The Great Outdoors

With apologies to those purists who will say summer doesn't officially start for a couple more weeks (more astronomy fun later, btw), there are parts of the country where it's finally stopped raining every other day. So let's take this opportunity to get outside and do some stuff. Maybe we'll even go to a baseball game or two.


Gone Fishing

Our original working title for this post was "Fish & Game(s)" because on Tuesday night it was obvious that we had our one game for the week that was guaranteed to get written about. And since it involved the only MLB team named after a fish (and which is frequently referred to as The Fish), well, why not.

You no doubt know this is a reference to the Miami Marlins' visit to Milwaukee this week, and the series opener on Tuesday. Starlin Castro's 2-run homer in the 1st was fairly mundane. Garrett Cooper and Brian Anderson then went back-to-back in the 3rd for a 4-0 lead. So already we've got the first game in a couple years (and eighth overall) where the Marlins hit 3 homers at Miller Park. That apparently was enough for manager Craig Counsell to make the move to Taylor Williams at the start of the 5th. Ohhh boy.

Top 5: Single, walk, strikeout, RBI double, intentional walk, 2-RBI single, RBI single, RBI double, mound visit (finally!), RBI single, pitching change. Maybe things will calm down now that Corbin Burnes has taken over for Williams? Mmmm, nope. RBI single, RBI reached-on-error (which is legal with less than 2 outs), RBI double, RBI groundout (there's the second out finally), RBI single, strikeout. If you gave up counting, that's an ELEVEN-run inning, the first ever in Marlins history, and the first in the majors since August 29 of last season. That was when the scoreboard folks at Fenway Park had to hunt around for those "11" cards against the Marlins as part of a 14-6 win. And even though the Miller Park scoreboard isn't hand-operated, it was the first time that stadium had seen an 11-run frame. The last one at County Stadium was in its final year, by the Giants on May 21, 2000, in a 16-10 victory.

Now remember, it was already 4-0 before the 11-run inning. Austin Dean was kind enough to hit an automatic ("ground-rule") double in the 8th to give the Marlins a 16th run, to the point where Hernan Perez pitched the 9th (and was the only Brewer not to allow a run). That followed Sunday's game where Ty France of the Padres closed out a 9-3 loss against the Marlins; while not a blowout, it did mark the first time the Marlins had faced a position player on the mound in back-to-back games. Further research by Friend Of Kernels Jayson Stark reveals that it's the first time (warning, paywall) any team has faced a position player in consecutive games in at least 70 years.

But back to that 16-0 final score. It was the second-largest shutout in Marlins history, behind a 17-0 at Colorado on September 17, 1995. It was the second-largest shutout loss in Brewers history, behind a 17-0 at Cincinnati on August 7, 1998. That game being in Cincinnati meant that Tuesday was the largest home shutout in Milwaukee history, by any team (Braves and 19th-century Brewers all included). The previous "record" for such a thing in Milwaukee had been a 12-0 thrown by the Angels... in the very first game in (current) Brewers history, April 7, 1970, after their move from Seattle. The Mariners later spun another 12-0 on July 18, 1991.

Remember Taylor Williams? He of the 8 earned runs but only 1 out? Yeah, that's happened only 11 times since earned runs were adopted by the leagues in 1912-13. Philip Humber-- who later ended up throwing a perfect game, so there's hope-- was the previous pitcher to pull that off, September 4, 2012, against the Twins. And all nine Marlins starters-- including pitcher Pablo Lopez-- collected at least 1 base hit, at least 1 RBI, and at least 1 run scored. Tuesday was the first game in Marlins team history where that happened.

In other Marlins tidbits, Brian Anderson on Wednesday became just their second player ever to hit a grand slam in Milwaukee (at either stadium). Jeff Conine took Luis Vizcaino deep on August 14, 2004. Anderson also had a double and a stolen base; with the slam, it's a combo done by only one other player in team history-- Hanley Ramirez against the Orioles on June 25, 2009.

