Countdown

We hadn't done one of these yet this season, and when the week started with some big numbers like 19-3 and 17-7 and 15-1, we said, hey, this could be our chance. Heh. Little did we know what the weekend would dump on us. So settle in as we take you through some mini-themes from 20 all the way to 1. And no worries if you skip a few or have to leave; it'll repeat every six hours for like the next five days.


Number 20: Homers (what else?)

Twenty homers over the course of a major-league day is actually on the low side. If there's a full slate it's barely one per game. Even on Thursday with a few teams getting a travel day, it would have been one per team. But what if we said Thursday managed to cram 20 homers into just two games, both record-setting in their own right? We're going to bring you one of them later on so we can use up another number, but the homer-fest between Houston and Oakland seemed to get the most attention. That's probably because of the cavernous nature of Oakland Coliseum as a result of having to jigger in a football field for half the year; it is consistently toward the bottom in rankings of hitter-friendly ballparks (and fan-friendly, but that's another topic).

So it was no surprise that the teams combined for a lone 2-out single in the first 3 innings before Alex Bregman gave the Astros a 2-0 lead in the 4th. Matt Olson flipped that with a 3-run shot in the bottom half and then Corban Joseph added an insurance run. The very next Astros batter, Carlos Correa leading off the 5th, gets the Astros back to 4-3. Michael Brantley goes yard in the 6th to re-tie it before Matt Chapman and Matt Olson go back-to-back in their half. Correa hits another homer to lead off the 7th, finally knocking Mike Fiers off the mound. Brantley and Chapman traded solo shots again in the 8th, but Liam Hendricks worked a 1-2-3 9th to preserve the 7-6 win. So all told, 13 runs, all scored on homers, with only the first two homers being multi-run shots.

The Oakland Coliseum had never even had a game with nine homers until Thursday, though its most recent 8-HR game was not quite a year ago (August 19, also vs Astros). And it had been nearly 2 years to the day since both starters in a game allowed 4 dingers; Andrew Heaney and Jeremy Hellickson pulled that off on August 18, 2017. But for Brantley re-tying the game in the 8th, Fiers would actually have been in line for a win; still he became the first Oakland pitcher to surrender 4 longballs and not lose since Dan Straily got a no-decision against the Angels on August 8, 2012.

Correa and Brantley would end up being just the second Astros teammates ever to hit multiple homers in a loss; Jason Castro and Matt Dominguez did it in an 11-5 loss to the A's at home on May 25, 2013. Matt Chapman, who made it 5-4 and then hit the final homer to make it 7-6, was the first Oakland batter to hit multiple go-ahead homers in the 6th or later of the same game since Eric Chavez did it at Texas on April 9, 2002. And those three, combined with Olson's two homers, made it the first game in major-league history where two players on each team hit two homers apiece.

As mentioned, however, that wasn't even the only 10-homer game just on Thursday. The only other time it happened twice on a day was July 2, 2002. More on both of those later. (Ooh, cliffhanger.)


Number 19: Maybe Only 15 In Canadian

Speaking of the Astros, they put up one of the most memorable games of the season last weekend with a 23-2 beatdown in Baltimore. So as always, the Blue Jays apparently read our post last Monday and said, hey, there's a neat idea. They didn't quite get to 23, but they did jump on Rangers starter Ariel Jurado for 5 runs in the first 3 innings, then forced him out of the game after three more baserunners in the 4th. Brandon Drury quickly greeted Adrian Sampson with a grand slam, just the fourth one the Jays had ever hit while already leading by 8 or more. Edwin Encarnacion (2015), Tony Fernandez (2001), and Glenallen Hill (1990) had the others. Jurado was the first Rangers starter to give up 11 hits and 8 runs without finishing the 4th inning since Derek Holland also did it in Toronto on May 5, 2016.

Although the 8-run 4th was the big blow, the Jays tacked on multiple doubles in both the 5th and 6th, plus a 2-run homer by Danny Jansen in the 8th to finally seal the game at 19-4. Toronto ended up with 9 doubles in a game for just the second time ever; the other was against the Yankees on August 8, 2007. Brock Stewart, who technically "relieved" Neil Ramirez even though the latter only threw 7 pitches in the 1st, got credit for the win despite allowing 3 homers-- the first "reliever" in Jays history to do that.

And flash back 20 years plus 3 days to August 9, 1999. One of the finals on that day: Toronto 19, Texas 4. The exact same score, with the exact same teams, as happened on Monday. It's the first time in MLB history that exact score (19-4) has been repeated with the same two teams. It's also the third 19-4 game in the majors this season, matching the number we had in the first 18 years of this century combined.


Number 18: Striking Out In San Diego

We had a few teams end up with 18 hits in a game this week, but we're going to hit all of them in other numbers. This one is going to be a really quick nod to the Padres' 7-5 loss to the Rays on Tuesday in which they fanned 18 times against Brendan McKay and friends, 13 of them swinging, and including the last 5 outs of the game. Four of those were against Emilio Pagán, who became the first pitcher in Rays history to get a save of 4 outs or longer where every out was via strikeout. It was the first 9-inning home game in Padres history, at either stadium, where they struck out 18 times; they've done it three times on the road, one of those (May 10, 2013) being against the Rays as well (Alex Cobb). The other two road games were at Dodger Stadium in 2012 and 1970 at Shea Stadium-- Tom Seaver's 19-K game that included 10 in a row, still an active major-league record.


