fast-forward to Friday. The Giants have left New York, trudged across the plains, fjorded the Mississippi, conquered the arduous Rocky Mountains, made it through the Donner Pass (none of this is true, they took a cushy airplane), and are back in San Francisco for an interleague series with Texas. And what goes around comes around, at least in the area of game-changing errors in the late innings. With the Giants holding a 6-4 lead, Shin-Soo Choo comes to bat with two outs in the top of the 9th. He rolls a 3-2 pitch to 2B Joe Panik which looks like it's going to end the game and... doink. Hey, it happens. Not the best time for it to happen, but you still only need one out for the win. So of course what does Rougned Odor do with the very next pitch. Giants go 1-2-3 in the bottom half and off to extras we go again.
This one didn't take quite as long; the Rangers got two quick singles, including one on a pop-up that dropped in the famous 2B/1B/RF "triangle" just behind Panik, but the Giants also got two quick outs. And then Sam Dyson can't find the strike zone. Four straight balls to Ronald Guzman to load the bases. Four more straight balls to Robinson Chirinos and the Rangers end up winning the game 7-6. That was only the third go-ahead walk ever drawn by the Rangers in extra innings of a road game; the others were by Oddibe McDowell in Toronto on May 17, 1988, and Mickey Rivers in Baltimore on July 19, 1980. And as already discussed, errors can be kind of tricky to parse, but for the Giants, it was the first time they had a lead with two outs and bases empty in the 9th, allowed an opposing batter to reach on an error to keep the game going, and eventually lost it, since May 22, 1969, against the Cardinals. Curt Flood reached on an error by 2B Ron Hunt, Tim McCarver tied the game two batters later, and the Cardinals later erupted for a six-run 11th.
Take A Jans-en Me
Like many modern closers, who frequently have incentive bonuses based on how many saves they collect, Kenley Jansen usually only gets summoned when the Dodgers are already leading. But on Monday he found his way into a 3-3 tie with the Cardinals and proceeded to, well, not get a save. Jedd Gyorko took his third pitch into the center-field seats for a go-ahead homer, making it 4-3 and putting Jansen on the hook for the loss. Two pitches later, Matt Carpenter added another nail with a homer of his own. The Dodgers couldn't get either of those runs back in the bottom of the 9th and lost 5-3. But it was only the second game in Jansen's career where he gave up multiple homers; the other was May 18, 2013, in Atlanta, when Evan Gattis and Andrelton Simmons went back-to-back to flip the lead. Gyorko and Carpenter are the first Cardinals teammates ever to hit homers in the 9th or later of the same game at Dodger Stadium-- forget the whole back-to-back part.
So that just makes Wednesday's game even more interesting. Because Jack Flaherty and Walker Buehler are locked in one of those "pitcher's duels"-- four hits, one run, and 19 strikeouts between them, but eventually they both succumb to being over 100 pitches. Flaherty's lone hit, slash, mistake, was Joc Pederson's homer with 1 out in the 6th. That leaves us 1-1 going to the 9th, and here's Kenley Jansen again. All righty then. Gyorko managed only a single this time, but now it's Paul DeJong's turn. Wham, two-run homer to give St Louis a 3-1 lead which Jordan Hicks was able to protect in the bottom of the 9th.
DeJong's shot was only the third multi-run, go-ahead homer allowed by Jansen in his career; the others were a walkoff by Melvin Upton of the Padres on May 20, 2016; and a two-run shot by Atlanta's Evan Gattis on May 18, 2013. Combined with Monday's first dinger (the one by Gyorko), it's only the second time the Cardinals have ever hit multiple go-ahead homers in the 9th inning or later in the same series at Dodger Stadium, and you've probably heard of the other two players to do it. Joe Torre took Don Sutton deep, and then Lou Brock homered off Jim Brewer, in back-to-back games on August 28 and 29, 1970.
Jack Flaherty, meanwhile, gave up just that one hit (Joc Pederson's homer) while fanning 10 Dodgers. He's the first Cardinals pitcher to do that since... oh. Jack Flaherty, June 22 in Milwaukee. Well, then okay, he's the first Cardinals pitcher to do it twice in a season. The only others to do it twice at all are Chris Carpenter and Bob Gibson, and their two games were in different seasons. The rub, of course, is that Flaherty didn't get the win in either game. And no Cardinals pitcher in the live-ball era has had that misfortune twice. The only one to even do it once is Alan Benes in Atlanta on May 16, 1997.
Jansen would be called into a game again on Saturday with the Dodgers holding a 4-3 lead over the Padres through eight innings. Now in the more-traditional save situation, Jansen struck out Franmil Reyes, but then gave up another game-tying homer, this time to Austin Hedges. It was Jansen's fourth blown save of the year, and the Dodgers did eventually walk off on the 12th when Justin Turner hit the team's first-ever extra-inning walkoff double against San Diego. But that makes three tying or go-ahead homers allowed by Jansen this week; since the team moved to Los Angeles in 1958, only one other Dodgers pitcher has surrendered three such longballs in a week. That was Jim Brewer who got tagged with two losses and two blown saves between August 29 and September 3, 1973.
Hey Wait For Us
We always like to joke around that whatever direction this post goes on Sunday nights, one or two teams read it on Monday or Tuesday and decide to jump on the bandwagon by repeating whatever last week's theme was. So of course just as this one is nearing completion on Sunday afternoon, the Nationals have to have another one of those games that we have to talk about, but which totally doesn't fit the theme.
Well, sort of. It actually did fit the theme for seven whole innings, with Jefry Rodriguez shutting out the Mets on two hits, and Steven Matz allowing just one run after a Trea Turner leadoff double in the 6th. That sets up Matz beautifully for the "Jacob deGrom Special"-- seven-ish innings, one run allowed, no run support from his offense, and (at best) a no-decision. (A few years ago this was the Cliff Lee Special, but the torch has passed.) And then, um, Nationals?
Paul Sewald is summoned for the 8th and he apparently doesn't have anywhere else to be. Except maybe the shower. Single, walk, single, strikeout (he did get one), bases-loaded walk, Bryce Harper bases-clearing double, pitching change, Wilmer Difo two-run homer. That took our 1-0 to 7-0 with five of those charged to Sewald. Turns out Sewald had a game last June against the Pirates where he also gave up five runs while getting one out. That was in a save situation, which at least Sunday's game wasn't, but still he's just the third reliever in Mets history to pull that off twice. The others were Roger McDowell in the late 1980s, and Larry Bearnarth in 1964 and 1965.
Done, however, the Nationals are not. That pitching change turned things over to rookie Tyler Bashlor, and well, yeah. Mark Reynolds gets hit by a pitch and Adam Eaton launches another two-run homer before Bashlor gets out of the inning. It's 9-0 when Corey Oswalt appears for the 9th, and Jose Reyes could have pitched this one. Four singles, another bases-loaded walk, and this inning, instead of Mark Reynolds getting hit by a pitch, a pitch gets hit by Mark Reynolds. Into the batter's eye for a grand slam. Not surprisingly, it's the first grand slam in franchise history to be hit in the 9th or later with the team already ahead by double digits. And the only other slam they'd hit in Flushing as late as even the 5th inning was Tim Raines off Jesse Orosco on May 2, 1987 (top 10). But Oswalt finally leaves having allowed six more runs, and when the Mets waste an Austin Jackson single in the bottom half, you are left with the biggest shutout victory in Washington baseball history-- 15-0. More on that in a second.
The Mets have juggled Oswalt between the rotation and the bullpen, and his first start back in June also involved giving up six earned runs (to the Marlins). Only three other Mets pitchers have done that in both a start and a relief appearance in the same season; they are Jeremy Griffiths in 2003, Mark Bomback in 1980, and Tug McGraw in 1973. Matz, as promised, became the 11th Mets pitcher this season to throw 7+ innings of one-run ball and not get a win; that's the most in the majors (Tigers 10). However, the last Mets pitcher with that line to actually take the loss (not a no-decision) in a home game was Bartolo Colón on July 23, 2015-- a contest (we were there!) where Clayton Kershaw perfect-gamed them for six innings and John Mayberry (.170/.235/.330!) batted cleanup. (To their credit, the next day they traded for Yoenis Cespedes.)
But back to that score. It is tied for second in the annals of both Mets shutout losses and Nats/Expos shutout wins. The Expos beat Atlanta 19-0 on July 30, 1978, and posted two other 15's while based in Canada (so it's really more like 11.9 U.S. runs), but haven't done it since the move in 2005. Meanwhile, the Mets also have the Braves to thank for their largest shutout loss, a 16-0 on July 2, 1999.
The Rangers' (as Second Senators) largest shutout was a 13-0 against the Angels in 1965. The original AL Senators (now the Twins) beat the White Sox 14-0 on September 3, 1942, and the Boston Americans (after their league, they're now the Red Sox) by the same count on September 11, 1905. The old National League Senators never did it in the 1890s when scores like 22-16 abounded and any shutout was uncommon. The only other 14-0 in D.C. baseball history was by the original Senators of the Union Association, against the Wilmington (Del.) Quicksteps (this is a real thing), on August 22, 1884. Until Sunday no Washington-based team had ever posted a 15-0 shutout or higher. And also remember this month of score madness began with a 25-4 win by the Nationals on July 31... over the Mets. The last team to beat the same opponent by 15 runs twice in the same season was the 2005 Red Sox, who had a pair of 17-1 decisions over the Yankees. The last team to win one of the two games by at least 20 was the 1953 edition of those Boston Americans, who had back-to-back wins over the Tigers by scores of 17-1 and 23-3.
So after a week of 3-1's and 1-0's and 2-1's, does ending the week with a 15-0 means that we're in for a return to those hot bats of early August? At least we've got an early start on next week's post if it does.
Bottom Of The Bag
⚾ Matt Carpenter, Sunday: Second Cardinals batter in live-ball era with four doubles in a game. Other is Joe "Ducky" Medwick during his triple-crown year, August 4, 1937, against the Braves.
⚾ Orioles, Wednesday: First time shut out on two or fewer hits in Toronto since September 30, 1988-- that's the second of Dave Stieb's famous back-to-back "lost no-hitter with two outs in the 9th" games.
⚾ Framber Valdez, Tuesday: First pitcher to hit three batters in his major-league debut and still get the win since the Phillies' John Jackson on June 20, 1933.
⚾ Ramon Laureano, Monday: Third-youngest batter in A's history with 2 HR and 5 RBI in a home game. Ahead of him are Jimmie Foxx (1930) and Roger Maris (1958).
⚾ Robinson Cano, Monday: Second-oldest Mariners batter with a homer, two doubles, and 3 RBIs in a game. Edgar Martinez (age 39-228) did it against the Yankees on August 18, 2002.
⚾ Cody Allen, Friday: Second pitcher in Indians history to face multiple batters and give up homers to all of them (Royals back-to-back to walk off). Sid Monge did it against Oakland on June 3, 1980.
⚾ Kendrys Morales, Sunday: Recorded first seven-game homer streak in Blue Jays history. First in majors since Kevin Mench of the Rangers in April 2006.
⚾ Cole Hamels, Thursday: First complete game for Cubs this season; they have never had a season without one. Also theri first CG-8 or higher (8+ hits allowed) since Greg Maddux against Pittsburgh, September 27, 2005.
⚾ Justin Turner, Sat-Sun: Third player in Los Angeles Dodgers history (1958) with an extra-inning walkoff in one game and 5+ RBI in the next. Others are Andre Ethier in April 2010 and Steve Garvey in July 1975.
⚾ Ryan Zimmerman, Wednesday: Third walkoff homer of his career against the Phillies. Only other players all-time to hit three against them are Ralph Kiner and Stan Musial.
⚾ Adam Frazier, Saturday: First Pirates batter with two runs scored and three driven in, in a game he didn't start, since Dave Clark against the Cubs on July 2, 1996.
⚾ Javier Baez & Anthony Rizzo, Wednesday: Second time Cubs have ever hit back-to-back homers against Detroit (whom they don't play very often). Other set was by Mickey Morandini and Sammy Sosa in their first-ever regular-season meeting, June 24, 1998.
⚾ Michael Perez, Friday: Second number-9 batter in Rays history to have 4 RBI without scoring a run himself. Miguel Cairo did it at the Metrodome on April 6, 2000.
⚾ Mike Fiers & Brett Anderson, Mon-Tue: First time in live-ball era that A's have had pitchers throw 7+ innings and allow no more than one hit in back-to-back games.
⚾ Yankees, Saturday: First sweep of a road doubleheader since May 3, 2007, at Texas. First in Baltimore since July 13, 1996.
⚾ Miles Mikolas, Friday: Became first Cardinals pitcher to hit two home runs on the road in the same season (also Apr 2 at MIL) since Bob Forsch in 1978.
Did You Know?
The Wilmington Quicksteps were actually a minor-league team, in a very early incarnation of today's triple-A International League. They had already won that league's pennant when the Union Association team up in Philadelphia folded due to lack of attendance. Wilmington was recruited as a late-season replacement for the 31 games remaining on the Keystones' schedule.
Wilmington played only 18 of those 31 games-- though they included that 14-0 loss to Washington-- before discovering that they too couldn't draw any fans for these exhibitions against fledgling major-league teams. They also folded and another minor-league team, the Milwaukee Brewers, played those last 13 games before the entire Union Association disbanded the following winter.
Sunday, August 19, 2018
New York State Of Mind
You knew before you even clicked that this post would be packed with Mets antics. In an unusual twist, most of their antics this week were actually good. For them. If you were the Phillies or that other New York team, maybe not so much.
Meet The Mets
The week began with a makeup of the Mets/Yankees Sunday night game that got rained out on July 22, a schedule move which reduced the Mets to just two off-days the entire month of August and the Yankees to only one (which happens to be tomorrow). At least one of the teams took that anger out on some baseballs, with the Mets crushing five homers and Jacob deGrom blowing away 12 Yankees via strikeout in an 8-5 victory for a split of the six-game season series.
In Mets history, only Dillon Gee (really-- May 30, 2013) had struck out a dozen Yankees, and the offense had never gone deep five times against their Bronx, uh, friends. Amed Rosario started that pattern early, hitting the Mets' second leadoff homer this season against the Yankees. Brandon Nimmo did it at Citi Field on June 8, the first time they've ever done it home and road in the same season. (Nimmo's just getting started for the week as well.) After Luis Severino gave up another dinger in the 4th, well, eventually the ball gets turned over to A.J. Cole. And three of those balls got turned into the other three Mets homers, including back-to-backers by Nimmo and Michael Conforto to knock Cole off the mound. No Yankees reliever had given up three dingers since Ross Ohlendorf did it at Camden Yards on May 27, 2008; and only two others in team history had done it while getting four outs or fewer. That list is rounded out by Darren Holmes on May 20, 1998 (also against the Orioles), and Tom Ferrick at Tiger Stadium on May 7, 1951.
Tuesday's opener in Baltimore was an uneventful 6-3 loss, although in the strange world of interleague play, Nimmo did become just the second Mets batter ever to record a triple at Camden Yards. Timo Perez did it in a 10-3 win on June 12, 2001.
But you know what's coming next. On Wednesday the Mets destroyed Dylan Bundy for 11 hits, including a nine-run 6th inning, en route to the wacky final score of 16-5. It actually isn't too wacky (wait for it!); the Mets won another 16-5 game just last season, May 3 at Atlanta in their first series at SunTrust Park. And while several teams have won multiple 16-5 exact scores in the same year, the Mets are the first team to do it in consecutive years since the Yankees of 1931-32. As for that nine-run 6th, the Mets also had a nine-run frame against Washington on April 18 in an 11-5 win, just the second time they've ever had two in a season (also in the pennant-winning year of 2000).
We told you Brandon Nimmo was just getting started; he had three of those 11 hits off Bundy, tripled in two runs (closing Bundy's pitching line) as the first batter to face Tanner Scott, and beat out an infield single in the 9th when the game was way out of hand anyway. But count 'em, that's five hits to go with three runs scored and three driven in. Only one other Mets hitter has done that out of the leadoff spot, Phil Linz against the Phillies on July 6, 1968. But two doubles plus that triple also gave Nimmo three extra-base hits out of his five. The last Mets hitter with that line (3 XBH, 3 runs, 3 RBI)? Why, that's Brandon Nimmo, a week ago against the Reds. He joins Ike Davis (2012), Todd Hundley (1997), and Darryl Strawberry (both 1985 and 1987) as the only Mets with two such games in a season, and none of theirs came a week apart.
There was a time when talk of Mets leadoff batters hitting triples would immediately bring to mind Jose Reyes. Well guess who's back. Back again. In his second stint in Flushing, the 35-year-old Reyes isn't as fleet as he used to be, and has been slotted in the bottom third of the order a lot. (When he's not pitching, that is.) But he still managed a triple, a double, and two runs scored in this festival on Wednesday, just the third number-9 hitter in team history to do so. Amed Rosario pulled it off on May 30 in Atlanta. Before this year the only one had been Kurt Abbott, against the Orioles again (June 7, 2000). And together Nimmo and Reyes are just the second pair of Mets ever to triple, double, and score at least two runs in the same game. Two Jeffs (that's Kent and McKnight) did it against the Reds on August 28, 1992.
Shortly after Nimmo's triple, Kevin Plawecki blew the game open with a grand slam to cap the 6th, the first slam the Mets had ever hit in Baltimore. Todd Frazier has by now also collected three hits, four RBIs, two runs scored, and even a stolen base. It's been three years (August 21, 2015) since Yoenis Cespedes was the last Mets batter to do all that, but Frazier's just the second to do it against the Orioles. Bernard Gilkey piled up that line on August 30, 1997, in one of the two other games where the Mets had 19 hits against an AL opponent. The more recent of those was June 29, 2011, against the Tigers.
