Break My Stride

Each year the All-Star break is an interesting study in momentum. If your team is hot right now, you hate the break because you want them to keep playing and winning. If last week was bleh, then yeah, let's take a few days off, rest and regroup, and start anew on Friday.

Also each year, MLB feels an obligation to appoint at least one player from every team to the All-Star Game, deserving or not, so that all the fanbases and uniforms and such will be represented. Here at Kernels we look at every game every day, and thus always have a lot of stuff we can't use come Sunday. But for one week each year we take a page from MLB's book and highlight something from every team.

(And there's only one real game between now and Friday. You have plenty of time. ☺)


Arizona Diamondbacks

If you've been following along on Twitter for the last two weeks, you know that #Kernels was at the first game of the Rockies/D'backs series on Friday night as the final game of our southwestern road trip. So we're partial to that one, especially since it turned out to be Arizona's second-largest shutout win ever against the Rockies. Friday's 8-0 score trails only a 10-0 blanking on June 5, 2012, in which Ian Kennedy struck out a dozen. Christian Walker blasted two no-doubt homers, the second one very close to the pool in right-center, becoming the fifth D'backs hitter with 3 hits, 2 homers, and 5 RBI against the Rockies at Chase. The others go way back and are all within a year of each other; Shea Hillenbrand and Carlos Baerga did it in different series in 2003, while Chad Moeller and Steve Finley did it in back-to-back games in September 2002. Zack Greinke also looked sharp, throwing 7 scoreless innings and allowing just 4 baserunners. It's the fourth time this season he's done that and won, already becoming the first pitcher in Arizona history with four such games in a season. And we're only at the All-Star break.

Honorable mention to Alex Young in the series finale on Sunday for throwing 6 no-hit innings before yielding to The Metrics and having Yoshi Hirano yield an infield single on the first pitch he threw. No other D'backs pitcher had been removed from a potential no-hitter as late as the 3rd inning, and the others both had extenuating circumstances. Juan Cruz threw 2 no-hit innings in a start on September 30, 2006, but that was the next-to-last game of the year when it's basically an excuse to get every pitcher on the team (all 20 of them by that point) one more inning before the season ends. The other was Curt Schilling on July 18, 2001, when it rained after the 2nd inning and the game was suspended until the next day.


Atlanta Braves

The Braves were among our tougher choices for which game to spotlight. Sure, Brian McCann's single on Friday gave them a 1-0 walkoff win after a rain delay of over 2 hours, but much like no-hitters, sometimes it's hard to come up with notes on 1-0 games because basically nothing else happens. That was not the case for the Braves on Thursday, however, when they piled up 10 extra-base hits in the series finale with the Phillies. It was their first home game doing that since a 13-1 beatdown of the Mets on September 27, 2006.

Nick Markakis ended up with 3 doubles in Thursday's 12-6 victory, his fourth time doing that with Atlanta. He joins Marcus Giles as the only Braves players in the live-ball era with four such games. Meanwhile, Dansby Swanson got his three extra-base hits in the form of 2 homers and a double, becoming the seventh player in Braves history with 3 XBH and 5 RBI in a game. And between them, Markakis and Swanson were the first Braves teammates with 3 XBH in the same game since Brian McCann and Kelly Johnson did it in Milwaukee on July 26, 2009. But only two other pairs have done it for the Braves in Atlanta: Ron Gant and Dale Murphy against the Pirates in 1990, and Gene Oliver and Woody Woodward against the Giants in their first year, 1966.


Baltimore Orioles

It was kind of a bad week to be an Orioles fan, if by "week" you mean "about three decades". They did have those couple brief postseason appearances a few years back just to keep hope alive. But they did win two out of three in Toronto over the weekend, with Saturday's 8-1 score being the most interesting. We've had fun tracking this all season, but in early June the Blue Jays overtook the two Ohio teams to have the most games this season where they had 4 hits or fewer. They're up to 19 now (Reds follow with 17). Baltimore's 5-run 4th inning was their first 5-run frame at Rogers Centre since April 16, 2017, when they did it twice in an 11-4 victory. And Anthony Santander managed to scrape together 3 hits and 2 RBI but not have an extra-base hit in the mix. He also did that against the Blue Jays on June 13 at Camden Yards, and only one other Oriole has had two such games against Toronto in the same season. That was Jeff Conine in 2001.


Boston Red Sox

After the Blue Jays got done with their Canada Day celebration on Monday (more on that later), which doubled as a getaway game for the Royals, 'twas Boston's turn to come to town. Rafael Devers greeted Trent Thornton with a 2-run homer in the 1st inning, the first of his 4 hits on the day as the Red Sox cruised to a 10-6 win (with 3 of those Jays runs scored in the bottom of the 9th). Devers came up again with the bases loaded in the 3rd and drove in another pair of runs to make it 7-1 and knock Thornton out of the game. He became the first starter in Jays history to give up 11+ hits without finishing the 3rd inning; Edwin Jackson (May 31) was among those to have done 10.

Devers would also drive in the final two Red Sox runs with another homer off Joe Biagini in the 8th. Perhaps that gave him flashbacks to last September 26, when Devers also had 4 hits and 6 RBI in a game agsinst the Orioles. Only three other Red Sox hitters have ever done it multiple times: Mookie Betts, Brian Daubach, and of course David Ortiz. Betts, 2 years earlier to the day, was the last Bostonian with a 6-RBI game in Toronto, and that's a pretty nice list to be on as well. Before that the only three Red Sox batters to do it were Dwight Evans (1984), Jim Rice (1983), and Carlton Fisk (1977).