Back home against the Braves on Saturday, Trevor Williams took a no-hitter into the 6th before Freddie Freeman got out of that jam. Austin Riley's leadoff double in the 7th, followed by Tyler Flowers' sac fly, was the only run Williams would allow. He lost. Because Atlanta ace Julio Teheran had also thrown six shutout innings and allowed just five baserunners (well, he allowed four and Dansby Swanson allowed one by booting a grounder). Miami had not lost a 1-0 home game to the Braves since, well, they weren't technically in Miami. Alex Gonzalez homered on June 7, 2011, to decide that contest. For the Braves' part, Flowers' SF was the team's first to decide a 1-0 road win since Tony Tarrasco hit one in San Francisco on June 1, 1994.

And Harold Ramirez did have a shot at tying the game when he roped a pinch-hit double in the 8th. He then stole third on the first pitch from reliever Luke Jackson. Unforunately there were two outs, and when Josh Donaldson narrowly retired Brian Anderson at first, Ramirez was stranded. He became the second player in Marlins history to hit a pinch-hit double and then steal third, and spoiler alert, the other one didn't score either. It was John Cangelosi at Candlestick on June 11, 1997 (though the Marlins still won that game, 6-3).

Sunday's finale made us glad we already had this Marlins section built out. It starts with an Austin Dean leadoff homer, just the fifth by a Miami player in their eight seasons at the new stadium. And two of those have been this year (Jon Berti, May 18 vs Mets). The Fish collect a couple runs in the 5th, a couple more in the 7th, nothing earth-shattering, and lead 5-1 after 8. Heh.

Sergio Romo gives up what should be a harmless double to Tyler Flowers, he of the 1-0 win on Saturday. Wild-pitches him to third. Walks Matt Joyce. Then balks in the run. Because we believe "balks make everything funner" (we should sell T-shirts), we'll point out that starter Pablo Lopez also got called for one earlier in the game; Reid Cornelius and Ricky Bones (July 22, 2000, vs Expos) are the only other Marlins teammates to commit one in the same game. It's fine, though, still only 5-2. Single. Three-run homer by Ronald Acuña. Oops. In the past decade the Braves have only hit one other 3- or 4-run, game-tying homer in the 9th inning; it was by Matt Adams off Kenley Jansen on July 23, 2017.

Off to the 10th where Tyler Kinley gets two quick outs before turning back into a pumpkin. Four-pitch walk to Ozzie Albies. Six-pitch walk to Tyler Flowers. Five-pitch walk to Matt Joyce. And you know that saying "no place to put him"? Six-pitch walk to Charlie Culberson. Kinley literally walked in the go-ahead run by throwing 21 pitches and 5 strikes. Only one other Marlins pitcher has done that by himself in an extra inning, Jorge Sosa against the Rays on June 19, 2010. (And he gave up a single before the four straight walks, so actually walked in two runs.) Culberson, for his part, was the first Braves pinch-hitter to draw a bases-loaded walk in extra innings since Norm Miller's game-winner against the Mets on August 24, 1974. And combined with the one Brian McCann received (not as a PH) on May 26 in St Louis, it's the first season where the Braves have had two extra-inning bases-loaded walks since 1982 (Dale Murphy & Bruce Benedict).

So of course the Marlins connect two more hits in the bottom of the 10th and tie it on a Martin Prado double. It would finally be an Ozzie Albies triple in the 12th (and the ensuing Matt Joyce single) that decided this one in favor of Atlanta. The last Braves batter to triple that late in a game actually broke a scoreless tie. It was Mark Lemke in the 12th inning in Chicago on July 9, 1992.


Catching Some Rays

Okay, we hear you, Tampa Bay. The original "Devil Rays" were indeed also named after a fish, but that rebranding in 2008 now invokes the "Sunshine State" nickname for Florida, with brighter colors and a caricature of a smiling sun, much like your overly-happy local weatherperson would use to tell you that you don't need an umbrella tomorrow. So the fish thing stands. Regardless, we had a few Rays notes to catch this week too.

Although they lost their series opener in Detroit on Tuesday, it wasn't because Willy Adames didn't hit a grand slam. Because he did, just the Rays' third one ever at Comerica Park. Steven Souza had the last one, June 18, 2017, and like the one by Adames on Tuesday, it was off pitcher Buck Farmer, who became the eighth pitcher (including one visitor, Cliff Lee) to surrender two there. The Rays' other slam was by Jonny Gomes in 2007, and Terrell Lowery hit their only one at Tiger Stadium on August 18, 1999, in the final game the Rays played there.

