Teeing Off

It was a good week to take some swings.


The Links At Camden Yards

Of course, no team did more teeing off this week than the Yankees, especially when making their last visit of the season to their favorite course. Monday's 9-6 win in Baltimore was tempered a bit by Jonathan Villar hitting for the cycle, the first Orioles batter to do so in just shy of a decade (Felix Pie, August 14, 2009), and the first in franchise history to do it while battng leadoff. Villar was also the second player in their Baltimore tenure (1954) to hit for the cycle in a loss; Aubrey Huff pulled that off against the Angels on June 29, 2007.

Masahiro Tanaka ran into issues in the 6th when the Orioles scored 5 runs to tie the game, including the "homer" part of Villar's cycle. And so the Yankees needed a late home-run outburst of their own to eventually secure the win, and Paul Fry was more than happy to oblige. He served up a solo shot to Mike Ford and a 2-run tater to Mike Tauchman for the final margin. Fry was the first Orioles reliever to give up 2 homers, get no more than 2 outs, and take a loss, since Darren O'Day did it on May 15, 2016, against the Orioles. That Tauchman shot-- his second of the game-- made him the first Yankees 8- or 9-hitter with 3 hits, 3 runs scored, and 3 RBIs in a road game since Stephen Drew in Atlanta on August 30, 2015. And Brett Gardner also had 3 hits, 3 runs scored, and a homer; he and Tauchman are the first Yankees teammates ever to do that at Camden Yards.

Those 8th-inning homers also got Tanaka off the hook, making him the first Yankees pitcher to give up 8 extra-base hits in a game and not take a loss since Jim Abbott in Seattle on July 14, 1994.


Back Nine

In Tuesday's game the Yankees would once again score 9 runs, most of them early, on the way to a 9-4 victory in which they never lost the lead. A score of 9 doesn't readily announce that there were a whole other bunch of home runs in the game, but there they are again-- not just five, but six Yankees homers, all of them of the solo variety. That was just the second time in Yankees history they'd hit 6 solo shots in the same game; the other was a 7-2 win over the Red Sox on June 2, 1935. Being solos also meant that Tuesday was the first road game where the Yankees hit 6 homers but scored "only" 9 runs since July 20, 2005, at Texas.

Austin Romine only hit one home run, but he threw on a pair of doubles to score two of the Yankees' other three runs. He's the first Yankees catcher with a homer and two doubles since Jorge Posada did it in Oakland on May 10, 2003. And no 8- or 9-batter for the Yankees had 3 extra-base hits and 3 RBIs in a road game since Robinson Cano at Tropicana Field on September 15, 2005. Meanwhile, Mike Tauchman, who hit the first of the six homers, was the second number-9 batter in Yankees history with 2 extra-base hits, 2 RBIs, and a stolen base; Roberto Kelly did it at Minnesota on April 4, 1989.

You may recall the Yankees' dominance of another series at Camden Yards at the beginning of the season; they also hit 6 homers in a 15-3 win there on April 7. Combined with Tuesday's game, it's the first time in team history where they had multiple 6-homer games on the road against the same opponent in the same season. And one other thing you'll see from looking at Tuesday's taters-- they're all by different batters. The Yanks hadn't had six different players homer in any road game, solo or otherwise, since Thurman Munson, Reggie Jackson, and Bucky Dent were part of a group that did it at Comiskey Park on June 5, 1977.


12-Handicap

That 15-3 game back in April set a few high-water marks for the Yankees this year-- at least until Wednesday's finale at Camden Yards came close again. It took a few innings for them to get going this time, but Kyle Higashioka hung a 3-run shot in the 4th to knock John Means out of the game. Then Gio Urshela off Miguel Castro in the 5th. Both Yankees would homer again later in the game, off still different Orioles pitchers, and Cameron Maybin would add a 9th-inning solo shot. Count 'em, that's five more Yankees homers, and this time, instead of different players hitting them all, it was different pitchers allowing them all. Only twice before in franchise history had five Orioles pitchers allowed a homer in a game, and the previous such game was also at Camden Yards against the Yankees, a 19-1 loss on July 25, 2000.