Chicago Cubs

Extra-base hits seemed to be a bit of a theme this week, and the Cubs were no exception. On Thursday they concluded a series in Pittsburgh by raking starter Jordan Lyles for eight of them, making him the first Pirates starter in the live-ball era to give up 8 XBH and not get through the 5th inning. And no Pirates pitcher had given up 10 hits (any variety), 7 runs, and 3 homers since Kevin Correa, also against the Cubs, on August 2, 2001.

Kris Bryant is a part of the Cubs lineup that you would expect to get on the XBH madness. He had three of them, plus a single, plus 3 runs scored, and it was the fifth game in his Cubs career where he'd posted that line. The only other Cubs batter with five such games is Hack Wilson in the 1920s. And Bryant's the first Cubs batter to collect those stats in Pittsburgh since Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby on April 24, 1931.

Robel Garcia, probably not someone you'd expect to join our XBH parade, mostly because you've probably never heard of him. He made his MLB debut in the game on Wednesday as a pinch hitter and struck out. So when he fired off a homer and a triple on Thursday, he joined Starlin Castro (2010) and Frank Ernaga (1957) as the only Cubs to do both in either of their first two MLB appearances. He also became the first Cubs batter to homer and triple in a game at PNC Park; the last to do it at Three Rivers was Benito Santiago on April 11, 1999.

Tack on Willson Contreras's 3 hits and 2 XBH, and you have the first trio of Cubs teammates to do that in a road game since Luis Gonzalez, Todd Zeile, and Scott Servais led a famous 26-7 thrashing at Coors Field on August 18, 1995.


Chicago White Sox

Wednesday would prove to be a long day on the South Side of Chicago, after Tuesday's game with the Tigers had to be postponed by rain and turned into a split doubleheader. So 18 innings was plenty-- but not enough. The night game got stuck on a score of 5-5 after Ryan Cordell's homer and Yoan Moncada's sac fly in the 7th. Sure, it seems like there's an opening when the Tigers score in the 10th, but Jeimer Candelario got thrown out stretching at third to end the inning, and Moncada isn't ready to leave yet. Solo homer to tie the game again in B10, conveniently the first extra-inning homer for the White Sox this entire season. It was also the first game-tying (not walkoff) homer for the Sox in an extra inning since A.J. Pierzynski took Tyler Clippard of the Nationals deep on June 24, 2011.

Two innings and 9 hours 48 minutes after the first pitch of the day, Jose Abreu finally walks it off in the 12th with a 3-run shot of his own. The White Sox hadn't hit any extra-inning walkoff homer against the Tigers since Nick Swisher also cranked a 3-run job on August 5, 2008, off Joel Zumaya. And the last time they had both a tying homer and a walkoff homer in extras? A.J. Pierzynski's in that one too, teaming with Juan Uribe (11th and 12th innings) against Cleveland on August 8, 2007.

Both Moncada and Cordell wound up with two homers, amazingly something White Sox teammates hadn't done in any home game since Juan Uribe (again!) and Paul Konerko both went deep twice against the Phillies on June 8, 2004.


Cincinnati Reds

We couldn't do much with the Braves' 1-0 win from Friday, but to mangle a line from the Declaration of Independence, all 1-0 games are not created equal. Because this one on Thursday began with Jesse Winker hitting a leadoff double and then scoring on Yasiel Puig's infield single to third. And that's it. You like to grab an early lead, but you never think you're going to have to protect a 1-0 for another eight full innings. But that's exactly what Luis Castillo did, at least for his six additional frames where he allowed just 1 hit and struck out 9.

For Castillo it was his second game this season throwing 7+ innings, allowing only 1 hit, and striking out at least 9 opponents-- and in that game the opponents were also the Brewers. That was April 3 at GABP, and it made Castillo just the second pitcher in the live-ball era to have two such games (7+ IP, ≤ 1 hit, 9+ K) in the same season. The other is Jim Maloney in 1969. The 1-0 score was the Reds' second ever against the Brewers; the other was July 17, 2016, and the run in that game scored on what is still the last "passed-ball-off" in the majors.

The Reds hadn't won a 1-0 game where their run came in the 1st inning since September 28, 2012, in Pittsburgh, and hadn't done it at home since Ed Taubensee had an RBI single against the Phillies on April 29, 1998. As for Winker scoring that only run after his leadoff double, he's the first Cincinnati leadoff batter to have 3 hits and the run scored in a 1-0 win since Pete Rose did it against the Expos on September 1, 1972.


Cleveland Indians

As strange as it feels when it happens, teams do move occasionally, usually for economic reasons (hi, Tampa Bay!). Back in the 19th century Ohio often had four major-league teams in the state at the same time, so here in the 21st century, it's enjoyable when the two remaining ones finally play each other.

It was only a 2-game "series" this time (the other two games were in Cleveland last month), but Francisco Lindor came out of the gate quickly with a leadoff homer in Saturday's game. Shin-Soo Choo (2012), Grady Sizemore (2007), and Kenny Lofton (1999) are the only other Indians batters to hit a leadoff homer in Cincinnati, and when Lindor also went yard in the 5th, he became the sixth Clevelander with a multi-homer game at Great American Ball Park (opened 2003). Edwin Encarnacion did it two seasons ago; Carlos Santana and Rajai Davis did it in back-to-back games in 2016; and Shin-Soo Choo (2010 & 2012) has the others.