16th Floor, Going Up
Doubleheaders are rough on the players, but don't forget about all the workers at the stadium-- concessions, security, reporters, maintenance-- who have to spend an extended day at the ballpark without a cushy clubhouse to chill out in. (Heck, even the umpires have a five-man crew such that the two plate umps get the other game off.) So after 16 runs and 3½ hours of baseball on Wednesday, we certainly hope they got time-and-a-half for Thursday. Because they (and we) got score-and-a-half. Even after Amed Rosario started things with another leadoff homer, things still looked pretty normal through four innings, a 5-4 Mets lead despite Corey Oswalt giving up four solo homers. Annnnnd here comes that giant pothole, water main break, dangling construction crane accident, whatever "urban sprawl" metaphor you want, to take things to yet another level.
Single. Double. Ranger Suarez balks in a run (it's always the balk, dangit). Jose Bautista singles. Ranger Suarez departs. Flyout. Walk. Jorge Alfaro tries to get Bautista at third and throws the ball away. Fielder's choice (which should have ended the inning, making the rest of this mess unearned). Stolen base. E7. Single. Double. Walk. Nothing to see here, just a grand slam by Bautista who has come all the way around to bat again. Finally Oswalt makes the final out with a weak ground ball as the 15th batter of a 10-run, 29-minute top of the 5th. Since we already established yesterday that the Mets only had one previous season with a pair of nine-run innings, it's easy to figure out they've never had one in back-to-back games. In fact the last team who did was the 2006 Tigers, who did it in Kansas City on September 23 and 24 that year.
Not surprisingly, and especially with a second game still to play, we've reached "position player pitching" mode again. Against outfielder Roman Quinn, Michael Conforto homered to lead off the 7th and get the Mets their 16th run, their first time ever reaching that level in back-to-back games. Their fellow New Yorkers were the last of any team to do it, July 21 and 22 of 2007 against the Rays. And Quinn is clearly taking one for the team, at least until giving up back-to-back bases-loaded walks and a double to make it 21-4 in the 8th. Now we swap him for shortstop Scott Kingery, marking just the second time in the last 70 years that two Phillies position players have pitched in the same game. Outfielder Casper Wells gave up five runs in an 18-inning marathon against the Diamondbacks on August 24, 2013, and infielder John McDonald had to get the final out to seal the loss. You of course know that the final carnage is 24-4, the fifth time (in over 215,000 games) that exact score has ever appeared. The Red Sox were on the winning end of the previous one, which was a bizarre peach-ish color (they're by decade) on our famous matrix-- because it was on September 27, 1940. That win was over the Senators; the other games were Yankees over Red Sox on September 28, 1923; the Boston Braves over Louisville (Colonels!) on September 20, 1898; and Brooklyn over the original NL Washington Senators on May 24, 1892.
Speaking of Washington, Friend Of Kernels @MichaelT162 pointed out that barely two weeks ago, the Mets were on the incorrect end of a score very close to this one-- a game the Nationals won 25-4. Mike wondered how often a team has won a game by 20 runs and lost one by 20 runs in the same season. And well, it has happened. But we went the entire 20th century without doing it. Thursday's opponent, the Phillies, are two of the three teams to do it-- in 1887 (still known as the Quakers then) and again in 1894. The other is the NL's Buffalo Bisons-- to whom today's triple-A team is an homage-- who beat those same Quakers 25-5 and then lost to Chicago in what remains the only 31-7 score in MLB history.
In Thursday's masterpiece, Amed Rosario didn't stop with that 1st-inning homer. He went on to become just the second leadoff batter in Mets history to collect four hits, three runs scored, three RBIs, and a home run. The other was Len Dykstra, who did it 31 years earlier to the day (August 16, 1987) at Wrigley Field. While Kevin Plawecki didn't have the homer, he and Rosario became the second pair of Mets teammates with the rest of that line-- and the other was in that same game. Dykstra and Darryl Strawberry led the way in a 23-10 win that day, another score which remains in our matrix (it's orange because 1980s) as not having been duplicated since. Combined with Nimmo's game on Wednesday, it's the first time the Mets have gotten a 4-hit, 3-run, 3-RBI performance in consecutive games since Todd Hundley and John Olerud did it at Coors on May 5 and 6, 1997.
We mentioned Jose Bautista hitting a grand slam, but we didn't mention, A, that he was one of the bases-loaded walks and drove in the 24th and final run in the 9th for a total of seven; and B, that he didn't start the game. Nimmo left in the 3rd inning after being hit in the hand with a pitch and Bautista replaced him. But that also cements his place in history; since RBI became official in 1920, only two other players have had seven of them in a game they didn't start. Then-Blue Jay John Mayberry did it against Baltimore on June 26, 1978; and Roy Sievers of the White Sox was the first, on June 21, 1961, versus Cleveland.
Oh by the way, there's still a second game to be played. (You might have forgotten that the infamous 30-3 game in Baltimore back in 2007 was also a Game 1; that's the last time a team hit 20 and then still had another game to play.) The Mets dropped that one 9-6 thanks to some early home-run outbursts from Scott Kingery and Rhys Hoskins, the latter becoming the first Phillies hitter to go yard in both games of a DH since... oh. Rhys Hoskins did it against the Padres on July 22. But the last Phillie to do that twice in the same season was none other than Mike Schmidt in 1983 (both times against Montreal).
Rosario would go on to score three runs in the second game as well, the first Met ever to do so in both games of a twinbill. And Conforto piled up three more hits, a first in a Mets doubleheader since Shawn Green against Atlanta on September 6, 2006 (one was a three-homer affair). But in case we didn't have enough yet, possibly the best note we stumbled upon was that in the 24-4 opener, six different Mets had at least three hits, with Frazier, pitcher Oswalt, and the departed Nimmo being the exceptions. Only once before in Mets history has that happened, and it's one of our favorite links-- "The Rick Camp Game" in Atlanta, July 4, 1985.
Meanwhile In The Bronx
After that makeup game on Monday, the Yankees turned their attention to the Tampa Bay Rays, winning Tuesday's opener 4-1 behind seven scoreless innings from newly-acquired J.A. Happ. The one hit Happ allowed was a blooper by C.J. Cron in the 4th, and would have made his pitching line quite impressive but for the four walks and hit batter. That said, he did become the first Yankee pitcher in (at least) the live-ball era to throw seven scoreless innings, allow only one hit, but also walk four and hit someone. If you want walks, there's nothing like a good A.J. Burnett start; he came close in 2011 but his one hit was a home run so it didn't satisfy the "scoreless" criterion. In the ongoing "opener" experiment that is the Rays pitching staff, Jalen Beeks became just the second "reliever" in team history to allow two hits and strike out eight; Jorge Sosa pitched 5⅓ innings of an extra-inning loss at Cleveland on August 17, 2003.
On Wednesday, Luis Cessa, temporarily recalled from Scranton to take CC Sabathia's start while the latter is on the 10-day DL, allowed nine baserunners and five runs in a 6-1 defeat. He was the first Yankee starter not named Sonny Gray to do that in under four innings this season, while on the other side, Ryan Yarbrough threw four scoreless frames while allowing just three runners (two hits and an HBP). He's only the second Rays pitcher (starter or reliever, since that line is somewhat-permanently blurred now) to do that at Yankee Stadium; Chris Archer threw a complete-game two-hit shutout on July 27, 2013. And Mallex Smith joined Logan Forsythe (April 24, 2016) and Ben Zobrist (July 7, 2011) as the only Rays leadoff batters to have three hits including a homer at the current Stadium.
In Thursday's matinee finale, the Yanks again managed just one run, this time on an 8th-inning Giancarlo Stanton double that was reviewed and ruled to have actually hit the yellow line below the foul pole instead of the pole itself. In a nod to the explosive nature of the Yankees offense, it was the first time they'd been held to one run in back-to-back home games since June 11 and 12, 2016, against Detroit. That isn't all that long ago, but the only team to go longer without such a dry spell at home-- and this isn't a shock considering the altitude-- is the Rockies.
The Yankees did have a shot in the 9th, loading the bases against Sergio Romo on two singles and a four-pitch walk (appropriately, to Neil Walker) with nobody out. Rookie Adam Kolarek got Greg Bird to foul out on his first pitch, then struck out Brett Gardner and Austin Romine to save the victory. It was actually the second time this season that the Yankees, while trailing, had loaded the bases with 0 out in the 9th and failed to score. The other time was April 8 against Baltimore when Aaron Judge grounded into the old 1-2-3 double play and then Stanton struck out to end it. In the population of available play-by-play on Baseball Reference (which is complete for the Yankees to the early 1950s and has the majority of games back to the mid-1920s), they've never had that happen twice in the same season.
New York State Of Time
Sixty years ago there were a lot of New Yorkers who were bitter about losing two of their three baseball teams over the winter. (Actually you can find some who still are.) Those two former New York teams squared off again this week, this time in Los Angeles, and then kept giving us some fun notes even after they parted ways.
Monday's much-hyped matchup between Madison Bumgarner and Clayton Kershaw ended like so many much-hyped pitching matchups do-- in a war of attrition where they are equally good and the game hinges on who can get into the bullpen first. That seemed like it would be the Dodgers initially; MadBum left after six innings, but the Giants' staff spun three innings of one-hit ball to keep the game at 2-1 and give their offense a chance. Which it finally got in the 9th after Kershaw had thrown 110 pitches and gave way to Scott Alexander. Who promptly gave up as many hits in getting two outs as Kershaw did while getting 24. The third of those, a two-out, bases-loaded single by Nick Hundley, gave the Giants the lead for good, taking some of the sting off the two stolen bases, error, and two more runs that came after. But Kershaw ended up not getting the win despite throwing eight innings, allowing just four baserunners (he didn't walk anyone), and striking out nine. The last Dodger to pull that off? Of course it's Clayton Kershaw, May 23 of last season against the Cardinals. And until Monday, no Dodgers pitcher in the live-ball era had done it twice.
As for Hundley, that two-run single, turning the 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead, came as a pinch hitter, something he also did on April 30 against the Padres. He's the first player in San Francisco history to have two such pinch hits (turned deficit into lead in 9th or later), of any denomination, in the same season. The last Giants batter to pull that off was Hank Sauer, in what would become that fateful last season in Manhattan in 1957.
Tuesday's game will mostly be remembered for a bench-emptying scuffle between Hundley and Yasiel Puig, but the Giants came away with another victory, this one 2-1 with Alen Hanson driving in both runs-- separately, and without homering. Austin Slater on June 29 (at Arizona) had the same line, driving in both Giants runs in either a 2-0 or 2-1 win without homering. So did Andrew McCutchen against the Phillies on June 2. Three Giants players hadn't done that in the same season since Roger Metzger, Vic Harris, and Willie McCovey did it in 1978. On the Dodgers side of the boxscore, it was impossible to ignore Justin Turner's three doubles, partly because Los Angeles only had five total hits. Turns out Turner also had a three-double game against the Rockies on April 19, 2015, and is the first player-- for any team-- to have multiple three-double games at Dodger Stadium in its 57-season history. And to find the last Dodger with three doubles in a home-field loss, well, you have to go back to New York again. Lonny Frey did it against the Pirates at Ebbets Field on July 25, 1936.
And the old rivals couldn't get enough of each other on Wednesday, deciding to hang out for over 4 hours and play three extra innings before newly-acquired Former New Britain Rock Cat Brian Dozier ends things with a walkoff sac fly in the 12th. Sacrifice flies were only officially split off from sacrifice bunts in 1954, which only covers a few years of their New York rivalry, but since then only two other Dodgers have ended a game against the Giants by hitting one. Paul Popovich did so on August 25, 1968, and Ron Fairly hit the first one on October 2, 1962-- a "fairly" important one at that. That '62 affair was the middle game of the three-game tiebreaker series to decide that year's National League pennant; Fairly's effort forced Game 3 (although the Dodgers still lost), and that series remains the last best-of-three tiebreaker that MLB has played to settle a postseason berth.
Intermission
We were thinking of the Billy Joel classic when we titled this post, but searching for that link reminded us that there was also a composition of the same title by rapper Nas about 20 years ago. So click whichever you'd like. We suggest the first one if you're at work. Or around children. Or hanging out with your grandparents. You get the idea.
Walk Against The Light
Perhaps the Dodgers and Giants should have kept on playing each other. Because at least that way they can't both get walked off. Which is precisely what happened over the weekend, in the Giants' case on Friday in Cincinnati, and for the Dodgers, on Saturday in Seattle in one of our favorite bizarre ways.
Sometimes 2-1 games are actual pitcher's duels, and usually they're, well, not. The Giants and Reds went through the motions of smacking 18 base hits, 15 of them singles, but then getting caught stealing or grounding into double plays, such that there was only one half-inning longer than four batters after the 3rd. Knotted at 1-1 after the Giants couldn't get Gorkys Hernandez home from third in the 10th, Philip Ervin finally began the bottom of the 11th with the Reds' fourth walkoff homer of the year, tied with the Cardinals for most in the majors, and Cincinnati's most since Aaron Boone, Ken Griffey, and Sean Casey combined for four in 2002. It was the Reds' first walkoff anything against the Giants since Shin-Soo Choo singled home Todd Frazier in the 11th inning on July 3, 2013, and their first homer since Drew Stubbs hit one on August 20, 2009. But recall that the Giants also got walked off by the Dodgers on that sacrifice fly on Wednesday. They hadn't lost back-to-back games via extra-inning walkoff since... oh. Oakland did it to them last month in the Bay Bridge Series. So in that case, it's the first time it's happened to the Giants twice in the same season since 1987. They would go on to lose Saturday's game by a 7-1 count, and including their final game at GABP from last season, it's the first time San Francisco's been held to 1 run in three straight games in the Queen City since 1962.
And the Dodgers entered Saturday's game with a 20-0 record, the best in the majors (Arizona is 17-0), in games where they homered at least three times. If you only saw the first seven innings, you're wondering what we're talking about, because they didn't homer at all, and were trailing 4-1 in Seattle when Justin Turner led off the 8th. Home run. Two batters later, Cody Bellinger home run. One out in the 9th, Max Muncy home run. Hey look at that, we're tied. Just nine days earlier in Colorado, the Dodgers also had a game where they hit three homers in the 8th or later; they hadn't done it twice in a season since 2006, and one of those is the famous back-to-back-to-back-to-back-in-the-9th game. But all that went by the wayside when Robinson Cano beat out an infield single in the 10th to move Cameron Maybin to second. On comes Dodgers pitcher Dylan Floro. He walks Nelson Cruz on five pitches. As he's getting ready to throw Kyle Seager, he flinches ever so slightly. And boom, we have the first balk-off in the majors in over two years (Padres over Giants, July 16, 2016). The only other one in Mariners history was April 19, 2004, when Oakland's Justin Duchscherer committed the infraction to score Quinton McCracken.
But if you thought there was nothing Vin Scully hadn't called, the last time the Dodgers committed a balk-off, incredibly, was April 22, 1939. Russell "Red" Evans (we presume that's a hair reference) balked in the 9th at Shibe Park in Philadelphia to score Merrill "Pinky" May, so nicknamed because of the color he turned when he got angry.
Enye State Of Mind
That little dustup between Nick Hundley and Yasiel Puig didn't even last 24 hours as the most interesting incident of the week. Instead that would come on Wednesday, when Marlins starter Jose Ureña plunked Atlanta leadoff batter (and child prodigy) Ronald Acuña on the back of the elbow with his very first pitch. This certainly would have been less of A Thing had Acuña not homered in five straight games to tie the Braves' all-time record; the last to do it before him was Brian McCann in July 2006. And sometimes teams hide behind pitchers who are known for throwing inside (Ureña has hit 10 batters this year), but Chad Fairchild's umpiring crew wasn't buying it. After a 15-minute delay that even saw Atlanta manager Brian Snitker get ejected for going after Marlins players, Ureña got tossed having thrown only one pitch, believed to be the first pitcher ever to pull that off. There is a memorable incident from 2009-- and the last time a pitcher got ejected after one batter-- where John Lackey actually missed when trying to hit Ian Kinsler with the first pitch, throwing it behind him, but then succeeded on the second. And Ureña left as the second pitcher in Marlins history to face exactly one batter; Sergio Mitre developed a blister after only seven pitches against the Astros on April 17, 2007.
But at the risk of burying the lead, five straight homers. And more notably as it pertains to this week, three straight leadoff homers. The Braves and Marlins made up a rainout on Monday by playing a doubleheader, and often when a player tears it up in the first game, he'll get the second game off, either pre-scheduled or as some kind of reward. But apparently 20-year-olds have plenty of energy (who knew?), so not only did Acuña come out swinging and begin the week with a home run in the day game, he did it again around 7:45, becoming the first player in Braves history to lead off both games of a doubleheader with round-trippers. The last for any team to do it was Brady Anderson of the Orioles on August 21, 1999. And no Braves leadoff batter had homered at all in both games of a twinbill (any inning, not necessarily a leadoff homer) since Felipe Alou did it in St Louis on July 23, 1967.
Acuña would finish the day with five hits, five runs scored, and five RBIs between the two games, in various combinations of 2's and 3's, generating at least two more notes. He's the first Atlanta Braves player ever to have multiple hits, runs, RBI, and at least one homer in both games since Joe Torre did that in their final season in Milwaukee (May 9, 1965, at Mets), and although Acuña only had two hits in the day game, he did walk twice. So in both games Monday he at least reached base three times, plus scored two and drove in two. And the last Braves hitter to do that in a twinbill was none other than Hank Aaron, also against the Mets, on July 26, 1964.
When Acuña started Tuesday's game with another dinger, he became the first player to hit three straight leadoff homers since Anderson also did that from April 18 to 21, 1996 (that's the rather anomalous season where he hit 50 total). Acuña would add a three-run homer in the 7th with an unimportant single in between, making him the first Braves hitter since the move to Atlanta (1966) to collect three hits, two homers, and four RBIs in a home game. And since there must always be a note about Acuña's age (unwritten rules!), he became the youngest player with three hits and at least two RBIs in consecutive games since Houston's Cesar Cedeño did it on May 31 and June 1, 1971.