In addition to their 2 homers, Urshela and Higashioka also finished with 4 RBIs each, the first Yankees teammates with that line in a game since... yep, that April 7 game again, when Gary Sanchez and Clint Frazier did it. It's the first season in Yankees history where they twice had teammates go for 2 HR & 4 RBI, regardless of whether it was against the same opponent or not. And Wednesday's 14-2 final, plus the earlier 15-3 game, marked the first time the Yankees had ever posted two 12-run wins in Baltimore in the same season. (Their last time doing it against the franchise was 1951 when it was in St Louis.)

The three combined outbursts from Monday through Wednesday made the Yankees the second team in MLB history to go deep five times in three consecutive games, and naturally the other is their nemesis the Red Sox, who actually did it against the Yankees in June 1977. Overall it was the fifth time this year that the Yankees have hit 5 homers in a game-- and all five games were at Camden Yards. They've never had six 5-HR games in a season, although it's worth pointing out that they don't go back to Baltimore.


Canadian Open

The Yankees did, however, head north to Toronto for the weekend, and at least Urshela didn't miss a beat. On Thursday he homered twice again, becoming the fourth Yankee ever with 2 dingers and 4 RBIs in back-to-back games. Alfonso Soriano did it in august 2013, preceded by Jason Giambi in 2005 and Tony Lazzeri in 1936 (Lazzeri's second game was the 11-RBI game where he became the first player ever to hit two slams). By tossing on a single, Urshela also became the fourth player on a list of Yankees to have 3 hits of any variety, 3 runs scored, and 4 RBIs in consecutive games; Soriano did that also, plus Robinson Cano in 2005 and Lou Gehrig in 1930.

Mike Tauchman also chipped in 4 RBIs as the Yankees rolled to their ninth straight win by a final of 12-6. Only two other pairs of Yankees had each had 4 RBIs in a game at SkyDome: Ruben Sierra and Tony Clark in 2004, and Paul O'Neill and Bernie Williams in 1999. And the win lifted Domingo German's pitching record to an incredible 15-2 on the season; no Yankees pithcer has started a season with that mark since Roger Clemens won 20 out of 21 in the 2001 campaign (and then lost his last two, which didn't matter because they had already clinched).

Oddly, though, the biggest stat to come out of Thursday's game didn't come from the Yankees' side. Because Bo Bichette-- who, remember, has only been in the majors for two weeks-- homered in the 5th inning to become the fourth player in Jays history with an extra-base hit in nine straight games. Edwin Encarnacion (2015), Shawn Green (1999), and Jesse Barfield (1985) are the rest of that list. But an inning later, Bichette also laced a double in the gap and became the first player in major-league history with a two-bagger in nine straight games. Yadier Molina (2016) and Derrek Lee (2007) had beeen the only others with an eight-game streak.

The Yankees' win streak would finally come to an end on Friday when the Jays scored 8 runs despite having only 6 hits. It helps that all of the hits went for extra-bases, the first time in Toronto history they'd had 6 or more with no singles. And the last team to pull that off against the Yankees was the original Washington Senators against Red Ruffing on August 16, 1938 (had 4 doubles, a triple, and a homer, and still lost).


Hole-In-One

Quick, name an active pitching ace whom you are surprised has never thrown a no-hitter. We're willing to bet you said Madison Bumgarner, and if not, it's because you thought he had one. Nope. Four complete-game 1-hitters but never a zero. (Chris Sale, also an acceptable answer. Wait for it.)

Thursday night found Bumgarner back in his element, retiring 16 of the first 17 Phillies batters with only a walk to Rhys Hoskins breaking things up. And Bumgarner can sort of blame his own offense for denying him that no-hitter again. Because after 3 runs and a bunch of hard-hit balls against Aaron Nola, the 18th batter was not in fact the Phillies pitcher, but pinch-hitter Cesar Hernandez. Who deposited a clean single right over Bumgarner's head into center field. He got doubled off, such that the Phillies would strand only Hoskins and Scott Kingery who walked later, ultimately losing the game 5-0. Bumgarner ended up getting pulled after the 7th having thrown only 85 pitches, so you have to assume he'd have stayed out there if the NH had still been in play. But either way it was MadBum's sixth start allowing only 1 hit, regardless of the number of innings pitched. That's second in Giants history to Matt Cain who's done it an incredible 16 times (only two of which were 5 IP or less). The last time the Giants allowed 1 hit in a home game was July 10, 2016, also a MadBum start, also against the Phillies, when Jake Lamb broke up the no-hitter in the 8th inning.

