Wanna Get Away?

Last week we brought you the tale of the Minnesota Twins trying to play a "getaway game" on a Tuesday afternoon and having it go 17 innings until Max Kepler walked off-- thereby kind of defeating the entire purpose of starting at noon. Heh. It seems so innocent now. That, plus some other teams (and mostly pitchers) who would probably like a vacation from this week.


What Goes Around

In previous episodes we've learned how Johannes Kepler is largely responsible for our understanding of the solar system and how the planets orbit the sun. And thus, halfway through the orbit you will be in the exact-opposite place from wherever you started. Our friend Max Kepler can probably relate.

The Twins were supposed to start Thursday's game at noon. Some passing showers pushed that back by an hour to begin with. When we did finally get going, Minnesota broke out early with 2 runs in the bottom of the 1st, but Martin Perez was unable to secure the fabled "shutdown inning" and gave them right back in the 2nd. So this has a chance to be one of those high-scoring back-and-forth 10-9 games.

Or not. You could have headed down to Mall of America for a couple hours and come back without missing a darn thing. The Rays got a single in the 4th. The Twins got two singles, both of the infield variety. It took just 51 batters to make the next 45 outs. And you may already know (or have figured out) that we're now at the end of the 9th, still tied 2-2. For the second week in a row a "getaway game" at Target Field has backfired, and yet again no one can get out of Target.

Sure, it looked promising in the top of the 10th when the Rays loaded the bases with nobody out. Infield fly, strikeout, groundout. Two more walks in the 11th, nothing. And again we go dry. Max Kepler fails at walking this one off in both the 13th and the 15th. In fact the next 39 outs are recorded in only 42 batters, which is at least one redeeming quality that is sometimes found in these long, nothing-is-happening extra-inning games. If you're not going to score and end the thing, then at least go 1-2-3 and don't drag it out any further by leaving a bunch of guys on base. Finally in the top of the 18th, as Ryne Harper becomes the tenth Twins pitcher of the game, a breakthrough. He walks Brandon Lowe, hits Travis d'Arnaud, and eventually replay upholds a Yandy Diaz sac fly where Lowe beats the play at the plate. It's been nearly 3 years since any player hit a sac fly in the 18th or later; Ruben Tejada of the Mets did it in St Louis on July 19, 2015.

Considering how long it took for either team to score one run, it's probably good that the Rays added two more singles and two more runs just in case. The 18-inning win tied for the longest in Rays history, or even sets it, depending on how you look at things. They did play another 18-inning game, against the Orioles on September 20, 2013, but that was at Tropicana Field. So they walked off (on a David DeJesus single) after recording only 53 outs as opposed to Thursday's 54.

It may be good that Target Field doesn't have a hand-operated scoreboard, because they might have needed to commission some more "0" cards. Look at all of them. The Rays scored in the 2nd and 18th-- nothing in between. The Twins scored both their runs in the 1st and then chunked up 17 straight goose eggs. It's the first game where both teams went 15 innings without scoring since the Mets and Braves played a 20-inning, 2-1 snoozefest on June 8, 2013.

Austin Meadows, who entered the game in the 2nd after Kevin Kiermaier's leg cramped up, probably didn't expect to get more than two at-bats. He actualy got seven, the first player to do that in a game he didn't start since Devon Travis of the Jays did it in a Canada Day festival with Cleveland on July 1, 2016. Ji-Man Choi entered in the 10th and drew 3 walks in addition to a foulout; he's the first player with 3 walks and an RBI in a game he didn't start since then-National Marlon Byrd did so against the Reds on May 24, 2005. And in these ridiculously-long affairs we always say there's one player left out. Which is how we get back to Max Kepler and his orbit. After his heroics in the 17-inning affair last week, he managed to go 0-for-8 in the 18-inning topper this week. Kennys Vargas (May 28, 2017, in 15 innings) and Bobby Darwin (May 12, 1972, in 22) are the only other players in Twins history to draw that big a collar.


Danger Zone

It's probably safe to say that few people wanted to get away from a baseball field as quickly as Edwin Diaz of the Mets on Thursday. Diaz spent eight innings out in the bullpen watching his offensive teammates get no-hit through 5 innings, then no doubt chuckling with the rest of us when starter Zack Wheeler was the one to break that up with a leadoff single in the 6th. But then nine more Mets went down and the Phillies were three outs away from closing out a 1-0 win where the Mets' only hit was by the pitcher.

This is why we wait to look anything up until the game is over. Enter Hector Neris from the other bullpen. Exit a Todd Frazier 2-run homer after Michael Conforto singled. Since the opening of Citizens Bank Park in 2004, only two other Mets have hit a lead-flipping homer there in the 9th inning; they are David Wright in September 2009 off Ryan Madson, and Michael Conforto on May 11 of last year... off Hector Neris. Madson gave up a similar homer to Brian Roberts of the Orioles and had been the Phils pitcher to do it twice. Two more singles and an RBI groundout made Neris the first Phillies pitcher to get 1 out, give up 3 runs, and blow a save, since... oh look, Hector Neris again. That was April 29, 2017, against the Dodgers, and the last Phillies reliever to do that twice was Jonathan Papelbon.

Neris's performance rescued Aaron Nola from having to be saddled with one of those pesky "wins". Only three Phillies pitchers in the live-ball era (probably ever, but we can't prove it) have struck out 10+, allowed only 1 hit, and not gotten a win... and Nola is two of them! He also did it last May 26 against Toronto when he left a 1-1 tie prior to Nick Williams' game-winning homer. (The other was Randy Wolf in a 1-0 game against Pittsburgh in 2002.) Five pitchers besides Nola have two such games, although four of them are still active and the fifth probably could be. They are Mike Clevinger, Jack Flaherty, Rich Hill, Justin Verlander, and Nolan Ryan.

Meanwhile, back in the Mets' bullpen, oh wow, hey, we got a lead, so now we now have a save opportunity, and as Mickey Callaway pointed out earlier in the week when not cussing out reporters, that's Edwin Diaz's "comfort zone", so start throwing. Heh. "Comfort zone".

Leadoff walk. Maikel Franco 2-run homer. Sooooo about that save. Well, it's still tied, so worst case we can get that lead back in the 10th (you know, after we went 8 innings with our only hit by the pitcher). But why would we want to do that when Diaz can just give up a walk, a single, and then a homer to Jean Segura, the Phillies' first 3- or 4-run walkoff homer against the Mets in over a quarter-century. Kim Batiste hit a walkoff slam against Anthony Young on August 13, 1993; the team's only other such homers were by Bo Diaz in 1983 and Dickie Allen in 1968. The Phillies hadn't hit any walkoff homer against the Mets since Kevin Frandsen on June 22, 2013.

And those 5 runs and 1 out on Diaz's line? He's the second pitcher in Mets history to do that in the 9th inning and blow a save in the process; Francisco Rodriguez ("K-Rod") did it in San Diego on August 7, 2009. And two other Mets pitchers have done it while giving up multiple homers, blown save or not: Roger McDowell in 1987 and Mark Bomback in 1980.

And after surely wanting to get away after the Frazier homer in the top of the 9th, Hector Neris is probably okay with sticking around a bit longer now. Because even though he didn't get the last out of the 9th to get credited with the win, Neris was still the first Phillies pitcher with a 3-run, 1-out blown save in a game the team ended up winning since Antonio Alfonseca, also against the Mets, on August 30, 2007.


Philadelphia Freedom

Edwin Diaz, however, was most definitely not the only Mets player who wanted to get away from Philadelphia this week. He was just the last one who had to be convinced. Monday's series opener started with a 2-run top of the 1st, quickly erased when Jean Segura and Rhys Hoskins went yard in the bottom half. Todd Frazier, Wilson Ramos, and Michael Conforto all homered off Zach Eflin to put the Mets back up 6-5, but Steven Matz gave up a lead-flipping homer to Maikel Franco in the 5th, after which both pitchers were sent packing. Matz became the first Mets starter to give up 10+ hits, 7+ runs, 3+ homers, and not finish the 5th inning since Dillon Gee also did it at CBP on April 9, 2013. Brooks Pounders would show up, and "pounded" is a bit too severe since the Mets were already losing, but he gave up 5 more runs, including just the second career pinch-hit homer by journeyman Jay Bruce, whose other was for the Mets against the Phillies on September 24, 2016.

Eflin, meanwhile, gave up 11 hits, 6 runs, and 3 homers of his own, making Monday's game the first in the 21st century where both starters hit 10, 6, and 3 respectively. The last pair of combatants with that illustrious line was Dustin Hermanson of the Expos and Kevin Jarvis of the Rockies, of course at Coors Field, on May 1, 2000. But because Matz's 7 runs are more than Eflin's 6, the latter also ended up with a win. He's the first Phillies hurler to allow 11 hits and 3 homers in a home game, and get a win, since Larry Jackson did it against the Astros on August 3, 1966.

Tuesday's game also started with a 2-run top of the 1st, but looked even more promising when Amed Rosario and Dominic Smith added solo homers for a 4-1 lead. Instead this one would wait until the 6th to unravel when Walter Lockett, making just his second start after being called up from Syracuse, gave up a leadoff walk and a double to J.T. Realmuto. Enter Wilmer Font before this one becomes too font-like and spews out of control. Heh. Jay Bruce groundout. Cesar Hernandez single. Maikel Franco 2-run homer (there's your blown save). Brad Miller pinch-hit homer for an insurance run; with Bruce's yesterday, it's the first time the Phillies had PH homers in back-to-back games since Laynce Nix and Chase Utley did it in April 2013.

Font's line doesn't look quite as bad as Diaz's from Thursday only because two of those runs were inherited and charged to Lockett. But he's still just the sixth pitcher in Mets history to give up two homers and blow a save while getting no more than 1 out. And since this all happened in the 6th, Jake Arrieta is still the pitcher of record and gets the win despite allowing 9 hits, 5 earned runs, and 2 homers. If that looks familiar, it's because Zach Eflin posted those same numbers yesterday and got a win also. Not surprisingly, it's the first time the Phillies have ever done that in back-to-back games; they hadn't even had two pitchers do it in a season since 2004.

On Wednesday the Mets had a 4-0 lead heading to the bottom of the 6th. Stop us if you've heard this one. Jason Vargas strikes out the side around a Jean Segura solo homer, and finally gets pulled in the 7th after a J.T. Realmuto leadoff double. Except not only does that run score, but so do two more allowed by Seth Lugo and now we're tied 4-4. Oh look, that's another blown save, the first time in two decades that the Mets had a pitcher do it while getting no more than 2 outs in three consecutive games. Those previous save-blowers were Ricky Trlicek, Greg McMichael, and John Franco from May 18-20, 1997. Vargas would be the first Mets pitcher to strike out 10 in Philadelphia but not get a win since the usual answer to such questions, Jacob deGrom on May 31, 2014.

Now all we have to do is resolve that tie. Stephen Nogosek can take care of that. Leadoff walk to Hoskins in the 10th. J.T. Realmuto singles him to second. And Jay Bruce walkoff double, his first with the Phillies, but he also had one with Cleveland in 2017 and Cincinnati in 2011. He joins Carl Crawford as the only players this decade to hit a walkoff double with three different teams. And it was just the second one the Phillies have ever hit against the Mets in extra innings; Tony Gonzalez connected off Jack Fisher on September 26, 1965.


Hold My Hand

It is said that where there's a spark, there's a fire. So if the Royals have a pitcher named Sparkman, they might also need a fireman. Because Glenn gave up two solo homers to Cleveland in the 5th inning on Tuesday and then another 2-run shot to Tyler Naquin in the 6th before having to leave. The embers finally smoldered and the Indians headed to the 9th with a 6-3 lead-- which they appropriately enough "hand"ed to Brad Hand, he of the 22-for-22 in the saves department this season. Heh.

First pitch, Martin Maldonado double. Then three straight singles, but the Royals hold lead runner Whit Merrifield at third so it's 6-4 and there's still a chance at getting out of this. That chance lasted all of about 45 seconds, through exactly one (1) of those exciting mound visits, before Hunter Dozier deposited the first pitch he saw into left-center field for the first lead-flipping, 9th-inning grand slam in Royals history. The team has hit only two other grand slams in the 9th or later of a road game, and the others were both in extras: Danny Tartabull in the 11th at New York, August 14, 1991; and Frank White in the 12th in Anaheim on June 25, 1975, exactly 44 years before Dozier's heroics.

