Dawn's Early Light
You might have noticed that this week's slate of MLB games also started earlier than usual, with the rare Monday-afternoon 12:30 getaway game in a wraparound series between the Reds and Giants. Even the bees were unprepared for a game at that hour and refused to leave. And after hitting his first major-league home run last Saturday, Nick Senzel was even more ready to get going, hitting the second pitch from Drew Pomeranz for a leadoff homer. That only inspired Eugenio Suarez to homer again two batters later. Throw in a Jose Iglesias triple and the Reds lead 5-0 before Anthony DeSclafani strikes out to end the inning. That means Senzel is up again to start the 2nd. Three guesses. Senzel thus became the first player in Reds history (1882) to lead off both the 1st and 2nd innings of the same game with homers. The last in the majors was Brian Dozier for the Twins on August 4, 2017.
Iglesias would add two more base hits to become just the second Reds batter in a quarter-century with a single, a double, a triple, and 4 RBIs. Joey Votto did it in a loss to the Dodgers three seasons ago. Speaking of Votto, he got plunked by a pitch in the 6th to drive in the Reds' 12th and final run-- right after rookie Josh VanMeter had been plunked for the 11th. In the live-ball era, the Reds had never received multiple bases-loaded hit-by-pitches in the same game, to say nothing of the same inning.
Pablo Sandoval would end up pitching a scoreless 9th inning, becoming the second Giants player to homer, steal a base, and pitch in the same game. The other actually was a pitcher-- Bill Walker against the Cardinals on July 14, 1929. And by not getting out of the 2nd, Drew Pomeranz at least made some company. The only Giants starter to give up 7+ runs, 3+ homers, and not get at least 6 outs, was Gaylord Perry against the Phillies on June 14, 1971.
Light My Fiers
If only the old saying was true and the Reds could have saved some of those runs for Tuesday. Or maybe a hit? We have to talk about it, don't we? Well, if the 300th currently-recognized no-hitter in MLB history had to happen, at least there's a fun story to it.
You probably know that the Oakland Coliseum has its issues. (If you don't, we won't elaborate. Google it.) It's over 50 years old, and hosting mulitple sports, sometimes simultaneously, can't help matters. But it's not usually the lights that are a problem. But sure enough, on Tuesday, the 7:00 start was not delayed by an inability to see. It was still daylight. The problem was that it was going to get dark later in the game and when one bank of lights in left field decided not to come on, team and MLB officials wanted to know whether there would be sufficient light later on. And they couldn't just turn the sun off for a couple minutes. So finally, shortly after 8, everyone was satisfied that the lighting was sufficient even without that one particular bank, and let's start the game at 8:45. Twitter was full of jokes about power outages, and the sputtering Reds offense, and how there will just be another lack of power/outage/failure once the game gets going. Heh.
Joey Votto fouled off that 8:45 first pitch and the Reds went 1-2-3 in the 1st. And the 2nd. And the 3rd. And now we're becoming concerned. In the 4th the famous "in play, no out(s)" code appears. But, as you know by now, it's not a hit, it's an error on Matt Chapman. Two walks in the 7th, maybe this'll do it. Nope, double play and a popup which Chapman has the nerve to catch this time. And at 11:10 pm, when Eugenio Suarez whiffs on a pitch in the dirt, we find Mike Fiers basking in the slightly-less-illuminated glow of the 300th currently-recognized no-hitter in major-league history. (We phrase it this way because they have changed the rules in the past, notably in 1991 to wipe out previously-recognized NHs that were less than 9 innings or that were broken up in extras. So it could always change again.)
Frankly we hoped row #300 was going to be reserved for the Padres if they ever throw one, but here we are.
If "Mike Fiers" and "no-hitter" sounds familiar, there's a reason for that. Because guess who occupies row 292 as well. That was his out-of-nowhere, who-is-this-guy no-hitter for the Astros on August 21, 2015. And that was also in an interleague game, against the Dodgers. He's the first pitcher ever to throw two of those (there's only been seven), and the seventh pitcher ever to throw a no-hitter with two different teams. You know a couple of the others, even though Justin Verlander hasn't done it yet; that list consists of Ted Breitenstein from the 1890s, future senator Jim Bunning, Randy Johnson, Hideo Nomo, Nolan Ryan, and Cy Young.