As for that Giants offense, Bumgarner had a little part in that as well, singling and scoring in that 3-run 3rd against Nola, and then walking twice later in the game. The last Giants pitcher with a hit and 2 walks on offense was... Madison Bumgarner, against Milwaukee on June 14, 2016. Art Nehf, who did it four times between 1920 and 1924, is the last Giants pitcher with multiple such games. And Bumgarner became the first pitcher, for any team, in the live-ball era to have a hit and 2 walks on offense while allowing only 1 hit on defense.

The Phillies did ride Bryce Harper's 2 homers to a 9-6 win on Friday, but Saturday's game found them trying to match wits with Jeff Samardzija and, well, mostly failing again. Corey Dickerson did connect for a solo homer in the 1st inning to get us off no-hitter watch, which was good because Samardzija then sat down the next twenty Phillies batters in a row. And again, Cesar Hernandez breaks the lock with a single in the 8th-- but then promptly gets erased on an inning-ending double play. Will Smith allowed just as many baserunners in the 9th-- two-- as Samardzija had in the first 8 innings combined, marking the first time the Phillies had been held to 3 hits twice in the same road series since April 1998 in Cincinnati. The only other time they did it in San Francisco wasn't even at Candlestick. It was at Seals Stadium, where the Giants played their first two west-coast seasons, in May 1959. And Samardzija became the first Giants pitcher to throw 8 innings and allow only 2 baserunners since... well, remember those Madison Bumgarner 1-hitters? One of them was September 12, 2015, against the Padres, when Melvin Upton broke things up with an 8th-inning single.

And one more note on Cesar Hernandez from that 1-hitter on Thursday. He wrote his name alongside Clay Dalrymple in the obscure annals of Phillies history. Dalrymple's single in the top of the 8th inning stood between Juan Marichal and a no-hitter on July 19, 1960, in the first season at Candlestick Park. That's the last time-- against any opponent-- that the Phillies had 1 hit in a game and it was by a pinch-hitter.


Scramble

As for hitting in someone else's spot, Hernandez wasn't the only one to generate some pinch-hitting notes this week.

The Rockies trailed San Diego 5-3 after 6 innings on Saturday, thanks largely to Hunter Renfroe becoming the first player in Padres history to twice have a game with 3 extra-base hits and 4 runs scored (also did it June 14 at Coors). But after Chris Iannetta greeted reliever Craig Stammen with a leadoff double, pinch hitter Yonder Alonso gave us a 5-5 tie with his ninth homer of the season. That was the first game-tying (not go-ahead) pinch-hit homer for the Rockies in the 7th or later since Todd Helton hit one against the Dodgers on May 31, 2013. Unfortunately for Colorado, Manuel Margot would homer again in the 8th to take the lead back and ultimately win the game, with Wil Myers adding an insurance run with his own pinch-hit homer. That created the first game in Petco Park history where both teams had a pinch-hit homer in the 7th or later. It happened only once at Jack Murphy, when Mark Parent and the Braves' Mark Lemke each went deep on September 14, 1989.

On Friday there wasn't as much drama between the Padres and Rockies, with San Diego holding a 3-0 lead heading to the 8th. But being a National League game, the pitcher's spot still comes to bat, even in the late innings when you try and shift it around and make a mess of our scoresheets. So rather than let pitcher Trey Wingenter bat for himself with two outs and runners at the corners, the Padres send out Josh Naylor, and he promptly sends a ball into the seats in right field. Naylor didn't really create a bunch of notes by himself for that, but that's because our buddy Hunter Renfroe hit a pinch-hit walkoff grand slam against the Dodgers on May 5. The Padres have only one other season where they hit multiple 3- or 4-run pinch-hit homers in the 8th or later; Brian Johnson and Archi Cianfrocco both had pinch-hit slams during the strike-shortened 1995 campaign.