Sunday was quite the opposite as the Indians piled up 4 homers, 4 doubles, and a triple on their way to an 11-1 rout, their second-largest ever in Cincinnati. On July 2, 2004, they had a 9-2 lead and decided to score 6 insurance runs off Todd Van Poppel and win by 13 for no apparent reason. Sunday was the first time (including postseason) that the Indians had ever collected 9 extra-base hits in a National League park, while Greg Allen also became the team's first player ever with 4 hits including a homer and a triple in an interleague game (home or road). Only Christian Yelich (last August) and Randy Winn of the Giants (2005) had posted such a line as visiting players at GABP.

And speaking of teams moving, some of our favorite notes are the ones where we drop city names instead of team names and harken back to an earlier era. And thus it was fun on Tuesday when Jake Bauers and Tyler Naquin each collected 4 hits in the Indians' 9-5 win over the Royals. Oh sure, it's the first time two Cleveland teammates have done that in a road game against the Royals. But it's not the first time it's happened in Kansas City. Dick Howser and Vic Davalillo each had 4 hits when the Indians beat the then-Kansas City Athletics at Municipal Stadium on July 14, 1964.


Colorado Rockies

Have lost 6 straight, including the aforementioned game we were at in Phoenix on Friday night. We'll be covering most of their games from the winning team's side, so plenty of Rockies nuggets still await you. One thing we didn't mention in that 8-0 shutout against the Diamondbacks on Friday is that Antonio Senzatela got tagged for 7 hits and 7 earned runs while only recording 1 strikeout. Only three other Colorado pitchers have done that at Chase Field: Kyle Kendrick in 2015, Franklin Morales in 2008, and Byung-Hyun Kim in 2006.

And while they did manage to score 3 runs in Sunday's loss, the Rockies were held to just 5 hits or fewer in all three games of the weekend series at Chase. They hadn't done that in any road series against the same opponent since July 1-3, 2016, at Dodger Stadium, and had never done it in Phoenix. The only other time they even had two straight games of ≤ 5 hits at Chase was also in the first week of July, in 2015 when they faced Jeremy Hellickson and Chase Anderson.


Detroit Tigers

In a week plagued by rain delays, Matt Boyd earns our Tigers nod for his bizarre line in Thursday's game, in which Detroit ended up scoring in each of the final six innings to cruise to an 11-5 win in Chicago. Despite giving up 9 hits and 4 runs, Boyd had the lead when he departed in the 6th, and so became the first Tigers pitcher to do that and get a win in a road game since Anibal Sanchez in Arizona on July 23, 2014.

BUT check out the rest of Boyd's line. He worked 5⅓ innings, that's 16 outs. He struck out thirteen. Only four pitchers have ever recorded 16 outs and had 13+ be K's; the others are Eduardo Rodriguez of the Red Sox in 2016, then-Angel Zack Greinke in 2012 (13 of 15), and the Rays' Alex Cobb in 2013 (13 of 14!). Ignoring the innings, Boyd also had a 13-K game in New York on April 3, and only six other Tigers pitchers have had two such games in a season. Mickey Lolich is three of them. Max Scherzer (2014), Justin Verlander (2009), and Jim Bunning (1960) also did it.

By the time Thursday's game was over, the Tigers had piled up 5 doubles and 3 homers-- but those were by seven different players. Only Miguel Cabrera had one of each. Their last game where seven players had at least 1 XBH was also in Chicago-- but on the North Side. They won a 15-8 slugfest at Wrigley on August 19, 2015. And Detroit's only other game with 3 homers and 5 doubles on the South Side... was a 16-15 slugfest at the old Comiskey on July 29, 1934.


The title of this post led us to a lot of songs with "break" in the name of lyrics. But we'll be good and start you with the '80s classic that matches it. (And which apparently had no official video, based on our searches.) First intermission!


Houston Astros

In December you get Yule Logs. In July you get Yuli Barrels. Those would be the no-doubt homers hit by Yuli Gurriel this week, beginning on Tuesday with a 2-homer game against the Rockies. His second of that game, in the 7th inning, was the fourth lead-flipping homer for the Astros in Denver, and also the latest by inning. Brian Bogusevic (2012), Craig Biggio (2001), and Scott Servais (1994) also hit them, but all in the 5th or earlier. Gurriel also joined Richard Hidalgo (2003), Jeff Bagwell (1998), and Moises Alou (1998) as the only Astros with a 2-HR, 4-RBI game at Coors Field.

What, you thought he was done? Gurriel quietly homered again in Wednesday's finale at Coors, and again in Friday's opener with the Angels after an off-day. So on Saturday he actually became the oldest player in Astros history with a 4-game home run streak. (Remember, the Gurriel brothers defected from Cuba, so even though they haven't been in MLB very long, they've been playing for decades.) The only other Astros with a 3-game streak aged 35 or older were Ken Caminiti (2000), Jose Cruz (1983), and forgot-he-was-an-Astro-for-half-a-season Eddie Mathews in 1967.

On Sunday Gurriel finished the first half with a bang. Or a slam, rather, tying the game in the 6th before George Springer eventually walked off in the 10th. It was already the eighth grand slam by an Astros hitter this season, which sets a team record. Yes, we just reached the All-Star break. Gurriel also hit a slam off Andrew Heaney last September and is the first Astros batter ever to have two against the Angels. But that 5-game homer streak was only the fifth in team history, and two have been this year. Jose Altuve also went yard in five straight from April 8 through 13. The others include Carlos Beltran in 2004, Cliff Johnson in 1975, and the one which Gurriel now has the entire break to ponder. Morgan Ensberg, in April 2006, is the only Astros batter to homer in six straight games.