Acuña finally came back to earth with a 1-for-4 (single) on Thursday against Colorado, but he did pop up again Saturday with another three-hit, two-run performance in an extra-inning loss. That's four games with that line in a nine-day span; the only other Braves leadoff hitter in the live-ball era to do it so quickly was Kenny Lofton from April 14 to 19, 1997.
Second City
Chicago has long been referred to as The Second City, reflecting both its population ranking versus New York (until Los Angeles surpassed it in the 1960s), and the rebuilding of much of the city following the great fire in 1871. But for much of this week, Chicago had a big "1" next to it-- often signifying the number of runs they scored, and sometimes telling you who finished first in the game.
The Brewers made the quick wagon ride down that dirt path marked 94 for a strange two-game "series" on Tuesday and Wednesday, and at least in the first game the Cubs would have been thrilled with "1". Lorenzo Cain collected a "1" on the second pitch in the Second City, becoming the first Brewer not named Rickie Weeks ever to hit a leadoff homer at Wrigley Field. Three batters later, Ryan Braun hit the first of his two homers, and Milwaukee never looked back en route to a 7-0 decision where the Cubs mustered only three hits. They hadn't been shut out at home on three hits by Milwaukee since September 21, 1963, and if you know your team history, you realize that wasn't the Brewers. It was the Braves, for whom Warren Spahn twirled a complete game that day. Jhoulys Chacin only went seven on Tuesday, but still became only the third pitcher in Brewers history to throw at least seven scoreless frames, allow no more than three hits, and strike out at least 10 in a road game. CC Sabathia did it in Pittsburgh on August 31, 2008; and Ben Sheets shut down the Reds on September 12, 2004.
On Wednesday it was Junior Guerra's turn to take the mound for the Brewers, and unfortunately by the 4th inning it was already Dan Jennings' turn to take the mound for the Brewers. Guerra got rocked for seven runs, including a two-run homer by Anthony Rizzo, the first Brewer to do that at Wrigley without finishing the 4th since Seth McClung on July 2, 2009. Rizzo would have the most notable line in the 8-4 victory; no Cubs batter had homered, driven in three runs, and stolen two bases all in one game since Glenallen Hill did it against the Pirates on June 29, 1994.
By the way, we haven't forgotten about the White Sox entirely. They were off in Detroit, playing some fairly uninteresting AL Central games, but in their 6-5 squeaker on Wednesday, Jose Abreu delivered three hits, including a home run, and drove in three runs. That's the third time he's had such a game at Comerica Park; since it opened in 2000, the only other visiting player to have that line three times is Nelson Cruz. The White Sox hitters who did it three times at Tiger Stadium were Sherm Lollar and Harold Baines, while Ray Durham had three of those games, but split between the two parks.
The Cubs then made their way to Pittsburgh for the weekend, and here's where our "1" theme really kicks in. In Thursday's opener, Ian Happ cracked the ice with a solo homer in the top of the 4th. Meanwhile, Jon Lester is doing Jon Lester things, and even though Ivan Nova scattered six more hits, it's still 1-0 when both of them depart in the 7th. In 5⅓ combined innings the two bullpens proceed to allow only one more hit, and it's an infield single by Josh Bell. So Happ's home run holds up for a 1-0 win, the first Cubs batter to do that in a road game since Nate Schierholtz did it against his former team, the Giants, on July 27, 2013.
Schierholtz's run of being "the last" to do the thing lasted over five years. Happ's lasted just under 26 hours, and included a 107-minute rain delay. Because on Friday it was Kyle Schwarber's turn to hit the solo homer in the 2nd inning to open the scoring. And then Cole Hamels and Trevor Williams played a little pitch-to-contact game, combining for only seven strikeouts but 18 ground balls and importantly, no more runs. The Pirates even committed three errors to try and help Chicago reach "2" status again, but nope. We're fine, don't need it. So when David Freese grounded into a double play to end that game, yes, it's still 1-0 on the Schwarber homer. On the up side, we don't have to look up the last time the Cubs did this. (It's yesterday.) However, we do have a new search, for times the Cubs did it twice. They hadn't won back-to-back games by a 1-0 score since beating the Mets on April 17 and 18, 1973. And in team history (including the National Association days to 1871), they'd never done it where the run in both games came on a solo homer.
From the Pirates' perspective, they hadn't lost back-to-back games 1-0 since 1985, when the Padres beat them on May 9 and the Dodgers beat them on May 10. The last time it happened against the same opponent, or in Pittsburgh, was a doubleheader against the Mets at Forbes Field on September 12, 1969. And in their team history, they'd also never had consecutive 1-0 losses where the run was on a homer.
Remember that double play to end the game? Seems the reason the Pirates never scored, and Hamels got 11 ground-ball outs, is that Freese's GIDP was the seventh one turned by the Cubs in the game. Obviously with three outs you can only get one per inning. And thus Friday's Cubs became just the third team in major-league history to record seven "twin killings" in a nine-inning game. The others are the Astros on May 4, 1969 (vs Giants), and the Yankees at Shibe Park in Philadelphia on August 14, 1942. Those DPs also gave Hamels the distinction of being the first Cubs pitcher to allow eight baserunners, strike out only three, but allow zero runs in Pittsburgh since Steve Trout threw a seven-hit shutout on June 28, 1985.
And the Cubs just could not get away from their theme of being number 1, with Ben Zobrist going deep in the top of the 3rd inning on Saturday, and Schwarber doing it again in the 2nd on Sunday. The problem in those two games is that the Pirates got tired of their zeroes, "exploded" for five whole runs, and won both contests, including a walkoff homer by Adam Frazier on Sunday. The streak marked the first time that the Cubs had scored one run (or fewer, which can really only be zero) in four straight games since May 2009. Combined with Friday's game and two earlier in the season, Schwarber is just the third Cubs batter since 1900 to have four games in the same season where his solo homer was the Cubs' only run of a game; the others are Sammy Sosa (three times) and Ernie Banks in 1957. But more notably, even though they weren't all by Schwarber this weekend, the 2018 Cubs are the first team in major-league history to put up exactly one run in four straight games, with that run coming on a solo homer each time.
Bottom Of The Bag
⚾ Jurickson Profar, Tuesday: First Rangers batter with a triple, a double, and 2 RBI in a loss since Alfonso Soriano vs Oakland, July 21, 2005.
⚾ Billy Hamilton, Sunday: First Reds leadoff batter with two triples since Juan Samuel against Pittsburgh, July 2, 1993. First to also drive in three runs since Lonny Frey at Shibe Park on June 26, 1938.
⚾ Wilson Ramos, Wednesday: Second player in live-ball era with three extra-base hits in his first game with the Phillies. Outfielder Edwin Freed did it in his major-league debut, September 11, 1942.
⚾ Rougned Odor, Sunday: First Rangers batter with 4+ RBI accounting for all the team's runs in a win since Rafael Palmeiro at Toronto, July 9, 1993.
⚾ Tanner Roark: Thursday: Second game this season with two hits and two runs scored on offense (Jul 31 vs Mets). Only others in franchise history to do it twice in a season are all Expos-- Steve Rogers 1981, Bryn Smith 1984, Ken Hill 1992.
⚾ Adalberto Mondesi, Tuesday: First Royals batter with four hits and three stolen bases in a game since Jose Offerman at White Sox, September 17, 1998.
⚾ Alex Cobb, Saturday: First complete-game win thrown by an Orioles pitcher who was already sitting on 15+ losses for the year since Chuck Estrada (7-15) beat the Senators on September 13, 1962.
⚾ Juan Soto, Monday: Youngest player to hit a home run in St Louis (any team, any stadium) since Houston's Larry Dierker on August 3, 1965.
⚾ Ian Desmond, Friday: Second player in Rockies history to have 5 RBI in a road game without homering. Other is Jeff Cirillo in Montreal, August 12, 2000.
⚾ Starlin Castro, Sunday: First Marlin with 5 hits & 3 runs scored since Miguel Cabrera at Phillies, April 28, 2007. With J.T. Realmuto on July 8, also in D.C., first time two Marlins have had five-hit games in the same park (including their own) in the same season.
⚾ Jose Peraza, Wednesday: First Reds leadoff batter with three extra-base hits in a loss since Pete Rose at Dodger Stadium, August 9, 1970.
⚾ Justin Turner, Sunday: Second Dodger ever with 4 hits & 5 RBI in an American League park, joining A.J. Ellis in Toronto on July 22, 2013. First Dodger ever to homer off an AL position player (Austin Romine).
⚾ Jose Ramirez, Friday: Hit 1st-inning homer accounting for all of Cleveland's runs in a win. Also did that September 28, 2014, against Rays (W 1-0). First in team history (1901) to do it twice.
⚾ Nick Castellanos, Monday: Second Tigers batter with a 5-hit game at Comerica Park. Other was Craig Monroe against Minnesota, July 22, 2005.
⚾ Rangers, Thursday: Turned first fielder's choice triple play (where all three runners are retired but the batter is not) since Dodgers did it on June 13, 1912.
Minor-League Minute
Fitting with our theme, the Yankees' double-A affiliate is in nearby Trenton, N.J., although you could say a "New Jersey state of mind" is a different thing entirely. Anyway, they got saddled with a doubleheader on Saturday against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Toronto) thanks to a rainout in their final visit to Manchester on July 17. In the first game, not only did it go to extra innings and invoke the much-debated "free runner" rule, but they didn't even need to bunt him over like every team does every single time. The free runner went to third on a wild pitch, and following a walk, a game-tying single, and a hit batter, they "walked off" on a second free pass. In the second game, guess what happened again. No extras this time, but in the bottom of the 7th, walk, hit-by-pitch, sac bunt, intentional walk since first is open, four-pitch walk for the game-winner. In a million or more minor-league games all-time, we're sure this has happened somewhere along the line. But in the population of searchable major-league games, which is over 95% of games since 1955, and about 80% for another 30 years before that, no team has ever gotten a double helping of shrimp in both games of a doubleheader.
Did You Know?
Why it's called shrimp. We've posted this before, but we know you don't click every link in these things. Or at least you shouldn't. ☺
Meet The Mets
The week began with a makeup of the Mets/Yankees Sunday night game that got rained out on July 22, a schedule move which reduced the Mets to just two off-days the entire month of August and the Yankees to only one (which happens to be tomorrow). At least one of the teams took that anger out on some baseballs, with the Mets crushing five homers and Jacob deGrom blowing away 12 Yankees via strikeout in an 8-5 victory for a split of the six-game season series.
In Mets history, only Dillon Gee (really-- May 30, 2013) had struck out a dozen Yankees, and the offense had never gone deep five times against their Bronx, uh, friends. Amed Rosario started that pattern early, hitting the Mets' second leadoff homer this season against the Yankees. Brandon Nimmo did it at Citi Field on June 8, the first time they've ever done it home and road in the same season. (Nimmo's just getting started for the week as well.) After Luis Severino gave up another dinger in the 4th, well, eventually the ball gets turned over to A.J. Cole. And three of those balls got turned into the other three Mets homers, including back-to-backers by Nimmo and Michael Conforto to knock Cole off the mound. No Yankees reliever had given up three dingers since Ross Ohlendorf did it at Camden Yards on May 27, 2008; and only two others in team history had done it while getting four outs or fewer. That list is rounded out by Darren Holmes on May 20, 1998 (also against the Orioles), and Tom Ferrick at Tiger Stadium on May 7, 1951.
Tuesday's opener in Baltimore was an uneventful 6-3 loss, although in the strange world of interleague play, Nimmo did become just the second Mets batter ever to record a triple at Camden Yards. Timo Perez did it in a 10-3 win on June 12, 2001.
But you know what's coming next. On Wednesday the Mets destroyed Dylan Bundy for 11 hits, including a nine-run 6th inning, en route to the wacky final score of 16-5. It actually isn't too wacky (wait for it!); the Mets won another 16-5 game just last season, May 3 at Atlanta in their first series at SunTrust Park. And while several teams have won multiple 16-5 exact scores in the same year, the Mets are the first team to do it in consecutive years since the Yankees of 1931-32. As for that nine-run 6th, the Mets also had a nine-run frame against Washington on April 18 in an 11-5 win, just the second time they've ever had two in a season (also in the pennant-winning year of 2000).
We told you Brandon Nimmo was just getting started; he had three of those 11 hits off Bundy, tripled in two runs (closing Bundy's pitching line) as the first batter to face Tanner Scott, and beat out an infield single in the 9th when the game was way out of hand anyway. But count 'em, that's five hits to go with three runs scored and three driven in. Only one other Mets hitter has done that out of the leadoff spot, Phil Linz against the Phillies on July 6, 1968. But two doubles plus that triple also gave Nimmo three extra-base hits out of his five. The last Mets hitter with that line (3 XBH, 3 runs, 3 RBI)? Why, that's Brandon Nimmo, a week ago against the Reds. He joins Ike Davis (2012), Todd Hundley (1997), and Darryl Strawberry (both 1985 and 1987) as the only Mets with two such games in a season, and none of theirs came a week apart.
There was a time when talk of Mets leadoff batters hitting triples would immediately bring to mind Jose Reyes. Well guess who's back. Back again. In his second stint in Flushing, the 35-year-old Reyes isn't as fleet as he used to be, and has been slotted in the bottom third of the order a lot. (When he's not pitching, that is.) But he still managed a triple, a double, and two runs scored in this festival on Wednesday, just the third number-9 hitter in team history to do so. Amed Rosario pulled it off on May 30 in Atlanta. Before this year the only one had been Kurt Abbott, against the Orioles again (June 7, 2000). And together Nimmo and Reyes are just the second pair of Mets ever to triple, double, and score at least two runs in the same game. Two Jeffs (that's Kent and McKnight) did it against the Reds on August 28, 1992.
Shortly after Nimmo's triple, Kevin Plawecki blew the game open with a grand slam to cap the 6th, the first slam the Mets had ever hit in Baltimore. Todd Frazier has by now also collected three hits, four RBIs, two runs scored, and even a stolen base. It's been three years (August 21, 2015) since Yoenis Cespedes was the last Mets batter to do all that, but Frazier's just the second to do it against the Orioles. Bernard Gilkey piled up that line on August 30, 1997, in one of the two other games where the Mets had 19 hits against an AL opponent. The more recent of those was June 29, 2011, against the Tigers.
16th Floor, Going Up
Doubleheaders are rough on the players, but don't forget about all the workers at the stadium-- concessions, security, reporters, maintenance-- who have to spend an extended day at the ballpark without a cushy clubhouse to chill out in. (Heck, even the umpires have a five-man crew such that the two plate umps get the other game off.) So after 16 runs and 3½ hours of baseball on Wednesday, we certainly hope they got time-and-a-half for Thursday. Because they (and we) got score-and-a-half. Even after Amed Rosario started things with another leadoff homer, things still looked pretty normal through four innings, a 5-4 Mets lead despite Corey Oswalt giving up four solo homers. Annnnnd here comes that giant pothole, water main break, dangling construction crane accident, whatever "urban sprawl" metaphor you want, to take things to yet another level.
Single. Double. Ranger Suarez balks in a run (it's always the balk, dangit). Jose Bautista singles. Ranger Suarez departs. Flyout. Walk. Jorge Alfaro tries to get Bautista at third and throws the ball away. Fielder's choice (which should have ended the inning, making the rest of this mess unearned). Stolen base. E7. Single. Double. Walk. Nothing to see here, just a grand slam by Bautista who has come all the way around to bat again. Finally Oswalt makes the final out with a weak ground ball as the 15th batter of a 10-run, 29-minute top of the 5th. Since we already established yesterday that the Mets only had one previous season with a pair of nine-run innings, it's easy to figure out they've never had one in back-to-back games. In fact the last team who did was the 2006 Tigers, who did it in Kansas City on September 23 and 24 that year.
Not surprisingly, and especially with a second game still to play, we've reached "position player pitching" mode again. Against outfielder Roman Quinn, Michael Conforto homered to lead off the 7th and get the Mets their 16th run, their first time ever reaching that level in back-to-back games. Their fellow New Yorkers were the last of any team to do it, July 21 and 22 of 2007 against the Rays. And Quinn is clearly taking one for the team, at least until giving up back-to-back bases-loaded walks and a double to make it 21-4 in the 8th. Now we swap him for shortstop Scott Kingery, marking just the second time in the last 70 years that two Phillies position players have pitched in the same game. Outfielder Casper Wells gave up five runs in an 18-inning marathon against the Diamondbacks on August 24, 2013, and infielder John McDonald had to get the final out to seal the loss. You of course know that the final carnage is 24-4, the fifth time (in over 215,000 games) that exact score has ever appeared. The Red Sox were on the winning end of the previous one, which was a bizarre peach-ish color (they're by decade) on our famous matrix-- because it was on September 27, 1940. That win was over the Senators; the other games were Yankees over Red Sox on September 28, 1923; the Boston Braves over Louisville (Colonels!) on September 20, 1898; and Brooklyn over the original NL Washington Senators on May 24, 1892.
Speaking of Washington, Friend Of Kernels @MichaelT162 pointed out that barely two weeks ago, the Mets were on the incorrect end of a score very close to this one-- a game the Nationals won 25-4. Mike wondered how often a team has won a game by 20 runs and lost one by 20 runs in the same season. And well, it has happened. But we went the entire 20th century without doing it. Thursday's opponent, the Phillies, are two of the three teams to do it-- in 1887 (still known as the Quakers then) and again in 1894. The other is the NL's Buffalo Bisons-- to whom today's triple-A team is an homage-- who beat those same Quakers 25-5 and then lost to Chicago in what remains the only 31-7 score in MLB history.