Number 17: Do The Redskins And Bengals Play This Year?

The Nationals eked out a 3-1 win over Cincinnati on Tuesday behind a pair of 4th-inning solo homers. On Wednesday, however, there would be no such drama, at least not after the wings fell off of Trevor Bauer's drone in the 5th inning. The recently-acquired, and occasionally-controversial, Reds starter gave up a harmless-enough leadoff single. But then double, single, mound visit, single, 3-run homer by Adam Eaton, solo homer by Anthony Rendon two pitches later, single, mound visit, walk (clearly the mound visits are working), pitching change. Sal Romano didn't fare much better at first, throwing a wild pitch on his second offering and then giving up a double and another 3-run homer before getting out of the inning. By that point the Nats had secured the sixth 10-run inning in franchise history, and just the second since the move to Washington. Despite the many high-scoring Nats game that we seem to write about, their only other 10-run frame was in Colorado on April 27, 2017. The franchise's only other 10-run frame in a home game was against the Cubs on June 25, 1975; the other double digits came in 1997 at Candlestick, 1985 at Wrigley, and 1979 in Atlanta.

Bauer got tagged with the first 9 runs, becoming the second pitcher in Reds history ever to allow 9+ including multiple homers against the Nats/Expos franchise. Kevin Jarvis did it in Montréal on August 2, 1996. And Romano would end up taking one for the team, surrendering 6 more runs in the 6th which will get us to that #17 above. Bauer and Romano are the second Reds teammates in the past half-century to each give up 8 runs in the same game; Michael Lorenzen and Dylan Axelrod did it at Coors on July 26, 2015.

That game at Coors 4 years ago also ended with a 17-7 score. Nationals pitcher Javy Guerra, spotted a 13-run lead, became the third pitcher in franchise history to "earn" a save despite allowing 3 runs and 2 homers; Tim Barrett (1988) and Claude Raymond (1970) both did it against the Cardinals. And as for that Redskins/Bengals score, well, the football team's had it happen a lot more recently than the baseball team. The last MLB game in Washington to end with a 17-7 count, in either direction, featured the original Senators beating the White Sox on May 7, 1934.


Number 16: Do We Have To Leave?

Like it or not, MLB has employed the "unbalanced schedule" for years now such that very nearly half of every team's games (76 of 162) are within their division. That means the Yankees, along with the Red Sox, Rays, and Blue Jays, all get to play the dumpster fire that is the Baltimore Orioles 19 times over the course of the season. After an Opening Day win back in March, the Yankees actually lost the next two games against the Orioles to finish March with a record of 1-2. But you might have heard what's happened during those other 16 games on April 1 and beyond. New York won all 16 of them, creating their longest single-season win streak against the same opponent since back when there were only seven teams to play. The "Murderers' Row" Yankees of 1927 won 21 straight against this same franchise, then the St Louis Browns. It was the longest single-season losing streak for the Orioles since dropping 17 in a row to the Indians in 1954, their first season in Baltimore.

There was one bright spot for the Orioles in that 16th straight loss on Wednesday, when Renato Nuñez connected for his first career 5-hit game. No Baltimore hitter had posted 5 hits in a loss since Derrek Lee in Washington on June 17, 2011; and only Jerry Adair (1962) and Gene Woodling (1958) had done it against the Yankees at all (those games were both Orioles wins). And in Monday's rainout-induced doubleheader, Trey Mancini became the first Oriole to homer in both games of a DH against the Yankees since Manny Machado on October 3, 2015. But the team's last batter to do it against the Yankees and also lose both games... wasn't an Oriole. That's back in the St Louis days as well; Chet Laabs experienced said futility for the Browns on June 16, 1946.


Number 15: Party In The City Where The Heat Is On

Hurricane "Dodgers" blew through South Florida this week, beginning with a Tuesday slugfest against the Marlins that actually didn't start out that way. Jordan Yamamoto did give up 2 early homers, but left after 5 innings with the Marlins trailing only 4-1. Wei-Yen Chen entered for the 6th, and 6 was indeed his magic number. In his two innings he gave up a 2-run homer to (ahem) Will Smith, back-to-back doubles to Kyle Garlick and Max Muncy, and then back-to-back homers by Justin Turner and Cody Bellinger. Six runs on six hits while getting just six outs; the last Marlins pitcher to do that while also allowing 3 homers was... Wei-Yin Chen, April 9 in Cincinnati. The only other pitcher in team history to do it twice was Chris Hammond in 1996. Smith joined Yasiel Puig (July 2017) and Joc Pederson (September 2016) as the only Dodgers with a multi-homer game at Marlins Park, and Los Angeles became the first team, including the Marlins, ever to hit 6 homers in a game in Miami-Dade County (either stadium).