As for Oakland Coliseum, it has a neat connection here too. In the 11th game the Athletics ever played there, Catfish Hunter threw a no-hitter. That was on May 8, 1968-- 51 years minus one day before Fiers did it in the 4133rd game played there. All told it's seen 11 no-hitters by either the A's or their opponents, trailing only Fenway (14) and Dodger Stadium (12). And one of those others, considered equally unlikely by anyone who saw it, was Dallas Braden's perfect game on Mother's Day. That was on May 9 of 2010, giving the A's a no-hitter on each of three consecutive calendar days. Only the Braves (August 5-6-7) can claim that, and two of theirs were in the 19th century when they were in Boston and still referred to themselves as the Beaneaters.
And remember Eugenio Suarez's strikeout to end the game? And how he had two homers in Monday's game and it sure would have been nice to save one of them? He gets the award for the weirdest connection to come out of Tuesday's no-hitter. Although Fiers is only the seventh pitcher to throw them with two different teams, plenty of others have thrown two with the same team. Jake Arrieta, in 2016, was the previous one to join that club. His second NH, on April 21 and the only one of that season, was also against the Reds. While it didn't end on a strikeout, Cincinnati's final batter in that game? Eugenio Suarez. And the last hitter to make the final out in two different no-hitters? Why, that's Chase Utley of the Phillies. And he was the batter that Arrieta retired in 2015 to finish his first one.
Power Surge
We didn't get a chance to elaborate last Sunday on an emerging trend of "four-run homers", as some would call them. There were five grand slams hit on Sunday alone, and then plenty more in the early part of this week.
Monday's final from Camden Yards: Jonathan Villar 4, Red Sox 1. Now it's true that those other runners had to get on base, so partial credit to them, but Villar became the first Orioles batter in 15 years to hit a grand slam that accounted for all four of the team's runs in a game. Brian Roberts pulled that off in a 4-2 win at Coors Field on June 20, 2004. Their last player to do it at home was Brady Anderson against the Royals on August 26, 1997 (5-4 loss).
Last week we did bring you tales of the Royals and their many extra-base hits. Well, they're still at it. On Tuesday they dropped a 12-2 win on the Astros, their first time ever beating Houston by double digits. Ryan O'Hearn made the first big impact of the game by yanking his first career grand slam against Collin McHugh in the 3rd. That came after Whit Merrifield tripled to start the inning, and wouldn't you know it, Merrifield came up in the 7th with the bases loaded as well (O'Hearn was the runner on third). And presto, we have the second game in Royals history where the team hit multiple grand slams. Abraham Nuñez and John Buck hit them in a 10-3 win at Oakland on August 13, 2004. Merrifield joined Jarrod Dyson (2016) and Carlos Beltran (2001) as the only Royals to have a grand slam and a triple in the same game. And back on August 13, 2017, Whit also had a game with a homer (though not a slam), a triple, and 5 RBI as the Royals beat the White Sox 14-6. He's the first player in Royals history with two such games.
And on Wednesday, Hunter Pence, relegated to pinch-hitting duties in a National League park with no DH, said sure, I can do that. And proceeded to tie the game in the top of the 8th with the seventh pinch-hit slam in franchise history. Victor Diaz had the previous one, off the Yankees' Sean Henn on May 10, 2007. Brad Fullmer (off Mike Johnston, June 10, 2004) had the Rangers' only previous slam against the Pirates. No Ranger had hit any slam in a National League park since Sammy Sosa took Matt Belisle of the Reds deep on June 15, 2007. And having also driven in all four runs in Tuesday's 5-4 loss, Pence became the first Rangers batter with consecutive 4-RBI games since Mike Napoli did it in Boston on April 17 and 18, 2012.