In Thursday's masterpiece, Amed Rosario didn't stop with that 1st-inning homer. He went on to become just the second leadoff batter in Mets history to collect four hits, three runs scored, three RBIs, and a home run. The other was Len Dykstra, who did it 31 years earlier to the day (August 16, 1987) at Wrigley Field. While Kevin Plawecki didn't have the homer, he and Rosario became the second pair of Mets teammates with the rest of that line-- and the other was in that same game. Dykstra and Darryl Strawberry led the way in a 23-10 win that day, another score which remains in our matrix (it's orange because 1980s) as not having been duplicated since. Combined with Nimmo's game on Wednesday, it's the first time the Mets have gotten a 4-hit, 3-run, 3-RBI performance in consecutive games since Todd Hundley and John Olerud did it at Coors on May 5 and 6, 1997.
We mentioned Jose Bautista hitting a grand slam, but we didn't mention, A, that he was one of the bases-loaded walks and drove in the 24th and final run in the 9th for a total of seven; and B, that he didn't start the game. Nimmo left in the 3rd inning after being hit in the hand with a pitch and Bautista replaced him. But that also cements his place in history; since RBI became official in 1920, only two other players have had seven of them in a game they didn't start. Then-Blue Jay John Mayberry did it against Baltimore on June 26, 1978; and Roy Sievers of the White Sox was the first, on June 21, 1961, versus Cleveland.
Oh by the way, there's still a second game to be played. (You might have forgotten that the infamous 30-3 game in Baltimore back in 2007 was also a Game 1; that's the last time a team hit 20 and then still had another game to play.) The Mets dropped that one 9-6 thanks to some early home-run outbursts from Scott Kingery and Rhys Hoskins, the latter becoming the first Phillies hitter to go yard in both games of a DH since... oh. Rhys Hoskins did it against the Padres on July 22. But the last Phillie to do that twice in the same season was none other than Mike Schmidt in 1983 (both times against Montreal).
Rosario would go on to score three runs in the second game as well, the first Met ever to do so in both games of a twinbill. And Conforto piled up three more hits, a first in a Mets doubleheader since Shawn Green against Atlanta on September 6, 2006 (one was a three-homer affair). But in case we didn't have enough yet, possibly the best note we stumbled upon was that in the 24-4 opener, six different Mets had at least three hits, with Frazier, pitcher Oswalt, and the departed Nimmo being the exceptions. Only once before in Mets history has that happened, and it's one of our favorite links-- "The Rick Camp Game" in Atlanta, July 4, 1985.
Meanwhile In The Bronx
After that makeup game on Monday, the Yankees turned their attention to the Tampa Bay Rays, winning Tuesday's opener 4-1 behind seven scoreless innings from newly-acquired J.A. Happ. The one hit Happ allowed was a blooper by C.J. Cron in the 4th, and would have made his pitching line quite impressive but for the four walks and hit batter. That said, he did become the first Yankee pitcher in (at least) the live-ball era to throw seven scoreless innings, allow only one hit, but also walk four and hit someone. If you want walks, there's nothing like a good A.J. Burnett start; he came close in 2011 but his one hit was a home run so it didn't satisfy the "scoreless" criterion. In the ongoing "opener" experiment that is the Rays pitching staff, Jalen Beeks became just the second "reliever" in team history to allow two hits and strike out eight; Jorge Sosa pitched 5⅓ innings of an extra-inning loss at Cleveland on August 17, 2003.
On Wednesday, Luis Cessa, temporarily recalled from Scranton to take CC Sabathia's start while the latter is on the 10-day DL, allowed nine baserunners and five runs in a 6-1 defeat. He was the first Yankee starter not named Sonny Gray to do that in under four innings this season, while on the other side, Ryan Yarbrough threw four scoreless frames while allowing just three runners (two hits and an HBP). He's only the second Rays pitcher (starter or reliever, since that line is somewhat-permanently blurred now) to do that at Yankee Stadium; Chris Archer threw a complete-game two-hit shutout on July 27, 2013. And Mallex Smith joined Logan Forsythe (April 24, 2016) and Ben Zobrist (July 7, 2011) as the only Rays leadoff batters to have three hits including a homer at the current Stadium.
In Thursday's matinee finale, the Yanks again managed just one run, this time on an 8th-inning Giancarlo Stanton double that was reviewed and ruled to have actually hit the yellow line below the foul pole instead of the pole itself. In a nod to the explosive nature of the Yankees offense, it was the first time they'd been held to one run in back-to-back home games since June 11 and 12, 2016, against Detroit. That isn't all that long ago, but the only team to go longer without such a dry spell at home-- and this isn't a shock considering the altitude-- is the Rockies.
The Yankees did have a shot in the 9th, loading the bases against Sergio Romo on two singles and a four-pitch walk (appropriately, to Neil Walker) with nobody out. Rookie Adam Kolarek got Greg Bird to foul out on his first pitch, then struck out Brett Gardner and Austin Romine to save the victory. It was actually the second time this season that the Yankees, while trailing, had loaded the bases with 0 out in the 9th and failed to score. The other time was April 8 against Baltimore when Aaron Judge grounded into the old 1-2-3 double play and then Stanton struck out to end it. In the population of available play-by-play on Baseball Reference (which is complete for the Yankees to the early 1950s and has the majority of games back to the mid-1920s), they've never had that happen twice in the same season.
New York State Of Time
Sixty years ago there were a lot of New Yorkers who were bitter about losing two of their three baseball teams over the winter. (Actually you can find some who still are.) Those two former New York teams squared off again this week, this time in Los Angeles, and then kept giving us some fun notes even after they parted ways.
Monday's much-hyped matchup between Madison Bumgarner and Clayton Kershaw ended like so many much-hyped pitching matchups do-- in a war of attrition where they are equally good and the game hinges on who can get into the bullpen first. That seemed like it would be the Dodgers initially; MadBum left after six innings, but the Giants' staff spun three innings of one-hit ball to keep the game at 2-1 and give their offense a chance. Which it finally got in the 9th after Kershaw had thrown 110 pitches and gave way to Scott Alexander. Who promptly gave up as many hits in getting two outs as Kershaw did while getting 24. The third of those, a two-out, bases-loaded single by Nick Hundley, gave the Giants the lead for good, taking some of the sting off the two stolen bases, error, and two more runs that came after. But Kershaw ended up not getting the win despite throwing eight innings, allowing just four baserunners (he didn't walk anyone), and striking out nine. The last Dodger to pull that off? Of course it's Clayton Kershaw, May 23 of last season against the Cardinals. And until Monday, no Dodgers pitcher in the live-ball era had done it twice.
As for Hundley, that two-run single, turning the 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead, came as a pinch hitter, something he also did on April 30 against the Padres. He's the first player in San Francisco history to have two such pinch hits (turned deficit into lead in 9th or later), of any denomination, in the same season. The last Giants batter to pull that off was Hank Sauer, in what would become that fateful last season in Manhattan in 1957.
Tuesday's game will mostly be remembered for a bench-emptying scuffle between Hundley and Yasiel Puig, but the Giants came away with another victory, this one 2-1 with Alen Hanson driving in both runs-- separately, and without homering. Austin Slater on June 29 (at Arizona) had the same line, driving in both Giants runs in either a 2-0 or 2-1 win without homering. So did Andrew McCutchen against the Phillies on June 2. Three Giants players hadn't done that in the same season since Roger Metzger, Vic Harris, and Willie McCovey did it in 1978. On the Dodgers side of the boxscore, it was impossible to ignore Justin Turner's three doubles, partly because Los Angeles only had five total hits. Turns out Turner also had a three-double game against the Rockies on April 19, 2015, and is the first player-- for any team-- to have multiple three-double games at Dodger Stadium in its 57-season history. And to find the last Dodger with three doubles in a home-field loss, well, you have to go back to New York again. Lonny Frey did it against the Pirates at Ebbets Field on July 25, 1936.
And the old rivals couldn't get enough of each other on Wednesday, deciding to hang out for over 4 hours and play three extra innings before newly-acquired Former New Britain Rock Cat Brian Dozier ends things with a walkoff sac fly in the 12th. Sacrifice flies were only officially split off from sacrifice bunts in 1954, which only covers a few years of their New York rivalry, but since then only two other Dodgers have ended a game against the Giants by hitting one. Paul Popovich did so on August 25, 1968, and Ron Fairly hit the first one on October 2, 1962-- a "fairly" important one at that. That '62 affair was the middle game of the three-game tiebreaker series to decide that year's National League pennant; Fairly's effort forced Game 3 (although the Dodgers still lost), and that series remains the last best-of-three tiebreaker that MLB has played to settle a postseason berth.
Intermission
We were thinking of the Billy Joel classic when we titled this post, but searching for that link reminded us that there was also a composition of the same title by rapper Nas about 20 years ago. So click whichever you'd like. We suggest the first one if you're at work. Or around children. Or hanging out with your grandparents. You get the idea.
Walk Against The Light
Perhaps the Dodgers and Giants should have kept on playing each other. Because at least that way they can't both get walked off. Which is precisely what happened over the weekend, in the Giants' case on Friday in Cincinnati, and for the Dodgers, on Saturday in Seattle in one of our favorite bizarre ways.
Sometimes 2-1 games are actual pitcher's duels, and usually they're, well, not. The Giants and Reds went through the motions of smacking 18 base hits, 15 of them singles, but then getting caught stealing or grounding into double plays, such that there was only one half-inning longer than four batters after the 3rd. Knotted at 1-1 after the Giants couldn't get Gorkys Hernandez home from third in the 10th, Philip Ervin finally began the bottom of the 11th with the Reds' fourth walkoff homer of the year, tied with the Cardinals for most in the majors, and Cincinnati's most since Aaron Boone, Ken Griffey, and Sean Casey combined for four in 2002. It was the Reds' first walkoff anything against the Giants since Shin-Soo Choo singled home Todd Frazier in the 11th inning on July 3, 2013, and their first homer since Drew Stubbs hit one on August 20, 2009. But recall that the Giants also got walked off by the Dodgers on that sacrifice fly on Wednesday. They hadn't lost back-to-back games via extra-inning walkoff since... oh. Oakland did it to them last month in the Bay Bridge Series. So in that case, it's the first time it's happened to the Giants twice in the same season since 1987. They would go on to lose Saturday's game by a 7-1 count, and including their final game at GABP from last season, it's the first time San Francisco's been held to 1 run in three straight games in the Queen City since 1962.
And the Dodgers entered Saturday's game with a 20-0 record, the best in the majors (Arizona is 17-0), in games where they homered at least three times. If you only saw the first seven innings, you're wondering what we're talking about, because they didn't homer at all, and were trailing 4-1 in Seattle when Justin Turner led off the 8th. Home run. Two batters later, Cody Bellinger home run. One out in the 9th, Max Muncy home run. Hey look at that, we're tied. Just nine days earlier in Colorado, the Dodgers also had a game where they hit three homers in the 8th or later; they hadn't done it twice in a season since 2006, and one of those is the famous back-to-back-to-back-to-back-in-the-9th game. But all that went by the wayside when Robinson Cano beat out an infield single in the 10th to move Cameron Maybin to second. On comes Dodgers pitcher Dylan Floro. He walks Nelson Cruz on five pitches. As he's getting ready to throw Kyle Seager, he flinches ever so slightly. And boom, we have the first balk-off in the majors in over two years (Padres over Giants, July 16, 2016). The only other one in Mariners history was April 19, 2004, when Oakland's Justin Duchscherer committed the infraction to score Quinton McCracken.
But if you thought there was nothing Vin Scully hadn't called, the last time the Dodgers committed a balk-off, incredibly, was April 22, 1939. Russell "Red" Evans (we presume that's a hair reference) balked in the 9th at Shibe Park in Philadelphia to score Merrill "Pinky" May, so nicknamed because of the color he turned when he got angry.
Enye State Of Mind
That little dustup between Nick Hundley and Yasiel Puig didn't even last 24 hours as the most interesting incident of the week. Instead that would come on Wednesday, when Marlins starter Jose Ureña plunked Atlanta leadoff batter (and child prodigy) Ronald Acuña on the back of the elbow with his very first pitch. This certainly would have been less of A Thing had Acuña not homered in five straight games to tie the Braves' all-time record; the last to do it before him was Brian McCann in July 2006. And sometimes teams hide behind pitchers who are known for throwing inside (Ureña has hit 10 batters this year), but Chad Fairchild's umpiring crew wasn't buying it. After a 15-minute delay that even saw Atlanta manager Brian Snitker get ejected for going after Marlins players, Ureña got tossed having thrown only one pitch, believed to be the first pitcher ever to pull that off. There is a memorable incident from 2009-- and the last time a pitcher got ejected after one batter-- where John Lackey actually missed when trying to hit Ian Kinsler with the first pitch, throwing it behind him, but then succeeded on the second. And Ureña left as the second pitcher in Marlins history to face exactly one batter; Sergio Mitre developed a blister after only seven pitches against the Astros on April 17, 2007.
But at the risk of burying the lead, five straight homers. And more notably as it pertains to this week, three straight leadoff homers. The Braves and Marlins made up a rainout on Monday by playing a doubleheader, and often when a player tears it up in the first game, he'll get the second game off, either pre-scheduled or as some kind of reward. But apparently 20-year-olds have plenty of energy (who knew?), so not only did Acuña come out swinging and begin the week with a home run in the day game, he did it again around 7:45, becoming the first player in Braves history to lead off both games of a doubleheader with round-trippers. The last for any team to do it was Brady Anderson of the Orioles on August 21, 1999. And no Braves leadoff batter had homered at all in both games of a twinbill (any inning, not necessarily a leadoff homer) since Felipe Alou did it in St Louis on July 23, 1967.
Acuña would finish the day with five hits, five runs scored, and five RBIs between the two games, in various combinations of 2's and 3's, generating at least two more notes. He's the first Atlanta Braves player ever to have multiple hits, runs, RBI, and at least one homer in both games since Joe Torre did that in their final season in Milwaukee (May 9, 1965, at Mets), and although Acuña only had two hits in the day game, he did walk twice. So in both games Monday he at least reached base three times, plus scored two and drove in two. And the last Braves hitter to do that in a twinbill was none other than Hank Aaron, also against the Mets, on July 26, 1964.
When Acuña started Tuesday's game with another dinger, he became the first player to hit three straight leadoff homers since Anderson also did that from April 18 to 21, 1996 (that's the rather anomalous season where he hit 50 total). Acuña would add a three-run homer in the 7th with an unimportant single in between, making him the first Braves hitter since the move to Atlanta (1966) to collect three hits, two homers, and four RBIs in a home game. And since there must always be a note about Acuña's age (unwritten rules!), he became the youngest player with three hits and at least two RBIs in consecutive games since Houston's Cesar Cedeño did it on May 31 and June 1, 1971.
Acuña finally came back to earth with a 1-for-4 (single) on Thursday against Colorado, but he did pop up again Saturday with another three-hit, two-run performance in an extra-inning loss. That's four games with that line in a nine-day span; the only other Braves leadoff hitter in the live-ball era to do it so quickly was Kenny Lofton from April 14 to 19, 1997.
Second City
Chicago has long been referred to as The Second City, reflecting both its population ranking versus New York (until Los Angeles surpassed it in the 1960s), and the rebuilding of much of the city following the great fire in 1871. But for much of this week, Chicago had a big "1" next to it-- often signifying the number of runs they scored, and sometimes telling you who finished first in the game.
The Brewers made the quick wagon ride down that dirt path marked 94 for a strange two-game "series" on Tuesday and Wednesday, and at least in the first game the Cubs would have been thrilled with "1". Lorenzo Cain collected a "1" on the second pitch in the Second City, becoming the first Brewer not named Rickie Weeks ever to hit a leadoff homer at Wrigley Field. Three batters later, Ryan Braun hit the first of his two homers, and Milwaukee never looked back en route to a 7-0 decision where the Cubs mustered only three hits. They hadn't been shut out at home on three hits by Milwaukee since September 21, 1963, and if you know your team history, you realize that wasn't the Brewers. It was the Braves, for whom Warren Spahn twirled a complete game that day. Jhoulys Chacin only went seven on Tuesday, but still became only the third pitcher in Brewers history to throw at least seven scoreless frames, allow no more than three hits, and strike out at least 10 in a road game. CC Sabathia did it in Pittsburgh on August 31, 2008; and Ben Sheets shut down the Reds on September 12, 2004.
On Wednesday it was Junior Guerra's turn to take the mound for the Brewers, and unfortunately by the 4th inning it was already Dan Jennings' turn to take the mound for the Brewers. Guerra got rocked for seven runs, including a two-run homer by Anthony Rizzo, the first Brewer to do that at Wrigley without finishing the 4th since Seth McClung on July 2, 2009. Rizzo would have the most notable line in the 8-4 victory; no Cubs batter had homered, driven in three runs, and stolen two bases all in one game since Glenallen Hill did it against the Pirates on June 29, 1994.
By the way, we haven't forgotten about the White Sox entirely. They were off in Detroit, playing some fairly uninteresting AL Central games, but in their 6-5 squeaker on Wednesday, Jose Abreu delivered three hits, including a home run, and drove in three runs. That's the third time he's had such a game at Comerica Park; since it opened in 2000, the only other visiting player to have that line three times is Nelson Cruz. The White Sox hitters who did it three times at Tiger Stadium were Sherm Lollar and Harold Baines, while Ray Durham had three of those games, but split between the two parks.
The Cubs then made their way to Pittsburgh for the weekend, and here's where our "1" theme really kicks in. In Thursday's opener, Ian Happ cracked the ice with a solo homer in the top of the 4th. Meanwhile, Jon Lester is doing Jon Lester things, and even though Ivan Nova scattered six more hits, it's still 1-0 when both of them depart in the 7th. In 5⅓ combined innings the two bullpens proceed to allow only one more hit, and it's an infield single by Josh Bell. So Happ's home run holds up for a 1-0 win, the first Cubs batter to do that in a road game since Nate Schierholtz did it against his former team, the Giants, on July 27, 2013.