The doubles were flowing equally fast, and the Dodgers ended up collecting 13 extra-base hits for just the second time in the live-ball era. The other game where they did it is fairly famous: September 18, 2006, when they hit four straight homers to tie the Padres in the bottom of the 9th and then walked off in extras.

Russell Martin ended up pitching the bottom of the 9th with the 14-run lead, joining Robin Ventura (2004) and Jeff Hamilton (1989 in a 22-inning game) as the only Dodgers ever to play third base and pitch in the same game. Tuesday was the first time the Dodgers had ever scored 15+ runs, or won by 14+ runs, against the Marlins, home or away. And even though that other Wei-Yen Chen game in Cincinnati in April was also a 14-run loss, only once before in team history had the Marlins lost a home game by 14. Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano and friends shut them down by a 16-2 count on July 20, 2003.

We should also point out that the Dodgers went on to hit 4 more homers in the remaining two games of the series, and by the end of the week had become the first team in MLB history to go deep 4 times in each of 5 consecutive games.


Number 14: More Football In Washington

Between the "hits" and "runs" columns, we literally could have picked any number between 14 and 20 to cram in this weekend's escapades at Nationals Park. The Brewers began Saturday by roughing up Anibal Sanchez for 5 runs in the 3rd, although the Nats got those back on home runs by Juan Soto and Adam Eaton. Matt Grace gave up 3 more, leaving without retiring a batter in the 6th, but Trea Turner homered in the bottom half to get those back. By the 9th, Sean Doolittle is handed an 11-8 lead... and gives up three homers, including Ryan Braun's second of the game and Christian Yelich's 40th of the year. Josh Hader, however, would then blow the save on the other side when Yan Gomes drew a leadoff walk and Victor Robles singled him in two batters later.

So off to extras we go, already tied at 12. Finally Yelich goes yard again in the top of the 13th; he and Braun are the first Brewers teammates with two in the same game since Prince Fielder and Mike Rivera against the Padres on August 13, 2009. So in the bottom half, all we need is for Jeremy Jeffress to-- yeah. He gives up two baserunners and then Victor Robles comes up short of a 3-run walkoff homer against Junior Guerra. Instead it turns into a game-tying sac fly and off we go again. In the 14th it is Eric Thames's turn to homer, making Milwaukee the first team to hit multiple go-ahead homers in the 13th or later of the same game since Matt Adams of the Cardinals famously did it by himself on September 4, 2013. Only once before had the Brewers ever hit two 13th-or-later homers in the same game; that was at Miller Park on May 20, 2011. Yuniesky Betancourt tied it after the Rockies had scored in T13, and then Prince Fielder walked off in the 14th.

It's worth pointing out that Thames's homer was a 2-run shot, because we're not done. Eaton doubles in the bottom of the 14th and then scores when Brewers 2B Keston Hiura airmails what should have been the game-ending groundout. Juan Soto, who reached on that error, then stole third to put the tying run just 90 feet away-- again. However, pitcher-as-pinch-hitter Joe Ross struck out to end the game with a 15-14 final and also in 14 innings. The Nats/Expos franchise had never scored more than 11 runs in a game and lost. Adam Eaton, who ended up with 3 extra-base hits and 3 RBIs, was the first to do that in a home loss for the franchise since Hubie Brooks on September 18, 1985. And the Brewers, who collected 7 homers on the night, had only done that once before in their history, a 14-1 thumping in Cleveland on April 29, 1980.


Long-Distance Dedication

So much of this post is already done before the Sunday games start that, well, sometimes a Sunday game comes along and messes things up. That would be the finale between the Nats and Brewers; after 29 runs, 38 hits, and 5½ hours on Saturday night, you think they might cooperate and settle down? Pffft.

To their credit, at least the Nationals said, if we're gonna score 14 runs again, let's do it early this time and get outta here. So they immediately bomb Chase Anderson with 10 runs by the 3rd inning, rendering him the first starter in Brewers history to give up double digits while getting no more than 7 outs. (Honorable mention to Yovani Gallardo who once did 11-in-8.) Aaron Wilkerson didn't fare much better, surrendering a 3-run homer to Anthony Rendon to close Anderson's line, then a back-to-back with Juan Soto. It's 13-4 by the time Soto and Adam Eaton both go deep in the 5th to make Wilkerson the first Brewers reliever to give up 4 homers since Manny Parra in September 2008. That also surpasses last night's run total and marks the first time in Nats/Expos history they'd scored 14+ in consecutive games. The only other time the Brewers allowed it was in Arlington on August 2 & 3, 1991.

With the Brewers unable to score again, right fielder Hernan Perez would eventually take the mound and give up an eighth home run, the second of the game by Brian Dozier. Kyle McGowin, now staked to a 12-run lead, only has to get three ou-- homer by Mike Moustakas, his second of the game. Moose would end up being the first player in Brewers history to record 3 extra-base hits and 5 RBI in a loss. Okay, two more ou-- 2-run homer by Orlando Arcia. Throw on a Ben Gamel dinger that we didn't even mention, and you have the fifth game in MLB history with 12 home runs. (Remember those two 10-HR games from earlier? Pffft.) Three of those five have been this season, including the record-holding 13-HR game in Philadelphia in June. And remember those 38 combined hits from Saturday night? After McGowin finally got those two outs to close the books at 16-8, this one ended up with 36 combined hits. Those are the two highest totals in Nationals Park history, and on back-to-back days. Its previous high had been 35, in that 25-4 jamboree against the Mets last July (which was also the only other time the Nats had scored 13 by the 3rd inning). Speaking of 13.