If nothing else, at this point Brad Hand did get his chance to get away, being replaced by Nick Goody who promptly struck out the side. But Hand had become the first Indians pitcher to give up 5+ runs and get 0 outs since Masahide Kobayashi in Boston on May 7, 2009. The last to do it in a save situation, and thus blow the save as well, was Danys Baez at Seattle on April 22, 2003.

Hand can take some solace in the fact that the baseball gods usually even things out. Just head to the other bullpen and ask Wily Peralta, who had entered a tie game in the bottom of the 10th barely 24 hours earlier. Jason Kipnis greeted him with a walkoff solo homer for a 3-2 Indians win, Cleveland's first against the Royals since Asdrubal Cabrera also led off the 10th against Jesse Chavez on August 28, 2010. Peralta was the first Royals pitcher in four seasons to give up a walkoff homer to the first batter he faced; Miguel Almonte did that in the 11th inning at Wrigley on September 28, 2015 (Chris Denorfia hit it).


26 Runs, So Near Yet Far

Ah, but Cleveland's woes were only beginning-- probably not what they expected out of their weekend sleepover in Baltimore against the dreadful Orioles. Oh sure, Friday's game began with a leadoff walk to Jonathan Villar, but big deal. Even when Chance Sisco homered a couple batters later, it's still only 2-0. Heh. Two walks and a double make it 4-0 after 1. A leadoff double in the 2nd, two more singles, and a sac fly knock Mike Clevinger out of the game at 6-0, and Tyler Olson serves up a dinger to Anthony Santander for an 8-0 lead. It's the first game in at least 15 years where the Orioles scored 4+ runs in both the 1st and 2nd innings, and the first time the Indians allowed it since April 9, 2009, at Texas. That game also "featured" the last 7-runs-on-5-outs start by a Cleveland pitcher in a road game, that line being chunked up by Carl Pavano.

It's 9-0 in the 8th when Cleveland turns to Adam Plutko, who had started that Monday game where Kipnis ended up hitting the walkoff homer. On that occasion he allowed just 1 hit in 4 innings; on Friday, his line would be, um, well, not that. Single, walk, single, and then back-to-back doubles with 2 outs to drive 9-0 up to 13-0. When the Indians stranded Roberto Perez at first base to end the game, they had eaten their largest shutout loss ever against the Orioles/Browns franchise. The previous mark for that had been 11, done several times but most recently on April 21, 1969. And while the Indians had gotten thumped by the Cubs, 17-0, in an interleague game four years ago, the Orioles hadn't had a shutout of 13 or more since dropping 15-0 on Toronto on August 19, 2006. Sisco & Santander, after both going yard in the 1st, were also the pair who hit those back-to-back doubles in the 8th. That gave both of them a homer, a double, and 4 RBI, the first Orioles teammates to do that since Melvin Mora and Luke Scott in Detroit on August 17, 2008.

But still, as the old saying goes, it's only one game. Bump in the road. The 13-0 loss counts just the same as a 2-1 loss. We'll get 'em tomorrow. Unfortunately that usually entails at least getting some people on base, and the Indians couldn't be bothered to do that at all in the first three innings, and then only got one each from the 4th through 7th. Meanwhile, the Orioles seemed to be giving them a chance, scoring just 1 run in the first two innings, but then oh well, might as well do this again. Santander, leadoff dinger in the 4th. Hit batter, single, and another set of back-to-back doubles, this time by Jonathan Villar and Trey Mancini. Renato Nuñez put the final touches on a 5-run frame with his 17th homer of the year. Sisco added another 2-run shot in the 6th, and by the time position player Mike Freeman takes the mound in the 7th we're up to 11-0 again. Dwight Smith doubles in front of Nuñez, meaning all he has to do is hit another homer to get us another 13-0 score. Well, that's too good to pass up. In the top of the 8th the Indians manage to get two baserunners for the only time in the game, but Oscar Mercado strikes out to end it, and having barely gotten away from Friday's 13-0 defeat, Cleveland goes 1-2-3 on nine pitches to land right back there again on Saturday.

The obvious stat that's rightfully been shown everywhere is that it's the first time in major-league history that any team has recorded consecutive shutouts of 13-0 or more. (If you had the 2019 Orioles in the pool as being the first ones to ever do that, well,...) But if you look at just a margin of 13+, not necessarily a shutout, in consecutive games, that was also a first in either Orioles or Indians franchise history, both of which, of course, date to 1901. As for the last team in the majors to do it, that was only two months ago when the Rangers hung 15-1 and 14-1 on the Mariners. Combined it's the first time two teams have done it in the same season since 1999, and that's a bit misleading because the same team (the Phillies) did it both times that year.

That double by Jonathan Villar in the 4th ended up being his only hit of the game, but he also ended up walking three times. Only one other leadoff batter in franchise history had a double, three walks, and multiple RBIs in a game; that was Don Gutteridge at Detroit on April 26, 1942. And Nuñez made some history of his own; he also had 2 walks and scored on one of those trips-- making his total haul of 2 homers, 2 walks, 3 runs scored, and 4 RBIs a first in a home game in Baltimore Orioles history, at either stadium they've used since 1954.


Obviously our post title is Southwest Airlines' tagline, and we considered linking you to a few montages of those commercials that we found. But the line also caused us to recall this decidedly-minor Bobby Brown hit from 1993 (it peaked at #14) that we're guessing you forgot also. It's your prerogative whether to click or not. Intermission!


Just To Hold-er

CC Sabathia stumbled a bit out of the gate this week, giving up 2 runs in the 1st inning against Toronto on Monday. But not to worry; the Yankees offense and its MLB-record 31 straight games with a homer was sure to come through. So this section isn't about him. Indeed, it starts when Aaron Hicks extends that homer streak with a 3-run shot in the 5th to give the Yankees the lead and put CC in line for the win. There's really no need to pound Aaron Sanchez for another touchdown in the 6th, is there?

Ah, but having read last Sunday's post about boxcars (i.e., double-6s in a dice game), the Yankees couldn't help themselves, opening the inning with four hits and an RBI groundout to let Sanchez get away from the mound. Luke Voit then doubles in the last two inherited runs to make Sanchez the first Jays starter to give up 12 baserunners and 7 earned runs against the Yankees since Brett Cecil on July 6, 2009. (Cecil, unlike Sanchez, didn't end up getting tagged with a loss.) And when Giancarlo Stanton smokes a 3-run homer later in the inning, our score has flipped from 0-2 to 10-2 in the span of four outs.

But we still haven't gotten to the pitcher who really wants to get away from this game. That would be Jonathan Holder who is entrusted with an 8-run lead going to the top of the 8th. And by the time this is over, well, maybe that 6th-inning insurance touchdown wasn't a bad idea after all. Leadoff homer, Lourdes Gurriel. Cavan Biggio single. Randal Grichuk single. Rowdy Tellez single. The ever-helpful "mound visit", and then a grand slam by Freddy Galvis, just the second one Toronto has ever hit in the Bronx (at either stadium). Justin Smoak took Ivan Nova deep on August 8, 2015. And now our second mound visit results in Holder being removed after facing five batters, and not only getting none of them out, but also having all five of them score. The last Yankees reliever to pull that off was... Jonathan Holder, on August 2 of last season at Fenway Park. He's the first pitcher in Yankees history to have two such games from which he wants to get away. And only one other reliever in team history (1903) gave up 5+ runs and 2 homers while getting 0 outs, Bob Kammeyer at Cleveland on September 18, 1979.


Puddlejumpers

In addition to the bigger implosions and meltdowns we've already covered (plus the big one that's coming up), there were a few smaller bumps in the road this week where players (or teams) would probably just prefer to forget that one. Instead of long flights to faraway exotic vacation spots, we'll just have them take a short ride to the next state or something.

Speaking of which, the Dodgers were next door in Arizona early this week, and the D'backs clung to a 4-3 lead for most of Monday's game before Max Muncy worked a bases-loaded walk to tie the game in the 7th. Okay, pitching staff, just keep the game where it is and wait for Cody Bellinger to homer or whatever it is that we always seem to do late in games. Except Dylan Floro threw a little wrench in that one by entering the tie game in the 8th and giving up three straight singles, a walk, a sac fly, and another single to score four D'backs runs and end up losing the game 8-5. He was the first Dodgers pitcher to allow 4 runs, get no more than 2 outs, and take the loss, since... Dylan Floro had another game-he'd-like-to-forget on May 22 at Tampa Bay. No Dodgers pitcher had done it twice in a season since Danys Baez in 2006, and none had done it twice on the road in the same season since Stan Williams in 1962.

In a twist on our theme, the Astros probably wanted to get away from the Pirates this week, the problem there being that their series was in Houston and, well, sometimes you just have to lay low and wait for the pirates to leave. Wednesday's game was 6-1 quickly after Pittsburgh scored twice in each of the first three frames, and the big blow came in a 6-run 9th against "pitcher" Tyler White who is not actually a pitcher. The 14-2 final was the second time the Pirates had either scored 14 runs or won by 12 in Houston (remember they were both in the same division until 2013); the other such game was a 17-5 win on May 21, 1989. Corey Dickerson collected 3 doubles, 3 runs scored, and 3 RBI, the first Pirates batter to do that in any game since Kevin Young against the Rockies on August 4, 1998. But he was the first to do it in a road game since August 1, 1970, when none other than Willie Stargell posted that line at Fulton County Stadium. Dickerson and leadoff batter Kevin Newman were the first Pirates teammates to have 4 hits and 3 RBI in the same game since Dave Parker and Steve Nicosia did it against the Cubs on (really!) June 2, 1981. The Pirates had gone the longest of any team, by over 3 years, without having teammates do that in a game.

On Thursday the "laying low" theme played out as the Astros couldn't even be bothered to score against Joe Musgrove. Meanwhile, Newman and Dickerson both hit 1st-inning homers against Brad Peacock as the Pirates cruised to a 10-0 shutout, their largest ever in Houston (topping an 8-0 on August 14, 2005). Once again trailing 6-0 in the 4th, and having already dipped into the "position players pitching" bucket the day before, the Astros decided this was a great time to send Cy Sneed out to the mound for his MLB debut. He lasted the remainder of the game, but he also gave up those final four Pittsburgh runs on a pair of homers. Bob Forsch, on August 3, 1989, was the last Astros reliever to throw 6+ innings and give up multiple homers; that was a "take one for the team" game in Cincinnati. And only one other pitcher in the live-ball era has done 6-and-2 as a reliever in his MLB debut, Josh Wasdin of the A's on August 24, 1995. Combined, the 14-2 and 10-0 scores marked the first time the Pirates won consecutive games by double digits, both on the road, since they posted an 11-1 and a 12-1 at Ebbets Field on August 20-21, 1945!

The Marlins' bullpen had a couple forgettable outings this week, but sandwiched between them, an opponent had one also. The good part of Tayron Guerrero's appearance on Wednesday was that he faced seven batters and didn't give up a hit. He also only got two of them out. The others, four walks and a hit batter. Three of them scored, thanks in part to a wild pitch on top of it. (This may explain the lack of hits; why bother swinging if he's never anywhere near the plate?) The last pitcher in the majors to post that line (0 H, 4 BB, 1 HBP, 1 WP, 3 runs) was Dennis Blair of the Expos on June 4, 1975-- who was a starter; it took him 5 innings. Only one other pitcher in the live-ball era has done it in less than 1 IP: Pirates great Vern Law at Boston, July 20, 1951.

Miami then hosted the Phillies over the weekend, trailing Saturday's game 6-3 until Juan Nicasio and Adam Morgan both ran into trouble in the 7th. Each gave up 3 runs while getting only 1 out; the 6-run inning ended up giving the Marlins a 9-6 victory. Nicasio and Morgan are the first pair of Phillies relievers to do the 3-and-1 line in the same game since Terry Adams and Mike Williams at Montréal on August 26, 2003.

Those tables were turned on Sunday when Philadelphia rallied for a 7-run 6th, mostly off Wei-Yin Chen out of the bullpen. He faced five batters; all of them got hits and all of them later scored, although one was unearned when Jake Arrieta (who started on second) was awarded home on an interference call against catcher Jorge Alfaro. Chen is the 10th pitcher in Marlins history to face five batters and have all of them score, but the first since Frankie De La Cruz against the Rays on June 25, 2008.