Kansas City Royals

If the news told you the Royals were in Washington over the weekend, you might expect them to be talking about Prince Harry or Kate Middleton or one of those folks from whom the U.S. celebrated its independence this week. Oddly, the last time the baseball Royals visited D.C. was when they won the World Series and visited the White House. They hadn't played an actual game there since 2010, which lends itself to some "small sample size" nuggets. Either way, though, the story of Friday's game was Adalberto Mondesi who contributed a triple, a double, the go-ahead RBI single in the 11th inning, and also stole a base. That go-ahead single was just the second one ever hit by the Royals in Washington; the other came in their first season when the replacement Senators were still around. Pat Kelly hit it off Dave Baldwin on May 24, 1969.

Ignoring the single for the moment, Mondesi was the Royals' first-ever player to have a triple, a double, and a stolen base in a National League park. And he was the first visiting American Leaguer to go single-double-triple at Nationals Park. To find the last of those, you have to once again return to the days when Washington's team was in the AL. Before the Royals were created in 1969, another KC team, the Athletics, had just left for Oakland. And it was in their first season in California that Danny Cater had all three of those hits in Washington, doing so in an 8-3 win on August 11, 1968.

On Saturday, however, the Royals ran into the buzzsaw known as Max Scherzer and promptly got shut out 6-0. It was only the second time the Royals had ever been shut out in a game in Washington, and the other... wasn't against the Nationals. We're back in those same three seasons when the Royals and second Senators both existed; Jim Hannan pitched a 1-hitter against them on August 17, 1970.


Los Angeles Angels

The Angels had three wins and one very big loss this week. So even though Friday's game was the first time they'd ever hit four homers in a game in Houston, and in it Kole Calhoun surpassed Brian Downing by posting his 12th homer/double combo as the Angels' leadoff hitter, there's no amount of Angels miniutiae that's going to steal the show this week. RIP Tyler.


Los Angeles Dodgers

Southern California was definitely shaking last week. And not all of it was because of earthquakes. After sweeping the Rockies from June 21 to 23, all via walkoff, the Dodgers pulled off what is almost certainly a first in major-league history. Setup, in case you don't already know: They trail the Diamondbacks 4-3 going to the bottom of the 9th.

Greg Holland gets two quick outs on eight pitches. He walks Chris Taylor, which you never like to see, but okay. Still only need to get the guy at the plate, pinch-hitter Russell Martin, to lock down the win. Oh, Holland walked him too? Hmm. Alex Verdugo, 5-pitch walk, three of them in the dirt, to load the bases. And Matt Beaty, 4-pitch walk to tie the game. So now we call for T.J. McFarland out of the bullpen to face Cody Bellinger. Gets to a 1-2 count and then throws three more balls. A literal walk-off, not on just one base on balls, but FIVE straight! No team had ever ended a game by drawing five consecutive walks, and even the last occurrence of a tying walk followed by a walk-off was on May 6, 1994, when the Cardinals' Gerald Perry and Terry McGriff got passed by the Mets' John Franco. Since moving to Los Angeles the Dodgers had also done it once: Bill Russell drew the tying walk and then Wes Parker drew the game-winner against Houston's Dooley Womack on April 18, 1969.

So stepping back from the five straight walks, that also meant the Dodgers had won four straight home games via walkoff something-or-other dating to that Rockies series a couple weeks ago. So what might possibly happen in Wednesday's game when the teams are tied 3-3 after 8 innings and then, after Carson Kelly homers to take the lead, Greg Holland blows another save and sends us to extras at 4-4. Why of course that would be Cody Bellinger's second homer of the night, a solo shot against Yoan Lopez with 1 out in the 10th, the fifth straight walkoff win in a Dodgers home game. The last team to post such a streak (also with a road trip in the middle) was the 2004 Athletics. Bellinger, meanwhile, was the seventh Dodgers batter to hit an extra-inning walkoff homer against the D'backs, but just the second for whom it was his second homer of the game. Raul Mondesi hit a 2-run shot to beat Arizona on April 5, 1999.


Miami Marlins

This being our All-Star edition of #Kernels, we're trying to accentuate the positive instead of harping on the pitchers who give up 10 runs in 3 innings. Plenty of time for that after the break. That does mean a few teams have limited choices, however. For the Marlins, who won exactly one of their six games this week, and lost two via walkoff, we'll give them credit for collecting 15 hits in that lone win on Saturday. Granted, they only ended up with 5 runs, but it was barely enough to escape with a 5-4 victory. The Marlins only had one other game in Atlanta where they'd gotten 15 hits, turned them into 5 runs or fewer, and still pulled out a win. And that was 20 years ago to the day against Tom Glavine, a 5-2 win that was Glavine's career high for hits allowed.

And while they lost Sunday's game by a 4-3 count when Charlie Culberson nailed Jorge Alfaro with the potential tying run at the plate in the 9th, Garrett Cooper put the Marlins in position for that tie with a 3-run jack in the top of the 8th. Only two other Marlins batters had cranked a 3- or 4-run homer in the 8th or later in Atlanta; Cooper joined Cliff Floyd in 2002 (off Kerry Ligtenberg) and Mike Lowell in 2000 (off Jason Marquis).


Milwaukee Brewers

Like their alphabetical neighbors the Marlins, the Brewers were another of those teams that really didn't have a great week, and they lost Christian Yelich toward the end of the week with a back issue (probably from hitting all those homers). Though they lost Sunday's game in Pittsburgh, Milwaukee found a bright spot in Jesús Aguilar, who posted the team's third multi-homer game in Pittsburgh already this year. Orlando Arcia and Mike Moustakas did it in a series six weeks ago, and it's the first time the Brewers have ever had three such games in Pittsburgh in a season.