Turns out the Padres and Rockies weren't the only teams to match pinch-hit homers on Saturday either. The Braves and Marlins plodded through 7 scoreless innings with their regular players before Ozzie Albies decided to literally knock Sandy Alcantara out of the game with an infield double. The Marlins got two back in their half, including a solo homer from Curtis Granderson, but then Johan Camargo tossed on three insurance runs with a 2-out homer against Ryne Stanek, whose trade to the Marlins and demotion from being an "opener" we totally missed. Camargo's pinch-hit homer, combined with Granderson's the inning before, were the first pair of pinch-hitter homers to be hit by opposing teams in a game in Miami-Dade County (either stadium).

The Braves had more pinch-hit adventures in Minnesota to start the week, with Miguel Sano being sent up to bat for Ehire Adrianza with 2 outs in the 9th after Luis Arraez dumped a single into left field. Instead of just weakly striking out and sending us to extras, Sano cranked a pinch-hit walkoff homer, the first by a Twins batter since one former New Britain Rock Cat (Michael Cuddyer) did it to another (J.C. Romero) on April 19, 2006. Cuddyer had also owned the last walkoff anything for the Twins in an interleague, singling off the Mets' Mike Stanton on June 8, 2004.

And also on Monday, as part of Oakland's weeklong tour of Chicago's Red Line, Nick Martini became the first A's player ever to smack a pinch-hit homer at Wrigley Field. The game had been tied 2-2 after 6 innings, and Martini's homer could have given Oakland the lead... except that Ian Happ had taken it for the Cubs with his own pinch-hit homer an inning earlier. The last time any game at Wrigley saw a pinch-hit homer by both teams was July 3, 1991, by Chico Walker and the Pirates' Lloyd McClendon.



So it turns out there aren't really any pop songs about golf. (Google it, we did.) There are, however, a few classic movies about it. So watch out for that gopher, and don't nobody worry about us, because we're going all the way. Intermission!



Red Tees

If Oakland's busy exploring the Red Line in Chicago, then a reference to the Red "T" should involve Boston. It doesn't. They're later. This one is an eclectic mix of weirdness involving the Cincinnati Reds this week, and it still kinda works because that's where the Cubs headed after that series with the A's.

Before we get to that Cubs series, one note from the Reds' opener with the Angels on Monday. (The Angels, completing our metaphor, would end up in Boston for the weekend and potentially get to ride that red-line T after all.) After Taylor Cole did the predictable 1-inning "opener" thing, it was (drum roll) time for the MLB debut of one Patrick Sandoval, no relation to Pablo other than that we promise to mix them up at least once before the season ends. Patrick managed to strike out 8 Reds batters, partially predictable because they've never seen him before, but joining Rudy May (April 18, 1965) as the only Angels to fan 8+ in an MLB debut. However, the Reds had already tagged Cole for 5 runs, and won easily because Luis Castillo was busy striking out 13 on the other side. No Reds pitcher had done that since Raisel Iglesias in August 2015, and only one other had ever struck out 13+ while also giving up 2 homers. Aaron Harang did that against the Cubs on September 29, 2007.

Ah yes, back to the Cubs. Who took Thursday's series opener in Cincinnati handily by a 12-5 count, to the point where catcher Kyle Farmer ended up pitching in the 8th inning, after already having moved to second base as part of an elaborate double-switch the inning before. Only one other Reds player in the live-ball era got the thrill of both pitching and catching in the same game (never mind the second-base part), Dee Moore on September 27, 1936, in the final game of the season. While not really a stunt, the Reds were experimenting with making the rookie a pitcher after limited success in the minors, and had him start that game and throw 2 innings against the Pirates before moving him to the other side of the dish. (He never threw in the majors again.)

The big highlight of Thursday's game, at least around these parts, was that Nick Senzel received a catcher's interference award with the bases loaded to score one of those 5 Reds runs. (Yes, it does count as an RBI, if you've never pondered that before.) That hadn't happened for the Reds since Pete Rose got one against the Braves on September 19, 1985. And then Senzel comes up again to lead off the 8th inning. And yet again Jonathan Lucroy gets called for clipping his backswing and Senzel trots to first. We always have to point out that the league registers did not regularly report CIs until the early 1960s, so it's almost certain that some are lost to history. But in that population, Senzel is the first Reds batter ever to receive two in the same game. And the last time the Reds as a team received two awards... was also against the Cubs and happens to be the last time one of their catchers committed two in a game. J.C. Martin was the catcher in question, at Wrigley on May 8, 1970.