Schierholtz's run of being "the last" to do the thing lasted over five years. Happ's lasted just under 26 hours, and included a 107-minute rain delay. Because on Friday it was Kyle Schwarber's turn to hit the solo homer in the 2nd inning to open the scoring. And then Cole Hamels and Trevor Williams played a little pitch-to-contact game, combining for only seven strikeouts but 18 ground balls and importantly, no more runs. The Pirates even committed three errors to try and help Chicago reach "2" status again, but nope. We're fine, don't need it. So when David Freese grounded into a double play to end that game, yes, it's still 1-0 on the Schwarber homer. On the up side, we don't have to look up the last time the Cubs did this. (It's yesterday.) However, we do have a new search, for times the Cubs did it twice. They hadn't won back-to-back games by a 1-0 score since beating the Mets on April 17 and 18, 1973. And in team history (including the National Association days to 1871), they'd never done it where the run in both games came on a solo homer.
From the Pirates' perspective, they hadn't lost back-to-back games 1-0 since 1985, when the Padres beat them on May 9 and the Dodgers beat them on May 10. The last time it happened against the same opponent, or in Pittsburgh, was a doubleheader against the Mets at Forbes Field on September 12, 1969. And in their team history, they'd also never had consecutive 1-0 losses where the run was on a homer.
Remember that double play to end the game? Seems the reason the Pirates never scored, and Hamels got 11 ground-ball outs, is that Freese's GIDP was the seventh one turned by the Cubs in the game. Obviously with three outs you can only get one per inning. And thus Friday's Cubs became just the third team in major-league history to record seven "twin killings" in a nine-inning game. The others are the Astros on May 4, 1969 (vs Giants), and the Yankees at Shibe Park in Philadelphia on August 14, 1942. Those DPs also gave Hamels the distinction of being the first Cubs pitcher to allow eight baserunners, strike out only three, but allow zero runs in Pittsburgh since Steve Trout threw a seven-hit shutout on June 28, 1985.
And the Cubs just could not get away from their theme of being number 1, with Ben Zobrist going deep in the top of the 3rd inning on Saturday, and Schwarber doing it again in the 2nd on Sunday. The problem in those two games is that the Pirates got tired of their zeroes, "exploded" for five whole runs, and won both contests, including a walkoff homer by Adam Frazier on Sunday. The streak marked the first time that the Cubs had scored one run (or fewer, which can really only be zero) in four straight games since May 2009. Combined with Friday's game and two earlier in the season, Schwarber is just the third Cubs batter since 1900 to have four games in the same season where his solo homer was the Cubs' only run of a game; the others are Sammy Sosa (three times) and Ernie Banks in 1957. But more notably, even though they weren't all by Schwarber this weekend, the 2018 Cubs are the first team in major-league history to put up exactly one run in four straight games, with that run coming on a solo homer each time.
Bottom Of The Bag
⚾ Jurickson Profar, Tuesday: First Rangers batter with a triple, a double, and 2 RBI in a loss since Alfonso Soriano vs Oakland, July 21, 2005.
⚾ Billy Hamilton, Sunday: First Reds leadoff batter with two triples since Juan Samuel against Pittsburgh, July 2, 1993. First to also drive in three runs since Lonny Frey at Shibe Park on June 26, 1938.
⚾ Wilson Ramos, Wednesday: Second player in live-ball era with three extra-base hits in his first game with the Phillies. Outfielder Edwin Freed did it in his major-league debut, September 11, 1942.
⚾ Rougned Odor, Sunday: First Rangers batter with 4+ RBI accounting for all the team's runs in a win since Rafael Palmeiro at Toronto, July 9, 1993.
⚾ Tanner Roark: Thursday: Second game this season with two hits and two runs scored on offense (Jul 31 vs Mets). Only others in franchise history to do it twice in a season are all Expos-- Steve Rogers 1981, Bryn Smith 1984, Ken Hill 1992.
⚾ Adalberto Mondesi, Tuesday: First Royals batter with four hits and three stolen bases in a game since Jose Offerman at White Sox, September 17, 1998.
⚾ Alex Cobb, Saturday: First complete-game win thrown by an Orioles pitcher who was already sitting on 15+ losses for the year since Chuck Estrada (7-15) beat the Senators on September 13, 1962.
⚾ Juan Soto, Monday: Youngest player to hit a home run in St Louis (any team, any stadium) since Houston's Larry Dierker on August 3, 1965.
⚾ Ian Desmond, Friday: Second player in Rockies history to have 5 RBI in a road game without homering. Other is Jeff Cirillo in Montreal, August 12, 2000.
⚾ Starlin Castro, Sunday: First Marlin with 5 hits & 3 runs scored since Miguel Cabrera at Phillies, April 28, 2007. With J.T. Realmuto on July 8, also in D.C., first time two Marlins have had five-hit games in the same park (including their own) in the same season.
⚾ Jose Peraza, Wednesday: First Reds leadoff batter with three extra-base hits in a loss since Pete Rose at Dodger Stadium, August 9, 1970.
⚾ Justin Turner, Sunday: Second Dodger ever with 4 hits & 5 RBI in an American League park, joining A.J. Ellis in Toronto on July 22, 2013. First Dodger ever to homer off an AL position player (Austin Romine).
⚾ Jose Ramirez, Friday: Hit 1st-inning homer accounting for all of Cleveland's runs in a win. Also did that September 28, 2014, against Rays (W 1-0). First in team history (1901) to do it twice.
⚾ Nick Castellanos, Monday: Second Tigers batter with a 5-hit game at Comerica Park. Other was Craig Monroe against Minnesota, July 22, 2005.
⚾ Rangers, Thursday: Turned first fielder's choice triple play (where all three runners are retired but the batter is not) since Dodgers did it on June 13, 1912.
Minor-League Minute
Fitting with our theme, the Yankees' double-A affiliate is in nearby Trenton, N.J., although you could say a "New Jersey state of mind" is a different thing entirely. Anyway, they got saddled with a doubleheader on Saturday against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Toronto) thanks to a rainout in their final visit to Manchester on July 17. In the first game, not only did it go to extra innings and invoke the much-debated "free runner" rule, but they didn't even need to bunt him over like every team does every single time. The free runner went to third on a wild pitch, and following a walk, a game-tying single, and a hit batter, they "walked off" on a second free pass. In the second game, guess what happened again. No extras this time, but in the bottom of the 7th, walk, hit-by-pitch, sac bunt, intentional walk since first is open, four-pitch walk for the game-winner. In a million or more minor-league games all-time, we're sure this has happened somewhere along the line. But in the population of searchable major-league games, which is over 95% of games since 1955, and about 80% for another 30 years before that, no team has ever gotten a double helping of shrimp in both games of a doubleheader.
Did You Know?
Why it's called shrimp. We've posted this before, but we know you don't click every link in these things. Or at least you shouldn't. ☺
Sunday, August 12, 2018
The Beginning Of The End
Last week's "Christmas In July" post went up a couple hours before the Yankees and Red Sox finished off last week with the kind of ending that only the two of them can write-- Aroldis Chapman walking the bases loaded in the 9th, Miguel Andujar turning a game-ending groundout into a game-tying throwing error, and then Andrew Benintendi walking off in the 10th. So you could look at that game as either the end of last week or the beginning of this week. And as it turns out, that was just the beginning of a slew of interesting endings.
C-leave-land
A few years ago the Cleveland Indians started moving their midweek games to 6:00 in the hopes of attracting more downtown "day job" workers who didn't want to go home and come back, and/or more families with schoolkids for whom getting home at 10:30 or 11:00 was not ideal. (Another option would have been to throw the ball within the 12-second time specified by the rules, but pfffft.) Anyway, for the most part the Indians are back to 7:00 starts, but they'd still appreciate it if you stuck around until the end. Because at least this week, that's when most of the good stuff happened.
On Monday you were forgiven for leaving early; Cleveland dropped a 10-0 shutout in the opener of a four-game series with Minnesota, their largest shutout win over the Twins since July 22, 2006. Trevor Bauer spun one of his usual gems, striking out 11 batters and posting his second outing this season of 0 runs, ≤ 3 hits, and 11+ strikeouts. Only two other Indians pitchers have thrown two such games in a season, regardless of the number of innings-- Herb Score in 1956 and Bob Feller in 1939. If you did leave early, you missed Edwin Encarnacion's three-run tater in the 7th to provide the final margin; it was his fifth game this season with a home run and 4+ RBIs. "EE" also had five such games last year; the last Clevelander with more was Travis Hafner, who did it a whopping nine times in 2006.
Honestly you could have left early on Tuesday as well; the Twins would get all the offense they needed on Mitch Garver's three-run homer in the 2nd. The last number-9 batter with a 3-RBI game that accounted for all of Minnesota's runs was Juan Castro, also against the Indians, on July 31, 2005; and the last time it happened in a win was when Greg Gagne homered twice to beat Toronto on August 22, 1986. For Carlos Carrasco, it was his third career game with eight strikeouts but also ten or more hits allowed; no Indians pitcher has thrown three such games since Greg Swindell from 1987-90.
That, however, would be the only game the Twins would salvage in the series, although they did certainly make it interesting. If you left Wednesday's game when the Indians had a 2-1 lead in the 6th or 7th or 8th, and then you heard the next morning that they won, okay, no big deal. Except you might not have heard that Miguel Sano uncorked a solo home run to lead off the top of the 9th and tie the game, resulting in Cody Allen's third blown save of the year. It was the second time this year that Sano had victimized the Indians in such fasion; he also had a game-tying dinger in the 14th back on April 18 after Encarnacion had homered in the top half. The Twins eventually walked off that game in 16, but Wednesday's shot made Sano just the fourth player in Minnesota history (1961) to hit a pair of tying (not go-ahead) homers in the 9th or later in the same season, and the first to do it against the same opponent. The other Twins with two are Brian Dozier in 2013, Randy Bush in 1991, and Gary Gaetti in 1989.
But never fear, Francisco Lindor is here. After Jason Kipnis and Brandon Guyer both singled in the bottom of the 9th, Lindor launched his 29th homer of the year to right field for a three-run walkoff. That was Cleveland's first 3- or 4-run walkoff homer against the Twins since Victor Martinez took Joe Nathan deep on September 16, 2008. The Twins have been on the wrong end of eight walkoff homers this season; no other team has given up more than five. The last time any team gave up eight in a season was the 2010 Cardinals, and the most in Twins/Senators history had been six in 1985.
If you missed Wednesday's walkoff, well, we invite you back for Thursday's series-ending matinee which was tied 4-4 after Jorge Polanco took Corey Kluber deep in the 6th. And sure enough, the result was the same, albeit with a little less drama. Greg Allen singled to lead off B9, stole second, and then Michael Brantley singled to right for the walkoff. Or for another walkoff. Cleveland hadn't had beaten the same opponent in that fashion in consecutive games since May 17 and 18, 2013, when Jason Kipnis homered and Mark Reynolds hit into an "FCX" (fielder's choice with no out recorded) against the Mariners. They hadn't walked off the Twins in back-to-back games since September 27 and 28, 1984, on a Jamie Quirk homer and a single by Brett Butler. They hadn't even done it twice in the same season since 2010.
While he didn't get the spotlight on Thursday, Francisco Lindor drove in three of the Indians' first four runs with a double and a single. That's his second consecutive game with two hits and three RBIs; no Indians leadoff batter had done that since future manager Mike Hargrove on August 12 and 13, 1979.
And by the way, the Indians weren't done walking off, even though they went to Chicago for the weekend. On Friday, however, their defense was walking off after watching Daniel Palka's solo home run clear the left-field fence. It was the fifth time the Indians had given up a walkoff homer this season, their most in a decade. But the bigger story might be the score. Palka's homer... was the only run of the game. The teams played 8½ scoreless innings before the leadoff dinger. The White Sox had not won a 1-0 game via walkoff since Eduardo Escobar singled against the Brewers on June 24, 2012. The Indians last 1-0 walkoff loss was to Toronto on July 8, 2007, when Alex Rios singled home Reed Johnson.
But the Indians hadn't lost a 1-0 game on a walkoff homer since Bill Tuttle of the Tigers took Herb Score deep on April 29, 1956. And the White Sox... had never won one. Palka's hit was the first time in the team's 118 seasons that they had won a 1-0 game on a walkoff homer.
Cleveland held onto a 3-1 lead Saturday to break their streak of late drama, but still it was their first stretch of three consecutive walkoff games (win or lose) since they swept Toronto at home from September 7 through 9, 1979. And that one White Sox run on Saturday also came via solo homer (Yoan Moncada), just in the 3rd inning and not the 9th. That was the first instance of the Sox scoring one run in back-to-back games, and having both runs be solo homers, since Magglio Ordoñez and Chris Singleton hit them at Fenway on June 25 and 26, 1999.
No Gatorade For You
Although the Yankees and Red Sox weren't playing each other on Tuesday (no, really, there's like 10 days a year when they don't), they still found a way to connect. Boston, with an hour head start thanks to time zones, took a 5-3 lead into the bottom of the 8th at Rogers Centre and turned the ball over to Matt Barnes. Luke Maile turned one of those balls into an RBI double to make it 5-4. The Red Sox turn the ball over to Craig Kimbrel and his 33 saves. Justin Smoak-- on a 3-0 pitch, no less-- turns that into a 5-5 tie and extra innings.
Happily we didn't have long to wait. The Red Sox exploded for five runs in the top of the 10th, including home runs by Mitch Moreland and Jackie Bradley. It was the first time they'd hit two multi-run homers in an extra inning since Mike Napoli and Allen Craig did it, also at Rogers Centre, on August 26, 2014.
Just like he had in the 8th, Yangervis Solarte led off the 10th with a single, and then Kevin Pillar launched a two-run homer. But that still only turned a five-run deficit into a three-run deficit. The Jays' last home run in extra innings of a home game that wasn't a walkoff was by Edwin Encarnacion on September 22, 2015, after the Yankees had scored 3 in their half of the 10th. And that's how Tuesday's game would end, a 10-7 extra-inning win for the visitors with the score in the 10th being 5 over 2. Moreland and J.D. Martinez, who homered in the top of the 8th, became the first Red Sox teammates to each have 4 RBIs and an 8th-inning-or-later home run since David Ortiz and Jason Varitek did it in Detroit on August 16, 2005.
But scroll forward about two hours and westward to Chicago. The Yankees and White Sox are deadlocked at 1-1 after Miguel Andujar's solo homer in the 7th. Giancarlo Stanton cranks a two-run shot in T10 to put New York up 3-1, the first multi-run homer by a Yankee in extra innings at Comiskey since Don Baylor did it at the original Comiskey Park across 35th Street on July 31, 1983.
Of course we're not done. Sox catcher Omar Narvaez gets plunked to start the 10th, and newly-acquired Zach Britton gets two groundouts while also throwing two wild pitches to advance Narvaez to third. Didn't matter. Jose Abreu, down to the team's final out, launches a two-run homer to center. But like Pillar before him, that's not a walkoff. It only ties the game and sends us off to inning number 11. Abreu's homer, a multi-run shot in extra innings of a home game that was not a walkoff, was the first for the White Sox since Aaron Rowand and Joe Borchard both hit them against the Tigers on September 18, 2004, after Detroit hung a 4 of their own in the top of the 10th.
The Yankees eventually win in 13 thanks to another hit by Andujar, but between them, Pillar and Abreu have unwittingly made major-league history. They both hit multi-run homers in extra innings of a home game, and neither of them was a walkoff. Even including the early days where the home team often batted first, Tuesday was the first time ever that two different teams hit such a homer on the same day.
Rox Around The Clox
The Colorado Rockies tend to start their home games at 6:40, a slightly unusual time which disrupts the "on-the-hour" progression as each night's schedule works westward. And it does mean they get 20 minutes' worth of walks and foul balls out of the way before catching up to the other west-coast games that start at 7. But at least the Rockies were nice enough to not require any extra innings this week; instead that Big Moment was provided by Chris Iannetta and Ryan McMahon-- repeatedly.
The Los Angeles Dodgers were the Rockies' opponent for the weekend, and they certainly could have done without the last half-hour or so of each game. In Thursday's opener they held a 3-1 lead before sending Pedro Baez to the mound for the bottom of the 7th. One out-- and five batters later-- they trailed 5-3 when Chris Iannetta homered. Hold that thought. Because Los Angeles went on a spree of its own, unloading (count 'em!) five homers from the 7th through the 9th to win 8-5. That was only the second time in Dodgers history that they'd hit five home runs that late in a game; the other was the famous contest against the Padres on September 18, 2006, where they hit four consecutive dingers (back-to-back-to-back-to-back) to tie the game in the bottom of the 9th, and then Nomar Garciaparra hit a walkoff in the 10th. Joc Peterson and Max Muncy both had pinch-hit taters in Thursday's rally; the last Dodger teammates to hit pinch-hit homers in the same game were Rick Monday and Mike Marshall against the Cubs on August 27, 1982.
On Friday the Dodgers once again clung to a one-run advantage going to the bottom of the 7th. This time it's Ryan McMahon's turn, yanking a two-run shot to flip that 3-4 deficit into a 5-4 lead. There were no late-inning heroics for the Dodgers this time, although Max Muncy did join Matt Kemp (June 6 in Pittsburgh) in having three extra-base hits in a loss, a first since Eric Karros and Shawn Green each did it during the 2000 season. McMahon's homer, combined with Iannetta's on Thursday, marked the first time the Rockies had homered to turn a deficit into a lead in the 7th or later since Seth Smith and Ryan Spilborghs did it against the Giants on August 23 and 24, 2009.