London Broil

Remember that time the people of Boston weren't very happy with Britain? Well, 245 years later it turns out history really does repeat itself.

Earlier in the week we suggested that, in celebration of all things British, the Yankees and Red Sox should run the bases in the opposite direction. MLB doesn't like many of our ideas. But the locals certainly got plenty of chances to adjust to the Americans' way when a jet-lagged Rick Porcello (yeah, we'll go with that) surrendered 6 runs in the 1st inning on three straight doubles and a 2-run homer by Aaron Hicks. He needed 33 pitches to get 1 out and it sure looked like he wanted to get away and crawl in a foxhole for a while. No Boston starter had given up 6+ earned runs while getting 1 out since John Burkett did it against Baltimore on September 24, 2003, and the only pitcher in team history to do it against the Yankees was Tom Brewer on August 15, 1985.

But while we're still trying to digest that outing, Porcello's teammates gave him a little dose of "cheerio, old chap" and picked him right back up. Rafael Devers RBI double. Two walks from a jet-lagged Masahiro Tanaka (yeah, we'll go with that) to load the bases. A sac fly, another single, and then a 3-run homer from Michael Chavis, means we are no really, tied again at 6-6 with the game only 5 outs old. That also bumped Tanaka out of the game, although he got 2 outs and was "only" the first Yankees starter with that line since Nate Eovaldi in Miami on June 16, 2015.

However, this 6-6 tie means that neither Porcello nor Tanaka is going to end up with a decision out of this. Tanaka was the first Yankees starter to give up 6 earned, get no more than 2 outs, and not lose since Ken Holtzman in a 14-9 slugfest in Chicago on July 20, 1976. Porcello's 6 runs on 1 out was a first for any team since Mike Maroth of the Tigers on May 25, 2006, and no Bostonian had done it since Mel Parnell against the Browns on August 4, 1948. Saturday was just the third game since earned runs were adopted in 1912 where both starters gave up 6 of them and didn't finish the 1st inning. Toronto's Frank Wills and Oakland's Curt Young did it on June 23, 1989, and the other is that Mel Parnell game above. His opponent, Ralph "Blackie" Schwamb, also gave up 6 runs while getting 1 out. (Schwamb, after the baseball thing didn't really work out, got involved in a Mafia murder-for-hire job and was sentenced to life in prison in 1949 (but paroled in 1960).)

Brett Gardner added a 2-run homer in the 3rd to break the tie, but the Yankees unloaded again in the 4th when a jet-lagged Mike Sharawyn (yeah, we'll go with that) got sent to the mound. After 2 outs, 2 hits, and 2 walks, the big blow was DJ LeMahieu's bases-loaded double. And then here comes Aaron Judge with a home run to post the Yankees' second 6-run inning of the game and go up 14-6. LeMahieu added a 2-run single in the 5th before things calmed down just a little; when Jackie Bradley homers to lead off the 6th it's 17-7 and what else could happen? Heh.

Well, that would "only" be another 6-run inning in the bottom of the 7th when Chavis hits another 3-run bomb, Tommy Kahnle throws a wild pitch on ball four with the bases loaded, and J.D. Martinez doubles with 2 outs, among other things. That would give us the final score that you know and love, 17-13, the first such final in the majors in exactly 19 years and 1 day. The Rockies beat the Giants, not surprisingly at Coors Field, on June 28, 2000. The last time the Yankees allowed 13 runs and won was May 16, 2006, a 14-13 game against Texas. The last time the Red Sox scored 13 and lost was August 23, 2012, against the Angels. And the only other times they did it against each other were, let's say not recent. It happened on July 31, 1930, and in the Yankees' first season, July 29, 1903, both times in Boston.

LeMahieu became the third leadoff batter in Yankees history with 4 hits and 5 RBI in a game, joining Johnny Damon (2006) and Hank Bauer (1952). Meanwhile, Michael Chavis hit that pair of 3-run dingers to become the third Red Sox batter ever with 2 HR and 6 RBI in a loss. Dick Gernert did it in Washington in 1956, and Roy Johnson did it against the A's in 1932. Down at the bottom of the order, Jackie Bradley was the first Sawx #9 batter with 4 hits in a loss since Julio Lugo in Anaheim on May 14, 2009. But no Bostonian had done it against the Yankees since Red Ruffing in an 8-3 defeat on May 25, 1929.

And if you've managed to keep up, you also notice that not only did both teams have a 6-run 1st, but the Yankees had a 6-run 4th and the Red Sox had a 6-run 7th. It's the first game in four decades where both teams had multiple innings of 6 or more runs. The previous was a fairly famous game if you're into wacky slugfests; it's the 23-22 game between the Phillies and Cubs on May 17, 1979.


Double Decker

Even though it seems like 30 runs might be enough to satisfy the Britons for a while, there's still another game to be played on Sunday afternoon between the Yankees and Red Sox, and this time it was Boston's turn to strike first. Stephen Tarpley, which sounds like a nice British name (although we honestly have no idea), gets the start and... oh dear. Xander Bogaerts, 2-run homer. Two pitches later, J.D. Martinez homer. Six pitches later, Christian Vazquez homer. The Red Sox had not hit three 1st-inning homers in a game since August 14, 1979, when Carlton Fisk, Fred Lynn, and Carl Yastrzemski took Pete Redfern of the Twins deep. That was enough for Tarpley as well, who did not appear for the 2nd inning and thus became the first Yankees starter to give up 3 homers while getting no more than 3 outs since Catfish Hunter did that on June 17, 1977, also against the Red Sox.

The Yankees got 2 back in the 2nd on a couple of singles and groundouts, but stranded the bases loaded. After that the game calmed down and resembled more-typical American baseball for a few innings, although good luck explaining that catcher's interference call in the 6th. But on trots Marcus Walden for the top of the 7th, and doesn't it seem like all big innings begin with DJ LeMahieu. Leadoff double. Aaron Hicks double. Gary Sanchez two-run single to chase Walden. Matt Barnes fares no better, giving up two singles and a walk before Josh Taylor comes on and walks the bases full. And who's up again but DJ LeMahieu, who cranks an automatic double that ultimately leads to a nine-run inning and an 11-4 lead. The Yankees hadn't had a 9-run inning since August 30, 2015, in Atlanta, as part of a 20-6 blowout, and a month before that (July 28, at Texas) was when Brendan Ryan was the previous Yankee to have two doubles in the same inning.

The Sox got 4 more runs back off Chance Adams in the bottom of the 8th, but too little, too late as we limp to a 12-8 final. It's been 14 years since they led the Yankees by 4 or more after the 1st inning and lost; that last happened July 14, 2005. Boston hadn't scored 8+ runs in back-to-back games and lost both of them since July 20-21, 2002, which also happens to be against the Yankees.


Bottom Of The Bag

⚾ Willson Contreras, Wednesday: First Cubs catcher with a homer and a triple in same game at Wrigley since Dave Rader against the Cardinals on May 20, 1979.

⚾ Chad Pinder & Marcus Semien, Tuesday: First A's batters ever to hit back-to-back homers against the Cardinals in St Louis. Jermaine Dye and Scott Hatteberg took Jason Marquis deep on June 16, 2004.

⚾ Matt Wieters, Sunday: First multi-run homer the Cardinals have ever hit in extra innings in San Diego. Jack Clark (1987) and George Hendrick (1981) are the only ones to hit solo shots.

⚾ Fernando Tatis & Eric Hosmer, Friday: Second time Padres have hit back-to-back homers against the Cardinals at Petco. Mark Bellhorn and Josh Bard took Mark Mulder deep on May 28, 2006.

⚾ Manny Machado & Franmil Reyes, Saturday: First Padres teammates to each hit 2 homers in the same game at Petco Park. Only pair to do it at Qualcomm/Jack Murphy was Gary Sheffield & Fred McGriff against the Astros on August 6, 1992.

⚾ Chris Sale, Wednesday: Second Red Sox pitcher ever to strike out 10 but also give up 5 earned runs and hit 2 batters. Dave Morehead did it in Anaheim on July 30, 1965.

⚾ Brad Keller, Sunday: Second pitcher in Royals history to give up 8+ hits, 6+ runs, 2+ homers, and still get a win. Kris Wilson did it in Cleveland 18 years earlier to the day (June 30, 2001).

⚾ Enrique Hernandez, Thursday: Second 3-run, pinch-hit homer this season; also had one May 27 against Mets. First Dodger to hits two in a season (including slams) since Olmedo Saenz in 2004.

⚾ Max Scherzer, Tuesday: Second pitcher in Nats/Expos history to strike out 10 opponents and also have 2 hits and 2 runs scored on offense. Bill Stoneman did it against the Braves on May 26, 1971.

⚾ Matt Chapman, Sunday: First Oaklander with a 6-RBI game that included a triple (never mind the other hits) since Davey Lopes at Toronto, June 15, 1983.

⚾ J.P. Crawford, Wednesday: Third batter in Mariners history with a triple, 2 doubles, and 3 RBI in a game. Others are Mike Blowers (May 24, 1995, vs Boston) and Ken Phelps (August 6, 1987 vs Angels).

⚾ Julio Teheran, Monday: First Braves pitcher to allow 9+ hits and 7+ earned runs at Wrigley since Lance Cormier on June 3 2007.

⚾ Yuli Gurriel, Fri-Sat: First Astros batter with an extra-inning walkoff hit in back-to-back team games since Craig Biggio on August 4 & 5, 1991 (both singles).

Casino Night

We could probably have saved this theme for next week, when (God willing) #Kernels will come to you from Las Vegas and that stadium list up top will finally get an update. But on many of these road trips we do pop into the local gambling house, partly to pass some time if we're not at a day game, and occasionally out of necessity because the motel internet doesn't work (looking at you, Scranton). If you've got stuff to do late at night, then heck, at least you know that's one place that won't throw you out because they're closing. We've even seen "Casino Night" as a theme night at a minor-league event or two, and recall one time in high school when some group (possibly MADD) tried to counter-program a casino-themed event opposite the prom or homecoming or one of those big weekends. Because yes, let's keep the high-schoolers from going out drinking, by teaching them how to gamble instead. The '80s were fun. But we digress. You want your baseball (Golden) nuggets.


Lucky Sevens

Every week it feels like there's one team that reads our post each Sunday or Monday (dare to dream) and says, hey, that sounds like a good idea, and then goes out and does it in the next game. This week's prize is shared by the Angels and Edwin Jackson, who quickly escalated the first MLB game of the week after the Blue Jays decided to join the "opener" bandwagon. Derek Law pitched a 1-2-3 inning. Jackson... um... did not. First pitch, Justin Upton homer. Two pitches, Kole Calhoun homer. Two outs-- but two walks and a Mike Trout double-- later, Shohei Ohtani 3-run jack. Okay, we're done here. It's 7-1 after two innings and the Angels cruise to a 10-5 win despite their own "designated follower" (we heard this term on Oakland's radio broadcast this week and kinda like it), Felix Peña, also giving up 4 runs and 2 homers. He was the first "reliever" in Angels history to throw 6+ innings, give up multiple homers, and get a win.

But back to Jackson for a moment. How many other Jays pitchers have ever given up 7+ runs and 3+ homers while getting only 2 outs? Yeah, that would be none. And as many teams as he's played for, it the first game of Jackson's career where he'd surrendered 3 homers and gotten less than seven outs (which he did with the Nationals two seasons ago). Forgetting the 7 runs (as if), only one other Jays pitcher had ever given up 3 homers in a 2-out appearance and eaten a loss because of it; Corey Thurman did that in a start against the Rangers on August 8, 2003.

The Angels last had a 7-run inning in Toronto on July 10, 2004, mostly against Kerry Ligtenberg. And by the time it was all done, those three players who homered-- Trout, Ohtani, and Calhoun-- had all also doubled. Only twice before had the Angels had a trio of players homer and double in a road game: July 2, 2016, when Albert Pujols, C.J. Cron, and Carlos Perez did it it at Fenway; and September 25, 1979, by Dan Ford, Don Baylor, and Bobby Grich, also in Toronto (though at Exhibition, not Rogers).