Electric Company
You may remember that the original moniker of Houston's stadium was Enron Field, the naming rights having been bought by a local energy conglomerate that was cooking a lot more than your dinner. And after squeezing (that's a Minute Maid reference) the Rangers to 0 runs on just 2 hits on Friday, they put together an 11-4 win on Saturday that featured a dozen Gerrit Cole strikeouts and then turned it up another notch in Sunday's finale.
George Springer, leadoff homer. Stop us if you've heard this one; he actually hit three this week to move past the halfway point toward Craig Biggio's team record of 53. He singles and Alex Bregman homers in the 2nd. He singles and scores again in the 4th. And the 5th on another Bregman homer. Then he homers again on his own in the 6th. Then the 7th and 8th pass by on only seven batters, such that Springer is trapped on deck to end the game, denying him a chance at a second career six-hit game (Kirby Puckett remains the last player with two). Still, though, look at this boxscore. Springer, 5-for-5, 5 runs scored, 4 RBIs, 2 homers. Bregman, 3-for-5 but 2 homers and 5 RBIs. Even Tony Kemp played the "second leadoff batter" role admirably; hitting 9th he collected 3 hits, 3 runs, and a triple.
Kemp's the easy one to deal with. Martin Maldonado, last August 19, and Jim Golden, in the team's inaugural season of 1962, are the only other number-9 hitters with that 3-3-and-a-triple line. And the Astros' 15-5 win was the third in their history by that exact score, but oddly the first to (a) not be against the Cardinals, or (b) not occur in April 1994. The teams visited each other on alternate road trips that month, and the Astros won games a week apart (the 23rd and 30th) by identical 15-5 counts. And never before or since (until Sunday).
Now then. Springer tied Cesar Cedeño as the only Houston players to have three games of 5 hits or more. But then tack on 5 runs scored and it's the first 5-and-5 in Astros history. The most recent to do it for any team was also a leadoff batter, Matt Carpenter of the Cardinals last June 26. Like Springer, Carpenter also hit two homers; the only other leadoff batter in the live-ball era to go 5-5-2 is Tim Teufel of the Twins on September 16, 1983.
Sub in the 4 RBIs for the 2 homers, and Springer is only the fourth leadoff batter ever (since RBIs started counting in 1920, more on this later) with 5 hits, 5 runs, and 4 driven in. Ian Kinsler, at the time playing for Springer's opponent, the Rangers, did it on April 15, 2009; the others are Wally Moon of the Cardinals in 1954 (he also started the game with a homer) and Cliff Heathcote of the Cubs in 1922.
In any other game we'd be talking about Bregman's 5 RBIs by themselves. And the Astros have already had multiple other games this year where multiple players had 4 RBIs. But 2 homers and 4 RBIs? That's been done by only three other sets of Astros teammates, and Jeff Bagwell is in two of them. He teamed with Vinny Castilla against the Padres in 2001, and with Moises Alou against the White Sox in 1998. The remaining pair is Tim Bogar and Lance Berkman at Wrigley on September 9, 2000. And notice that Springer and Bregman bat one-two in the order. Considering a home run always clears the bases for the next guy, you don't often see adjacent batters with large RBI totals. The last time any team's one-two combo had each posted 2 homers and 4 RBIs in the same game was on August 22, 2010, when Omar Infante and Jason Heyward did it for the Braves.
We'll also throw one mention to Corbin Martin, who was the beneficiary of all those Houston runs. That's a great way to make your major-league debut go much smoother. Though he did give up a couple of runs and a dinger to Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Corbin ended up striking out nine Rangers-- a number no other pitcher had reached while making his debut in an Astros uniform.
Keeping up with all this baseball stuff is tiring. And involves a lot of sitting (and in our case, typing). Sometimes you just gotta get up and dance. Intermission!
We'll Leave The Light On For You
If you thought Wednesday might be a good night to turn in early, well, there's eight baseball teams who would like to say "denied!".