Are we done? No, of course we're not done. On Saturday it's 2-0 Dodgers after two innings, Walker Buehler is dominating the Rockies, and Los Angeles has this one in hand. Mmmm, nope. Trevor Story doubles off Scott Alexander to at least think about a 9th-inning rally. Nolan Arenado gets hit by a pitch. And who's up again but Ryan McMahon. Of course three-run jack to not only give the Rockies the win, but provide all their scoring in the game. In its 26-season history, Colorado has hit just five walkoff homers when trailing by at least two runs (by extension, the walkoff must be at least a 3-run shot); the previous one was by Drew Stubbs in Cincinnati on August 17, 2014. And while his 7th-inning homer on Friday was not a walkoff, McMahon did give the Rockies the lead in that one as well. Take a guess how many players in Rox history have hit a go-ahead homer in the 7th or later of consecutive games. Yep, that'd be one-- Ryan McMahon on Friday and Saturday. Tack on the go-ahead homer by Iannetta on Thursday, and boom, you've got another first. Never before in Rockies history had they homered in the 7th or later of three straight games with each longball turning a deficit into a lead.
And why not finish out the weekend with yet another Rockies walkoff? This one didn't involve a home run, and in fact the Rockies held the lead from the bottom of the 1st inning, which is cool because we were tired of looking it up. But when Brian Dozier drove in two runs in the 7th and Matt Kemp tied it with an 8th-inning sac fly, here we are again. DJ LeMahieu starts the 9th with a single and takes second when Yasiel Puig bobbles the ball. Which naturally necessitates an intentional walk. Ian Desmond grounds out to make it second and third with two down. Which of course means another intentional walk so there's a force at home (and everywhere else). Chris Iannetta fouls off the first pitch, which of course means another intentio-- no, wait a minute. You're not supposed to walk him. Certainly not on four pitches. That would, you know, lose the game. But okay, if you want to. Iannetta thus drew the eighth helping of "shrimp" (as a game-ending walk has become known to the baseball internet) in Rockies history, and their second this season (Tony Wolters vs Braves, April 7). It was Iannetta's seventh walkoff anything in his two stints with Colorado; he now trails only Dante Bichette and Todd Helton, who each have nine (others also have seven). And it gave the Rockies their first back-to-back walkoffs since May 18 and 20 of 2014, when Justin Morneau homered to beat the Padres, and Nolan Arenado doubled against the Giants. Colorado had never walked off the Dodgers twice in the same series, to say nothing of back-to-back.
Let's Start At The Very Beginning
A very good place to start. Intermission!
Slam Some Brews
After opening the season with a three-game homestand against the Brewers, the Padres had to wait all the way until August for the return trip to Milwaukee. They probably could have waited another inning or two instead of having Clayton Richard surrender two taters and four runs in the bottom of the 1st, the third time he's done that in his 11-year career (previous May 27, 2013, at Seattle). Happily for San Diego, that's why there are nine innings. After a pair of zeroes to start Tuesday's series opener, they scored in every remaining frame and rallied for an 11-5 win. It had been nearly two years (August 27, 2016, against Pittsburgh) since the Brewers scored 4 in the 1st and lost.
Leadoff hitter Manuel Margot was responsible for half of those 11, and yes we're giving him partial credit for a "little league home run" (triple plus E6) to score himself with the game's final run in the 9th, even though he doesn't get an RBI for it. Margot is the ninth player in Padres history with a homer, a triple, and five driven in (previous: Derek Norris against Washington, May 14, 2015), and the first to do it from the leadoff spot. In fact, only three other Padres have collected five RBIs at all from the top of the order, and two of them are Jacksons. Damian did it on August 22, 2000, against the Mets, while Darrin did it against the Cubs in 1991. The last member of the list is Bobby Tolan in 1974. For his part, Franmil Reyes became just the third San Diego batter ever to post a line of three hits, three runs, and three RBIs in Milwaukee, joining Matt Kemp in 2016 and Greg Vaughn in 1998.
On Wednesday the Brewers clearly realized that two 1st-inning homers would just not be enough, so Jesús Aguilar, Travis Shaw, and Eric Thames all decided to hit them, not just in the same inning, but back-to-back-to-back. Milwaukee hadn't hit three straight homers since May 19, 2015, in Detroit, and had never done it in a home game (either stadium). They'd also never hit three 1st-inning dingers at home, consecutive or not. It was a rough start to the major-league career of Brett Kennedy, who lasted four innings but surrendered 11 hits and the three homers. He's the first to give up all those hits in his debut since Pedro Hernandez of the White Sox did it on July 18, 2012, and the first ever to do it in a Padres uniform.
While Hunter Renfroe chipped in a two-run homer in the 6th to cut Wednesday's final margin to 8-4, he would wait one more day for his big moment. In the series finale, Milwaukee held a 4-2 lead after eight innings, and on comes Corey Knebel to try and earn his 15th save of the year. By now you know we wouldn't be mentioning that if he had gotten it. As the first three Padres batters fouled off seven pitches, Knebel walked the bases loaded before Travis Jankowski sent a roller up the third-base line. Freddy Galvis slid under the throw, it's now 4-3 with the bases still loaded, and it's time for Knebel to exit. Two batters later, Hunter Renfroe becomes the third San Diego batter ever to hit a grand slam in Milwaukee, joining Phil Nevin in 2001 and Wally Joyner in 1998. It was the first slam to turn a Padres deficit (3-4) into a lead (7-4) in the 9th inning or later since Rondell White hit a walkoff against the Mariners on June 20, 2003.
And all those runs were charged to Knebel, even though he didn't technically blow the save since it was still 4-3 when he left. It's the first time that Knebel has faced four or more batters, had all of them score, and taken a loss. But Mike Zagurski also did that for the Brewers back on June 30 in Cincinnati. And that makes it the first season in team history where two pitchers have pulled off that "feat".
When Snakes Walk
Have a week, David Peralta. The Diamondbacks outfielder chipped in four of Arizona's 12 hits in Monday's win over the Phillies, but not before making three outs in his first three plate appearances. His fourth at-bat, as the potential 26th out (of the 27 needed) in the bottom of the 9th, ended up in the seats in right-center for his 18th homer of the year. That still wasn't enough since it was a solo shot and the D'backs trailed 2-0. It was up to the next two batters, Eduardo Escobar and Steven Souza, to manufacture the tying run and get us some free baseball.
Too bad if you left in the 7th, because that would turn out to be only half the game. The D'backs got a runner in scoring position in the 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th but never scored any of them. Peralta had a double and a single in that run, but finally he opted to take matters into his own hands again. After Paul Goldschmidt struck out to start B14, Peralta sent one the other way, to left-center, for a 3-2 walkoff victory. By inning, it was the second-latest walkoff homer in Arizona history; Orlando Hudson hit one in the 15th against the Dodgers on August 25, 2006. It was three months before that (May 23 to the Mets' Carlos Beltran) when the Phillies last surrendered one in the 14th or later.
Peralta is the third player in D'backs history whose second homer of the game was an extra-inning walkoff. The aforementioned Paul Goldschmidt (August 13, 2013, vs Orioles) is one of the others, and Damian Miller beat the Dodgers on May 9, 2000. And the four hits-- all coming from the 9th inning on-- gave Peralta his fifth 4-hit game this season, tying Goldy (2013) for the team single-season record. He's the first player in team history with four hits in the 9th or later of the same game.
But records are made to be broken, right? Why else would we keep track? So fast-forward to the final game of the series on Wednesday. This one doesn't have any early- or late-game heroics to speak of, but Peralta again connected for four hits including a two-run triple that was effectively the game-winner since the Phillies didn't score at all. That gave him six 4-hit games this season, a new club record, and a career total of 13 to tie Goldy's mark in that category. And Peralta's fourth 4-hit game was just last Friday against the Giants; he joins Steve Finley (May 30 through June 2, 1999) as the only players in D'backs history with three of them in a seven-day span.
Cycling The Pacific Northwest
Sometimes it's not the 27th out of the game that's the hardest to get, it's the first. Just ask Justin Verlander, who has been known to get 27 of them in fairly quick succession, but on Thursday came up a mere 21 short. Mitch Haniger took Verlander's third pitch of the game to left-center for a leadoff homer, Seattle's first of the year (home or away). In fact, the Mariners were the only team to not hit a leadoff homer last season; their previous one was by Norichika Aoki (who is now a Yakult Swallow, since we thought he might have retired) against Minnesota on May 28, 2016. That two-years-plus drought is the Mariners' second-longest ever; Julio Cruz hit the first two leadoff homers in team history, but the first one didn't come until their third season (May 19, 1979), and he didn't hit another one until June 27, 1982. The Diamondbacks and Marlins are now the only two teams without a leadoff homer in 2018.
Seattle was not content with its early 1-0 lead, however. The speedy Denard Span roped a ball down the right-field line, and with Tony Kemp playing him to pull, he easily beat the throw for a stand-up triple. Four pitches later it was Jean Segura's turn to test Kemp, who watched a ball bounce over his head and into the stands for an automatic double. And when cleanup batter Nelson Cruz lined a single through the hole at short, the Mariners had pulled off the first game-opening reverse cycle in at least 100 years. We did, however, find three teams that deserved honorable mention in this department. The Cubs, on May 25, 1955, opened homer-triple-double-walk (so they still ended up at first, just not via single). Besides them, the only other team to start homer-triple-double was the Yankees on August 17, 1977, against the Tigers, but unfortunately it wasn't October yet, so 4-hitter Reggie Jackson struck out. And the Giants, against the Mets on September 15, 1966, opened the game homer-triple-triple-single, so if only Willie Mays could have stopped himself at second.
Things didn't get a whole lot better for Verlander; in the 2nd inning, after Haniger doubled with two outs, JV appeared to pick him off second to end the inning but got called for a balk by home-plate umpire Nic Lentz. Span and Segura then hit back-to-back homers for a 6-0 lead, and Verlander spent the entire inning break chirping from the dugout until he finally got tossed. That made him the fifth starter in Astros history to give up six runs and three homers without at least starting the 3rd inning, and the first since Ezequiel Astacio did it against Texas on May 21, 2005.
Haniger would go on to have a single and another double, the sixth leadoff batter in Mariners history with a four-hit game that included three for extra bases. Ichiro Suzuki is two of those six, including the previous occurrence on May 31, 2009, in Anaheim. Haniger did not see fit to loan one of his doubles to Span, who missed the cycle by the two-bagger, the first Seattle hitter to do that while driving in three runs since Josh Wilson on May 9, 2010, also against the Angels.
The War Of 19-12
Harkening back to last week's Christmas-themed post, we did end up with one leftover present. You know how every so often you forget to take one of the gifts to Grandma's house, or it's on back order because it's The Hot New Toy this year, or it gets lost in the mail, whatever. Anyway, this week's "December 29" gift finally arrived on Friday as the Red Sox and Orioles made it snow a whole lot of runs on Camden Yards.
Xander Bogaerts started things early with a 3-run homer off Dylan Bundy in the 1st. This comes as no surprise, since the Orioles have had 39 starters this season give up at least five runs; it's a thing we've been tracking all year, and they constnatly flip-flop the lead in this category with the equally-dreadful Kansas City Royals. The unexpected part was when the newly-acquired Nate Eovaldi got lit up for four in the 2nd and four more in the 3rd. An error by Jackie Bradley made half of them unearned, but still Eovaldi didn't get out of the inning and became the first Sox pitcher to give up 10 hits, eight runs, and strike out zero since knuckleballer Tim Wakefield did it in Chicago on June 10, 1996.
Bundy gave up two more in the 4th to get to his required five runs, but the Red Sox really exploded all over the rest of the laundry in the 6th with three hits, a sacrifice fly, and four walks, two with the bases loaded. That gave Boston back the lead at 11-8 and they would be sure not to lose it again. Andrew Benintendi hit a three-run homer in the 7th, and now we're in "matrix" territory at 14-10. Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez combine to drive in five more runs in the 8th, and Baltimore's Cedric Mullins, making his MLB debut, scores the last run with two outs in the 9th for a final tally of 19-12.
The Red Sox retaking the lead got Eovaldi out of a loss, so not only is he the first with that 10-hit, 8-run, 0-K line since Wakefield in 1996, he's the first to do it and not lose since Al Papai pulled it off against the Athletics on June 29, 1950. And that lead got retaken after Bundy was already out of the game also, so he got a no-decision despite allowing 12 baserunners, eight of whom scored, and only struck out three himself. No Orioles pitcher had done that since Rich Hill, also against Boston, on June 30, 2009. And how many times have both starters done that 12-8-3 line without at least one of them taking the loss? Well, that would be 16. But in the 99 seasons of the live-ball era, that's still not many. The previous such game was (of course) a Yankees/Red Sox tilt between A.J. Burnett and Josh Beckett on April 25, 2009.
But enough about pitching, you know there are some offensive notes in a game like that. Sometimes these get difficult because everybody chips in and nobody stands out. But on this one we did have a few. Our first winners are the team of Mookie Betts and Brock Holt, who each reached base five times via the three-hit, two-walk combo. They both scored three runs and drove in three others. Since RBIs were officially recognized in 1920, only three other pairs of teammates have had three hits, two walks, three runs, and three RBIs in the same game, and none was from Boston. The Mets' Dave Magadan and Kevin McReynolds were the first to do it, on June 12, 1990, and their fellow New Yorkers Chase Headley and Stephen Drew of the Yankees duplicated it on August 30, 2015. In between, however, there was the pairing of Ronnie Belliard and Jose Valentin for the Brewers, who both posted that line on July 1, 1999 against the Cubs. Final score of that game? Yep, 19-12. The matrix tells us that until Friday, that game had been the last exact score of 19-12 in the majors.
Jackie Bradley, meanwhile, scored four of those 19 runs while managing to miss the cycle by the homer. The last Red Sox hitter with a single, double, triple, and four runs scored was Dwight Evans on June 28, 1984, in a game where he did hit for the cycle against Seattle. The last to do it without also homering was Vern Stephens against the Browns on June 8, 1950, a game which remains the highest-scoring Red Sox contest in history, and also the last 29-4 final in the majors (there have been three).
And some love to the aforementioned Cedric Mullins who got this festival for his major-league debut after the Orioles moved Adam Jones to right field and released Former New Britain Rock Cat Danny Valencia. That 9th-inning run scored was just the icing on his night, which featured three hits, two extra-base hits, and three runs scored. Only four other players since 1920 have done that in their debuts; the most recent was Joey Gallo for the Rangers in 2015, and before that was J.P. Arencibia's memorable two-homer game for the Jays in 2010. Craig Wilson of the White Sox (1998) and none other than Willie McCovey (1959) round out the list.
We mentioned that the last 19-12 score in the majors was in 1999. But would you believe Friday was the first time in Orioles history (1954) that they had scored 12 runs in a home game and lost? The franchise last did that when it was in St Louis, on May 25, 1950, also against the Red Sox (15-12). And the last time "Baltimore" did it? That's the old National League club which dropped the first game of a doubleheader "by a neck" (13-12) to the Chicago Orphans (that's the Cubs)... on August 18, 1899.
The (Washington) Times, August 19, 1899 (via Library of Congress)
What Goes Around Comes Around
Remember we started this post by mentioning last Sunday night's wild finish that ended with an Andrew Benintendi walkoff? In perfect synergy, this week ended with another epic finish in another Sunday night classic, this one between the Nationals and Cubs at Wrigley Field. Max Scherzer and the newly-acquired Cole Hamels locked in a game that was actually a pitcher's duel for once (as opposed to just a bunch of offenses being inert), with only four baserunners (three hits and a walk) in the first six innings. After Anthony Rizzo got the last of those hits in the 3rd, twenty-four straight hitters returned to the dugouts from whence they came, and the game ultimately got turned over to the bullpens in the 8th inning with Washington holding a narrow 1-0 lead on Mark Reynolds' sacrifice fly in the 2nd inning. Brandon Kintzler, who was traded from the Nationals to the Cubs two weeks ago, promptly turned that into a 3-0 lead for his former team by giving up two hits and two walks in the 9th. So it's up to Ryan Madson to close down the week in Major League Baseball.
Mmm, not quite. Jason Heyward beats out an infield single. No problem, one out. Madson hits Albert Almora with a pitch but then gets the second out. Still good. Madson plunks Willson Contreras to put the tying run on base, where he is promptly replaced by pinch runner Ian Happ. And oh yeah, now the pitcher's spot is up, and with all due respect to Justin Wilson's 0-for-7 lifetime batting ledger, up trots pinch hitter David Bote. And you know the rest. Slam. A walkoff slam. A pinch-hit walkoff slam. To put a giant bow on our week of beginnings and endings.
We'd love to say it's the Cubs' first walkoff slam since before Wrigley had lights or something like that, but Jason Heyward, who scored the first of the four runs on Sunday, hit one of his own against his former team, the Braves, on June 6. So instead we point out that it's the first time they've hit two in the same season since Barry Foote and Cliff Johnson both did it in 1980. The last time the Cubs hit a walkoff slam for their only runs of a game (so they were sitting on a big 0 prior to the hit) was on September 25, 1968, against the Dodgers, when Ron Santo provided a 4-1 victory. Since the move to Washington, the Nats have allowed three walkoff slams; the others were both hit on May 13, and they have been nicely six years apart. Jeff Francoeur of the Braves hit one in 2006, and Cincinnati's Joey Votto did it in 2012.
As for the pinch-hit part, Bote was the first Cubs batter to hit any pinch-hit slam (walkoff or not) since David DeJesus in Milwaukee on May 11, 2012. Journeyman Earl Averill, who actually played for both Chicago clubs during the 1960 campaign, had the prior walkoff slam by a Cubs pinch hitter; that was also against Milwaukee (but it's the Braves this time) on May 12, 1959. Bote, however, is the second pinch hitter with a walkoff slam in MLB this season; Daniel Robertson of the Rays hit one on July 22 to beat the Marlins. And that hasn't happened twice in a season since 1979, when Roger Freed of the Cardinals (May 1 vs Houston) and Pittsburgh's John Milner (August 5 vs Phillies) both did it.
Largely forgotten (you might have forgotten it already) will be the beginning of that game and the 24 straight retired batters. Scherzer and Hamels each threw seven innings, neither allowed more than one run or three hits, and both of them struck out at least nine. Only nine other opposing starters have ever done that, and of course it's a recent phenomenon. Yu Darvish and Masahiro Tanaka matched wits last June, as did Clayton Kershaw and Lance Lynn in May. But as they say in a lot of sports, it's not how you start, it's how you finish.