Number 13: Cards In A Suit

We had our choice of 13-run games this week as well, but the Cardinals managed an interesting three-peat in Cincinnati on Friday. Behind 6 early runs off Luis Castillo, and then 7 more in the middle innings to knock Castillo out and inflate Matt Bowman's ERA, they cruised to a 13-4 win after managing only 2 hits in the series opener on Thursday. Castillo was the first Reds pitcher to give up 8 runs and 3 homers to the Cardinals since Aaron Harang did it 11 years earlier to the day (August 16, 2008). Dexter Fowler had a homer, a double, and a single to drive in 4 runs, the first Cardinals leadoff batter to do all that in a road game since Orlando Palmeiro in Milwaukee on April 14, 2003. Turns out Tommy Edman-- who batted 2nd on Friday, but leadoff last month-- also had a 4-RBI game in Cincinnati back on July 18; it's the first time in Cardinals history where multiple leadoff batters have had a 4-RBI road game against the same opponent in the same season.

And as for that 13-4 score and unique three-peat? Look at the Cardinals' games in Cincinnati last season. You'll see an identical 13-4 score on April 12. Then scroll back to 2017. Yet another 13-4 exact score, this time on August 6. We weren't able to run every possible score in MLB history (and for the lower ones it's probably fairly common), but at least among the 13-4 club it's the first time any team has beaten the same opponent on the road by that exact score in three consecutive seasons.


Number 12: Pitching Dirty Dozen

In this "new" era of All The Homers and All The Strikeouts, 12 is often the new 10 when it comes to pitching. Two hurlers this week managed to reach a dozen strikeouts in a game, and both of them on the same day. Chris Sale did it for the Red Sox, while Cubs starter Jose Quintana fanned 14 against the Phillies. Neither one of them got the win. Sale left the mound (possibly for the last time this season, we now know) in the 7th hanging onto a 1-run lead, but the Sox blew that and had to win in extras. (More on this game later.) For Sale it was the 16th time he had fanned 12+ and not gotten a win, trailing only Randy Johnson (41) and Nolan Ryan (32).

Quintana only gave up 2 runs, one of which was unearned, but the Cubs only scored 1 for him and they lost 4-2. No Cubs pitcher had fanned 14+ opponents in a game the team lost since Mark Prior got a no-decision against the Reds on September 30, 2004. Tuesday was the first day this season where two pitchers fanned 12 and didn't get a win, but it's not all that rare anymore. Going back 3 years, to the 2016 All-Star break, it's happened five times. The kicker? Chris Sale is one of the two pitchers on four of those five days.


Number 11: Snake Eyes

The Giants had potential to be up at #18 when they piled up that many hits against the Diamondbacks on Saturday. The only two games this season where San Francisco reached 18 hits were both in Colorado in July; they hadn't done it at Chase Field since September 10, 2016. Ultimately, though, it would be their 11 runs that won out, starting with a 2nd-inning grand slam by Brandon Belt. Back on June 21, the Giants also scored 11 runs at Chase Field, with four of those also coming on a grand slam, by Alex Dickerson. It's the first time the Giants have ever hit two slams at the Arizona ballpark in the same season. Belt added two more RBIs with a 3rd-inning single and an 8th-inning groundout, also joining Dickerson in the club of Giants batters to have a 6-RBI game at Chase. The only other member of said club is Pedro Feliz, who did it in an 8-2 win on June 15, 2006.

But as for the 18 hits, Belt only had two of those. It was the batter above him, Kevin Pillar, who connected for four singles and a double, just the third Giants batter with a 5-hit game in Phoenix. Andrew McCutchen did it on August 4 of last season, and Marvin Benard did it in an 11-4 win on July 28, 2001. Saturday was the first time one Giants batter (Pillar) had 5 hits and another (Belt) had 6 RBI since the roles were slightly reversed: Belt did both (5 and 6), while Hunter Pence had 3 hits and 7 RBI at Dodger Stadium on September 14, 2013.

Honorable mention to Mike Yastrzemski who had 3 hits for the second straight night-- the first Giants leadoff batter to do that since Denard Span in May 2017, and something his legendary grandfather actually never did, because he never batted leadoff.


Numbers 10 and 9: By The Time I Get To Phoenix

Now, about that "second straight night". We're going to stay in Arizona for more of the Giants series, and we're going back up (we are counting backwards here) to Friday's game. That sure looked like the Giants were cruising to a 7-2 victory. Ah, but that's why we play all nine innings. And occasionally bring in some relief pitchers who just throw everything you know out the window. Such would be the role of Tony Watson, whose second pitch got yanked for a home run by Eduardo Escobar to make it 7-3. Two batters later, Wilmer Flores homer to make it 7-4. Two more singles result in Watson mercifully getting removed from the game, but Sam Coonrod isn't destined to fare much better. He needed just two pitches to give up a 3-run, game-tying, pinch-hit homer to Adam Jones, just the second such homer in the 8th or later in D'backs history. Tony Clark hit the other one off Juan Rincon of the Twins on June 7, 2005.