The lone game the Brewers won in Pittsburgh wasn't without its drama; they were up by the leanest of scores, 1-0, going to the 7th, before Arcia led off the inning with a solo homer. Well, that must be the cue for the floodgates to open; Elias Diaz reached on an error and scored in the bottom half to get that run back, but then Aguilar and Manny Piña both went yard in the 8th for a 6-1 run lead. Only once before had the Brewers hit 3 homers in the 7th or later in Pittsburgh; Mark Reynolds, Ryan Braun, and Khris Davis all went deep in a 14-inning mess on April 20, 2014.

The Brewers turned to Former New Britain Rock Cat Deolis Guerra to protect that 5-run lead, and let's just say it didn't go well. Though not quite charged with the blown save, he did join Sam Freeman (April 8, 2016) as the only Brewers pitchers to give up 4 runs including a homer (to Josh Bell) while getting 2 outs in their Milwaukee debut. BUT it somehow worked out when Lorenzo Cain connected for a go-ahead RBi single in the 10th and Junior Guerra (they are different people) held on for the win. Junior is just the fifth pitcher in Brewers history to blow a save by giving up a homer, but then hold on for a "BS win" in extras. Francisco Rodriguez ("K-Rod") also did it in Pittsburgh on September 10, 2015; the others are Eric Gagne (2008), Brad Lesley (1985), and Bob Galasso (1979).


Minnesota Twins

Like the Nationals last year, the Twins are becoming harder and harder to come up with notes about because they do this all the time. Fortunately there are still little nuances to every game that give us an opening. Take Friday's 15-6 blowout of the Rangers. We know the Twins (and the rest of MLB, frankly) are on pace to obliterate all kinds of home-run records. But what if we said they "only" had 4 homers in that game... but nine doubles? Because that's how it played out, with Byron Buxton, Jonathan Schoop, and C.J. Cron each hitting two. They were the first trio of Twins players with multiple doubles in the same game since Luis Rivas, Doug Mientkiewicz, and Jose Offerman did it against Cleveland on April 7, 2004. And nine total doubles? Why, the Twins/Senators franchise hadn't done that in a game since there might have been fans still sitting in the outfield. June 9, 1934, at Fenway Park, was the last occurrence of that.

Now, 9 doubles and 4 homers still equals 13 extra-base hits, and that also happened in that 8-homer game that you're thinking about back in April. But that also makes it the first season in Twins/Senators franchise history where they had 13 XBH in two different games. Eight of the nine Twins starters ended up with multiple hits, at least 1 run scored, and least 1 RBI; since RBI became official in 1920, it's only happened one other time. All nine Senators starters posted that line in a 19-6 beatdown of Cleveland on July 18, 1925.

And as for that exact score of 15-6? Although there have been plenty of other 15-6's since then, the Twins/Senators hadn't won such a game since defeating the Red Sox on April 26, 1922.


New York Mets

The Mets and Yankees played the second half of their home-and-home season series in Queens on Tuesday and Wednesday, and being that they're alphabetically next to each other (both based in New York and all), we'll let each of them have their moment against the other.

The Mets were on the ropes in Tuesday's game, trailing 2-1 in the 8th before DJ LeMahieu made an error to start the inning. And sure enough, next batter J.D. Davis doubles him home to tie the game. Adam Ottavino eventually gets pulled with 1 out and the bases loaded, but Michael Conforto shoots the first pitch from Zack Britton into left field for a 2-run go-ahead double and what would become a 4-2 Mets win. Only one other Mets batter had connected for a go-ahead double against the Yankees in the 8th inning or later, David Wright off Mariano Rivera on June 12, 2009. And the pair of Davis and Conforto became the third in Mets history to hit both a tying double and a go-ahead double in the same inning, where that inning was numbered 8 or higher. Kirk Nieuwenheis and Mike Baxter did it in 2012 against the Marlins, while Edgardo Alfonso teamed with Todd Zeile for a 10-8 win over the Pirates on June 24, 2000.


New York Yankees

Ah, but turnabout is fair play, so we may as well split this season series between two ends of the Triborough Bridge and call it a day. On Wednesday the Yankees jumped out to a 2-0 lead after DJ LeMahieu and Aaron Judge led off the game with back-to-back doubles, the first time the Yankees had done that in a road game since Derek Jeter and Nick Swisher hit them in Cleveland on August 24, 2012.

Not to be outdone, Jeff McNeil led off the Mets' part of the game with a solo homer, joining Brandon Nimmo (June 8 of last year) as the only Mets to hit a leadoff homer against the Yankees at Citi Field. Unfortunately, like Nimmo's game, McNeil's homer would be the only run the Mets scored as the Yankees added two more homers in the 6th on a back-to-back by Didi Gregorius and Gio Urshela. They were the first Yankees ever to hit back-to-back homers at Citi Field; the last to do it at Shea were Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada on May 19, 2007 (both off Scott Schoeneweis).

LeMahieu would add another two-bagger later in the game, joining Eduardo Nuñez (2011) and Ramiro Peña (2009) as the only Yankees to have a multi-double game at Citi Field.


Oakland Athletics

The A's concluded their first "half" on a high note Sunday, riding a 5-run 1st inning to a 7-4 win in Seattle. Matt Olson gave them three of those runs before an out was even recorded; he was the first Oaklander in nearly 6 years to hit a 3-run homer as the team's third batter of a road game. Jed Lowrie did that in Toronto on August 9, 2013. The 5-run frame was Oakland's largest in a road game since thumping the White Sox 17-6 on September 15, 2015.

Marcus Semien tacked on 3 hits including a homer, becoming just the second A's leadoff batter to do that in the 20-year history of Safeco Field. Travis Buck pulled it off in a 4-3 loss on September 28, 2008. Three other Oaklanders did it at the Kingdome: Jose Herrera in 1996 and Rickey Henderson twice (1990 & 1993).