Bottom Of The Bag
⚾ Mookie Betts, Thursday: First Red Sox batter to hit for the cycle in a loss since Carl Yastrzemski against Detroit on May 14, 1965.
⚾ Jeremy Hellickson & Blake Snell, Friday: First day in (at least) live-ball era where two starters got removed from games in the 6th inning or later without having given up a hit yet.
⚾ Dodgers, Tuesday: First win in Oakland since a 5-3 victory on July 14, 2001. Had won road games in all 29 other MLB cities (including Montréal) since then; their least-recent is now at Fenway in 2004.
⚾ Eduardo Nuñez & J.D. Martinez, Saturday: First time Red Sox have had a multi-homer game in both halves of a doubleheader since Troy O'Leary, Trot Nixon, and Mike Lansing all did it against Texas on August 4, 2001.
⚾ Lance Lynn, Monday: First pitcher to throw 7+ scoreless innings and allow XXLT 2 hits in his first start as a Yankee since Jose Contreras on May 30, 2003.
⚾ Ryan Zimmerman, Saturday: First Nationals hitter with a 2-HR, 6-RBI game at Wrigley since Josh Willingham on August 25, 2009.
⚾ Ryan Zimmerman, Tuesday: First batter in Nationals history (2005) with 3+ hits in both games of a doubleheader. Last for Expos was Vlad Guerrero at Philadelphia, September 11, 2000.
⚾ Adam Engel, Sunday: Second number-9 batter in White Sox history to have a homer, a triple, and 3 RBI in a loss. Other was Ozzie Guillen at Milwaukee, September 15, 1997.
⚾ Francisco Cervelli, Friday: First Pirates batter with 5 RBI in a loss since... Francisco Cervelli in their other 13-10 game, against Detroit on April 25. First Pittsburgh batter ever to do it twice in a season.
⚾ Tyler White, Tuesday: First Astros batter with a homer and a triple in a game in San Francisco since Kevin Bass at Candlestick, June 27, 1987.
⚾ Casey Kelly, Saturday: First pitcher to throw 5+ innings of two-hit relief in his first appearance for the Giants since Clint Hartung's MLB debut against Boston on May 9, 1947.
⚾ Max Muncy & Joc Pederson, Thursday: First Dodger teammates with pinch-hit homers in same game since Mike Marshall and Rick Monday against the Cubs on August 27, 1982.
⚾ Brewers, Sunday: First team this season to have 19+ hits in a nine-inning game and lose. Last time Milwaukee did it was August 24, 2002, a 17-10 slugfest against the Pirates for which we will spare you a picture of our scoresheet. ☺
⚾ Andrew McCutchen, Friday: First player (any team) to hit a leadoff homer and then draw four walks since Bobby Bonds (not Barry, though he came close) against Baltimore on September 27, 1975.
⚾ Orioles, Wednesday: First time committing five errors in a game and winning since June 9, 1983, against Milwaukee (won 10-7).
⚾ Cardinals & Athletics, Sunday: Both offenses had four batters get hit by pitches (the A's had five). First day on which that's happened to two different teams since May 22, 1999, when the Pirates (by Marlins) and Devil Rays (by Angels) both did it.
⚾ Ronald Guzman, Friday: Second player in Rangers/Senators history with a 3-HR game against the Yankees. Larry Parrish did it in a 7-5 win on April 29, 1985.
⚾ Wilmer Flores, Monday: First Mets batter to have a three-hit game on his birthday since Jeromy Burnitz on April 15, 2003. Every other team has had a player do it since then (most of them several).
C-leave-land
A few years ago the Cleveland Indians started moving their midweek games to 6:00 in the hopes of attracting more downtown "day job" workers who didn't want to go home and come back, and/or more families with schoolkids for whom getting home at 10:30 or 11:00 was not ideal. (Another option would have been to throw the ball within the 12-second time specified by the rules, but pfffft.) Anyway, for the most part the Indians are back to 7:00 starts, but they'd still appreciate it if you stuck around until the end. Because at least this week, that's when most of the good stuff happened.
On Monday you were forgiven for leaving early; Cleveland dropped a 10-0 shutout in the opener of a four-game series with Minnesota, their largest shutout win over the Twins since July 22, 2006. Trevor Bauer spun one of his usual gems, striking out 11 batters and posting his second outing this season of 0 runs, ≤ 3 hits, and 11+ strikeouts. Only two other Indians pitchers have thrown two such games in a season, regardless of the number of innings-- Herb Score in 1956 and Bob Feller in 1939. If you did leave early, you missed Edwin Encarnacion's three-run tater in the 7th to provide the final margin; it was his fifth game this season with a home run and 4+ RBIs. "EE" also had five such games last year; the last Clevelander with more was Travis Hafner, who did it a whopping nine times in 2006.
Honestly you could have left early on Tuesday as well; the Twins would get all the offense they needed on Mitch Garver's three-run homer in the 2nd. The last number-9 batter with a 3-RBI game that accounted for all of Minnesota's runs was Juan Castro, also against the Indians, on July 31, 2005; and the last time it happened in a win was when Greg Gagne homered twice to beat Toronto on August 22, 1986. For Carlos Carrasco, it was his third career game with eight strikeouts but also ten or more hits allowed; no Indians pitcher has thrown three such games since Greg Swindell from 1987-90.
That, however, would be the only game the Twins would salvage in the series, although they did certainly make it interesting. If you left Wednesday's game when the Indians had a 2-1 lead in the 6th or 7th or 8th, and then you heard the next morning that they won, okay, no big deal. Except you might not have heard that Miguel Sano uncorked a solo home run to lead off the top of the 9th and tie the game, resulting in Cody Allen's third blown save of the year. It was the second time this year that Sano had victimized the Indians in such fasion; he also had a game-tying dinger in the 14th back on April 18 after Encarnacion had homered in the top half. The Twins eventually walked off that game in 16, but Wednesday's shot made Sano just the fourth player in Minnesota history (1961) to hit a pair of tying (not go-ahead) homers in the 9th or later in the same season, and the first to do it against the same opponent. The other Twins with two are Brian Dozier in 2013, Randy Bush in 1991, and Gary Gaetti in 1989.
But never fear, Francisco Lindor is here. After Jason Kipnis and Brandon Guyer both singled in the bottom of the 9th, Lindor launched his 29th homer of the year to right field for a three-run walkoff. That was Cleveland's first 3- or 4-run walkoff homer against the Twins since Victor Martinez took Joe Nathan deep on September 16, 2008. The Twins have been on the wrong end of eight walkoff homers this season; no other team has given up more than five. The last time any team gave up eight in a season was the 2010 Cardinals, and the most in Twins/Senators history had been six in 1985.
If you missed Wednesday's walkoff, well, we invite you back for Thursday's series-ending matinee which was tied 4-4 after Jorge Polanco took Corey Kluber deep in the 6th. And sure enough, the result was the same, albeit with a little less drama. Greg Allen singled to lead off B9, stole second, and then Michael Brantley singled to right for the walkoff. Or for another walkoff. Cleveland hadn't had beaten the same opponent in that fashion in consecutive games since May 17 and 18, 2013, when Jason Kipnis homered and Mark Reynolds hit into an "FCX" (fielder's choice with no out recorded) against the Mariners. They hadn't walked off the Twins in back-to-back games since September 27 and 28, 1984, on a Jamie Quirk homer and a single by Brett Butler. They hadn't even done it twice in the same season since 2010.
While he didn't get the spotlight on Thursday, Francisco Lindor drove in three of the Indians' first four runs with a double and a single. That's his second consecutive game with two hits and three RBIs; no Indians leadoff batter had done that since future manager Mike Hargrove on August 12 and 13, 1979.
And by the way, the Indians weren't done walking off, even though they went to Chicago for the weekend. On Friday, however, their defense was walking off after watching Daniel Palka's solo home run clear the left-field fence. It was the fifth time the Indians had given up a walkoff homer this season, their most in a decade. But the bigger story might be the score. Palka's homer... was the only run of the game. The teams played 8½ scoreless innings before the leadoff dinger. The White Sox had not won a 1-0 game via walkoff since Eduardo Escobar singled against the Brewers on June 24, 2012. The Indians last 1-0 walkoff loss was to Toronto on July 8, 2007, when Alex Rios singled home Reed Johnson.
But the Indians hadn't lost a 1-0 game on a walkoff homer since Bill Tuttle of the Tigers took Herb Score deep on April 29, 1956. And the White Sox... had never won one. Palka's hit was the first time in the team's 118 seasons that they had won a 1-0 game on a walkoff homer.
Cleveland held onto a 3-1 lead Saturday to break their streak of late drama, but still it was their first stretch of three consecutive walkoff games (win or lose) since they swept Toronto at home from September 7 through 9, 1979. And that one White Sox run on Saturday also came via solo homer (Yoan Moncada), just in the 3rd inning and not the 9th. That was the first instance of the Sox scoring one run in back-to-back games, and having both runs be solo homers, since Magglio Ordoñez and Chris Singleton hit them at Fenway on June 25 and 26, 1999.
No Gatorade For You
Although the Yankees and Red Sox weren't playing each other on Tuesday (no, really, there's like 10 days a year when they don't), they still found a way to connect. Boston, with an hour head start thanks to time zones, took a 5-3 lead into the bottom of the 8th at Rogers Centre and turned the ball over to Matt Barnes. Luke Maile turned one of those balls into an RBI double to make it 5-4. The Red Sox turn the ball over to Craig Kimbrel and his 33 saves. Justin Smoak-- on a 3-0 pitch, no less-- turns that into a 5-5 tie and extra innings.
Happily we didn't have long to wait. The Red Sox exploded for five runs in the top of the 10th, including home runs by Mitch Moreland and Jackie Bradley. It was the first time they'd hit two multi-run homers in an extra inning since Mike Napoli and Allen Craig did it, also at Rogers Centre, on August 26, 2014.
Just like he had in the 8th, Yangervis Solarte led off the 10th with a single, and then Kevin Pillar launched a two-run homer. But that still only turned a five-run deficit into a three-run deficit. The Jays' last home run in extra innings of a home game that wasn't a walkoff was by Edwin Encarnacion on September 22, 2015, after the Yankees had scored 3 in their half of the 10th. And that's how Tuesday's game would end, a 10-7 extra-inning win for the visitors with the score in the 10th being 5 over 2. Moreland and J.D. Martinez, who homered in the top of the 8th, became the first Red Sox teammates to each have 4 RBIs and an 8th-inning-or-later home run since David Ortiz and Jason Varitek did it in Detroit on August 16, 2005.
But scroll forward about two hours and westward to Chicago. The Yankees and White Sox are deadlocked at 1-1 after Miguel Andujar's solo homer in the 7th. Giancarlo Stanton cranks a two-run shot in T10 to put New York up 3-1, the first multi-run homer by a Yankee in extra innings at Comiskey since Don Baylor did it at the original Comiskey Park across 35th Street on July 31, 1983.
Of course we're not done. Sox catcher Omar Narvaez gets plunked to start the 10th, and newly-acquired Zach Britton gets two groundouts while also throwing two wild pitches to advance Narvaez to third. Didn't matter. Jose Abreu, down to the team's final out, launches a two-run homer to center. But like Pillar before him, that's not a walkoff. It only ties the game and sends us off to inning number 11. Abreu's homer, a multi-run shot in extra innings of a home game that was not a walkoff, was the first for the White Sox since Aaron Rowand and Joe Borchard both hit them against the Tigers on September 18, 2004, after Detroit hung a 4 of their own in the top of the 10th.
The Yankees eventually win in 13 thanks to another hit by Andujar, but between them, Pillar and Abreu have unwittingly made major-league history. They both hit multi-run homers in extra innings of a home game, and neither of them was a walkoff. Even including the early days where the home team often batted first, Tuesday was the first time ever that two different teams hit such a homer on the same day.
Rox Around The Clox
The Colorado Rockies tend to start their home games at 6:40, a slightly unusual time which disrupts the "on-the-hour" progression as each night's schedule works westward. And it does mean they get 20 minutes' worth of walks and foul balls out of the way before catching up to the other west-coast games that start at 7. But at least the Rockies were nice enough to not require any extra innings this week; instead that Big Moment was provided by Chris Iannetta and Ryan McMahon-- repeatedly.
The Los Angeles Dodgers were the Rockies' opponent for the weekend, and they certainly could have done without the last half-hour or so of each game. In Thursday's opener they held a 3-1 lead before sending Pedro Baez to the mound for the bottom of the 7th. One out-- and five batters later-- they trailed 5-3 when Chris Iannetta homered. Hold that thought. Because Los Angeles went on a spree of its own, unloading (count 'em!) five homers from the 7th through the 9th to win 8-5. That was only the second time in Dodgers history that they'd hit five home runs that late in a game; the other was the famous contest against the Padres on September 18, 2006, where they hit four consecutive dingers (back-to-back-to-back-to-back) to tie the game in the bottom of the 9th, and then Nomar Garciaparra hit a walkoff in the 10th. Joc Peterson and Max Muncy both had pinch-hit taters in Thursday's rally; the last Dodger teammates to hit pinch-hit homers in the same game were Rick Monday and Mike Marshall against the Cubs on August 27, 1982.
On Friday the Dodgers once again clung to a one-run advantage going to the bottom of the 7th. This time it's Ryan McMahon's turn, yanking a two-run shot to flip that 3-4 deficit into a 5-4 lead. There were no late-inning heroics for the Dodgers this time, although Max Muncy did join Matt Kemp (June 6 in Pittsburgh) in having three extra-base hits in a loss, a first since Eric Karros and Shawn Green each did it during the 2000 season. McMahon's homer, combined with Iannetta's on Thursday, marked the first time the Rockies had homered to turn a deficit into a lead in the 7th or later since Seth Smith and Ryan Spilborghs did it against the Giants on August 23 and 24, 2009.
Are we done? No, of course we're not done. On Saturday it's 2-0 Dodgers after two innings, Walker Buehler is dominating the Rockies, and Los Angeles has this one in hand. Mmmm, nope. Trevor Story doubles off Scott Alexander to at least think about a 9th-inning rally. Nolan Arenado gets hit by a pitch. And who's up again but Ryan McMahon. Of course three-run jack to not only give the Rockies the win, but provide all their scoring in the game. In its 26-season history, Colorado has hit just five walkoff homers when trailing by at least two runs (by extension, the walkoff must be at least a 3-run shot); the previous one was by Drew Stubbs in Cincinnati on August 17, 2014. And while his 7th-inning homer on Friday was not a walkoff, McMahon did give the Rockies the lead in that one as well. Take a guess how many players in Rox history have hit a go-ahead homer in the 7th or later of consecutive games. Yep, that'd be one-- Ryan McMahon on Friday and Saturday. Tack on the go-ahead homer by Iannetta on Thursday, and boom, you've got another first. Never before in Rockies history had they homered in the 7th or later of three straight games with each longball turning a deficit into a lead.
And why not finish out the weekend with yet another Rockies walkoff? This one didn't involve a home run, and in fact the Rockies held the lead from the bottom of the 1st inning, which is cool because we were tired of looking it up. But when Brian Dozier drove in two runs in the 7th and Matt Kemp tied it with an 8th-inning sac fly, here we are again. DJ LeMahieu starts the 9th with a single and takes second when Yasiel Puig bobbles the ball. Which naturally necessitates an intentional walk. Ian Desmond grounds out to make it second and third with two down. Which of course means another intentional walk so there's a force at home (and everywhere else). Chris Iannetta fouls off the first pitch, which of course means another intentio-- no, wait a minute. You're not supposed to walk him. Certainly not on four pitches. That would, you know, lose the game. But okay, if you want to. Iannetta thus drew the eighth helping of "shrimp" (as a game-ending walk has become known to the baseball internet) in Rockies history, and their second this season (Tony Wolters vs Braves, April 7). It was Iannetta's seventh walkoff anything in his two stints with Colorado; he now trails only Dante Bichette and Todd Helton, who each have nine (others also have seven). And it gave the Rockies their first back-to-back walkoffs since May 18 and 20 of 2014, when Justin Morneau homered to beat the Padres, and Nolan Arenado doubled against the Giants. Colorado had never walked off the Dodgers twice in the same series, to say nothing of back-to-back.
Let's Start At The Very Beginning
A very good place to start. Intermission!
Slam Some Brews
After opening the season with a three-game homestand against the Brewers, the Padres had to wait all the way until August for the return trip to Milwaukee. They probably could have waited another inning or two instead of having Clayton Richard surrender two taters and four runs in the bottom of the 1st, the third time he's done that in his 11-year career (previous May 27, 2013, at Seattle). Happily for San Diego, that's why there are nine innings. After a pair of zeroes to start Tuesday's series opener, they scored in every remaining frame and rallied for an 11-5 win. It had been nearly two years (August 27, 2016, against Pittsburgh) since the Brewers scored 4 in the 1st and lost.
Leadoff hitter Manuel Margot was responsible for half of those 11, and yes we're giving him partial credit for a "little league home run" (triple plus E6) to score himself with the game's final run in the 9th, even though he doesn't get an RBI for it. Margot is the ninth player in Padres history with a homer, a triple, and five driven in (previous: Derek Norris against Washington, May 14, 2015), and the first to do it from the leadoff spot. In fact, only three other Padres have collected five RBIs at all from the top of the order, and two of them are Jacksons. Damian did it on August 22, 2000, against the Mets, while Darrin did it against the Cubs in 1991. The last member of the list is Bobby Tolan in 1974. For his part, Franmil Reyes became just the third San Diego batter ever to post a line of three hits, three runs, and three RBIs in Milwaukee, joining Matt Kemp in 2016 and Greg Vaughn in 1998.