Not to worry, Kevin Pillar will finally end this mess with a 2-run homer in the top of the 10th. Pillar also had a 2-run shot back in the 4th, and is the first Giants batter to have a multi-homer game, where the second one was a go-ahead in extras, since Brandon Belt did it at Texas on August 1, 2015.

So here we are with a 9-7 Giants lead heading to the bottom of the 10th, and all that Will Smith has to do is get three ou-- oh no. Leadoff homer by Wilmer Flores to make it 9-8. Still okay. Shake it off, deep breath, until six pitches later, another homer by Nick Ahmed to re-tie the game at 9-9. By this point we've already recorded the first game in Chase Field history with 10 homers, and the third such game the majors in just two days. But still we need yet another run to break this tie and rescue us from any more madness.

Why thank you, Mike Yastrzemski. The first pitch of the 11th from Yoan Lopez gets launched into center for yet another extra-inning go-ahead homer; combined with Flores's an inning earlier, it's the first time in Giants history that they've hit two go-ahead homers in extra innings in the same game (usually one is all you need). That also happened to be Yaz's third dinger of the game; he became the first batter in Giants history with a 3-HR game out of the leadoff spot. Combined, Yaz and Pillar were the second teammates in Giants history to have multiple homers in a game, each including one in extra innings. Barry Bonds and Matt Williams did that on August 15, 1993, at Wrigley, when they went back-to-back for their second homers of the game in the 11th. Mike Yastrzemski also, already, tied his grandfather in the 3-homer-game category; Carl's only such performance was May 19, 1976, at Detroit.

By the time this slugfest is over, both teams have managed to hit 6 homers, with only four of them coming before the 7th. Only one other game in major-league history had seen both teams go deep six times: The White Sox beat the Tigers 17-9 at Comiskey Park on July 2, 2002. (Remember back at #20 we mentioned July 2, 2002, being the last time there were two 10-homer games on the same day? This was one of them.

And Will Smith probably couldn't help but get jiggy with it after the game; he gave up those two homers in the 10th to blow the save, but then ended up with a win when Yaz went deep in the 11th. He's the first pitcher in Giants history to give up multiple extra-inning homres and get a win; the last for any team was Joe Nathan of the Rangers on August 1, 2012.


Number 8: Late-Inning Magic

A medley of 8th-inning heroics from the week that didn't fit anyplace else.

Newly-acquired Tony Kemp connected for a 2-run triple in Pittsburgh on Friday. Even though those would be the Cubs' only 2 runs and they got walked off, it was still the first lead-flipping triple the Cubs had hit in the 8th or later of a road game since Hack Wilson did it at Ebbets Field on May 21, 1927.

Marwin Gonzalez hit a lead-flipping homer in the 8th at Miller Park on Tuesday. It was the second such homer the Twins had ever hit there; Corey Koskie took David Weathers deep on July 14, 2001, in their first visit to the park.

Kyle Seager of the Marinres broke a 3-3 tie with a solo homer. It was the 12th go-ahead homer of his Mariners career in the 8th or later, breaking a tie with Edgar Martinez for second-most in team history. Ken Griffey still holds the mark with 15.


Number 7: Cleveland Rocks

Back at number 16 we covered the Yankees' final series of 2019 against the Orioles. Alas, Yankee fans, you cannot play Baltimore 162 times a year. Every so often Cleveland must come to town, and on Thursday they gave the New Yorkers a little taste of their own medicine. In a game that reminded us of their famous 14-run inning back on April 18, 2009, Cleveland erupted for 7 runs in the 1st inning, including a grand slam by Jose Ramirez. The last 1st-inning slam by the Indians against the Yankees was way back on May 10, 1954, when Dave Philley took Bob Kuzawa deep after starter Whitey Ford had already been knocked out of the game.

On Thursday it would take one more batter to knock Yankees starter Chad Green out of the game, that being a solo homer by Jason Kipnis. Green became the first Yankees starter to give up 5 runs and 2 homers while getting only 1 out since Andy Hawkins did it at Fenway on September 1, 1990, exactly two months after his famous 4-unearned-runs no-hitter. That 1990 game was also the last time a Yankees reliever gave up 10 hits and 5 more runs, and wouldn't you know it, Chance Adams would enter the game in the 4th and turn a 9-1 score into 14-3. Greg Allen is now busy becoming the first Clevelander to collect 4 hits, 4 runs scored, and 4 RBIs in a road game since Manny Ramirez did it in Oakland on August 25, 1999. And then finally it is time for Mike Ford-- who started the game as the Designated Hitter for the pitcher-- to become the pitcher himself. Only nine other players have ever DH'd and pitched in the same game, and until that famous 18-inning Orioles/Red Sox game in 2012 where Chris Davis and Darnell McDonald got the decisions, it had only been done once, by Jose Canseco in 1993.