Mike Trout, however, was not quite done. Two days later, he would homer in the 2nd inning to put the Angels up 3-0, only to be matched later in the inning by Rowdy Tellez for a 3-3 tie. Okay, well, let's take this up a notch in the 4th. After Tommy La Stella gets his sixth(!) catcher's interference award of the season (no one else in the majors has more than three), the bases are full of, let's say, Trout bait. He joined Bengie Molina (2004), Adam Kennedy (2000), and Dave Winfield (1991) as the only Angels batters to hit a grand slam at SkyDome/Rogers, and by tacking on a 9th-inning single for the final margin of 11-6, he became the sixth visiting player with a 2-homer, 7-RBI game there. That list includes three Mariners (Brian Giles, Alex Rodriguez, Nelson Cruz), plus then-Clevelander Manny Ramirez in 1999 and Mookie Betts from two years ago.

And it's worth mentioning that Tellez would also go on to homer again, although his second one was a solo shot and he ended up with "only" 4 RBIs. But combined, he and Trout were just the third opposing players in stadium history to each have 2 homers and 4 driven in. And the others go to its first couple seasons. Joe Carter and Carlos Quintana of the Red Sox did it on August 9, 1991; and the first pair was Glenallen Hill and the aforementioned Brian Giles on May 17, 1990.


Hit On 16

By now we all know that Camden Yards is not a pitchers' park. Entering Sunday, it had seen the most home runs so far this season, in a season that is on pace to shatter all kinds of home-run records. Oakland Coliseum, on the other hand, the last of the "cookie-cutters" with its vast expanses of foul territory and high walls to accommodate a football field, is not. The two parks hover around fifth from the top and fifth from the bottom in ESPN's park factors. So if we told you the O's and A's were going to play a 16-2 game that featured seven home runs, you would say the game is at...?

Yep. Remember we do the weird stuff. Tuesday's contest at Oakland Coliseum started out somewhat normal and AL-West-ish, with someone named Beau Taylor, in just his 13th big-league at-bat, taking Gabriel Ynoa deep for the first run in the 3rd. But that should be a clue. Taylor had just 11 homers in three seasons in the Pacific Coast League, so if he's hitting them at the Coliseum, well, Beau knows this one's about to turn ugly. Ramon Laureano hits a 3-run shot in the 4th. The Orioles get one back when Jonathan Villar goes deep in the 5th. Ynoa gives up another homer to Robbie Grossman in the 5th to continue a grand tradition of Orioles pitchers having total meltdowns in June (seriously, two years ago, they had fourteen starters give up 5+ runs just that month alone). So the good news is that Ynoa got spared any more damage. The bad news is that Paul Fry and Dan Straily didn't do any better. Marcus Semien RBI triple. Richie Martin makes a 2-out error that will render most of this inning unearned, but still they all count. Straily gives up a 3-run bomb to Khris Davis, the first batter he faces. Okay, blank slate, maybe now we can-- single, wild pitch, walk, another 3-run dinger by Stephen Piscotty. That all adds up to a 10-run inning, the first by any team at the famously offense-averse Oakland Coliseum since the Cardinals did it on June 16, 2007. The A's hadn't done it in a home game since July 5, 1996, when the Angels opened with 3 in the 1st and the A's went a little overboard in their response by hanging a thirteen in the bottom half. That game still holds the modern-era record for most combined runs in a 1st inning.

Chad Pinder added another 2-run homer in the 6th to provide our final margin of 16-2. Pinder was the first Oaklander with a multi-run pinch-hit homer against Baltimore since Mike Aldrete took Alan Mills deep on June 8, 1993. But that final score marked the first time the Athletics had ever scored 16+ against Baltimore, and their second-largest win ever since the Orioles moved there in 1954. They dropped a 15-0 shutout, more-predictably at Camden Yards, on August 30, 2001. And Tuesday was just the second home game in A's history, in any city (they've had three!) where six different players went yard. It also happened in a 13-6 win over the Red Sox at the Coliseum on August 21, 1997.

On the Orioles' side, Ynoa and Straily each surrendered three of those six homers, just the second time in franchise history (1901) where two pitchers did it in the same game. Sindey Ponson and Rocky Coppinger each gave up three homers against Toronto on July 8, 1999. And you may remember from last week that Straily gave up four homers last Thursday against the Red Sox. He's the first reliever in franchise history to surrender three of them in back-to-back appearances, and the first for any team since Dan Murray of the Royals on (look at that June theme!) June 16 and 18 of 2000.


Stay on 17

They are the games we love to hate. (Or, maybe, in your case, hate to love. We're okay with that.) The low-scoring games where neither team can do anything, either because of great pitching or because the offenses are just inept, and it gets to the 8th or 9th with a score of 2-1 or 1-1, and you can just feel that if this goes to extras we are going to be here a lonnnnngggg time.

Welcome to Tuesday in Minneapolis. Rafael Devers of the Red Sox hits a 2-out RBI single in the top of the 4th. C.J. Cron of the Twins hits a 2-out RBI single in the bottom of the 4th. Devers homers to lead off the 7th, okay, at least it's not tied. And then the Sawx issue two walks and a wild pitch in the bottom of the 8th, such that Max Kepler easily ties the game with another of those pesky 2-out RBI singles. Ohhhh boy, here we go.

Brock Holt, leadoff double in the 10th. Nope, can't score him. Two more singles in the 12th, still can't score. Twins get a walk and a single in the bottom of the 12th, but nope. Oh, hey, Mookie Betts, leadoff homer in the 13th, maybe the end is finally in sight. Turns out Mookie also had a go-ahead homer in the 12th in Toronto on May 22, and is the first Red Sox batter to hit two in the 12th or later of the same season since Carl Yastrzemski in 1975.

Okay, Hector Velazquez, you have one job. Mmmmm, no. Kepler repeatedly refuses to let this game end by matching Betts with his own leadoff homer in B13. That was the first Twins homer in the 11th or later at Target Field that was not a walkoff. We'll spare you the rest except to say that there were baserunners in T14, T15, B15, T16, B16, and T17 and none of them could be bothered to score. It's only when Brian Johnson cameon for the bottom of the 17th and gave up two hits and a walk to load the bases, that Max Kepler finally decided the game could end. Walkoff blooper to right for a 4-3 victory that took 5 hours 45 minutes, the longest game by both time and innings in Target Field history. It was the longest game in Minneapolis since an 18-inning affair against Oakland on August 8, 2004, and the Twins lost that game. Their only other walkoff anything in the 17th or later was a home run by Pedro Muñoz in the 22nd inning against Cleveland on August 31, 1993.

And if you've been following Kepler's adventures, that's a tying hit in the 8th, another tying hit (the homer) in the 13th, and a walkoff hit in the 17th. He's the first player in almost 80 years to have two tying hits plus a walkoff hit, all in the 8th or later, in the same game. Dolph Camilli of the Dodgers homered in the 8th, doubled home Billy Herman in the 10th, and then singled home Pete Coscarart in the 15th, against the Braves on September 1, 1941. Evem ignoring the tying hit in the 8th, he's the first player to have a game-tying hit and a go ahead-hit in the same game, both were in the 13th or later, since then-Brewer Willie Randolph did it against the White Sox on May 1, 1991.


Aces Wild

That 17-inning game on Tuesday followed a series opener on Monday that actually was much closer to a pitcher's duel. Rick Porcello, not really an "ace" on a team with Chris Sale and David Price, but still respectable, went up against Jose Berrios, who is certainly Minnesota's top pitcher but flies under the radar because their offense homers every five at-bats. So it was a bit surprising to see a game where the Twins didn't homer at all, but where they got shut out by Porcello and lost basically because Berrios gave up three straight singles to start the game. It was the first time the Red Sox had shut out the Twins on 5 or fewer hits at Target Field; their last such game at the Metrodome was May 4, 2007, in a Tim Wakefield start. Porcello's performance sent us back another decade before that; no Sawx pitcher had thrown 7+ shutout innings with 8+ strikeouts in Minneapolis since Tom "Flash" Gordon on May 17, 1997.

And what of poor Jose Berrios? Who gave up those 3 hits and 1 run in the 1st but then retired 19 straight and 23 of 25 before departing? Why, he's got some good company also. No Twins pitcher, against any team, had gone 8 innings, allowed 1 run, struck out 10+, and eaten a loss, since Bert Blyleven did it at Texas on April 20, 1974, when Jim Fregosi broke a scoreless tie with a walkoff single.

You can take the "Aces Wild" header in a different direction as well. On Friday Sandy Alcantara-- who is too new to have reached true "ace" status yet, but he's certainly the Marlins' anchor-- managed to scatter eight hits and four walks, yet give up only one run. To make matters worse, four of those hits were doubles, Alcantara chipped in two wild pitches, and the Phillies stole three bases behind him. In fact that lone run they scored off him came on a double steal between Roman Quinn and Bryce Harper. They stranded 11 including seven in scoring position. For the Phillies, it was the first time their only run of a game came on a steal of home since Al Lakeman and Del Ennis pulled off the double against St Louis on August 1, 1947. And for Alcantara, well, he's only the third pitcher in the live-ball era to allow 12 baserunners, 3 steals, 2 wild pitches, and yet only 1 run. Randy Johnson would be a good (and correct) guess; he did it in 1993. The other was Bill Travers of the Brewers in 1976.

Then there is Walker Buehler's masterpiece against the Rockies on Friday night. It started with an innocent-looking strikeout of Charlie Blackmon, notable in itself because he frequently homers, but then two more in the 2nd and three more in the 3rd. Four in the 4th would have been tricky, but why not at least average two more for the rest of the game. In fact, let's set down 25 of the first 27 Rockies hitters, to the point where Colorado never batted with a runner on base until the 9th inning. Those other two Rockies hitters-- Blackmon and Nolan Arenado-- both homered. Blackmon would dump a single into right in the 9th but then, you guessed it, two more strikeouts to end the game with 16. The last Dodgers pitcher with a 16-K outing was Hideo Nomo against the Marlins on April 13, 1996. Besides Buehler and Nomo, only four other 16-K games had been spun at Dodger Stadium, by Ramon Martinez in 1990, Tom Seaver of the Mets in 1974, and Sandy Koufax twice. Buehler also became the fifth pitcher in the live-ball era to fan 16 but also give up 2 homers. Max Scherzer did it in his 20-K game three seasons ago, and the rest of the club (it's a nice one) is Randy Johnson, David Cone, and Steve Carlton.

But hang on a second. That's all written as if the game is over. Which it actually wasn't because the Dodgers had also scored only 2 runs. So we can speculate whether Buehler would have pulled a Rich Hill and gone back out for the 10th (doubtful after 111 pitches), but fortunately Matt Beaty would spare Dave Roberts that decision by hitting a walkoff 2-run homer against Jairo Diaz. Andre Ethier (2009) and David Ross (2004), both in extras, hit the only other multi-run walkoff homers for the Dodgers against the Rockies. And it's only because of that homer that Buehler actually gets the complete-game win. The last pitcher to strike out 16+ and have to "back into" a CG win with a walkoff? It's not surprising that it's Nolan Ryan. But it's one of his all-time memorable games, on September 27, 1973, when he insisted on pitching 11 innings (despite developing a cramp in the 9th) because he needed one more strikeout to break Sandy Koufax's record of 382 for the season. He got it by fanning Rich Reese to end the 11th, and then Richie Sehienblum hit a walkoff double in the bottom half to also give Ryan the CG win.

And our discussion of aces wouldn't be complete without mentioning Masahiro Tanaka's dominance of the Rays on Monday. Austin Meadows finally got the first hit off him to start the 4th, and Willy Adames added another inconsequential single in the 5th. Meadows walked in the 6th but got caught stealing. Tanaka then retired the Rays on 10 pitches in the 7th and six (!) in the 8th, leaving him set up to throw the Yankees' first 2-hit individual shutout since Hiroki Kuroda did it against the Rangers on August 14, 2012. Every other team except the Royals had watched some pitcher or another throw an SHO-2 since then. And in the current era, because strikeouts tend to require more pitches, you don't see a lot of shutouts that also have a lot of strikeouts. Tanaka was the first Yankees pitcher to throw an SHO-2 with 10 or more K's since Mike Mussina on September 24, 2002 (also against the Rays, for what that's worth).


You may be able to read about baseball's strange happenings on this blog every week, but you can't read Lady Gaga. Intermission (muh muh muh muh)!