No, Tuesday's loss wasn't because of Adames' grand slam, it was because of Miguel Cabrera's. His was the first slam the Tigers had hit against the Rays in their new home of 20 seasons, and it marked just the second game at Comerica where both teams hit one. Marcus Thames and Oakland's Jack Cust both went deep on August 10, 2007.

Charlie Morton responded by dominating the Tigers on Wednesday with 7 shutout innings, no walks, and 8 strikeouts. That ran his season record to 7-0, joining Matt Moore (8-0 in 2013) as the only pitchers in Rays history to start a season with 7 wins against 0 losses. Combined with Tyler Glasnow's game at Baltimore on May 3, it's only the second time that multiple Rays pitchers have thrown a game of 7 IP, 0 R, 0 BB, and 8+ K on the road in the same season; Alex Cobb and David Price did it four days apart in 2014. And Austin Meadows had a strange baserunning adventure, scoring on his own triple after a bad relay throw by Harold Castro. The last Rays batter to score on his own triple (plus an error, obviously) was Matt Joyce at Texas on August 12, 2014.

And the Rays took the series by winning the finale on Thursday by a 6-1 count on 14 hits. The Rays hadn't collected 14 hits in Detroit since a 7-3 win on July 6, 2014. And two of those were home runs by Travis d'Arnaud, who became the fifth player in Rays history with a multi-homer game in Detroit. Logan Morrison did it two years ago, Ben Zobrist in 2008, Aubrey Huff in 2003, and the lone player to do it at Tiger Stadium was Mike Kelly on August 29, 1998.


Sailing

Whether you're using your boat for the fishing mentioned above, or just floating around relaxing, you would be considered a mariner. And 14 was also a popular number at that big ballpark on the shores of Puget Sound this week.

If you floated up to the stadium in the 6th inning on Wednesday, nothing looked particularly out of place. 2-1 Mariners, a Mallex Smith bases-loaded single versus a Tyler White sac fly in the 1st. But in the bottom of the 6th, Reymin Guduan gives up a walk, a 2-run homer, and a single. Brady Rodgers trots in from the bullpen, and Tom Murphy trots his first pitch down the left-field line for another 2-run trot. Rodgers then gives up two more singles and a 3-run job to Edwin Encarnacion. So it's 9-1 and Rodgers gets to just take one for the team. In the 8th, Mallex Smith RBI double, another walk, and Mac Williamson, called up from Tacoma just this morning, 3-run homer. Remember Tyler White, he of the sac fly in the 1st to score the lone Astros run? What the heck, let him pitch. He can't do any-- Kyle Seager, solo homer before two more outs to end the misery. The 14-1 final was the Mariners' fourth-largest win ever at their current stadium, and the Astros' largest road loss since Felipe Paulino gave up 9 runs in San Francisco on July 3, 2009, en route to a 13-0 blanking.

Rodgers did at least make history, though probably not the kind he wanted. He was the first Astros reliever ever to give up 8+ runs and 3+ homers, and the first for any team to do it against the Mariners since Mel Rojas of the Tigers did it in the final season at the Kingdome, April 29, 1999. And with a 13-run lead, why not send Mike Leake back out for the 9th to finish off a 119-pitch complete game. He was the first Mariners pitcher to throw a CG and win by 13 runs since Freddy Garcia shut out the Dodgers on July 6, 2001.

As for Tyler White, it was the fourth pitching appearance of his career, the most in Astros history; J.D. Davis, now with the Mets, climbed the mound three times. He's also the first Astros player to have the lone RBI in a game where the team scored 1 run, and also pitch in it, since Wandy Rodriguez at Arizona on May 24, 2007 (when the Astros were in the NL and their starting pitchers batted regularly). And Mac Williamson's homer was the fifth in Mariners history by a pinch-hitter in his first game with the team. Roberto Petagine hit the prior one on April 3, 2006; the others were by Greg Dobbs in 2004, Matt Mieske in 1999, and Mark Whiten in 1996.

The scoreboard operators in left field would need that "14" card again on Thursday, but for an entirely different reason. In a "getaway game" which no one could seem to get away from, the Mariners loaded the bases in the 7th to knock Justin Verlander out of the game; Will Harris promptly unloaded them by allowing two straight singles. It's still just 5-4, however, and after the teams traded runs in the 8th, Roberto Osuna just had to get three outs to preserve the win. Leadoff walk. Yeah, that never works out. Two outs, but Dylan Moore has now advanced to third. And Edwin Encarnacion, game-tying single, the first by the Mariners this year when down to their final out.