Ford, in true "take one for the team" fashion, gave up five more runs including a homer by Allen and the second of the game by Carlos Santana. The last Yankees position player to surrender 5 runs while pitching was infielder Gene Michael against the Angels on August 26, 1968. Santana would end the game with 3 extra-base hits, 3 RBI, and 4 runs scored-- something he also did on May 29 in Boston. The only other Clevelander to post that line twice in a season was Hal Trosky in 1936.

The original 7-run 1st inning was the Indians' first since starting 8-6-1 in Houston on April 20, 2013. And by the end of the contest they had piled up 7 homers, just the second visiting team ever to do that against the Yankees. The Red Sox also hit 7 in a 10-3 win on July 4, 2003. Not to be outdone, however, the Yankees did manage 3 homers of their own, making Thursday the first game in Yankee Stadium history where 10 homers were hit. (Remember back at the beginning when we said there'd be another 10-homer game?) And a participation ribbon to Gleyber Torres, who hit that final homer in the bottom of the 8th with the score 19-4. The last Yankees batter to hit such a futile homer (trailing by 15+ in 8th or later) was Hersh Martin, also against Cleveland, on July 13, 1945.


Number 6: Devers-ion

The Red Sox held a 6-1 lead in Cleveland on Tuesday as the game headed to the bottom of the 6th. Franmil Reyes, part of that big three-team deadline trade that sent Trevor Bauer to Cincinnati and Yasiel Puig to Cleveland, cut into that lead with a 2-run homer. Chris Sale-- who, we now know, was playing through pain and might be done for the year (and maybe 2020)-- gave up two more runs in the 7th, and the Indians eventually forced extras when Francisco Lindor hit the team's first game-tying (not go-ahead) double in the 9th inning or later against the Red Sox since Vic Wertz connected against Willard Nixon on July 14, 1957.

Ah, but extra innings only means more opportunities for Rafael Devers, who already had an RBI double in the 1st, a leadoff double in the 5th, and a 2-run double to max out that Boston lead in the 6th. Now granted, it wasn't another Devers double that gave the Red Sox the lead in the 10th; that was actually a solo homer by Jackie Bradley. But Devers did rope his fourth double of the game into center field two batters later, giving him the first 6-hit game by a Sawx batter since Nomar Garciaparra did it in Philadelphia on June 21, 2003. In the live-ball era, only two other Red Sox hitters had collected 4 doubles in a road game: Rick Miller (1981 in Toronto) and Orlando Cepeda (1973 in Kansas City). The other 6-hit games in Red Sox history, before Nomar, belong to Jerry Remy (1981), Pete Runnels (1960), and Jim Piersall (1953).

Although Devers "only" had 2 hits in Wednesday's game, one of those was a homer. He thus became the first player to have 6 hits in one game and then homer in his next appearance since Shawn Green did it on May 24, 2002, one night after his 4-HR game in Milwaukee. And no worries, he was back to normal by Sunday with 3 more extra-base hits and 3 RBI against the Orioles. The last Red Sox batter to have two 3-and-3 games within 6 days was Fred Lynn, who did it back-to-back on May 12 & 13, 1980.


Number 5: Mets Not Named David Wright

Eventually jersey number 5 will be retired for Mets legend David Wright, but until then, Amed Rosario and Pete Alonso are going to sneak in a reference in the form of Thursday's win in Atlanta.

Rosario doubled to start the game, and after Joe Panik also singled, Alonso would follow with a homer, the second time this season he's hit a 3-run homer as the Mets' third batter of a game. Obviously that's the earliest you can hit a 3-run homer, and by also doing it June 11 in the Bronx, Alonso became just the second player in Mets history to do it twice. Keith Hernandez also had two such games in the same season in 1987.

Rosario would triple in the 2nd, and double to lead off the 7th, eventually becoming the third leadoff batter in Mets history to collect 5 hits including 3 for extra bases. Brandon Nimmo did it exactly a year earlier in Baltimore, and Tommie Agee had the first such game in Mets history, in Pittsburgh on August 8, 1970. But Alonso wasn't done either; after that 3-run homer in the 1st, he tacked on a 2-run single in the 5th and another RBI knock in the 7th. That's 6 runs batted in, joining Jay Bruce (2017), Keith Hernandez (1988), Gary Carter (1986), and Darryl Strawberry (1985) as the only Mets with a 6-RBI game against the Braves. But when Alonso also singled to lead off the top of the 9th, it made him and Rosario the first teammates in Mets history to have 5 hits each in the same game. Alonso was just the second player in Mets history to have 5 hits and 6 RBI in a game, joining Yoenis Cespedes at Coors Field on August 21, 2015.

This is not to say the Braves didn't make this close. Josh Donaldson and Freddie Freeman each homered twice in a game that would still end up as a 10-8 loss. They were the first teammates in Braves history (1876) to homer twice each in a loss, and only one other pair had ever homered twice in the same game against the Mets. Eddie Mathews and Joe Adcock did it in an 11-5 win in the Mets' first season of existence, July 25, 1962. Homers by Matt Joyce and Ronald Acuña also made Thursday the second game in Braves history where they homered 6 times and lost. The other was June 8, 1961, at Crosley Field in Cincinnati.