Boxcars

Cameron Maybin had 3 hits and a homer to back Tanaka in that Monday game, and if that sounds familiar, it's because he also homered last Saturday and Sunday, all the while realizing he's destined for a road trip to Scranton (there are worse places, trust us) after Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton came back from injuries. But he would really leave his mark by homering in a fourth straight game on Tuesday in the Yankees' 6-3 win over the Rays. Only two other players in Yankees history have homered in four straight games while batting 8th or 9th in each game; Gleyber Torres did it last May shortly after being called up, and the other is "only" Tony Lazzeri, who did it in May 1936, with the final game in the streak being his famous 11-RBI game where he became the first player ever to hit two grand slams in a game.

That 6-3 win on Tuesday would be just the start of a series of Yankee sixes this week, hence our section header. Wednesday's game erupted right from the outset with an infield single by DJ LeMahieu, a walk to Luke Voit, and Gary Sanchez's 3-run homer. Let's then have Blake Snell, the rare Rays pitcher who doesn't qualify as an "opener" anymore, walk the bases loaded before we can't take anymore. Put in Colin Poche, who hits Gio Urshela, and then LeMahieu ends the inning where it began, with another single to plate runs 5 and 6. Snell got charged with all of those, the first Rays starter to give up 6+ runs while getting 1 out since Tim Corcoran, also against the Yankees, on September 12, 2006. Poche was the first Rays pitcher to enter a game with the bases loaded, and hit the first batter he faced, since Shawn Camp on May 4, 2006, yet again versus the Yankees.

Things settled down after that 11-batter 1st inning, and the Yankees actually didn't have another baserunner until the 7th. But once again LeMahieu starts things with a walk, and after two more walks and two more hits, it falls to Gleyber Torres to hit a grand slam for the Yankees' second 6-run inning of the game, something that hadn't happened since April 21, 2012, in Boston. They hadn't had multiple 6-run frames in a home game since the famous "three grand slams" game against Oakland on August 25, 2011. And with all those walks helping out, the Yankees managed to finish the game with 12 runs on just 9 hits, their first such home game since defeating the Tigers 12-3 (on 7 walks and 3 homers) on April 9, 1999.

On Thursday, now with Houston in the house, it was Framber Valdez's turn to get into some early trouble, though he did at least finish an inning. Actually three of them before Gary Sanchez homered to lead off the 4th. But once one of them gets going, well, watch out. Giancarlo Stanton doubles, Edwin Encarnacion walks, and Gleyber Torres hits a 3-run bomb. When DJ LeMahieu connected again later in the inning (after Valdez's departure), it gave the Yankees their first set of 6-run innings in back-to-back games in just over a decade. On May 19 and 20 of 2009 they did it against the Orioles (and also on the 18th against the Twins). Torres, who hit that slam on Wednesday, was the first Yankee since Greg Bird last July to hit a 3-run homer and a 4-run homer in consecutive games. And note that Sanchez homered on both Wednesday and Thursday as well. So when the two of the each went deep again in Friday's win, they became the first teammates in Yankees history to have simultaneous 3-game homer streaks.


Flop Card

We had to give one paragraph to Jack Flaherty of the Cardinals for the particularly-wacky ending to Thursday's game. St Louis and Miami battled to a 5-5 tie after nine innings, only to see JT Riddle hit a 2-run homer in the 11th. That turns out to be the first extra-inning homer that the Marlins have ever hit against the Cardinals, leaving the Reds and Pirates as the only NL opponents they've never victimized. Ah, but this is why both teams have a chance to bat. Paul Goldschmidt leads off the bottom of the 11th with a single, and with two outs, Yadier Molina doubles him home to make it 7-6. That was the Cardinals' first RBI double in 5 years in the bottom of an extra inning that didn't at least tie the game; Jon Jay hit one against David Robertson of the Yankees on May 26, 2014, when also trailing by 2. But now Molina represents the tying run. And Yadi is a lot of things to the Cardinals faithful, but he's also a catcher who will be 37 in a few weeks. So we're going to sub in pitcher Jack Flaherty to carry that tying run. And then let's have Sergio Romo's first move, before even giving Matt Wieters a chance to see a pitch, throw back to second. If you don't believe that just happened, well, neither did Flaherty, because he cemented his place in baseball lore by refusing to leave second base. And why not just stay there overnight. Because in the entire population of games in the great Baseball Reference Play Index, which is nearly complete back to the mid-1950s and includes many games as far back as 1925, he's the first pitcher-used-as-pinch-runner ever to be picked off to end a game. Only two others came close, and one was another Cardinal: Curt Simmons made the first out of the 9th against the Pirates on June 21, 1960. Kyle Kendrick of the Phillies, on June 1, 2013, got picked off by the Brewers for the second out of the 9th.

And part of Flaherty's thoughts had to be, that just happened again? Because five days earlier against the Mets, also pinch-running for Molina, Flaherty tried to score from first on a bloop double that fell in the "triangle" behind second base. Nope, out at the plate to end that game with a 1-run loss as well. And while we've found plenty of instances of pitchers-as-pinch-runners making the last out of a game, we got back to 1960 before we started losing some of the play-by-play accounts, and no other pitcher since then has done it twice in a week.


Hit: The Jackpot

We admit, we had already spent the "hit on 16" header before pitchers started plunking batters early and often over the weekend.

Tanner Roark, now with the Reds, had a pretty good start against the Brewers on Thursday. He threw 6 innings, allowed 1 run on 3 hits, struck out 7, and got the win as Cincinnati easily topped Milwaukee 7-1. But take a closer look at those pitching lines. Roark hit Yasmani Grandal with a pitch not once but twice, and then plunked Lorenzo Cain in the 5th for good measure. So he gave up as many runners by plunking them, as he did by actually allowing them to get a base hit. No Reds pitcher had done that (≤ 3 hits but 3+ HBP) in a game since Rube Benton came unraveled in the 7th inning against the Cardinals on September 10, 1914. A hundred years before his time, Benton actually had a no-hitter going, but having walked five and hit three, the "metrics" said it was time for him to go.

Meanwhile, Derek Dietrich, now with the Reds, also got plunked twice, albeit by two different pitchers. And then, after Jesse Winker tripled in the 2nd, the Brewers said, yeah, let's not have that happen again, just hit him. So Winker earns a note for being the first Reds leadoff batter with a triple and an HBP in the same game since Ryan Freel at Dodger Stadium on May 16, 2004. And altogether we have just the sixth game in the live-ball era where both teams received 3+ hit-by-pitches. The Pirates and Padres were the previous beanballfest on June 2, 2014.

We're pretty sure Dietrich is not trying to have Rob Manfred's signature permanently embossed on his arm, although to each his own. Maybe he's just got some funky magnet that attracts baseballs. If so he must have shared it with Eugenio Suarez, because the two of them got plunked back-to-back in the 1st inning by Chase Anderson on Friday. Dietrich comes up again to start the 3rd and plunk. He is already the first Reds batter in the live-ball era to receive multiple HBPs in consecutive games... and we've still got six innings left. By the time the 7th rolls around, Junior Guerra is now in the game, and guess what happens to his second pitch to Dietrich. Doink. This one finally earned a staredown and a warning to both benches, but it also earned Dietrich a share of the MLB record for a single game, and the honor of being the first Reds batter ever to get hit three times. We also could find no other player to receive five total HBPs in a two-game span.

So what's he do on Saturday? Yep, gets hit again, this time only once by Alex Claudio. Dietrich turned out to be the only batter Claudio faced, duplicating the latter's "feat" from May 11 of facing only Anthony Rizzo and hitting him. Only one other pitcher in Brewers history has two outings where he faced one batter and plunked the guy, Zach Braddock in 2011. And Dietrich, while not setting another record with three straight multi-HBP games, did become the first Reds batter to get hit at lease once in three straight team games since Jason LaRue in July 2006.

The baseball magnet then shifted west on Saturday when the Rays and Athletics just couldn't stop hitting each other. Mike Fiers, who knows a little something about opponents not getting hit, began by plunking Avisail Garcia in the 2nd. The Rays actually got another HBP awarded by replay later in the inning when Willy Adames was brushed. And the very next inning, Garcia comes up again and gets doinked by Fiers' first pitch. No Oakland pitcher had hit three batters and thrown a wild pitch since Mike Norris did so in Boston on May 23, 1982, and that was a 6-inning rain-shortened game (who knows what he could have done in 9!). And since we actually looked this up, Fiers is not the first Oakland pitcher with a no-hitter and a "3-hitter" (as in HBPs) in the same season. Dave Stewart did it the other way around in 1990.

Ah, but now it's the Rays' turn. Ramon Laureano leads off the 6th against Yonny Chirinos and doink. He then reappears in the 7th after the A's have loaded the bases, so you certainly can't say they're trying to hit people. But they sure did. That forced in the Athletics' final run of their 4-2 win, and would you look at that, both Garcia and Laureano batted 5th and got hit twice. In all the searchable online boxscores back to 1908, there's never been a game where the two number-X batters both got hit twice. And scroll down, turns out they both stole a base along the way as well. Since 1908 that's never happened either, by any two players in the same game, regardless of position in the order.


Security, Watch This Guy

Alex Dickerson, at least so far, is one of those players you might refer to as "quadruple-A". Drafted by the Pirates in 2011, traded to the Padres as a double-A prospect for then-little-known Miles Mikolas, spent 2015 and 2016 bouncing back and forth between San Diego and El Paso, and then traded two weeks ago to the Giants for a double-A relief pitcher. But when Steven Duggar got hurt this week, Dickerson's chance finally came to reemerge in the majors. And, well, there was a reemergence, all right.

On Friday he singled in his first at-bat as a Giant. Okay, nice start. It was the second at-bat that got everyone's attention. After a hit batter and two walks, Dickerson crushed a grand slam to straightaway center at Chase Field, just the sixth one the Giants have ever hit there. Only two other Giants (all the way back to 1882) have ever hit a slam in their first game with the team; they are Brandon Crawford in 2011 and Bobby Bonds in 1968. So then we come to the 7th and the Giants erupt again with two singles and two more walks. And Dickerson now comes up with runners on first and second and clocks the first pitch to center for a triple. No Giants batter had hit a slam and a triple in the same game since Matt Williams at Three Rivers Stadium on July 17, 1990. And again, only two others had ever homered (at all, forget the slam part) and tripled in their first game with the team. Those would be Kenny Lofton right after his deadline trade in July 2002, and Ray Poat who did it in 1947. Of course the triple clears those two runners in front of Dickerson and gives him 6 RBIs too. Since those became official in 1920, only six other players-- for any team-- have collected that many in their debut in a new uniform. Starlin Castro, in not just his Cubs debut but his MLB debut, did it on May 7, 2010. The others are Darrin Jackson (1997 Twins), Sam Horn (1990 Orioles), Todd Cruz (1983 Orioles), Brant Alyea (1970 Twins), and Roman Mejias (1962 Astros, in the team's first-ever game).

Now by Saturday even Steven Duggar might be saying, let this guy stay. This time all he does is collect two early-inning doubles, but both of them came with Kevin Pillar on in front of him, and the second one had Brandon Belt on base in front of Pillar. So that's three more RBIs, again the second in Giants history to do something. Their only other player to have three or more in each of his first two games with the team was John Bowker when he made his MLB debut on April 12 and 13, 2008. Then throw two extra-base hits into the mix. Only one other player, for any team, has had 2 XBH and 3 RBI in both of his first two appearances for a new club: Gabe Kapler, after the Red Sox purchased his contract from Colorado, on June 28-29, 2003.


Bottom Of The Bag

⚾ DJ LeMahieu, Sunday: First Yankees leadoff batter with a homer, a triple, and 3 RBIs in a loss since Bert Daniels hit for the cycle against the White Sox on July 25, 1912.

⚾ Lucas Giolito, Wednesday: Second White Sox pitcher to strike out 9+, but also allow 6 earned runs, 3 homers, and take a loss. Javier Vazquez did it against the Red Sox on August 26, 2007.

⚾ Jordan Yamamoto, Tuesday: First pitcher in live-ball era to throw 7+ scoreless innings and allow no more than 3 hits in each of his first two MLB appearances.

⚾ Jeff McNeil, Friday: First Mets leadoff batter with a homer and 3 RBI at Wrigley Field since Len Dysktra on August 16, 1987.

⚾ Orioles, Monday: First road game where they had 3 or fewer hits, no extra-base hits, and still scored multiple runs, since April 21, 1980, at Yankee Stadium (vs Tommy John).