Top 10, another leadoff walk. Did we mention those never end up well? Single, sac bunt, Josh Reddick sacrifice fly to break the tie yet again. Hector Rondon just has to get three outs in the bottom half to-- oh boy. Omar Narvaez, two-out solo homer to make it 7-7. That was the sixth tying homer in extra innings in Mariners history; Kyle Seager hit the prior one 6 years plus 1 day earlier against the White Sox. And now we hit that "dead" period that all of these games seem to have. Josh James walks the bases loaded in the 11th but Daniel Vogelbach strikes out and Seager ends the inning. A single and a double play are the only activity in the 12th and 13th. Now our scoreboard operators have to get that "14" out as they "overwrite" the zeroes from the 4th inning. And the last Straw comes from Myles, who hit a leadoff triple and immediately scored on Yuli Gurriel's sac fly. Bill Spiers, in 1997, and John Bateman, in 1963, are the only other Astros to hit a triple in the 14th inning or later (the others were both in the 15th). And remember Josh Reddick's sac fly in the 10th? He and Gurriel are the first teammates in Astros history to hit extra inning SFs in the same game.

But wait we're not done. Chris Devenski, now in line for the win after a 1-2-3 13th, just has to get three outs in the bottom half. But even that couldn't come easily; he somehow also walked the bases loaded, just as Josh James had in the 11th. And when he went to a 3-ball count on Shed Long, you know those scoreboard people had the "15" card in one hand and some Starbucks in the other. Long finally put an end to this long game by flying out to left, meaning we could all finally "get away" from the getaway game around 6 pm. James and Devenski were the second pair of relievers in Astros history to walk at least 3 batters and not allow a run; Randy Freeman and Tom Dixon did it against the Mets on June 18, 1979, and their walks weren't all in the same inning. Long's flyout was the third at-bat in Mariners history to end an extra-inning loss with the bases loaded and Seattle down by 1; Rico Rossy struck out against Cleveland on July 30, 1998; and Lenny Randle flied out against the Orioles on August 25, 1981. It also ended Long's day with an 0-for-7 collar, matching Kyle Seager's line and making them the third teammates in Mariners history to go 0-for-7-plus in the same game. Seager also did it July 18, 2014, with Mike Zunino in Anaheim, while Manny Castillo and Al Covens did it in a 1982 contest with Oakland. And since that begs the question, yes, Seager is the first batter in Mariners history to have multiple 0-for-7 games.

Let us not leave out that in Monday's series opener, the M's adopted the pitching "opener" as well, tossing Cory Gearrin out there for the 1st. And frankly, he might have been done after that anyway, having given up 3 runs including a homer and a triple. Enter Wade LeBlanc for the 2nd with a 3-0 deficit. He promptly retired 13 straight, hit a bump with consecutive hits and a run in the 6th, but then got 10 of 12 after that to finish the rest of the game on only 89 pitches. And he also broke the Mariners record for longest "relief" appearance, shared by John Montague in 1979 and Bryan Clark in 1982; they both went 7⅔ after their respective starters (Odell Jones and Gaylord Perry) laid eggs in the 1st inning. The last pitcher for any team to throw 8+ in "relief", even in these days of the "opener", was Shawn Marcum of the Mets, who lost a 20-inning marathon with the Marlins on June 8, 2013. LeBlanc then showed up again on Sunday and pitched 6 innings after Austin Adams got "opener" duty. The last Seattle pitcher with two 6-inning "relief" appearances in a season was Roy Thomas in 1985.

And one other Mariners note from the weekend, when they headed off to Anaheim and took two out of three. (There's some amusement parks in Anaheim, incidentally, if you'd like the "fun" outdoor activity of standing in line when it's 90°.) Edwin Encarnacion hit his 400th career homer in Sunday's finale, but it was just one of six total that the Mariners posted in the 9-3 win. He not only had two, but so did catcher Tom Murphy; they are just the second Seattle teammates ever to have multiple homers in a game in Anaheim. You've probably heard of the others: Alex Rodriguez and Edgar Martinez, July 5, 1999. The last time the Mariners hit six taters in any road game was May 2, 2002, in Chicago... and that's only Mike Cameron's 4-homer game (and Bret Boone hit the other two).