If you were worried that Trevor Bauer's strikeout had fallen out the back of the truck (or the drone!) during the trek down I-71, well, he put those fears to rest on Friday by striking out 11 Cubs in a 5-2 win. No Reds pitcher had fanned 11 Cubbies since Aaron Harang did it in the next-to-last game of the 2007 season-- a game that was meaningless after the Cubs clinched the division the night before, and in which they sat most of the regulars (and still won). On Friday, meanwhile, Aristides Aquino drove in the game-winner, albeit in the 2nd inning, with his fourth career homer. Aquino's only played in 9 games at this point. And the Reds haven't had a lot of right-out-of-the-gate phenoms. You're probably thinking of Jay Bruce, who did have a lot of extra-base hits but only 3 homers in his first 9 games. Josh Hamilton and Nick Senzel also hit 3. But no Reds batter has ever played his first 9 MLB games with the team and hit 4 homers.

We bring this up mainly because Aquino almost doubled that total on Saturday alone. In a game which Kyle Hendricks will be trying to forget for a while, the Reds routed the Cubs 10-1, with the "1" being an unnecessary solo homer by Kyle Schwarber in the 9th. Aquino, meanwhile, took Hendricks deep in both the 2nd and 3rd innings, the latter being the first of six straight hits allowed by the Cubs starter. Hendricks would join Felix Hernandez (August 15, 2015) as the only starters in the live-ball era to give up 12 hits and 3 homers without finishing the 3rd inning.

But Aquino had a present for Dillon Maples as well, connecting for the Reds' fifth homer of the game in just the 4th inning. All three of Aquino's homers were solo shots, the first Cincinnati batter to do that since Aaron Boone on May 8, 2003. And recalling that Derek Dietrich also had a 3-homer game at GABP back on May 28, this is the first season in Reds history where they've had multiple 3-homer games at home (in any stadium, not just GABP). The Reds also collected 5 doubles, the second home game since 1900 with 5 homers and 5 doubles. The other was at Crosley Field, also against the Cubs, on June 1, 1957.

And as for Aquino, who already made Reds history with 4 homers in 9 games, well now he's got 7 homers in 10 games. And the only other player in MLB history to do that at the beginning of a career is the one we first thought of when typing that "out of the gate" comment a few minutes ago-- Trevor Story for the Rockies in 2016.x


Sale In The Pro Shop

Earlier we told you Chris Sale was an acceptable guess as "surprising pitcher to have not yet thrown a no-hitter". We're guessing you could've fooled the Angels, who met the Sale buzzsaw in Thursday's series opener at Fenway Park. There wasn't any no-hitter drama after Shohei Ohtani hit a 1st-inning roller up the third-base line, where Rafael Devers knew his only chance was to hope it went foul, but it didn't. After that, however, Sale retired 16 Angels in a row on just 56 pitches before Mike Trout singled to start the 7th. And that would be the only other baserunner the Angels mustered as Sale struck out 13 and Brandon Workman went 1-2-3 in the 9th with two more whiffs. It was the first time the Angels had been shut out on 2 hits at Fenway since Jim Wright blanked them on June 13, 1978. The last time they struck out 15 times and failed to score, in any game, was also at Fenway on May 7, 1999, against Pedro Martinez. Sale, meanwhile, was the first Red Sox pitcher to strike out 13+ and allow only 2 baserunners since Hideo Nomo threw a 1-hitter against the Jays on May 25, 2001.

Friday wouldn't be a whole lot better for the Angels, not so much because of Boston's pitching, but because of its hitting. In one of those "committee" games, Brian Johnson gave up a double, a walk, and a 3-run homer to Albert Pujols in the 1st inning, but that would end up being two-thirds of the Angels offense. Their only other inning with more than three batters was the 7th when Justin Upton led off with an automatic double and later scored; all told the Angels would end up with 4 runs on only 3 hits. They hadn't been held to 3 hits in back-to-back games since July 18 and 19 of 2012 in Detroit, and Friday was the ninth time in team history where they managed the inverted linescore of 4+ runs on ≤ 3 hits.