On Wednesday the Brewers clearly realized that two 1st-inning homers would just not be enough, so Jesús Aguilar, Travis Shaw, and Eric Thames all decided to hit them, not just in the same inning, but back-to-back-to-back. Milwaukee hadn't hit three straight homers since May 19, 2015, in Detroit, and had never done it in a home game (either stadium). They'd also never hit three 1st-inning dingers at home, consecutive or not. It was a rough start to the major-league career of Brett Kennedy, who lasted four innings but surrendered 11 hits and the three homers. He's the first to give up all those hits in his debut since Pedro Hernandez of the White Sox did it on July 18, 2012, and the first ever to do it in a Padres uniform.
While Hunter Renfroe chipped in a two-run homer in the 6th to cut Wednesday's final margin to 8-4, he would wait one more day for his big moment. In the series finale, Milwaukee held a 4-2 lead after eight innings, and on comes Corey Knebel to try and earn his 15th save of the year. By now you know we wouldn't be mentioning that if he had gotten it. As the first three Padres batters fouled off seven pitches, Knebel walked the bases loaded before Travis Jankowski sent a roller up the third-base line. Freddy Galvis slid under the throw, it's now 4-3 with the bases still loaded, and it's time for Knebel to exit. Two batters later, Hunter Renfroe becomes the third San Diego batter ever to hit a grand slam in Milwaukee, joining Phil Nevin in 2001 and Wally Joyner in 1998. It was the first slam to turn a Padres deficit (3-4) into a lead (7-4) in the 9th inning or later since Rondell White hit a walkoff against the Mariners on June 20, 2003.
And all those runs were charged to Knebel, even though he didn't technically blow the save since it was still 4-3 when he left. It's the first time that Knebel has faced four or more batters, had all of them score, and taken a loss. But Mike Zagurski also did that for the Brewers back on June 30 in Cincinnati. And that makes it the first season in team history where two pitchers have pulled off that "feat".
When Snakes Walk
Have a week, David Peralta. The Diamondbacks outfielder chipped in four of Arizona's 12 hits in Monday's win over the Phillies, but not before making three outs in his first three plate appearances. His fourth at-bat, as the potential 26th out (of the 27 needed) in the bottom of the 9th, ended up in the seats in right-center for his 18th homer of the year. That still wasn't enough since it was a solo shot and the D'backs trailed 2-0. It was up to the next two batters, Eduardo Escobar and Steven Souza, to manufacture the tying run and get us some free baseball.
Too bad if you left in the 7th, because that would turn out to be only half the game. The D'backs got a runner in scoring position in the 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th but never scored any of them. Peralta had a double and a single in that run, but finally he opted to take matters into his own hands again. After Paul Goldschmidt struck out to start B14, Peralta sent one the other way, to left-center, for a 3-2 walkoff victory. By inning, it was the second-latest walkoff homer in Arizona history; Orlando Hudson hit one in the 15th against the Dodgers on August 25, 2006. It was three months before that (May 23 to the Mets' Carlos Beltran) when the Phillies last surrendered one in the 14th or later.
Peralta is the third player in D'backs history whose second homer of the game was an extra-inning walkoff. The aforementioned Paul Goldschmidt (August 13, 2013, vs Orioles) is one of the others, and Damian Miller beat the Dodgers on May 9, 2000. And the four hits-- all coming from the 9th inning on-- gave Peralta his fifth 4-hit game this season, tying Goldy (2013) for the team single-season record. He's the first player in team history with four hits in the 9th or later of the same game.
But records are made to be broken, right? Why else would we keep track? So fast-forward to the final game of the series on Wednesday. This one doesn't have any early- or late-game heroics to speak of, but Peralta again connected for four hits including a two-run triple that was effectively the game-winner since the Phillies didn't score at all. That gave him six 4-hit games this season, a new club record, and a career total of 13 to tie Goldy's mark in that category. And Peralta's fourth 4-hit game was just last Friday against the Giants; he joins Steve Finley (May 30 through June 2, 1999) as the only players in D'backs history with three of them in a seven-day span.
Cycling The Pacific Northwest
Sometimes it's not the 27th out of the game that's the hardest to get, it's the first. Just ask Justin Verlander, who has been known to get 27 of them in fairly quick succession, but on Thursday came up a mere 21 short. Mitch Haniger took Verlander's third pitch of the game to left-center for a leadoff homer, Seattle's first of the year (home or away). In fact, the Mariners were the only team to not hit a leadoff homer last season; their previous one was by Norichika Aoki (who is now a Yakult Swallow, since we thought he might have retired) against Minnesota on May 28, 2016. That two-years-plus drought is the Mariners' second-longest ever; Julio Cruz hit the first two leadoff homers in team history, but the first one didn't come until their third season (May 19, 1979), and he didn't hit another one until June 27, 1982. The Diamondbacks and Marlins are now the only two teams without a leadoff homer in 2018.
Seattle was not content with its early 1-0 lead, however. The speedy Denard Span roped a ball down the right-field line, and with Tony Kemp playing him to pull, he easily beat the throw for a stand-up triple. Four pitches later it was Jean Segura's turn to test Kemp, who watched a ball bounce over his head and into the stands for an automatic double. And when cleanup batter Nelson Cruz lined a single through the hole at short, the Mariners had pulled off the first game-opening reverse cycle in at least 100 years. We did, however, find three teams that deserved honorable mention in this department. The Cubs, on May 25, 1955, opened homer-triple-double-walk (so they still ended up at first, just not via single). Besides them, the only other team to start homer-triple-double was the Yankees on August 17, 1977, against the Tigers, but unfortunately it wasn't October yet, so 4-hitter Reggie Jackson struck out. And the Giants, against the Mets on September 15, 1966, opened the game homer-triple-triple-single, so if only Willie Mays could have stopped himself at second.
Things didn't get a whole lot better for Verlander; in the 2nd inning, after Haniger doubled with two outs, JV appeared to pick him off second to end the inning but got called for a balk by home-plate umpire Nic Lentz. Span and Segura then hit back-to-back homers for a 6-0 lead, and Verlander spent the entire inning break chirping from the dugout until he finally got tossed. That made him the fifth starter in Astros history to give up six runs and three homers without at least starting the 3rd inning, and the first since Ezequiel Astacio did it against Texas on May 21, 2005.
Haniger would go on to have a single and another double, the sixth leadoff batter in Mariners history with a four-hit game that included three for extra bases. Ichiro Suzuki is two of those six, including the previous occurrence on May 31, 2009, in Anaheim. Haniger did not see fit to loan one of his doubles to Span, who missed the cycle by the two-bagger, the first Seattle hitter to do that while driving in three runs since Josh Wilson on May 9, 2010, also against the Angels.
The War Of 19-12
Harkening back to last week's Christmas-themed post, we did end up with one leftover present. You know how every so often you forget to take one of the gifts to Grandma's house, or it's on back order because it's The Hot New Toy this year, or it gets lost in the mail, whatever. Anyway, this week's "December 29" gift finally arrived on Friday as the Red Sox and Orioles made it snow a whole lot of runs on Camden Yards.
Xander Bogaerts started things early with a 3-run homer off Dylan Bundy in the 1st. This comes as no surprise, since the Orioles have had 39 starters this season give up at least five runs; it's a thing we've been tracking all year, and they constnatly flip-flop the lead in this category with the equally-dreadful Kansas City Royals. The unexpected part was when the newly-acquired Nate Eovaldi got lit up for four in the 2nd and four more in the 3rd. An error by Jackie Bradley made half of them unearned, but still Eovaldi didn't get out of the inning and became the first Sox pitcher to give up 10 hits, eight runs, and strike out zero since knuckleballer Tim Wakefield did it in Chicago on June 10, 1996.
Bundy gave up two more in the 4th to get to his required five runs, but the Red Sox really exploded all over the rest of the laundry in the 6th with three hits, a sacrifice fly, and four walks, two with the bases loaded. That gave Boston back the lead at 11-8 and they would be sure not to lose it again. Andrew Benintendi hit a three-run homer in the 7th, and now we're in "matrix" territory at 14-10. Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez combine to drive in five more runs in the 8th, and Baltimore's Cedric Mullins, making his MLB debut, scores the last run with two outs in the 9th for a final tally of 19-12.
The Red Sox retaking the lead got Eovaldi out of a loss, so not only is he the first with that 10-hit, 8-run, 0-K line since Wakefield in 1996, he's the first to do it and not lose since Al Papai pulled it off against the Athletics on June 29, 1950. And that lead got retaken after Bundy was already out of the game also, so he got a no-decision despite allowing 12 baserunners, eight of whom scored, and only struck out three himself. No Orioles pitcher had done that since Rich Hill, also against Boston, on June 30, 2009. And how many times have both starters done that 12-8-3 line without at least one of them taking the loss? Well, that would be 16. But in the 99 seasons of the live-ball era, that's still not many. The previous such game was (of course) a Yankees/Red Sox tilt between A.J. Burnett and Josh Beckett on April 25, 2009.
But enough about pitching, you know there are some offensive notes in a game like that. Sometimes these get difficult because everybody chips in and nobody stands out. But on this one we did have a few. Our first winners are the team of Mookie Betts and Brock Holt, who each reached base five times via the three-hit, two-walk combo. They both scored three runs and drove in three others. Since RBIs were officially recognized in 1920, only three other pairs of teammates have had three hits, two walks, three runs, and three RBIs in the same game, and none was from Boston. The Mets' Dave Magadan and Kevin McReynolds were the first to do it, on June 12, 1990, and their fellow New Yorkers Chase Headley and Stephen Drew of the Yankees duplicated it on August 30, 2015. In between, however, there was the pairing of Ronnie Belliard and Jose Valentin for the Brewers, who both posted that line on July 1, 1999 against the Cubs. Final score of that game? Yep, 19-12. The matrix tells us that until Friday, that game had been the last exact score of 19-12 in the majors.
Jackie Bradley, meanwhile, scored four of those 19 runs while managing to miss the cycle by the homer. The last Red Sox hitter with a single, double, triple, and four runs scored was Dwight Evans on June 28, 1984, in a game where he did hit for the cycle against Seattle. The last to do it without also homering was Vern Stephens against the Browns on June 8, 1950, a game which remains the highest-scoring Red Sox contest in history, and also the last 29-4 final in the majors (there have been three).
And some love to the aforementioned Cedric Mullins who got this festival for his major-league debut after the Orioles moved Adam Jones to right field and released Former New Britain Rock Cat Danny Valencia. That 9th-inning run scored was just the icing on his night, which featured three hits, two extra-base hits, and three runs scored. Only four other players since 1920 have done that in their debuts; the most recent was Joey Gallo for the Rangers in 2015, and before that was J.P. Arencibia's memorable two-homer game for the Jays in 2010. Craig Wilson of the White Sox (1998) and none other than Willie McCovey (1959) round out the list.
We mentioned that the last 19-12 score in the majors was in 1999. But would you believe Friday was the first time in Orioles history (1954) that they had scored 12 runs in a home game and lost? The franchise last did that when it was in St Louis, on May 25, 1950, also against the Red Sox (15-12). And the last time "Baltimore" did it? That's the old National League club which dropped the first game of a doubleheader "by a neck" (13-12) to the Chicago Orphans (that's the Cubs)... on August 18, 1899.
What Goes Around Comes Around
Remember we started this post by mentioning last Sunday night's wild finish that ended with an Andrew Benintendi walkoff? In perfect synergy, this week ended with another epic finish in another Sunday night classic, this one between the Nationals and Cubs at Wrigley Field. Max Scherzer and the newly-acquired Cole Hamels locked in a game that was actually a pitcher's duel for once (as opposed to just a bunch of offenses being inert), with only four baserunners (three hits and a walk) in the first six innings. After Anthony Rizzo got the last of those hits in the 3rd, twenty-four straight hitters returned to the dugouts from whence they came, and the game ultimately got turned over to the bullpens in the 8th inning with Washington holding a narrow 1-0 lead on Mark Reynolds' sacrifice fly in the 2nd inning. Brandon Kintzler, who was traded from the Nationals to the Cubs two weeks ago, promptly turned that into a 3-0 lead for his former team by giving up two hits and two walks in the 9th. So it's up to Ryan Madson to close down the week in Major League Baseball.
Mmm, not quite. Jason Heyward beats out an infield single. No problem, one out. Madson hits Albert Almora with a pitch but then gets the second out. Still good. Madson plunks Willson Contreras to put the tying run on base, where he is promptly replaced by pinch runner Ian Happ. And oh yeah, now the pitcher's spot is up, and with all due respect to Justin Wilson's 0-for-7 lifetime batting ledger, up trots pinch hitter David Bote. And you know the rest. Slam. A walkoff slam. A pinch-hit walkoff slam. To put a giant bow on our week of beginnings and endings.
We'd love to say it's the Cubs' first walkoff slam since before Wrigley had lights or something like that, but Jason Heyward, who scored the first of the four runs on Sunday, hit one of his own against his former team, the Braves, on June 6. So instead we point out that it's the first time they've hit two in the same season since Barry Foote and Cliff Johnson both did it in 1980. The last time the Cubs hit a walkoff slam for their only runs of a game (so they were sitting on a big 0 prior to the hit) was on September 25, 1968, against the Dodgers, when Ron Santo provided a 4-1 victory. Since the move to Washington, the Nats have allowed three walkoff slams; the others were both hit on May 13, and they have been nicely six years apart. Jeff Francoeur of the Braves hit one in 2006, and Cincinnati's Joey Votto did it in 2012.
As for the pinch-hit part, Bote was the first Cubs batter to hit any pinch-hit slam (walkoff or not) since David DeJesus in Milwaukee on May 11, 2012. Journeyman Earl Averill, who actually played for both Chicago clubs during the 1960 campaign, had the prior walkoff slam by a Cubs pinch hitter; that was also against Milwaukee (but it's the Braves this time) on May 12, 1959. Bote, however, is the second pinch hitter with a walkoff slam in MLB this season; Daniel Robertson of the Rays hit one on July 22 to beat the Marlins. And that hasn't happened twice in a season since 1979, when Roger Freed of the Cardinals (May 1 vs Houston) and Pittsburgh's John Milner (August 5 vs Phillies) both did it.
Largely forgotten (you might have forgotten it already) will be the beginning of that game and the 24 straight retired batters. Scherzer and Hamels each threw seven innings, neither allowed more than one run or three hits, and both of them struck out at least nine. Only nine other opposing starters have ever done that, and of course it's a recent phenomenon. Yu Darvish and Masahiro Tanaka matched wits last June, as did Clayton Kershaw and Lance Lynn in May. But as they say in a lot of sports, it's not how you start, it's how you finish.
Bottom Of The Bag
⚾ Mookie Betts, Thursday: First Red Sox batter to hit for the cycle in a loss since Carl Yastrzemski against Detroit on May 14, 1965.
⚾ Jeremy Hellickson & Blake Snell, Friday: First day in (at least) live-ball era where two starters got removed from games in the 6th inning or later without having given up a hit yet.
⚾ Dodgers, Tuesday: First win in Oakland since a 5-3 victory on July 14, 2001. Had won road games in all 29 other MLB cities (including Montréal) since then; their least-recent is now at Fenway in 2004.
⚾ Eduardo Nuñez & J.D. Martinez, Saturday: First time Red Sox have had a multi-homer game in both halves of a doubleheader since Troy O'Leary, Trot Nixon, and Mike Lansing all did it against Texas on August 4, 2001.
⚾ Lance Lynn, Monday: First pitcher to throw 7+ scoreless innings and allow XXLT 2 hits in his first start as a Yankee since Jose Contreras on May 30, 2003.
⚾ Ryan Zimmerman, Saturday: First Nationals hitter with a 2-HR, 6-RBI game at Wrigley since Josh Willingham on August 25, 2009.
⚾ Ryan Zimmerman, Tuesday: First batter in Nationals history (2005) with 3+ hits in both games of a doubleheader. Last for Expos was Vlad Guerrero at Philadelphia, September 11, 2000.
⚾ Adam Engel, Sunday: Second number-9 batter in White Sox history to have a homer, a triple, and 3 RBI in a loss. Other was Ozzie Guillen at Milwaukee, September 15, 1997.
⚾ Francisco Cervelli, Friday: First Pirates batter with 5 RBI in a loss since... Francisco Cervelli in their other 13-10 game, against Detroit on April 25. First Pittsburgh batter ever to do it twice in a season.
⚾ Tyler White, Tuesday: First Astros batter with a homer and a triple in a game in San Francisco since Kevin Bass at Candlestick, June 27, 1987.
⚾ Casey Kelly, Saturday: First pitcher to throw 5+ innings of two-hit relief in his first appearance for the Giants since Clint Hartung's MLB debut against Boston on May 9, 1947.
⚾ Max Muncy & Joc Pederson, Thursday: First Dodger teammates with pinch-hit homers in same game since Mike Marshall and Rick Monday against the Cubs on August 27, 1982.
⚾ Brewers, Sunday: First team this season to have 19+ hits in a nine-inning game and lose. Last time Milwaukee did it was August 24, 2002, a 17-10 slugfest against the Pirates for which we will spare you a picture of our scoresheet. ☺
⚾ Andrew McCutchen, Friday: First player (any team) to hit a leadoff homer and then draw four walks since Bobby Bonds (not Barry, though he came close) against Baltimore on September 27, 1975.
⚾ Orioles, Wednesday: First time committing five errors in a game and winning since June 9, 1983, against Milwaukee (won 10-7).
⚾ Cardinals & Athletics, Sunday: Both offenses had four batters get hit by pitches (the A's had five). First day on which that's happened to two different teams since May 22, 1999, when the Pirates (by Marlins) and Devil Rays (by Angels) both did it.
⚾ Ronald Guzman, Friday: Second player in Rangers/Senators history with a 3-HR game against the Yankees. Larry Parrish did it in a 7-5 win on April 29, 1985.
⚾ Wilmer Flores, Monday: First Mets batter to have a three-hit game on his birthday since Jeromy Burnitz on April 15, 2003. Every other team has had a player do it since then (most of them several).
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