Okay, two of them played a day game, so most people were not deprived of any sleep by that one, although the Diamondbacks might have lost an hour of sleep on the plane back home. But, A, they get that hour back by not observing Daylight-Saving Time, and B, they won, so they're probably okay with it. A fine start by Robbie Ray was wasted, however, when Eduardo Escobar's throwing error got Tampa Bay within 1 in the 8th, and then Yandy Diaz scored the tying run in the bottom of the 9th on Kevin Kiermaier's pinch-hit single. Tommy Pham would have scored the winning run on the same play, except that he was called out on the Buster Posey "home plate collision" rule. And like we always say, if this game was 10-10 and lots of stuff is happening, we feel confident that someone will score and end it fairly soon. It's 2-2. Leadoff walk in the 10th, then three straight outs. Leadoff double in the 11th, three straight outs. Pham draws a leadoff walk in the 12th and then gets picked off. Finally the D'backs connect two singles and a walk in the 13th and Zack Godley nails down the save for a 3-2 victory.
Wilmer Flores, who had the go-ahead hit in T13, joined Tony Womack (June 13, 1999, at Anaheim) as the only batters in Diamondbacks history to have one that late in a game in an American League park. Arizona's only other go-ahead hit against the Rays in any extra inning was Chris Young's walkoff homer on June 19, 2007. Kiermaier's single in the 9th was the sixth game-tying pinch hit in Rays history when they were down to their final out. The previous one was Dan Johnson's solo homer against the Yankees in a game that pops up a lot-- "Game 162" in 2011. And that wasted start by Robbie Ray? He was the fourth pitcher in team history to strike out 11+, allow 0 runs, and not get the win. Patrick Corbin did it last June against the Pirates, and the other two were both Randy Johnson losses.
But if you like the combination of strikeouts and extra innings, there's no topping the Orioles/Red Sox game. You know, the one where Chris Sale allowed 3 hits, struck out 14, and ended up in a 1-1 tie because two of those hits came back-to-back in the 6th. A Mookie Betts homer was all the offense Boston could muster, sending us off to extras without Sale being able to get a win. Counting his White Sox days, Sale's actually done the "14 K without a win" line five times now, one of just four pitchers with that many such games (Sam McDowell, Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson). Ryan is the only other pitcher in the live-ball era to fan 14+ batters but also hit two and allow two stolen bases, doing so against Oakland on July 1, 1972.
It took until the top of the 12th before Andrew Benintendi connected for another solo homer, the second-latest by inning that the Sawx have ever gone deep at Camden Yards. Nomar Garciaparra took Terry Mathews deep in the 12th on April 24, 1997. And when Heath Hembree struck out the side in B12, it gave the Orioles a team-record 22 whiffs in the game, and counting Boston's 11, a Camden Yards-record 33 combined. Only once before in Red Sox history had they scored 1 or 2 runs, scored only on solo homers, and won the game. Glenn Hoffman and Dwight Evans both went yard in the 10th at Tiger Stadium on September 28, 1985.
The Cubs-- or more specifically, Jason Heyward-- were nice enough to only treat us to two extra innings on Wednesday, thanks to a leadoff homer in the bottom of the 11th. Jose Quijada, brought into the game for just that purpose (probably not), became the fifth Marlins pitcher to give up a walkoff homer to the first batter he faced, the previous being Yusmeiro Petit against the Rays on May 19, 2006. Kyle Hendricks, who pitched the first eight innings, gave up zero earned runs, zero walks, struck out seven, and of course didn't get the win because the game was tied. Since the National League adopted earned runs as a stat in 1912, only one other Cubs pitcher has hit those marks and not won the game, and that was in 1916 when George McConnell lost a 1-0 walkoff to the Cardinals.
To be honest, Heyward's homer wasn't that interesting by itself, but flash back to Tuesday. When Kris Bryant also hit a walkoff homer against the Marlins, albeit in the 9th and not extras. The Cubs hadn't connected for walkoff dingers in back-to-back games since Orlando Merced and Mark Grace did it against the Brewers on September 12 and 13, 1998. And the Marlins hadn't allowed it since the aforementioned Yusmeiro Petit game in 2006 was followed by a Russell Branyan shot off Logan Kensing the next day. Bryant also had a triple earlier in Tuesday's game, making him the first Cubs batter in four decades with a three-bagger and a walkoff homer in the same game. Larry Biittner did it against the Pirates on April 14, 1978.