⚾ Madison Bumgarner, Thursday: First game of career where he gave up 10+ hits, 6+ runs, and didn't get through the 4th. Last Giants pitcher to do that against the Dodgers was Mark Leiter on July 11, 1996.

⚾ Jonathan Holder, Saturday: First Yankees pitcher to give up 3 earned runs, blow a save, then get a win when they take the lead back in the next inning, since David Robertson on September 25, 2014-- the one where Derek Jeter hit a walkoff single in his final home game.

⚾ Freddie Freeman, Tuesday: First Braves batter to homer in the 9th inning to break up a shutout of 10-0 or worse since Earl Williams off the Expos' Steve Rogers, May 12, 1975.

⚾ Francisco Liriano, Sunday: First Pirates pitcher to enter a game in extra innings, give up 3 runs, and get a win (because the Pirates then scored 4), since Bob Patterson against the Cubs on April 21, 1991.

⚾ Adbert Alzolay, Thursday: First pitcher to make his MLB debut as a reliever, throw 4+ innings of 1-hit ball, and get a win, since Bill Swift of the Mariners on June 7, 1985.

⚾ Brian Dozier, Wednesday: First Washington player to homer in both games of a home doubleheader since Mike Epstein for the Second Senators, June 29, 1969, against the Red Sox.

⚾ Ketel Marte, Sun-Thu: Had 3+ hits in four straight games, and the Diamondbacks lost all of them. Last player to pull that off was Wilin Rosario of the Rockies in September 2012.

⚾ Marcell Ozuna, Friday: First Cardinals cleanup batter with 3 hits, 3 RBI, a homer, and a stolen base in same game since Fernando Tatis (that's Senior) against the Rockies on July 31, 1999.

⚾ Whit Merrifield, Tuesday: Third leadoff batter in Royals history with a 6-RBI game, joining Brian McRae (July 14, 1991 at Detroit) and Willie Wilson (June 15, 1979 at Milwaukee).

⚾ Alex Verdugo, Saturday: Second player in Dodger Stadium history (including the Angels years) to have 3 extra-base hits with the last being an extra-inning walkoff. Adrian Beltre did it against the Braves on August 20, 2004.

⚾ Chris Taylor & Will Smith, Sunday: First teammates (any team) with 3- or 4-run pinch-hit homers in the same game since Rip Repulski and Bob Bowman of the Phillies on August 13, 1958.

⚾ Dodgers, Fri-Sun: First time in team history (1884) winning three consecutive games via walkoff homer.

That Escalated Quickly

One of the oft-repeated criticisms of baseball is that nothing happens for long stretches of time. Okay, yes, that is sometimes true. Sometimes those stretches become just painfully long, such as the game last week where the final nine batters involved four strikeouts, four walks, two mound visits, and 58 pitches (28 minutes) without one being put in play. There was a 9-inning game this week that "featured" 27 strikeouts and 12 walks, took "only" 3 hours 40 minutes, and from which both managers got ejected because even they didn't want to watch any more of it. So we get it. But this week also showed us that, just when you think you've got 15 minutes to spend in line at the concession stand, you might end up missing a whole lot in a really short time. We're going to spend a long time on stuff and still miss a bunch.


Original Thirteen

On the original schedule, Monday's Diamondbacks/Phillies game would have likely kicked off our baseball week, being that the Phils are among the few remaining teams who still observe :05 start times. Alas, a passing cloud pushed that back by a half-hour, just enough time to watch some cat videos or play a couple of quick online quizzes. Hey, since we're in Philadelphia, here's one where you try to remember the original 13 colonies. Hint, Maine is not one. Okay, first pitch is finally coming up, let's settle in for-- wham, Jarrod Dyson home run. (That's Delaware.) First pitch of the game leaves almost as soon as it arrives. 1-0 D'backs. Okay, wait, I haven't even positioned my beverage-- wham, Ketel Marte home run. (Pennsylvania.) Dude, at least let me take a bite of my sandw-- wham, David Peralta home run. (New Jersey.) Yes, we are 13 pitches in (this is a neat coincidence) and Arizona just led off the game with back-to-back-to-back homers. Only six teams in major-league history have pulled that off, and the Diamondbacks-- who have only existed since 1998-- are the only one to do it twice. Peralta, A.J. Pollock, and Jake Lamb did it against the Nationals on July 21, 2017. And the only other trio to start a road game with three straight homers was Rickie Weeks, J.J. Hardy, and Ryan Braun for the Brewers in Cincinnati on September 9, 2007.

Jerad Eickhoff settled down and got three outs, but now the Phillies already start with a 3-0 deficit. Bottom of the 1st, Jean Segura solo homer. (Georgia.) For a couple innings the game appears somewhat normal, and the Phillies actually tie it up in more-traditional fashion with RBI singles in the 2nd and 3rd. Let's send Eickhoff back out for the 4th and see what-- wham, Eduardo Escobar. (Connecticut.) Two batters later, wham, Alex Avila. (Massachusetts.) Finally, after allowing five homers while getting nine outs, Eickhoff's nightmare is over; he is the first Phillies starter to give up five dingers since Cory Lidle in Houston on July 25, 2005. The only others, for any team, to do it and not escape the 4th inning were the Cubs' Steve Stone (July 9, 1974 vs Reds) and then-Senator Denny McLain (June 16, 1971, at Oakland). Eickhoff is also just the eighth pitcher in the live-ball era to give up five hits in a game and have all of them be homers. Nick Tropeano of the Angels pulled that off last July 26 against the White Sox.

Scott Kingery leads off the bottom of the 4th for the Phillies and yep. (Maryland.) It's already 7-4, but Ranger Suarez did a good job getting out of that 4th-inning jam, let's send him out for the-- wham, Eduardo Escobar again. (South Carolina.) That's a fluke, right? Yeah, two straight strikeouts, there's no way-- wham, Ildemaro Vargas. (New Hampshire.) By the 6th it's 11-4 and our game finally calms down. Or does it? Matt Andriese enters for the bottom of the 8th and faces Scott Kingery again. What could happ-- oh yeah. (Virginia.) Amazingly this game is within 11-6 until Ildemaro Vargas comes up again in the 9th. Do we have to tell you? (New York.) And now all Greg Holland has to do in the bottom half is get three outs with a seven-run lea-- wham, Rhys Hoskins leadoff homer. (North Carolina.) All good, just two more ou-- wham, Jay Bruce, the exclamation point that makes this the first game in major-league history where thirteen homers were hit.

That, of course, is the Big Story here, but there are plenty of little stories hiding within. The Diamondbacks became the 28th team in MLB history to hit 8 homers in a game, but the fourth already this year. That's not only a record for a season, it's very nearly a record for a decade. There were only five such games from 2010-2018, and eight total between 1960 and 1999. The Phillies are the only pitching staff to be on the wrong end of four of those 28; the Angels, Braves, and Brewers have all done it three times.

Eduardo Escobar, Ildemaro Vargas, and Scott Kingery all hit multiple homers, the first game at Citizens Bank Park (2004) where three players went yard twice. Kingery joined Jimmy Rollins (2007), Ryan Howard (2006), and Cy Williams (1924) as the only Phillies in the live-ball era with two homers and a triple in a loss. And by also doubling in the 6th, Escobar became the fifth player in D'backs history with 4 hits, 3 XBH, 5 RBI, and 3 runs scored in a road game; that list also includes J.D. Martinez (his 4-HR game at Dodger Stadium in 2017), Micah Owings (his 2-HR game in 2007), Damion Easley (2006), and Steve Finley (1999).

(Rhode Island if you were still struggling with the last one.)


A Pirates Life For Me

You didn't have to watch too many innings of Pittsburgh's four-game series in Atlanta this week to find out how that went. The trick was picking out which innings.

The 1st inning of the first game on Monday was certainly worth watching, not so much for Ronald Acuña's fielding error that led to a Pirates run, but for the staredown that occurred in the bottom half when Josh Donaldson was ever-so-slightly grazed (and even that's being generous) by a pitch from Joe Musgrove. The ensuing shouting match led to both players, and an irate Clint Hurdle (is there any other kind?), being ejected. In Musgrove's case, he's the first Pirates pitcher in 85 years to be ejected from a start in the 1st inning; Larry French pulled that off on August 27, 1934, and we'll let the next day's Pittsburgh Press (below) fill you in on that.

Acuña would come right back in the 2nd with a grand slam off reliever-who-wasn't-planning-on-pitching-this-early Alex McRae, the first slam for the Braves against Pittsburgh since Brian Jordan took Francisco Cordova deep on May 19, 1999. McRae would give up 3 homers in the 13-7 loss that looked closer than it actually was; Tony Watson, on September 6, 2016, is the only other reliever in Pirates history to give up three dingers and also get charged with a loss. Ozzie Albies would go on to hit 2 homers, the first Braves' 8- or 9-hitter to do that at home since Jarrod Saltalamacchia against the Nationals on June 26, 2007.

On Tuesday you really only needed the 2nd and the 6th, because that's where the Braves bunched all 7 of their runs in a 7-5 victory. And if you dig the long ball, well, Chris Archer has you covered. Josh Donaldson returned his plunking from Monday by plunking the right-field foul pole with a home run to start the inning. That was followed five pitches later by a Nick Markakis blast. After a 6-pitch strikeout of Austin Riley, it took Brian McCann and Ozzie Albies just three more pitches to go back-to-back again for a 4-0 lead. The last time the Braves went back-to-back twice in the same inning... was in their final season in Milwaukee. Joe Torre, Felipe Alou, Hank Aaron, and Gene Oliver did it in the 10th(!) inning of a game in Chicago on June 8, 1965.

Incredibly, even after two (clearly not-helpful) mound visits, Archer was still in the game, a decision that might certainly have been related to the bullpen pitching 8⅓ after Musgrove's ejection the day before. And he was still in the game in the 6th when McCann homered again. That gave him 2 homers and 4 RBIs for the sixth time in his Braves career, tying Javy Lopez for the all-time lead among catchers. And for Archer, that's five homers allowed, the second pitcher in all of Pirates history (1882) to do that. And the first guy to do it didn't even see his record last a year. It was Ivan Nova at Dodger Stadium last July 3.

There's a non-zero chance that Archer got a consolation call from Jerad Eickhoff. Remember how he, too, gave up 5 homers just the day before. And only the baseball gods could think up this one: Each of the last five times that a pitcher has given up 5 HR in a game, another pitcher has done it again within two days. When the aforementioned Nick Tropeano did it last July 26, Reynaldo Lopez did it on the 27th. Ivan Nova's game last July 3 followed one by David Price on the 1st. Jakob Junis, last April 26; Erasmo Ramirez, April 27. And going back two seasons, Scott Feldman and Jeremy Hellickson, August 17-18, 2017. So the moral of the story is that the next time someone gives up five dingers, you don't want to be starting the following day.

For Wednesday's game, you can skip the first eight innings, and the hour-long rain delay, unless you'd like to watch Mitch Keller and Mike Soroka each give up 10 hits and wind up in a 6-6 tie by being equally bad. But for this one you want the 9th, when Josh Bell collected just the second go-ahead homer the Pirates have ever hit in the 9th inning in Atlanta. Unfortunately, the Phillies are the team who uses the slogan "ring the bell", because that other Pirates longball... was by the unrelated Jay Bell back on May 13, 1992.

That bell would promptly be un-rung (we've heard you can't do this) by phenom Austin Riley, staying fairly close to his pace of homering every other game. He hit the Braves' first tying (not walkoff) homer at SunTrust Park in the 9th or later; Tyler Flowers had the last one at Turner Field on July 1, 2016. That also made Riley the second-youngest player in the live-ball era to collect a homer, a triple, a single, and a hit-by-pitch in the same game, behind a Reds rookie named Frank Robinson on July 1, 1956. Bell's go-ahead solo homer, combined with Riley's re-tying solo homer, marked the first Atlanta home game where teams traded them in the 9th or later since Scott Thorman matched Milwaukee's Corey Hart on September 22, 2007. And when Ozzie Albies finally hit a walkoff double in the 11th, we flash back to Andrelton Simmons off Mark Melançon on June 4, 2013, for that was both the Braves' last extra-inning walkoff against Pittsburgh, and their last walkoff double against any team.