Number 4: It's Just Grand

Grand slams naturally lend themselves to the number 4 spot because they score 4 runs with one swing. On Friday James McCann propelled the White Sox to a 7-2 win in Anaheim, in the process becoming their first cleanup batter in over 3 years with 3 hits including a grand slam. Todd Frazier did that in Arlington on May 9, 2016. But McCann's homer was the first grand slam the White Sox had hit in Anaheim since Carlos Quentin on May 14, 2008.

Except that wasn't even the first slam McCann hit this week. He hit one in the 8th inning on Wednesday to break a 9-9 tie in the series finale with Houston. (And you were wondering why we didn't mention it up under number 8.) For the Sox it was their first go-ahead slam in the 8th or later of a home game since Jose Abreu hit a walkoff against the Rays on April 25, 2014. As for two slams in three days, well, there was that time in 1995 that Robin Ventura hit two in the same game. But in different games, the Sox hadn't had a player do it since Greg Luzinski against the Twins on June 8 & 9, 1984.

Also on Wednesday J.T. Realmuto became the first Phillies batter to hit a grand slam against the Cubs since Hector Luna did so at Wrigley on May 16, 2012.


Number 3: The Walkoff Slam

Wait just a minute, J.T. Realmuto. Turns out you might only hold that "most recent grand slam" mark for 24 hours or so. The Cubs led Thursday's game 5-1 heading to the bottom of the 9th, and Rowan Wick needed only to protect that 4-run lead. Jean Segura flied out to start the inning, but then David Bote booted a grounder that allowed Cesar Hernandez to reach. And then the wheels fell off. Scott Kingery single. Brad Miller singles past a diving Ian Happ to make it 5-2. With Pedro Strop on the hill, yet another ground ball gets deflected by Happ into center field, and now it's 5-3. Strop plunks Rhys Hoskins to re-load the bases, which of course means another pitching change. And Derek Holland's sixth pitch goes flying into the second deck off the bat of, who else, Bryce Harper. It was the first time the Phillies had scored 6+ runs in the bottom of the 9th to walk off since June 16, 1998, when Mike Lieberthal's 3-run homer capped a 7-run comeback against the Pirates. It was only the second walkoff slam at Citizens Bank Park, which opened in 2004; the other was by John Mayberry on June 4, 2013, off the Marlins' Edgar Olmos. The Phillies hadn't hit a walkoff slam when trailing since Ozzie Virgil took Gary Lavelle of the Giants deep on September 2, 1983.

But you're still wondering how this lands under number 3. Well, check out Harper's jersey number. (It's a 3.) And in the long and storied history between the Phillies and Cubs, which dates to 1883, the Phillies had only hit one other walkoff grand slam against the Cubs. That was August 6, 1991, when Les Lancaster gave up an 11th-inning bomb to Hall-of-Famer Dale Murphy-- who also, for his entire career, wore jersey number 3.


Number 2: Don't Just Sit There

Two is of course also very common in the dozens of boxscores that we scour each week. But it popped up with a few pitchers in places we don't normally expect it.

Homer Bailey, now of Oakland, gave up just 2 hits during his 7 innings on San Francisco's mound on Wednesday. Pretty good. He struck out 7 and got the win. But the other "2" next to his name was on offense. Bailey also had 2 singles at the plate, one of them driving in a run, as the A's cruised to victory. Oakland is, of course, an American League team, so their pitchers only ever bat when they visit an NL park. And that made Bailey just the second Oakland hurler since the dawn of the Designated Hitter in 1973 to have 2 hits and an RBI on offense. Tommy Milone did it in Milwaukee on June 3, 2013. And no A's pitcher had thrown 7+ scoreless innings, allowed 2 hits, and also recorded 2 hits, since Catfish Hunter in Anaheim on July 3, 1972.

Michael Lorenzen of the Reds has been an interesting case study for a while now. He'd win a game and also homer in it, he'd pinch-hit and mash a grand slam or two, he'd pinch-run and stay in the game to pitch. So now that he's in the bullpen seemingly full-time, the Reds can save a bench player by letting Lorenzen hit for himself if the spot comes up. On Saturday against the Cardinals it did. Twice. Lorenzen had 2 singles and scored the final run of Cincinnati's 6-1 win. No Reds reliever had posted a multi-hit game at the plate since Randy Keisler threw 6 innings against the Rays on June 7, 2005.

Steven Matz left his first impression as a #PitcherWhoRakes with 4 RBIs in his MLB debut a few years back. On Wednesday he had 2 hits and a run scored to become the first Mets pitcher to do that in Atlanta since Rick Reed on April 5, 2001. And we had a Dodgers pitcher hit a two-bagger in two games in a row this week. Caleb Ferguson and Clayton Kershaw both doubled at Marlins Park, the former in that 15-1 mess from Tuesday, doubling the number of Dodgers pitchers who have ever doubled in Miami-Dade County. The others to do it (at Joe Robbie, of course) were Ramon Martinez in 1995 and Tom Candiotti in 1994. The last pair of Dodgers pitchers to double in consecutive games were Josh Beckett and Hyun-Jin Ryu on July 1 & 2, 2014.