And when you're done flashing back to Tuesday, you can flash forward to Saturday. Because in the Cubs' longest game of the week, one which happily started at 1:20 in the afternoon, both teams scored a lone run in the 5th inning and then said, yeah, that should be enough. Mmm, no. Somebody needs to score again. Nah, that's okay, they said. Let's play a full nine-inning game without anything happening before Willson Contreras finally connects for a line-drive homer to left in the bottom of the 15th. He came one out shy of the Cubs record for latest walkoff homer by inning; Gene Baker went deep with two outs in the 15th against the Dodgers on June 1, 1956. Contreras's one-out dinger also matched Sammy Sosa's against the Cardinals on September 2, 2003.
Now between Contreras, Heyward, and Bryant, it's definitely the first time in the live-ball era that the Cubs have hit three walkoff homers in a five-day span. It's very likely that it's the first time in team history, but before 1915 you start running into games where the home team batted first, so we can't say it with absolute certainty. And remember that 18-inning game that Milwaukee lost to the Mets last Saturday? That's the second time in Brewers history they've played two games of 15+ innings in eight days; the other happened on back-to-back days against Minneosta on May 12-13, 1972.
The Brewers managed to record just four hits on Saturday and ground into six double plays; both of those were also "seconds" as well. Their other 15-inning game with ≤ 4 hits... was a victory, at Texas on May 14, 1975. (Naturally, the winning run in that game scored on a walk, sacrifice, error, and bases-loaded hit-by-pitch.) And their other 6-DP game is a very famous one that was also in Chicago. It's the longest game in MLB history that resulted in a winner, their 25-inning marathon with the White Sox that celebrated its 35th anniversary this past week.
Turn Out The Lights
And when it came to walkoffs this week, well, there's no place quite like Oakland. (This is true of Oakland in general, you can take it however you want.) If you were still celebrating Mike Fiers' no-hitter on Tuesday, you had four extra innings to come down from that high before Stephen Piscotty walked off on Wednesday. The Athletics hadn't hit a walkoff homer in the 13th or later since Brandon Moss took Barry Enright of the Angels deep on April 29, 2013, and thanks to the quirk of this being an interleague game, it was only the second time the A's had ever walked off against Cincinnati. The other... was only Game 4 of the 1972 World Series, when Angel Mangual singled home Gene Tenace to give Oakland a 3-1 series lead (and eventually the first of their three straight titles).
When Matt Chapman brought an end to Friday's slate of games with another walkoff homer, it was the first time Oakland had hit two in a three-day span since Bobby Kielty and Mark Kotsay hit them against the White Sox on June 1 and 2, 2004. Forgetting the "homer" part, the A's hadn't had two walkoffs of any kind in the 12th or later so close together since June 17 and 18, 1988, when Stan Javier's 14th-inning double and Ron Hassey's 13th-inning single gave them consecutive wins against the Rangers.
And of course, Saturday brought one of the oddest walkoffs you've seen in a while, what would have been called an Infield Fly if there had been a runner on first. Ramon Laureano's popup resulted in mass confusion and fell right in between Carlos Santana and Jordan Luplow, giving Matt Olson enough time to race home from third with the winning run. At least this was in the 9th, so the extra-inning factor doesn't apply, but we also didn't have to go far to find three A's walkoffs in a four-day span. They've actually done it 10 times since moving to Oakland in 1968, the most recent being two years ago this week. They walked off against the Tigers on May 6 and 7, and then the Angels on May 8.
That walkoff on Saturday also spoiled another fine outing by Trevor Bauer, who will probably devise some conspiracy theory to cheat him out of a win. Since the AL adopted earned runs in 1913, he's just the third Cleveland pitcher to allow zero of them on two hits and strike out 10 or more in a game the team lost. Teammate Corey Kluber did it in 2014 when the Royals walked off in the 14th, and since every Cleveland pitching note must include either Bob Feller or Sam McDowell, the latter also did it in 1965 when the Orioles walked them off in the 11th.