And, may the circle be unbroken, we come back around to Joe Musgrove for Thursday's finale. The fateful pitch that got him ejected on Monday was only his 18th of the game, so the Pirates opted to treat that like his usual "throw day" and let him start again on Thursday. And we'll just play the 5th inning for you. Walk, RBI triple, RBI single, single, mound visit (yeah, this'll help), 2-run double. Annnnd we're done here. The last Pirates pitcher to start on 2 days' rest and get knocked around for 9 hits and 6 runs was Larry McWilliams against the Cubs on September 19, 1984 (and he won!). The Braves' 5-run inning, combined with one they had one Monday (but not against Musgrove), marked their first home series with the Pirates where they did it twice since the opening week of 2008. And even though none of them led to a big inning, the Pirates did manage to collect five doubles in the 6-5 loss (which also adds up to a sweep if you've been following along). The last time Pittsburgh had 5 doubles in a road game against the Braves but still lost... wasn't in Atlanta. It wasn't even in Milwaukee. 'Twas July 20, 1951, in Boston, when Warren Spahn (future winner of the 1957 Cy Young Award) outdueled Vern Law (future winner of the 1960 Cy Young Award, when the runner-up was... Warren Spahn).


Yards Work

Camden Yards has always been one of those places where things can escalate quickly. Maybe you remember this being the ballpark that hosted a 30-3 game back in 2007. Sometimes the escalation even happens when the Orioles are batting, but nope, not this week.

In Tuesday's opener, Eric Sogard did hit the sixth leadoff homer ever by a Jays batter at Camden Yards, but that's not what's notable here. That game ended up in a ho-hum, 4-2 loss. Clearly 1-run innings will not do. Let's try 6. After David Hess loaded the bases in the 5th on Wednesday on three singles (two of which didn't leave the infield) and a walk, let's have Miguel Castro uncork a wild pitch (cue Mound Visit) and then walk Justin Smoak to re-load them (cue second Mound Visit). Then let's have Rowdy Tellez un-load them with the eighth grand slam ever hit by a Blue Jays batter at Camden Yards. Josh Donaldson hit one last April, J.P. Arencibia is the only Toronto batter with two, and the others are Yunel Escobar, Chris Woodward, Eric Hinske, and Tony Batista. The only ballpark (other than their own) where they've hit more is the Kingdome (9), and breaking news, it's been gone for a while now. When he stole a base in the 9th, Tellez also became the fourth player in Jays history with a slam and a steal in the same game, joining Jose Cruz (2001), Glenallen Hill (1990), and George Bell (1985).

That 6-run inning (which ultimately led to an 8-6 win) was the Jays' first in a road game since June 21, 2017, at Texas. That doesn't sound like much until you consider that every other team had one since then. The honor of least-recent 6-run road inning now jumps to September 2017 and passes to the Rays.

Even though they still won, that 8-6 score was a little too close on Wednesday. Better take that "6" under "5" and make it "7" under "6". After Gabriel Ynoa gave up a leadoff homer to Lourdes Gurriel in the 6th, it's time for him to go. Let's bring in Paul Fry and hope he doesn't get (with apologies to Max) Fried. Yeah, so about that.

Tellez double. Walk. Mound visit (they're so helpful!). Walk. 2-run double. 2-run single. Pitching change, after which Evan Phillips gives up the inherited run plus one more of his own. We don't have to tell you when the Jays' last 6-run road inning was, but their last 7- was in Seattle on September 20, 2016. It also marked the first time the Jays had posted a 6-run frame in consecutive road games since doing it in Cleveland on May 2 and 3, 2015. Paul Fry, who gave up 5 runs and got 1 out, was the first O's reliever to do that since Jorge Rondon, also against the Jays, on September 30, 2015. Danny Jansen, who had that Fry-chasing 2-run single, was the first Jays #9 batter with 3 hits and 3 runs scored in a road game since Chris Woodward also did that at Camden Yards on April 25, 2004. And Cavan Biggio, while not involved in The Big Inning, can return to Canada knowing he's the second-youngest Jays player ever to have a multi-homer game in Baltimore (either stadium). A 23-year-old Vernon Wells did it in a 6-3 win on July 22, 2002.

The Red Sox would come in to replace the Jays for the weekend, and at least on Friday, things didn't exactly get any better. Oh sure, it's only 2-1 after 3 innings, but Christian Vazquez hit a leadoff homer in the 4th and Luis Ortiz, in just his third major-league game, is quickly chased from the mound in favor of 8-year veteran Dan Straily. No regrets. Well, except for J.D. Martinez's 2-run homer. And in the 5th inning, Jackie Bradley's 2-run homer. And Michael Chavis's 2-run homer. And another homer by Martinez. In the span of five outs the Red Sox ran the score from 2-1 to 11-1, then tacked on 2 more in the 6th en route to a 13-2 thumping. The 11-run margin matched Boston's largest ever at Camden Yards; they beat Chris Tillman 11-0 on June 4, 2010, and Pedro Martinez led another 13-2 win there on September 22, 2002.

Not mentioned above is Brock Holt's homer in the 2nd inning, which gave the Red Sox a total of six on the night. The only other time the Red Sox hit six dingers in Baltimore (at any stadium) was August 3, 2003, when Rick Helling served up four of them in a 7-5 Boston win. But the Sawx are also the third team already this season to hit 6 HR in a game at Camden Yards, joining the Yankees on April 7 and the Twins on April 20. In the previous 15 seasons (2004-18), the number of visiting teams who did that, altogether, was... three.

Thursday's 12-3 score, combined with Friday's 13-2, marked just the second time in Camden Yards history that the Orioles lost back-to-back home games by 9 or more. The Yankees (13-2) and Nationals (17-5) did it to them on May 19 & 20, 2011. And continuing our little mini-theme for the week, Straily is the first reliever in Orioles history to give up 4 homers while getting 4 outs. Although shout-out to Dylan Bundy for doing it in a start last May. And ignoring the 4 homers, Straily also gave up 7 earned runs while getting only 4 outs. The last Orioles relievers to pull that off were Rob Bell and Brian Burres, who both did it in a certain famous game at Camden Yards... the 30-3 game against Texas on August 22, 2007.


We actually did a search to see if there were any songs about escalators. There aren't. Apparently they're neither glamorous nor easy to rhyme. The late great Mitch Hedberg may have said it best: "An escalator cannot break, it can only become stairs." So we'll have to settle for this classic about another people-mover. Intermission!


Rocky Mountain High

Fun fact, the word "escalate" has no true etymology. It's a verb we back-formed from the device known as an escalator, which until 1950 was actually a made-up trademark, not some clever Latin phrase meaning "thing that climbs upward". (We do actual research for these posts sometimes.) What better place to have things escalate than Coors Field? Although it would take a very long series of Escalators™ to reach 5,200 feet, and they have enough problems with the water.

Who'd'a thunk Thursday's 9-6 series opener against the Padres would be the calm game. Fernando Tatis and Eric Hosmer started the game with back-to-back doubles, the first time the Padres have done that since... oh. May 25 by Greg Garcia and Josh Naylor. Well, in that case, it's just the third time in team history that they've done it twice in a season, the others being 2017 and 1984. Tatis would triple later in the game, thus becoming the youngest leadoff batter with a three-bagger and a two-batter since since Rennie Stennett of the Pirates on September 6, 1971.

The Padres' 2 runs in the 1st would quickly be topped by the Rockies' 3 runs in the bottom half, two of them on an Ian Desmond double. The Rockies never lost that lead, in spite of Jon Gray giving up 9 hits and 4 runs; he became the first Colorado pitcher to allow 9+ hits, but also strike out at least 9 and get a win, since Denny Neagle in Milwaukee on August 24, 2001. Meanwhlie Charlie Blackmon collected two homers, a triple, and 4 RBI, the sixth player in Rox history to do that (all have been at Coors).

Friday's game also felt relatively mild, 4-3 in the 6th before Jeff Hoffman and Cal Quantrill hit those famous pitch limits and both got subbed out. Single, hit-by-pitch, Ian Desmond inside-the-parker leads to a 5-run inning and a 9-3 Rockies lead. Both teams tack on a couple more, nothing earth-shattering, 11-5 going to the 9th and let's see if Mike Dunn can nail this down.

Spoiler alert, he can't. Three singles, a wild pitch, and a two-run homer by Hunter Renfroe later, it's 11-9 and it's up to Wade Davis to send us to extra innings by allowing three more singles, including the blown-save-clinching one by Fernando Tatis. In the past 15 years the Padres have posted a 6-run 9th on seven occasions, and four of those have been at Coors. That matches the number of times the other 28 visiting teams have done it combined over that same span. And wow, that was too much excitement, let's relax for a couple innings while nothing else happens. Finally Tatis comes up again to start the 12th and smokes a triple to deep center. Only two other Padres-- Mike Cameron (July 23, 2006) and Luis Salazar (June 26, 1982), both in San Francisco-- had led off a 12th inning or later with a triple, and at this point one run should be all you need. But this is Coors. So let's get five. Austin Allen and Manny Machado, back-to-back doubles. Hunter Renfroe homers again, his third of the game having also gone deep way back in the 2nd. Ryan Ludwick, in the 3rd and 13th against Atlanta on April 25, 2011, is the only other Padres batter to homer 10 innings apart in the same game, and only Bret Boone (2000), Ken Caminiti (1998), and Nate Colbert (1972) collected 3 homers and 5 RBI in a Padres road game.

The Padres happened to have a 6-run extra inning back on April 27 in Washington, the first season where they've hit 5+ twice since 2008. One of those 2008 games, also in Washington on September 19, was their last time scoring 5 or more in an inning numbered 12 or higher. Only one other game in this decade saw a team score 11 or more runs from the 9th inning onward; on September 15, 2017, the Red Sox tied the Rays with 3 in the 9th and traded runs in the 14th before Boston said forget this and dropped a 7 in the 15th. And no, on Friday one run would not quite have been enough, because why not have Charlie Blackmon lead off B12 with his fourth hit of the game (again!), a solo homer for your 16-12 final. That was the fourth homer in Rockies history to lead off the bottom of an extra inning but not be a walkoff; Edgard Clemente had the prior one against Atlanta on August 19, 1999.

Saturday's game, defying our theme, didn't have one huge turning point, it was your classic Coors Field slugfest where everyone just hits everything. So there's no 10-run inning, but there is 1-3-1-2-4 and, just like that, the Rockies are out toan 11-4 advantage by the 6th. Eric Lauer became the fourth starter in Padres history to give up 10 hits and not finish the 3rd inning (spoiler, wait until Sunday!), joining Edinson Volquez (2013, also at Coors), Dewon Brazelton (2006), and Andy Hawkins (1988). The Padres got 3 runs back in the 6th to knock German Marquez off his mound, but that just ended up making him the first pitcher in Rockies history to give up 10+ hits and 7+ earned runs and get a win. Nobody had done it while also uncorking two wild pitches since Jim Bullinger of the Cubs on August 9, 1996.

David Dahl and Ian Desmond finished out their stat lines in the 7th with a 2-run triple and a sacrifice fly respectively; that will lead to your final score of 14-8 and 65 runs already in the series. While Desmond didn't hit an inside-the-parker for the second day in a row, he does have something to do with that "4" in the Rockies' 5th inning. That's a grand slam, the Rockies' first this season, leaving the Indians, Brewers, and Cardinals without one. That triple, and the ensuing sac fly, gave Dahl 3 hits, 3 runs, 3 RBI, a triple, and a hit-by-pitch in the game, something that only two other cleanup batters had ever done. Anthony Rizzo in 2016 and Ryan Doumit for the Pirates in 2005 are the rest of that list.

And Charlie Blackmon quietly collected four more hits, becoming just the 11th player in the live-ball era to have three straight 4-hit games, and the fifth among those to also score 2 runs in each game. The previous hitter on the list is Rafael Furcal for the Dodgers, May 13-15, 2007, and the previous one to also have the runs was Brett Butler of the Mets in July 1995.

We're going to jump right to the end of Sunday's game and tell you that Blackmon, with a chance at 4-hit history, flied out to start the 9th and thus fell one hit short. But he did join Wilin Rosario (September 20-23, 2012), as the only Rockies batters to ever have four straight 3-hit games. Wilin's, however, were not all in the same series. Blackmon just went 4-4-4-3 against the same opponent. How hard is that? Well, hard enough that nobody before him had ever done it. The previous MLB record for hits in a four-game series, 14, had been shared by the Braves' Buck Jordan in 1934 and Bill White of the Cardinals in 1961. The silver lining is that if Blackmon had gotten that fourth hit to start the 9th, we might still be playing. Because it's a 1-run game at this point, and not just any 1-run game.