We wanted either Giants pitcher Will Smith or Dodgers catcher Will Smith to do something interesting this week, but the former only pitched 1 inning and the latter got sent back to triple-A Oklahoma City. So we'll let that "other" Will Smith rattle off some other fun outdoor things. There's a barbeque starting at 4. Intermission!


Stargazing

On a clear summer night, if you're in a place without a lot of light pollution, sometimes it's fun to just sit back and look up at the stars. If you're out there long enough, you might notice that they appear to move. But they're not actually moving, we are. That revelation is brought to you in part by astronomer Johannes Kepler, whom you may remember from high-school science class as establishing the fundamental laws of our orbit around the sun.

Max Kepler, while not an acclaimed astronomer (as far as we know), sent some other spheres into orbit this week. And if you were still walking in from the parking lot in Cleveland when Thursday's game started, that sphere you see isn't a planet, it's a leadoff home run against Trevor Bauer, the Twins' first in Cleveland since Brian Dozier on August 30, 2016. Hopefully you found your seat by the time he hit another one in the 3rd. Turns out Kepler did that once before too (homered in his first two PAs of a game), and it was also in Cleveland, August 1, 2016 (against Danny Salazar).

Bauer may believe some interesting conspiracy theories, but he's not stupid enough to give Kepler anything to hit when he comes up again in the 5th. Five-pitch leadoff walk. No, that third home run would wait one more turn and get yanked to center on Bauer's first offering of the 7th. Bauer thus became the first Indians pitcher to give up three dingers to the same batter since Greg Swindell got owned by Cecil Fielder of the Tigers, 29 years earlier to the day (June 6, 1990). And as for the reverse-- Twins hitting three homers off the same pitcher? That's been done once as well, but it wasn't in a Minnesota jersey. It was Jim Lemon of the Senators who took Whitey Ford deep three times on August 31, 1956.

Of course, the whole stargazing thing is made possible by our relative orbits, and it's why we see the same stars and planets return to their same spot in the sky every so often. So we now know that Cleveland's orbital period is 674 days. Because look at that August 1, 2016, game again. Kepler homered in his first two PA's. He made an out in the third, not quite a walk, but you know, space dust or solar flare or something. Fourth PA? Another homer. Max has two career 3-HR games, and both have been in Cleveland. The only other batter in franchise history with multiple 3-HR games is Eddie Rosario. And the only other player with multiple such games in Cleveland is Jim Thome-- who played there. (His were not 674 days apart, they were 2541, but given that he's in Cleveland and rotating along with it, his perspective is totally different. ☺)


Planespotting

Very few airports (if any in the U.S.) still have an "observation deck" where you could just hang out and watch planes take off and land. There are still plenty of places off airport property where that's possible, however, and several of those are the decks at Citi Field when LaGuardia is using runway 13/31.

For the first part of this week, the Giants were the lucky visitors who got to hear all those planes roar overhead, and in Tuesday's opener-- which featured a lot of scoreboard zeroes-- there was plenty of time to watch them as well. San Francisco got three singles in the 4th for a pair of runs, then gave up homers to Pete Alonso and Wilson Ramos in the 6th. A Brandon Belt double in the 7th tied the game and would have taken the lead except that Evan Longoria got thrown out at the plate. Isn't that always the way.

At least when this one did end up in extras, the Giants wasted no time. It was almost like they had a plane to catch. Facing starter/reliever hybrid Robert Gsellman, they went single, walk, wild pitch, 2-run double, groundout, walk, infield double off Gsellman, who was then removed. Hector Santiago didn't fare much better, giving up a 2-run double to Sandoval and watching him come around to score before finally getting out of the inning. "The inning" being a 6-run 10th, the Giants' most in an extra frame since July 18, 2012, in Atlanta. In San Francisco history (only because we start losing play-by-play before that), it was only the third time the Giants had collected three doubles in the same extra inning; it happened May 5, 1998, at Florida (Bill Mueller, Jeff Kent, J.T. Snow), and August 12, 1975 at Montréal (Gary Thomasson, Bobby Murcer, Willie Montañez).