Stick A Fork In It
(PSA: Don't do this.)
On the other hand, sometimes you don't have to wait to find out who's going to ultimately win the game. The Mets made quick work of the Marlins on Friday by batting around and scoring eight runs in the 1st inning, cruising to an 11-2 win at Citi Field. That Citi Field scoreboard had never before displayed an "8" in the bottom of the 1st (the Phillies did use the one in the top half once), and all the other stadiums where the Mets posted a 1st-inning snowman (or better) are all gone. They did it at Shea on July 12, 1979; Candlestick on August 16, 1988, and most recently at Veterans Stadium on June 16, 1989.
Amed Rosario jumped that scoreboard number from 3 to 7 with one swing of the bat; his grand slam was just the second one in team history by a number-8 or -9 hitter in the 1st inning. The other one was also against the Marlins, and also at Citi Field: Omir Santos took Anibal Sanchez deep in the stadium's 10th game on April 27, 2009. And Friday was the sixth Mets game ever where they collected eight hits in the 1st inning. The only other one in this century was a 7-run frame against the Padres on May 23, 2017.
Things calmed down (as they should), but the Mets still posted single runs in the 2nd (Michael Conforto homer) and 3rd (Jeff McNeil homer) to put Miami starter Pablo Lopez out of his misery. Jeff Locke (July 3, 2017) was the last Marlins pitcher to get tagged for 10+ hits and 10+ earned runs in a start; preceding him were Ricky Nolasco (2011), Ryan Dempster (2002), and Pat Rapp (1997). Tack on three homers, a wild pitch, and a hit batter, and Lopez is the first hurler ever to post that line in 3 innings or fewer. The previous "record" for such futility had been held by the Dodgers' Tom Candiotti, who needed 4 IP to do it against the Giants on August 4, 1995. Everyone else who bricked up such a game at least made it to the 7th.
And when you've got an early 10-2 lead, your own pitcher is free to be a little, well, looser. Zack Wheeler gave up nine hits of his own to the Marlins, but then went back to his usual self and struck out a bunch of people so those runners (usually) never scored. He's the first Mets pitcher to give up 9+ hits but also strike out 11+ since Johan Santana did it in Atlanta on August 2, 2010. That, however, was in a loss; the last Met to do it and win was Dwight Gooden against the Dodgers on May 11, 1990.
Socket To Me
If you had the Tigers in your
The first three batters of the game all reached against Ryan Carpenter, as did the first two hitters in the 2nd, meaning Tommy La Stella's homer later that inning already made it 5-0. In the 3rd, Albert Pujols brought an end to our latest Milestone Watch with a solo homer-- his 639th, but that's not the round number in question. Albert's driving in of himself constituted his 2000th RBI and, depending on whom you ask, either the third or fifth member of that elite club. Because, as we like to mention, RBIs were not adopted as official by MLB until 1920, the ones that have been awarded prior to that by historians have some subjectivity to them. Obviously on a home run, yes, that's an RBI, but picture a runner on second and a single to center where the outfielder then boots the ball. Would this guy on second have scored anyway, or would he have stopped at third and only scored on the error? How deep was the hit? How good a jump did he get? Don't know, weren't there. So MLB has chosen to not recognize around 200 of Babe Ruth's retroactive RBIs, and none of Cap Anson's since his entire career happened pre-1920. Regardless, all three "official" members (the others are Hank Aaron and Alex Rodriguez) drove in run number 2000 with a homer, and if you include the awarded ones, so did Ruth. Anson is the lone holdout; his unofficial 2000th came in 1896, a season in which he only homered twice.
Meanwhile, on Thursday the Angels piled on seven more late runs with three more homers off the bullpen, including another by La Stella, such that the final of 13-0 matched their largest-ever shutout of the Tigers. The other was on July 17, 2012, and was also the only other time the Angels hit five homers at Comerica Park. It had been nearly six years since eight different Angels batters had an extra-base hit in a road game; that happened at Wrigley Field on July 10, 2013. And La Stella became the first number-9 batter in team history to hit two homers and drive in four runs in a road game. Three players-- Francisco Arcia last September, Benji Gil in 2001, and Jack Howell in 1985-- did it at home.