Back home in the AL West, 4 runs is often enough to win a game, but not at Fenway when-- in between three-batter Angels innings-- J.D. Martinez is busy scoring 4 runs by himself. And Mitch Moreland homers and doubles. And Mookie Betts homers and doubles. And four Angels pitchers get shelled to the tune of sixteen runs, just the second time the Red Sox had ever defeated the Angels by 12 or more. The other was also a 16-4 game, in Anaheim on July 21, 1984, when Bruce Hurst defeated Tommy John. On Friday the Sawx would score those 16 runs on "only" 14 hits, and combined with the Angels' 4-on-3, it was only the second game in Fenway Park history (1912) where both teams had an inverted linescore. The other also involved the Angels; they beat Boston 16-9 (hit column 15-7) on April 30, 1966.

Martinez would finish Friday's game with 4 hits, 4 runs scored, and 4 RBIs, the first Sawx cleanup batter to do that since Jack Clark against Oakland on July 31, 1991. But as for any spot in the Boston lineup, Xander Bogaerts and Mookie Betts also collected 4, 4, and 4 in back-to-back games on July 25 and 26. It's the first time in Red Sox history that they've had three players post a 4-4-4 game in the same season. And it turns out Martinez also had a game with 4 extra-base hits, 4 runs, and 4 RBIs on September 4, 2017, while with Arizona. He's the 11th player ever to do it twice; fellow Bostonian Dustin Pedroia was the last before Martinez, and the others include Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig, Gil Hodges, Willie Mays, and Willie Stargell.


Albatross

Sometimes called a double-eagle, it usually occurs on a fairly-short par-5 where the tee shot is perfectly placed, and then the next shot takes a lucky bounce or two and winds up in the hole. That's 2 hits to achieve something that should take 5. The Dodgers had a couple of 2-hit experiences this week, starting on Monday in the opener of their series with the Cardinals.

That's when rookie Tony Gonsolin, in just his second major-league start, baffled the Cardinals hitters who had never seen him before. Kolten Wong finally hit that long drive in the 5th inning, depositing it against the center-field wall for a double to break up the no-hitter. Dexter Fowler added a single to right in the 6th, after which J.T. Chargois and Casey Sadler also shut the door for the final three innings. The Cardinals finished with 0 runs on just 2 hits, and the 8-0 final was their largest shutout loss at Chavez Ravine since Kevin Gross threw (really) a 9-hit shutout on July 12, 1992. The only other game this century where St Louis had only 2 hits at Dodger Stadium was against Clayton Kershaw on June 6, 2015. And Gonsolin became the first Dodgers pitcher to allow 0 runs, 3 baserunners (he walked Marcell Ozuna), and strike out 7 against the Cardinals since Ismael Valdez did it on September 17, 1995.

On Friday, however, the Dodgers would be looking in the mirror as Robbie Ray and the Diamondbacks came to town and the 2-hitter was on the other foot. This one was confined to the bottom of the 3rd when Corey Seager led off with a double, Tyler White walked, Walker Buehler bunted them over, A.J. Pollock hit a sac fly, and then Will Smith also doubled. As for the other eight innings in which the Dodgers batted? Those would be 24 up and 24 down against Ray and relievers T.J. McFarland, Kevin Ginkel, and Yoan Lopez. But still those 2 runs on 2 hits in the 3rd have the Dodgers in the lead. For now.

Kenley Jansen enters for the 9th because it's what he does. Nick Ahmed greets him with a leadoff single, but the big blow is Carson Kelly's 2-run game-tying homer. And so we play on. Continuing the theme, the Dodgers go 1-2-3 in the 10th as well before Kelly is up again to start the 11th. Wham, solo homer to give the D'backs a 3-2 lead and make him the second player in Arizona history to hit a game-tying homer in the 9th and then a go-ahead homer in extras. Paul Goldschmidt did it against the Orioles (at home, so the latter was a walkoff) on August 13, 2013.