Semien also put away Thursday's game against Minnesota with an 8th-inning grand slam for a 7-2 final. Since the team moved to Oakland in 1968, no A's player had slammed against the Twins in the 8th or later of a home game. Semien also had a solo shot earlier in Thursday's contest, becoming just the fourth leadoff batter in A's history with a 2-HR, 5-RBI game. Ernie Young did it on May 10, 1996, also against the Twins; and Eddie Joost did it twice for the Philadelphia Athletics, within a year of each other in 1951-52.


Thirty teams is a lot, we know. Happily there's not another real game before Thursday. Take a break for some line-dancing. Second intermission!


Philadelphia Phillies

There were two names that stood out for the Phillies this week, Aaron Nola and Jay Bruce. The team started its week in Atlanta with a 2-0 shutout in which Nola became the first Phils pitcher to throw 8 scoreless innings, allow no more than 4 hits, and strike out at least 8 in a road game since Cole Hamels no-hit the Cubs at Wrigley on July 25, 2015. The Braves never even threatened in the 9th thanks to Hector Neris facing three batters and striking out all of them over the course of 15 pitches. Neris also did that on May 24 in Milwaukee; since saves became official in 1969, he's the first Phillies pitcher to have two of them in the same season where he faced three batters and struck out all of them.

The Phils then ended their week at Citi Field, a park which Jay Bruce called home for parts of three seasons. It appears he still likes the place; Bruce went deep to knock Zack Wheeler out of the game in the 6th, and then started the 8th with a solo shot off Wilmer Font. With an RBI single early in the game, Bruce joined Ryan Howard (August 24, 2009) as the only Phillies batters to have a 2-HR, 4-RBI game at Citi Field. But as luck would have it, Bruce also had such a game two years ago when he was playing for the Mets and against the Phillies. That was April 19, 2017, in a 5-4 Mets wins, and it makes Bruce the first player to have a 2-HR, 4-RBI game at Citi Field for two different teams.

Honorable mention to Rhys Hoskins who also homered, doubled, and got hit by a pitch; no Phillies batter had ever done that in a road game against the Mets (any stadium).


Pittsburgh Pirates

It was pretty obvious pretty early in the week which Pirates game was going to get this week's nugget. That would be Monday night against the Cubs when they unloaded on rookie Abdert Alzolay for 7 runs in the first 2 innings, including a 3-run homer by Josh Bell and a 2-run homer by Josh Bell. (More on him in a moment.) Alzolay was the first Cubs starter to give up 10 hits, 7 runs, 2 homers, and not get through the 3rd inning since Joe Coleman did it against the Braves on June 19, 1976.

Meanwhile, leadoff hitter Adam Frazier collected four (count 'em, four!) doubles, joining Hall of Fame outfielder Paul Waner (May 20, 1932) as the only Pirates batters in the live-ball era with a 4-double game. Thanks to Alzolay's meltdown and a string of relievers, Frazier's two-baggers all came off different pitchers as well, the first player in the majors to do that since Toronto's Alex Rios on August 17, 2008, against Boston. Frazier added a single for a fifth hit, making him the fourth leadoff batter in the live-ball era with 5 hits including 4 doubles. Johnny Damon of the Royals (2000, also vs Cubs), Billy Werber of the Reds (1940), and Denny Sothern of the Phillies (1930) are the others. And no Pirates leadoff batter had posted any 5-hit game at home since Matty Alou did it in the first season at Three Rivers, against the Giants on August 19, 1970. Frazier would add 4 more hits and 3 more runs scored in Tuesday's win, just the second Pirates batter in the live-ball era to do that in back-to-back games. The other is only Willie Stargell on June 4 & 5, 1966.

We promised more Bell-ringing, and sure enough, he added a third homer off Craig Kimbrel in the 8th. Only five Pirates have ever had a 3-homer, 7-RBI game, and the others ain't a bad list: Willie Stargell (1968), Roberto Clemente (1967), Dick Stuart (1960), and Ralph Kiner (1951). Only one other cleanup hitter in Pirates history had posted 4 hits, 4 runs scored, and 7 RBI in a game (never mind the 3 homers): Ewell "Reb" Russell, so nicknamed because he was from Mississippi, in Philadelphia on August 8, 1922.

And we haven't even mentioned Colin Moran's 5 hits, because "only" 2 of them were doubles. But the trio of Moran, Bell, and Frazier marked the first time three Pirates teammates had 4+ hits in the same game since Jay Bell, Don Slaught, and Andy Van Slyke did it in Atlanta on May 13, 1992.


San Diego Padres

The Padres pulled out three straight victories at Dodger Stadium this weekend, all in slightly-unusual fashion. As already mentioned, #Kernels was out in SoCal last week, and it certainly appears that the NL West is turning into the offensive "juggernaut" that we used to accuse the AL West of being. Suddenly they're the ones playing 3-1 games and taking no-hitters into the 7th while Oakland is chucking up 12 runs a game. But we digress.

Friday was indeed one of those games in which neither team got more than 6 hits, and the only reason they're not still playing is that Hunter Renfroe stumbled into a solo homer with 2 outs in the 8th. By inning, that was the latest go-ahead homer for the Padres at Dodger Stadium since Khalil Greene hit one off Takashi Saito on May 4, 2006. Friday's game was so interesting that we were able to hold up Eric Lauer as being the first pitcher in Padres history to be awarded first base on interference by the opposing catcher.