The Tigers then went to Minnesota on Friday and one-downed themselves, this time getting shut out on only three hits against Jake Odorizzi. Two of those hits came off Fernando Romero in the 9th inning, which (a) is why we don't start on "X hits in a game" notes until it's actually over, and (b) means Odorizzi only allowed 1 hit in his 7 innings of work. He also didn't walk anybody, making him the first pitcher in Twins history (1961) to post that line. Between 1920 and 1960, only two Senators recorded 7 shutout innings with 1 hit and 0 walks: Camilo Pascual as a reliever against Cleveland in 1954, and Walter Johnson in his only career no-hitter on July 1, 1920.
Red-Right-Return
You might know this phrase if you've ever been on a boat. It refers to keeping the red lights on your right as you return upstream from the open sea. A navigational aid for... Mariners.
Baseball's Mariners navigated their way from New York to Boston this weekend via Long Island Sound, past Nantucket, around Cape Cod, and into Massachusetts Bay (this is most certainly not true, they took an airplane). And the big numbers navigated their way from one side of the scoreboard to the other.
After a three-run walkoff 9th inning by the Yankees on Tuesday, the Mariners decided they weren't going to let that happen again Wednesday, scoring five early runs and letting their latest Japanese crossover sensation, Yusei Kikuchi, hold the Yankees to three hits in 7⅔ innings. He's the team's first pitcher NOT named Felix Hernandez to throw that many innings in the Bronx and allow so few hits since Gil Meche did it on August 9, 2003.
But you still never know with these Yankees. So those five late runs don't hurt, all in the 8th and 9th off Jake Barrett who was Wednesday's "take one for the team" honoree. Ryon Healy homered for the first two of those runs to make it 7-1, and came very close to doubling in an 11th run the next inning, except that catcher Omar Narvaez was the lead runner and had to stop at third. As it was, that was Healy's third double of the game, the first time any Mariners player has ever compiled three two-baggers against the Yankees. Tack on the homer, and he's the first player in team history to have four extra-base hits in a game where he batted either 8th or 9th. The only Mariner even to do it from the 7-hole was Adrian Beltre against the Angels in 2007.
At the current Yankee Stadium (2009), only four visiting players have recorded a 4-XBH game, and two of them are Mariners. Kyle Seager had a homer, double, and two triples on June 2, 2014; the others are Mike Trout last May and Toronto's Yunel Escobar in 2012. Wednesday was the third time Seattle had reached double digits at the current Bronx ballpark; they beat David Phelps 10-2 in 2014 and Phil Hughes by a 12-2 count the year before. Overall, Wednesday was the eighth time the Mariners scored 10 or more runs this year; that not only leads the majors, it matches the total number of double-digit games they had all of last season.
Over the weekend, however... not so much. On Friday they were pounded to their second-worst loss ever against the Red Sox, a 14-1 final that trailed only a 15-1 visit to Fenway in August of 2015 (which was followed by a 22-10 game the next day). Erik Swanson, fresh off his first major-league victory earlier in the week, gave up 7 runs and 2 homers before getting pulled in the 5th, and the bullpen obviously didn't fare any better. Rafael Devers and Mitch Moreland became the sixth pair of Sawx teammates to each homer, double, and drive in 4 runs in a game at Fenway. Devers is part of the previous pair as well, joining Xander Bogaerts last September. David Ortiz was involved in two such pairs earlier this decade; the others date to 1978 (Bernie Carbo & Butch Hobson) and 1959 (Gary Geiger & Frank Malzone). And even though the Mariners got hammered (PSA: Don't drink and boat), Domingo Santana made his own little bit of team history, joining Dustin Ackley (August 24, 2014) and Joe Simpson (September 3, 1981, in a 20-inning game) as the only Seattle players to single, double, and triple in a game at Fenway Park. He was also the second Mariner ever with each of those three hits in a game where the team ended up with only 1 run; Ken Griffey Jr managed it against Oakland on June 24, 1997.