Archie Bradley did throw one blip into the theme of the Dodgers going 1-2-3 in every inning except the 3rd by walking Joc Pederson to start the 11th. But then he also got three straight outs to create the second game in the live-ball era where the Dodgers batted 11 times and still only had 2 hits. Randy Jones and Rollie Fingers led the other game, a 1-0 Padres win on June 3, 1977.



You Know We Stop Counting At 10, Right?

The vast majority of golf courses are designed such that hole #18 ends where hole #1 begins, back at the clubhouse so you can enjoy some hearty beverages (if you weren't already). So we will end this post where it began, in Baltimore's Inner Harbor.

Remember how the Yankees couldn't stop blasting homers out of Camden Yards early in the week? Mm, yeah, maybe it's not them, it's you. Because that game happened on Saturday, the one where the Astros set a team record and MLB season high by crossing the plate twenty-three times against the hapless Orioles.

Alex Bregman and Yordan Alvarez started things by recording the first multi-homer 1st inning ever for the Astros at Camden Yards. But Aaron Brooks really hit a bump in the 2nd with two singles, a 3-run homer by Jose Altuve, and an RBI double from Bregman-- who to cap it all off, later scores on a balk. When Carlos Correa homers in the 3rd it's already 9-1 and Brooks has become the second starter in Orioles/Browns history to give up 9+ earned runs, 4+ homers, and not make it to the 4th inning. Bill Trotter did it at Tiger Stadium on August 14, 1937.

Branden Kline escaped the 4th with a double play, but the 5th, mmm, not so much. Three doubles brought about 5 more runs, and Kline then gave up back-to-back hits to start the 6th before being replaced. That replacement, Tayler Scott, got two outs in the 7th but then surrendered three straight singles and, oh yeah, a grand slam by Alvarez to make it 20-1. That was just the second slam the Astros had ever hit in Baltimore, the other being by Jason Castro on July 31, 2013.

If you've given up counting, that's already 5 homers for the Astros, who became the 14th team this season to reach that mark in a game at Camden Yards. The most shocking part is that all 14 are visiting teams. The Orioles' only 5-homer game was at Texas on June 4. We couldn't find any other stadium to see that many 5-homer games in a single season; the highest we came up with was 10 such games at Coors Field in 1999, two years before they added the humidor.

Pinch-hitter (really!) Rio Ruiz got his 15 seconds of fame with a homer in the bottom of the 7th to cut the lead to "only" 18. In the population of searchable play-by-play at the great Baseball Reference, he's the first pinch-hitter to homer with his team trailing by 19 or more. In fact, nobody had even done 16 until the Rockies' Raimel Tapia last month; he held the record for not even 4 weeks.

This game would of course not be complete without a position player pitching, so bring on Stevie Wilkerson. He's not eligible for a save this time, and that's probably a good thing since he gave up 4 hits including yet another homer by Yordan Alvarez. Only once before had four different Orioles "pitchers" allowed 4+ hits and 3+ earned runs without any of them getting more than 9 outs; Arthur Rhodes and Storm Davis led a 16-4 implosion against the Yankees on September 8, 1992.

As for Alvarez, his 3-HR, 7-RBI game was a first in Astros history, and combined with Yuli Gurriel's 8-RBI game on Wednesday (which we haven't even mentioned!), it's the first season in team history with multiple 7-RBI games. Saturday was the first game in Astros history where six different players had at least 3 hits, and the second where nine different players all had a hit, a run, and an RBI. The other in that category was an 18-4 win at Candlestick on July 7, 1971. And the last 23-2 exact score in the majors? That was the Twins over the Indians on June 4, 2002.

And if you can have a last laugh after a 23-2 beatdown, Ruiz would get another 15 seconds of fame-- plus 15 minutes of cleaning sticky sports drink off of himself-- in Sunday's series finale. The Orioles actually held a 5-4 lead after 8 innings before Michael Brantley's 2-run triple flipped the lead in the top of the 9th. Brantley himself ended up scoring on an error to make it 7-5 the other way and seemingly doom to the Orioles to another loss. But after Jace Peterson led off the bottom half with a double-- which, by the way, made him the first Baltimore hitter with a triple and 2 doubles in a home game since Miguel Tejada on July 9, 2005-- Ruiz would come to the plate trailing 7-6 and with Chance Sisco (hit by a pitch) on first. Ruiz fouled off a pair of 2-strike pitches before hitting one down the "fair"way-- onto the plaza in right for an 8-7 walkoff. That reduces to four (CIN, KC, NYY, SEA) the number of teams without a walkoff homer this season, and it was the Orioles' first time hitting one when down to their final strike since Chris Hoiles launched a grand slam on May 17, 1996, to beat the Mariners 13-10.