Number 1: Is The Loneliest Number

Before Saturday's game at Tropicana Field, the Twitter accounts of the Tigers and Rays traded some good-natured jabs about how the catwalks and dome ceiling looked like a giant eyeball watching over the players. Whether or not that freaked the teams out, well, we can't really say, but it was kinda fun when those teams couldn't score and could barely manage a base hit. A hit batter was the only baserunner before both teams got us off no-hitter watch in the 4th (thanks!). The Rays came closest to scoring in the 7th by getting pitcher-as-pinch-runner Brendan McKay to third, but no such luck. We then went four more innings without another runner on either side, and just when the Rays have the bases loaded in the 11th, Travis d'Arnaud grounds into an inning-ending double play to keep us knotted in a scoreless tie. All those zeroes are suddenly starting to look like eyeballs.

Finally, with two outs in the 13th, Eric Sogard hits a double and then rookie Michael Brosseau bloops a single to center for the walkoff. The Rays hadn't had a walkoff anything in the 13th or later since Desmond Jennings grounded into a fielder's choice-plus-error on May 24, 2014. The Tigers, taking their own futility to even higher heights, managed to bat 13 times, collect just 3 hits, and record twenty-four strikeouts. Only two other teams have struck out 24 times in a game of 13 innings or fewer, and not shockingly, two of them are this year. The Red Sox did it in Colorado on May 14; the other was two years ago, by the Dodgers on June 2, 2017 (and they won!).

The Rays' only other 1-0 win of 13 innings or longer was on Memorial Day last year when they beat Oakland as Mallex Smith singled home Johnny Field in the 13th. Bizarrely enough, the Tigers also lost a 13-inning, 1-0 game in Oakland last year; that was August 3 when Ramon Laureano singled in Nick Martini with the walkoff. And Saturday was just the second time in the live-ball era where Detroit batted 13+ times and had no more than 3 hits. The other was August 11, 1942, in Cleveland, in the first game of a doubleheader. That game was declared a 0-0 tie after 14 innings, even though Municipal Stadium had lights by then and the teams played the second game of the DH as scheduled. Turns out the American League rules of the time did not allow the lights to be turned on during a day game, no matter how long it went. So the first game was called by "darkness" and then the second game was played to a 3-2 Tigers win with the lights turned on. And you thought the Atlantic League had some strange ones.


Bottom Of The Bag

⚾ Mitch Moreland, Sunday: First Red Sox batter with 3 hits in a game he didn't start since Terry Shumpert against Oakland on June 9, 1995.

⚾ Kyle Seager, Tuesday: Second Mariners batter to have a 3-homer game in Detroit. Dan Wilson launched three out of Tiger Stadium on April 11, 1996.

⚾ Dallas Keuchel, Wednesday: First Braves pitcher to throw 3 wild pitches and hit a batter in a game they ended up winning since Hank Fischer against the Reds, September 12, 1964.

⚾ Jorge Polanco, Sunday: First Twins batter with a bases-loaded triple at current Rangers ballpark (in what was presumably their final game there). Only one at Arlington Stadium was by Roy Smalley on September 15, 1979.

⚾ Ian Kinsler, Monday: Second position player in Padres history to both homer and pitch in the same game (either order). Alexi Amarista did it in a 16-2 blowout by Oakland on June 17, 2015.

⚾ Nick Senzel, Saturday: Third leadoff homer this year. Jesse Winker also has three; together they are the first Reds teammates ever to have 3+ each in the same season.

⚾ Mallex Smith, Thursday: First player in Mariners history to have 3 hits, 2 stolen bases, and get hit by a pitch all in the same game.

⚾ Griffin Canning, Sunday: First Angels pitcher the entire season to allow 1 run and strike out at least 8. Every other MLB team had someone do it in April.

⚾ Elvis Andrus, Wednesday: Second batter in rangers history with 4 hits and 2 steals in a game but 0 runs scored. Kenny Lofton did it at Fenway on June 29, 2007.

⚾ Evan Marshall, Friday: First White Sox pitcher to face exactly 1 batter, and commit an error to allow that batter to reach, since Britt Burns at Texas, August 20, 1984.

⚾ Juan Lagares, Saturday: First batter in Mets history to hit a triple against the Royals. (Joe Panik then hit one Sunday.) Had been the only one of the 29 other franchises against whom the Mets had never tripled.

⚾ Jeff Hoffman, Tuesday: First starter in Rockies history to give up 4 homers and not at least start the 3rd inning.

⚾ Mike Freeman, Sunday: Second #9 batter in Cleveland history with 3 extra-base hits, 3 runs scored, and 3 RBI in a game. George Uhle did it at Tiger Stadium (before it was called that) on June 1, 1923.

⚾ Charlie Morton, Friday: Second pitcher in Rays history to give up 0 earned runs, strike out 10, and lose. Chris Archer did it in a 2-1 loss to Detroit on July 29, 2015.

⚾ Jose Iglesias, Monday: First Reds #8 or #9 batter with single, double, triple, and at least 1 run scored in a loss since Leo Durocher at Wrigley on September 28, 1930.