Renfroe homered again in the 1st so it's already 3-0 Padres when Nick Margevicius trots out to the mound. Blackmon leadoff homer. Nolan Arenado walks and Desmond doubles him home. Then four more 2-out singles, the last being Blackmon's second hit, of both the game and the inning. In the 2nd Margevicius gives up four more singles in a row, such that he's now faced 16 batters and gotten four of them out. Yeah, that'll be all. So not only does he join that "10-hit" list with Eric Lauer on Saturday, he gets to be in a more-elite club. Only two other starters in the live-ball gave up 11+ hits while getting no more than 4 outs; they were Bronson Arroyo in 2008 (10 runs) and Phil Niekro in 1980 (7 runs).

Meanwhile, Peter Lambert's not exactly mowing them down either. Manuel Margot and Fernando Tatis hit back-to-back doubles in the 2nd, and then Greg Garcia drives in two more with a 3rd-inning triple. Suddenly it's 9-8 (1-run game, remember?) and now Lambert is gone as well. Since earned runs were first adopted as an official stat in 1912, Sunday was the first game ever where both starters gave up 9 hits, 8 earned runs, and neither of them made it to the 4th inning. However, Lambert would also end up being the second starter in Rockies history to give up 8 runs in ≤ 3 innings and not take the loss. The other is a memorable game in Rockies history; on the final day of the 1995 season, Bret Saberhagen gave up 8 early runs to the Giants, but Colorado came back from 6 down to win the game 10-9, avoid a tiebreaker game with the Astros, and clinch the first-ever NL Wild Card berth.

That just proves there's a lot of game still to be played. Trevor Story and Hunter Renfroe cancel each other's solo homers. Phil Maton, however, gives up three straight doubles in the 6th and we head to the 9th with another wacky score of 13-10. Wade Davis wouldn't blow-- another-- oh yes he would. Two fairly quick outs but also two walks and a Wil Myers single to make it 13-11. And Greg Garcia, now down to the Padres' final strike, hits not just his second triple of the game, but only his second of the season, for an incredible 13-13 tie. Garcia became the first batter in team history with a 4-hit, 4-RBI, 2-triple game, and only two other Padres batters-- Sean Burroughs in 2003 and Kevin McReynolds in 1985-- had hit a tying or go-ahead triple with the Padres down to their final out. If you've been adding up runs, you will notice we're now at 92, breaking the four-game-series record set by the Dodgers and Phillies in May 1929. And we also still need at least one more for somebody to decide this thing.

Davis is promptly lifted for Jon Gray, who suddenly has the bases loaded before doing anything. With Garcia on third, and the new intentional walk rule not requiring him to throw the pitches, and oh yeah, two outs, of course you're going to set up the force at every base. Which only works if Gray can throw a strike and have pinch-hitter Matt Strahm put it in play. Strahm never even swung. Six-pitch walk, two of them in the dirt, to make it 14-13. Only Ruppert Jones (1983) and Pat Scanlon (1977) had drawn a go-ahead, pinch-hit walk for San Diego with 2 outs in the 9th, and throwing out the "pinch hit" criterion brings in two other, more-famous names: Tony Gwynn (1984) and Mike Hargrove (1979).

About that score... the majors' last 14-13 game (exactly) was Angels over Red Sox on August 23, 2012. Exactly a year after that game was the last time a team scored 6 runs in the 1st and lost; the Cubs also did it against San Diego. (The Rockies, in their history, never had.) There happens to be a 14-13 road victory in that 1929 series whose runs record we just broke (there is also a 20-16 game which helped it set the record). And combined with the 16-12 from Friday, well, you may notice the Rockies just scored 12+ and lost twice in the same series. Only once before (1999) had they ever done that twice in a season. And the inverse, from the Padres' perspective? Well, they just gave up 12 runs and won-- twice. In their 50-season history before this weekend, the number of times they had done that... was three.

The Rockies are off on Monday.


Potpourri

We had a few other examples of things escalating quickly this week, each not worthy of its own long section, but worthy of mention nonetheless.

After getting walked off by Cleveland on Tuesday, the Reds said, we can't let the in-state "rivals" do that again. So Nick Senzel and Joey Votto both took Zach Plesac deep to start the game. The Reds hadn't opened a contest with back-to-back homers since Alex Ochoa and Barry Larkin did it in St Louis (off Andy Benes) on June 26, 2001. And no visiting team had ever done it in the history of Jacobs Field (slash, Progressive). Cincinnati would go on to tally 4 homers on the night; the only other time they did that against the Indians was July 8, 2000, in a 14-5 win at Riverfront.

The early home runs were flying in California on Tuesday, with Shohei Ohtani and Justin Bour powering the Angels to a 5-run 1st while many Dodger fans were still trying to find the stadium. It was the second time Kenta Maeda had allowed multiple 1st-inning homers (April 22, 2017, at Arizona), and Bour's 3-run shot was the first of that variety the Angels had ever hit in the 1st against their freeway counterparts (either stadium). The Angels ended up riding that 5-run inning to a 5-3 win, their first such victory (5+ runs but all in the 1st) since August 9, 2013, in Cleveland. As for the Dodgers, it was their first game allowing 5 runs in the 1st, but yet none after that, since the Cubs hung a "snowman" on them (8-1) on April 18, 1998.

Meanwhile up the 101, it was Fernando Tatis who started the Padres' game in San Francisco with a leadoff homer. It was one of the few things he still hadn't done yet, and this time he's beaten Roberto Alomar by a wide margin. Tatis is the youngest Padres batter to hit a leadoff dinger by 14 months; Alomar also hit his first one in San Francisco, but not until September 1989 before turning 22 that winter. Manuel Margot (last June), Chris Denorfia (2013), and Brian Giles (2008) are the only other Padres to hit a leadoff homer at the current Giants ballpark.

The bullpens at Target Field are both situated next to each other in left-center, so it made sense that a pitching line might "rub off" from one team to the other. On Thursday Brandon Brennan started the 6th for the Mariners. Not only did he not end the 6th, he didn't even get an out. A single, a failed fielder's choice, two walks, a wild pitch, and a pickoff error later, he's gone after facing four batters and allowing all of them to score. If that felt familiar to M's fans, it's because in his previous outing on Tuesday, Brennan faced three batters and all of them scored. No pitcher in Mariners history had done that twice in a row (min 3 BF). So with a comfortable 10-1 lead, the Twins trot Fernando Romero out there for the 8th. Two hits, two walks, and a wild pitch later, he's gone as well, the first Twins pitcher this season to face four batters and retire none of them. (Alas, only two of his ended up scoring.) There have been 11 games this century where multiple pitchers faced four batters and got none of them out, so they're notable but not historic. Ah, but see the wild pitches? Thursday's game was the first on record where multiple pitchers did 4 BF, 0 outs, and at least 1 WP in the same game.


Ketel Of Snakes

Remember back on Monday when Ketel Marte opened his week with a homer? Yeah, he remembers that too. Except five days ago he was batting second and had to wait through seven pitches and a Jarrod Dyson homer before he could also homer. But now it's Saturday in Washington and he's hitting leadoff this time and dangit, he wants to homer too. Except it's Stephen Strasburg, and he's really good, and-- wham, first-pitch home run, Ketel Marte. We don't have a lot of good notes for that, considering Dyson did the same thing five days ago, but Marte did hit just the third leadoff homer for the Diamondbacks in Washington. Jean Segura took Max Scherzer deep on September 27, 2016, and former New Britain Rock Cat Trent Oeltjen did it against J.D. Martin on August 9, 2009.

No, the good notes would happen later in the inning when Adam Jones also homered. Including Monday's outburst, it's the fourth game this season where the D'backs hit multiple 1st-inning homers. The only other season with that many games was 2017 (six), and the only other time they did it three times in a month (see June 2) was in August 1999.

And then things got interesting. Because upon the Nationals' turn to bat, already trailing 2-0, Trea Turner wasted no time either, roping Taylor Clarke's first pitch down the line in left for a triple. The Nats hadn't had a leadoff triple since August 13, 2016, but that was also by Turner (off Atlanta's Rob Whalen); he now has three total and the only Nationals batter with more is Nyjer Morgan (six). But as for that first-pitch thing? Well, Retrosheet has complete pitch counts back to the 1988 season, and Saturday was the first game in that dataset where one team homered on the first pitch it saw in a game, and the other team tripled on the first pitch it saw in a game (either order).

So natually after Turner scores on a sac fly, leave it to Juan Soto and Matt Adams to also hit 1st-inning homers and give the Nationals the lead right back. There hadn't been a game where both teams homered twice in the 1st inning since July 29, 2004, when Oakland's Alfonso Soriano and Mark Teixeira matched Mark McLemore and Eric Chavez of the Rangers.

And you might remember the only other game this season with four total 1st-inning bombs... because it was Taylor Clarke's last start. The one in Philadelphia on Monday where the D'backs started the game with 3 homers (and then Jean Segura hit one in the bottom half). And which also started the post (and is now going to end it). May the circle be unbroken.


Bottom Of The Bag

⚾ Shohei Ohtani, Thursday, and Jake Bauers, Friday: Third time in MLB history that players have hit for the cycle on back-to-back days. They've all been in the second week of June: BOS Tris Speaker & NYG Chief Meyers in 1912, plus Dave Orr (NY Metropolitans) and George Wood (Detroit Wolverines!) in 1885.

⚾ Matt Adams, Sunday: Fourth player in Nats/Expos history with a grand slam and a 3-run homer in same game, joining Danny Espinosa (2016), Mike Lansing (1996), and Willie Davis (1974).

⚾ Twins, Wednesday: First game where they committed 5 fielding errors since June 4, 1994, at Detroit (they still won that one big).

⚾ Brad Peacock, Tuesday: Second pitcher in Astros history to give up 7+ hits, 2+ homers, strike out 4 or fewer, commit a balk, and get a win. Mark Lemongello at San Francisco, August 9, 1978.

⚾ Eric Sogard, Sunday: First Jays leadoff batter with a triple, a double, and 3 runs scored since Alex Rios at Kansas City, April 27, 2008.

⚾ Noah Syndergaard, Saturday: First Mets pitcher to allow 5 stolen bases and still get a win since Jason Isringhausen against the Dodgres on August 20, 1995.

⚾ Ramon Laureano, Wednesday: Second player in Athletics history with 5 (official) RBIs and 2 stolen bases in a game. Bing Miller against the Yankees on June 21, 1929.

⚾ Rougned Odor, Friday: Second Rangers batter ever to hit a grand slam in Cincinnati. Sammy Sosa off Matt Belisle, June 15, 2007.

⚾ Trevor Bauer, Sunday: First Indians pitcher to throw a 4-hit shutout (or better) with 0 walks IN Detroit since Luis Tiant, June 9, 1968.

⚾ Justin Verlander, Wednesday: Second pitcher in Astros history with 15 strikeouts and 0 walks in a game. Randy Johnson did 16 and 0 against the Pirates on August 28, 1998.

⚾ Adrian Sampson, Thursday: Second pitcher in Rangers/Senators history to give up 4 homers in a game at Fenway Park. Rick Helling also did that (in addition to the ones in Baltimore mentioned earlier) on August 4, 2001.

⚾ Cubs, Saturday: Won a road game with the Dodgers where they had 3 hits or fewer. Last such win wasn't at Dodger Stadium. It wasn't even at Ebbets. It was at Washington Park on August 3, 1912.

⚾ Nationals, Monday: First 11-run win by a Washington team in Chicago since the original Senators posted a 12-0 at the original Comiskey on June 29, 1958.

⚾ Stevie Wilkerson, Sunday: First Orioles batter to homer and triple in a game he didn't start since Harold Baines vs White Sox, May 4, 1999.

⚾ Edwin Diaz, Thu/Fri: First pitcher to blow a save, have the game get suspended, stay in the game when it resumed, and then also take the loss in the second "half", since Robb Nen of the Marlins on May 4, 1995.

⚾ Brett Gardner, Tuesday: First Yankees batter to triple in one game of a doubleheader and homer in the other (either order) since Johnny Damon at Boston, August 18, 2006.

⚾ Sonny Gray, Sunday: First Reds pitcher with a triple and a sac bunt in the same game since Don Gullett at Dodger Stadium, September 22, 1973.