Then we come to Sunday's finale and another Red Sox win, not quite as big but still a respectable 11-2. After Saturday's 9-5 game, it marked the second time the Mariners had lost three straight games to the Red Sox, all by 4 runs or more. And the other was in their inaugural season, August 1977. Michael Chavis turned in the big performance on Sunday, collecting 5 RBIs by being in just the right place at the right time. The place, of course, is the batter's box, and the time is when Boston has runners on second and third each time. Chavis had a pair of two-run singles and a one-run single, becoming the first Red Sox batter with 5 RBI and no extra-base hits since Mike Lowell against Oakland on September 26, 2007. And the rookie Chavis was playing just his 20th MLB game; the only other player to pull off the 5-RBI-with-0-XBH feat that early was Jack Conway of the Indians, who did it in his 13th game in 1946.
Bottom Of The Bag
⚾ Ian Desmond, Tuesday: Sixth player in Rockies history with two triples in a loss. Previous was Tyler Colvin against the Cardinals on August 1, 2012.
⚾ Phillies, Sunday: First game where they scored 6+ runs with all of them in the same inning since a 7-3 win at Florida on April 24, 2009. Had gone longest of any team without such a game by over 3 years.
⚾ Adam Frazier, Friday: First Pirates batter with a leadoff homer in St Louis since Al Martin hit one in the final game of the 1995 season.
⚾ Jorge Polanco & C.J. Cron, Wednesday: Second time in Twins history that one player had 5 hits including a homer, and another had 4 hits including a homer. Joe Mauer & Danny Valencia did it July 26, 2010, in Kansas City.
⚾ Zach Eflin, Saturday: First visiting pitcher to throw a 4-hit shutout with 0 walks at Kauffman Stadium since Ervin Santana of the Angels on May 5, 2008.
⚾ Vince Velasquez, Monday: First Phillies pitcher to allow 5+ walks and 3+ homers since J.A. Happ vs Red Sox, June 14, 2009.
⚾ Tyler Austin, Thursday: Fourth player in Giants history with 2 HR & 6 RBI in a loss. Others are Barry Bonds (2007), Bill Terry (1932), and Mel Ott (1930).
⚾ Melky Cabrera, Tuesday: First Pirate with a pinch-hit double to flip the lead (any inning) since Jason Kendall walked off against the Expos on June 18, 2003.
⚾ Josh Tomlin, Saturday: First pitcher in Braves history to "earn" a hold despite allowing three runs and multiple homers. Last for any team was Russ Springer of the Cardinals on September 3, 2003.
⚾ Blake Snell, Sunday: Second pitcher in Rays history to strike out 12, allow ≤ 4 hits, and lose. James Shields did it in a 1-0 complete game against Baltimore on October 2, 2012.
⚾ Astros, Wed-Fri: Second time in team history holding three consecutive opponents to ≤ 3 hits with 10+ strikeouts. Other streak was September 23-25, 1986, ending with Mike Scott's no-hitter vs Giants.
⚾ Justin Turner, Tuesday: With Cody Bellinger on March 30, first season where two different Dodgers have had a 4-hit, 6-RBI game since Babe Herman, Al Lopez, and Glenn Wright all did it in 1930.
⚾ Reds, Thursday: Had a designated hitter (Derek Dietrich) homer and a pitcher (Michael Lorenzen as pinch runner) steal a base. First team in MLB history to do that in same game.
⚾ Tommy La Stella, Sat-Sun: First player in Angels history to be granted a catcher's interference award in consecutive games. First Angel to have four in a season since Hideki Matsui in 2010 (team record is five).
⚾ Nick Senzel, Sunday: First Reds batter to lead off a game with a catcher's interference award since Pete Rose against the Giants on May 10, 1971.
⚾ Mike Leake, Thursday: Second pitcher in Mariners history to throw 7+ innings of 1-run ball in the Bronx and lose. Jim Beattie gave up an unearned run to start the 8th on May 1, 1982.
...why did the Mariners take an airplane around Cape Cod when it would have been faster as the crow flies?
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