Bottom Of The Bag
(It works as a golf reference in addition to popcorn!)

⚾ Michael Conforto, Friday: With Amed Rosario on May 21, first time Mets have had two walkoff wins over the Nats/Expos in same season since 1988.

⚾ Jorge Soler, Tuesday: Second Royals batter ever to have a 2-HR, 4-RBI game at Fenway Park, joining Amos Otis on May 4, 1976.

⚾ Adam Frazier, Saturday: Second leadoff homer he's hit in St Louis (also May 10, also off Adam Wainwright). Only other player in Pirates history to hit two there was Tommy Leach in 1904.

⚾ Russell Martin, Wednesday: Second Dodgers walkoff in the pitch-count era (1988) when down to team's final strike. Other was a Milton Bradley single off the Giants' Armando Benitez on April 12, 2005.

⚾ Carlos Santana, Sunday: First Clevelander with an extra-inning grand slam in a road game since Andre Thornton at Milwaukee, July 29, 1982.

⚾ Ronald Acuña, Friday: Second Braves batter with a 2-HR, 4-RBI game at Marlins Park. Dan Uggla did it in the first game they played there, June 5, 2012.

⚾ Robert Dugger, Monday: Second starter in pitch-count era (1988) to give up a leadoff homer on the first pitch he threw in the majors. Kevin Rogers of the Giants served one to Geronimo Peña of the Cardinals on September 4, 1992.

⚾ Fernando Tatis, Wed-Thu: First Padres batter with a leadoff homer in back-to-back games since... Fernando Tatis, two weeks ago. First player in Padres history with two sets of back-to-back ones.

⚾ Will Smith, Sunday: First Giants reliever to have a multi-run single on offense since Jim Barr vs Padres, October 1, 1974.

⚾ Ozzie Albies, Tuesday: First Braves batter ever to hit a regular-season triple against the Twins (they did have several in the 1991 WS). Only remaining franchise against whom they'd never hit one.

⚾ Mike Montgomery, Saturday: First pitcher in Royals history to allow 0 runs, 0 walks, and strike out 12+ in an outing of any length.

⚾ Jordy Mercer, Thursday: With Brandon Dixon on May 5, first season where the Tigers have ever hit multiple extra-inning walkoff homers against the Royals.

⚾ Tigers, Mon-Wed: First time allowing 13+ hits in four straight games, all against the same opponent, since June 1935 against the Senators.

⚾ Justin Upton and Sam Travis, Saturday: First game since sac flies became official in 1954 where a player for each team had a homer, a sac fly, and a fielding error.

⚾ Jon Lester, Tuesday: First Cubs pitcher left in long enough to give up 11 runs since Joe Coleman at Atlanta, June 19, 1976.

⚾ Juan Soto, Monday: First Nats/Expos cleanup batter to reach 4x, steal a base, and yet not score a run, since Tim Wallach against the Phillies on August 11, 1990.

⚾ Whit Merrifield, Fri & Sun: First Royals batter with two leadoff homers in the same series since Alex Gordon did it in Baltimore 7 years ago on the exact same dates (August 9 & 11).

⚾ Jose Ramirez, Wednesday: Second time where he homered in both games of a doubleheader (also May 23, 2016, vs White Sox). Last Clevelander to do it twice was Albert Belle.

⚾ Adrian Houser, Saturday: First Brewers pitcher to strike out 10 Rangers and get a win since Cal Eldred at County Stadium, April 23, 1993.

⚾ Buddy Boshers, Tuesday: Second pitcher in Blue Jays history to commit a "bounce-off" (game-losing wild pitch) in extra innings. Other was Jerry Johnson at Minnesota (scoring Rod Carew) on May 13, 1977.

⚾ Sunday: First day where three road teams won games by a 1-0 score (NYY, TB, TEX) since July 27, 2013.