Gsellman became the first Mets reliever to give up 5+ runs in an extra inning while getting no more than 1 out since Doug Henry against the Marlins on September 10, 1996. And the Giants managed to roll up that 9-3 win with no homers, their first time scoring 9+ in Queens without one since an 11-1 win at Shea (where you could also watch planes) on August 14, 2000.

The Mets rebounded in a big way on Wednesday on the shoulders of 36-year-old Jason Vargas, now in his 14th major-league season and second stint with the Mets (2007). Until last year Vargas had been hanging out in the American League for a decade, so maybe the Giants can get away with the excuse of not seeing him. But Vargas spun a 5-hit shutout, with 8 strikeouts, on 117 pitches while the Mets slowly piled up 7 runs including 3 homers. Noah Syndergaard also threw an individual shutout with 8+ strikeouts (actually 10) against the Reds on May 2, the first time two Mets have done it in a season since 2012, when no one remembers that R.A. Dickey did it on June 2 against the Cardinals, because everyone only remembers the Mets' only no-hitter, by Johan Santana the night before.

The 7-0 final was the Mets' largest shutout win over the Giants since Citi Field opened, and only four Mets pitchers have thrown an SHO-5 (or better) with 8+ strikeouts against San Francisco at home. The others are David Cone (July 17, 1992), Dwight Gooden (August 20, 1985), and Jerry Koosman (April 17, 1968).

And well, at least the Giants didn't have to go very far to catch their getaway flight after Thursday's loss. They might have thought about checking in early when Amed Rosario and Dominic Smith led off the game with back-to-back homers, just the third time the Mets have ever done that. Jose Reyes started both other pairs, with Asdrubal Cabrera on August 26, 2016, against the Phillies, and Ruben Gotay on July 12, 2007 against the Reds. But instead the Giants got a tying homer from Brandon Belt in the 4th and a go-ahead solo bomb from Pablo Sandoval in the 6th. It would be Todd Frazier's homer off Mark Melançon in a 4-run 8th that finally did them in; Melançon became the first Giants reliever to give up 5 hits, 4 runs, at least 1 homer, and eat a loss since Robb Nen at Pittsburgh on May 3, 1999.


Hiking The Rockies

After the Giants departed LGA on Thursday afternoon, the Rockies were the next team to watch the planes go overhead. Friday's series opener pitted Jacob deGrom against Antonio Senzatela, both of whom threw 6 innings and allowed no more than 2 runs. DeGrom struck out 10. Senzatela, never an overpowering strikeout pitcher to begin with, fanned... zero? And guess who won. The Rockies manufactured 6 hits and 2 runs in spite of those 10 strikeouts, while the Mets managed just 1 on 4 (and the 1 was a Michael Conforto solo homer).

Senzatela became the first Rockies pitcher to strike out 0 in a road game and win it since Jeff Francis in Atlanta on September 28, 2005 (10-5 score). Meanwhile, deGrom, who seems to get hosed by these type of games about every third start, recorded his 18th game where he struck out 10+ and either lost or got a no-decision. That ties Tom Seaver for the most such outing in Mets team history.

If you're going to go hiking in the Rockies, there is at least some danger of encountering bears. Just don't mess with the cubs. And sure enough, before coming to New York, the Colorado baseball team had been in Chicago and dropped two of three to the Cubs before escaping with a 3-1 getaway win on Thursday. That last game also featured the MLB debut of one Peter Lambert, the Rockies' 2nd-round draft pick in 2015, and whom we personally saw throw a complete game for double-A Hartford last June. While not a complete game this time, he did go 7 innings and strike out 9 Cubs on the way to a 3-1 victory. That set a team record for the most strikeouts by a pitcher making his MLB debut in a Rox uniform. Shawn Chacon (2001), Jason Jennings (2001), and Jeff Francis (2004) had been the ones to do it with 8 K's. Lambert was also the 10th pitcher in the live-ball era to throw 7 innings in his debut, allow no more than 1 run, strike out 9+, and get the win. The previous entry on that list was the Pirates' Nick Kingham when he flirted with no-hitter history last April 29.