Saturday was another of those 3-1 games in which neither team had more than 6 hits, and which was scoreless until Renfroe homered again, this time in the 7th. He's only the third Padres batter to hit two go-ahead homers at Dodger Stadium in the 7th or later, and the others-- Tony Gwynn and Fred McGriff-- didn't even do it in the same season, much less in back-to-back games. Manuel Margot added a 2-run blast in the 8th for the rest of the scoring, and it gave the Padres their first win at Dodger Stadium with 4 hits or fewer since September 29, 2002, a 2-0 win over Victor Alvarez.

Sunday became an offensive explosion with the Padres scoring 5 runs to the Dodgers' 3, but with Fernando Tatis starting things right away with a leadoff homer instead of waiting until the 7th. Melvin Upton hit the previous one for the Padres at Chavez Ravine, 3 years earlier to the day off Hyun-Jin Ryu. And Tatis would homer again in the 5th, joining Khalil Greene (2004), Darrin Jackson (1991), Johnny Grubb (1976), and Bobby Tolan (1974) as the only Padres leadoff batters with a 2-HR, 4-RBI game. Kirby Yates came on to record his 30th save of the season (out of 45 Padres wins!), shattering the team's prior "first-half" record-- Heath Bell's 26 saves in 2011.


San Francisco Giants

The Giants pounded out 17 hits in Tuesday's game in San Diego, 11 of them off starter Matt Strahm, en route to a 10-4 victory. It began early when Donovan Solano cranked the fifth pitch of the game for just the second leadoff homer ever hit by the Giants at Petco. Ray Durham took Ismael Valdez deep on July 29, 2004, in Petco's first season; Durham also had the team's last two leadoff homers at Qualcomm. He would end up joining Marvin Benard (1998) and Bobby Bonds (1973) as the only Giants to have a leadoff homer in San Diego and then add 2 more hits later in the game.

If you wanted a game with both a Bobby Bonds reference and a Barry Bonds reference, well, here it is. Among those 17 hits on Tuesday, Kevin Pillar and Evan Longoria both ended up with four of them, a feat accomplished by only one other set of Giants teammates in San Diego. The younger Bonds joined Rich Aurilia in doing it on September 13, 2002. And Longoria would be the first Giants batter with 3 extra-base hits and 5 RBIs in any game in nearly four seasons; Jarrett Parker did that across the bay in Oakland on September 26, 2015.

And we can't end the Giants' section without a shout-out to Austin Slater, who totally reminds us of "Saved By The Bell" every time he does something. His pinch-hit grand slam on Saturday propelled the Giants to an 8-4 win over the Cardinals and was the first such homer for San Francisco since (again) Rich Aurilia did it at Comiskey Park on June 12, 2003. They've only hit one other pinch-hit slam at their current stadium, and it was in the first season when it was still Pac Bell. Russ Davis hit it against the Marlins on August 21, 2000. And Slater's knock came in the 4th inning because Madison Bumgarner got hit with a comebacker and had already left the game by then. No team had gotten a pinch-hit grand slam so early in a contest since Justin Maxwell of the Nationals hit one on September 11, 2007, after starter Mike Bacsik gave up 5 early runs to the Marlins.


Seattle Mariners

If there was one exciting game for the Mariners this week, it was probably Tuesday to begin a rare interleague series with the Cardinals. "Opener" Matt Carasiti gave up a 1st-inning homer to Jose Martinez and Seattle had to fight its way back. They did, finally going up 4-1 on an Omar Narvaez homer in the 5th, but St Louis promptly tied it back up in the next two frames. Finally in the bottom of the 8th, Tim Beckham launched just the second pinch-hit homer in Mariners history against the Cardinals; the other was by Ryan Langerhans off Ryan Franklin on June 15, 2010. It was the Mariners' first-ever go-ahead pinch-hit homer in the 8th or later of an interleague game, and the third by any AL hitter against the Cardinals. Danny Santana of the Rangers hit one on May 19, and the other was by Frank Catalanotto of Detroit on June 13, 1999.

Austin Adams, who was the pitcher of record through all of this, because the first hurler in Mariners history to face 4+ batters, strike out all of them, and get a win.


St Louis Cardinals

Of course, as mentioned up in the New York section, turnabout is fair play, and wouldn't you know it the Mariners and Cardinals are right next to each other if you don't spell out the word "Saint" (pet peeve, pick one, "Gateway To The West"). So after Beckham's homer to effectively win the game on Tuesday, it was Tommy Edman's turn on Wednesday. This one ended up being even more dramatic, since the Cardinals trailed 2-0 going to the top of the 9th. With 1 out, Yadier Molina's sacrifice fly tied the game, but then pinch-hitter Edman comes to the plate with runners on second and third and polishes off a 5-run inning and a 5-2 Cardinals win. The Cardinals hadn't hit any go-ahead pinch-hit homer in the 9th inning or later since Nick Stavinoha took Trevor Hoffman-- by then with the Brewers-- deep on April 9, 2010. The Tigers are the only team to go longer without such a longball. The Cards' last such homer that was a 3- or 4-run shot was by Craig Paquette off Danny Graves of the Reds on May 25, 2001. And Wednesday's game was the first time the Cardinals were held scoreless through 8 innings, but then put up a 5-spot (or higher) in the 9th, since walking off against the Reds on August 8, 2016.

Perhaps as a reward for his heroics on Wednesday (but probably not), Edman was given the starting leadoff spot in Thursday's finale against the Mariners. And once again the Cardinals trailed 4-3 when he came up in the 7th with the bases loaded. Wham, not just an RBI single, but a 2-run single to flip the lead, the first one in Cardinals history to be hit in the 7th or later in an American League park.


