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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