If only Lambert had pitched on Wednesday as well. That would be the game where German Marquez held the Cubs off for 4 innings but then gave up two singles and a 3-run homer to David Bote in the 5th. That just prompted the Rockies to get those 3 runs back in the 6th. But then the wheels sorta fell off as Marquez's 6th went double, hit-by-pitch, single, strikeout, walk, and another hit-by-pitch before being lifted. With the bases loaded, Bote then hit a double for an 8-3 Cubs lead. Amazingly, that would barely stand up as the Rockies answered with a 4 in the 7th, keyed by a David Dahl 2-run triple. Bote and Dahl would trade RBI singles later in the game, but ultimately the tiny bears come out ahead 9-8, with Bote driving in 7 of those runs. He became the second #8 batter in Cubs history (no #9's have done it) with a 4-hit, 7-RBI game; the other was when Adolfo Phillips homered three times against the Mets on June 11, 1967. Bote is also the second player in Cubs history, from any spot in the order, to have 4 hits and 7 RBI but score only 1 run himself. Dom Dallessandro did that in Philadelphia on August 26, 1941. And as for Dahl, he became the second Rockies hitter to go single-double-triple in a loss at Wrigley Field. The other was Ian Stewart on May 29, 2008.


Bottom Of The Bag

⚾ Max Muncy, Sunday: First Dodgers player to hit a solo homer in the top of the 1st and have it stand up for a 1-0 win since Trent Hubbard at Candlestick, September 20, 1998.

⚾ Howie Kendrick, Tuesday: First player in Nationals history to homer and double in a game he didn't start. Last for Expos was Manny Martinez against Boston on June 9, 1999.

⚾ Gerrit Cole, Friday: Became first pitcher in Astros history to strike out 14+ in multiple games and not get the win. Also did it April 13 of last year when he left a tie game against the Rangers in the 8th.

⚾ Dustin Garneau, Wednesday: First-ever walkoff automatic ("ground-rule") double in Angels history. Last in majors was by Boston's Blake Swihart last July 30.

⚾ JaCoby Jones, Saturday: Third Tigers batter ever with 2 HR and 5 (official) RBI in a game, and first not to do it against the Orioles/Browns franchise. Others were Babe Birrer (July 19, 1955) and Elden Auker (August 14, 1937).

⚾ Josh Bell, Thursday: First Pirates batter with 3 dobules, 2 runs, 2 RBI in a home game since Kevin Young vs Rockies, August 4, 1998 (at Three Rivers).

⚾ Yoan Moncada, Tue-Wed: First White Sox batter to homer in back-to-back games in Washington since Ed Herrmann against the Senators, August 15-16, 1970.

⚾ Dereck Rodriguez, Saturday: First Giants pitcher to face 5+ batters and get none of them out in a home game since Gil Heredia did it in a start against Houston on June 4, 1992.

⚾ Fernando Tatis, Friday: Second-youngest leadoff batter in MLB history with 3 hits, 2 runs, 2 RBI, a homer, and a stolen base in the same game. Trails only Mickey Mantle against the White Sox on June 19, 1951.

⚾ Dwight Smith, Tuesday: First Orioles cleanup batter with a 6-RBI game on the road since Cal Ripken at Milwaukee, May 24, 1994.

⚾ Gio Urshela, Sunday: First 8- or 9-hitter for Yankees to draw 4 walks in a game since Willie Randolph against Detroit, July 3, 1986.

⚾ Chris Sale, Wednesday: First Red Sox pitcher to throw a 3-hit shutout (or better) in Kansas City since Roger Clemens, May 9, 1992.

⚾ Eric Lauer, Monday, and Joey Lucchesi, Thursday: First season in Padres history where two different pitchers won games on their birthdays.

⚾ Kevin Gausman, Wednesday: First pitcher in live-ball era to allow 6 extra-base hits, 2 homers, 3 stolen bases, and hit a batter.

⚾ Marcus Semien, Friday: Second leadoff batter in A's history with 4 hits, 4 RBI, 3 runs, 2 homers in a road game. Other was Bert Campaneris in Cleveland on May 12, 1971.

⚾ Hanser Alberto, Sunday: First Orioles leadoff batter to have 3 hits in a game where the team got shut out since Alan Wiggins at Seattle, August 22, 1985.

⚾ Eduardo Nuñez, Tuesday: Second pinch-hit homer ever hit by Red Sox at Kauffman Stadium. Mike Easler took Dan Quisenberry deep on August 4, 1985.

⚾ Nationals, Sunday: Ninth team in MLB history with home runs by four consecutive batters. Also did it July 27, 2017, in Milwaukee, and are first franchise ever to do it twice.