Tampa Bay Rays

The Rays and Yankees have always had a fairly interesting relationship, usually consisting of the Yankees being a really good team but then falling flat on their face when they go to Tropicana. If that sounds like what happened this weekend, well.

Saturday's game was 2-1 before Nick Lowe took why-is-he-still-in-the-game CC Sabathia deep in the 7th inning, the team's first lead-flipping homer in the 7th or later against the Yankees since Matt Joyce off Rafael Soriano on September 27, 2011. No worries, though; the Yanks will pull off their usual magic of having Aaron Hicks go deep with 2 outs in the 9th to tie the game back up. That was actually the first tying or go-ahead homer the Yankees had ever hit against the Rays when down to their final out, and the first against any team since Brett Gardner at Wrigley on May 5, 2017.

The excitement was short-lived however, because Travis d'Arnaud came up in the bottom of the 9th against Chad Green and, well, walkoff. Five batters in Rays history have hit a walkoff homer against the Yankees; you know one of them is Evan Longoria to win the Wild Card berth in 2011. The others are Jake Bauers last June, Reid Brignac in 2010, and Dioner Navarro in 2007. That homer was also d'Arnaud's third hit of the night, just the second time a Rays batter has had 3 hits including a walkoff against the Yankees. Carlos Peña singled off Mariano Rivera to score Ben Zobrist on April 6, 2012.

Sunday's game turned into a true pitchers' duel when James Paxton struck out 11 but also gave up 2 early runs, whereas Charlie Morton struck out 10 and got the win. In the past 17 years the Rays have only had three games where they converted 10+ hits into ≤ 2 runs but still won. All of those are 2-1 wins against the Yankees. Maybe there's some truth to the Tropicana curse after all.


Texas Rangers

We almost had to expound on Elvis Andrus stealing all three bases (second, third, and home) against the Angels on Tuesday, and while it was only the second time in team history a player had done that (Dave Nelson vs Cleveland, August 30, 1974), Rougned Odor came along late in the week and bailed us out.

In Thursday's finale-- the game which Tyler Skaggs was supposed to start-- Odor cranked both a 3-run shot and a 2-run shot as Texas won 9-3. Mike Napoli, on September 30, 2012, had been the last Rangers batter with a 2-HR, 5-RBI game against the Angels, but overall it was the fifth such game of Odor's career. That brings him into a tie for the fourth-most games in franchise history; only A-Rod (6), Mark Teixeira (8), and Juan Gonzalez (14!) have more.

Odor was then the hero of Sunday's extra-inning win against Minnesota with a 3-run dinger in the top of the 11th. It had been over 2 years since a Texas batter hit a 3- or 4-run homer that late in a game; Robinson Chirinos did it in Washington on June 10, 2017. BUT the only other such homer the Rangers had ever hit in Minnesota was by Oddibe McDowell, to win a 16-inning marathon at the Metrodome on June 11, 1986.


Toronto Blue Jays

Both the countries in which MLB is based celebrated their independence this week, and finally about 20 years ago, the schedulers decided it would be nice to finally let the Jays play a home game on Canada Day each year, such as they've done for the Nationals since they moved to D.C. So obviously Monday's tilt against the Royals starts with an advantage. And then Freddy Galvis ended it with an advantage, smacking 2 homers to lead Toronto to an 11-4 win, tying for the second-most runs they've ever scored in a July 1 game at home (15 vs Mets in 1998). Galvis joined Justin Smoak (2015), John Olerud (1996), and Jesse Barfield (1984) as the only Jays with a multi-homer game on Canada Day, and Barfield's game also featured 4 hits and 4 RBI. We mention that only because Randal Grichuk posted that line in this week's game; they are the only two Jays to do it on Canada Day.

Despite the Jays piling up 11 runs on Monday, Grichuk did that 4-and-4 without also scoring a run himself. Only one other player in Toronto history has done that in any game, Alex Gonzalez in Boston on August 8, 1996. And the combination of Grichuk and Cavan Biggio was the first time multiple Jays hitters had ever had 3 hits & 4 RBI each in a home game against the Royals. Their only teammates to do it in Kansas City are Raul Mondesi and Carlos Delgado on April 20, 2001.


Washington Nationals

Speaking of the Nationals, the Kansas City Royals nearly pulled off the independence doubleheader by playing in MLB's only Canadian venue on Monday, then missing the celebration in the U.S. capital by one day. We covered Friday's visit to Washington from the KC side earlier, but that game also had its unique qualities from the Natonals' perspective. Ryan Zimmerman collected 3 doubles, the first Nationals batter to do that in a loss since Alberto Gonzalez against the Phillies on September 9, 2009.

Friday's game was just the third time the Nationals had been gifted 11 walks and still lost; two were in extra-inning games (the other in 2008), and they also did it in an 11-8 loss to St Louis last September. But six of those walks went to Juan Soto and Adam Eaton, neither of whom was batting right before the pitcher either. Both players also ended up with 2 hits in the game, making them the first teammates in Nats/Expos history (1969) with 2-and-3 in the same game. Brett Gardner and Alex Rodriguez were the last to do it for any team, at Texas on July 28, 2015.

But remember the Nationals ended up losing that game in 11 innings. No teammates had collected 2 hits and 3 walks each in a loss since Tim Raines and Frank Thomas of the White Sox on May 1, 1991. And we mentioned that no Nats teammates had ever done it. But neither did any of the second Senators (i.e., Rangers). In fact, to find the last Washington duo with 2 hits and 3 walks, win or lose, you must go back 99½ years. Joe Judge and Braggo Roth pulled it off in another game that Washington lost, to the White Sox on May 21, 1920.