The Big Sendoff

Tonight 20 teams bid farewell to their 2019 seasons, not that a few of them didn't already do that by about mid-June. And still six more departures will follow within the next week to 10 days, some of them after just one loss. But you've gotta admire the ones who kept playing until the end, and this week was full of gentle (and not-so-gentle) sendoffs into that good offseason.


Snowbirds

Those northerners who go hang out in Florida during the winter and then come back in the spring likely get a couple of sendoffs a year. So with two MLB teams in Florida and two MLB teams in New York, and them being in each other's divisions, there usually comes a point in every season where the schedule finds them playing each other at the same time. That would be the first half of this week when the Mets hosted the Marlins and the Yankees traveled to St Petersburg. The schedule, however, has no idea that both of them might end in extra-inning walkoffs on the same day? As the saying goes, that's why we play the games.

With the Marlins up 4-0 in the 7th, it certainly didn't appear Tuesday's game at Ciri Field would end in a walkoff, or even require extra innings. It got a little more interesting when Sandy Alcantara chucked up a 2-run homer to Michael Conforto, but still managed to get through the inning before calling it a night. And gosh, there's nothing like September Bullpen Magic to make you wish you had left early. In this one it was former starter Jose Ureña who got handed a 4-2 lead, gave up a hard infield single that Isan Diaz knocked down but had no play on, and then hung a game-tying meatball to Conforto for his second home run of the game (and all 4 RBIs to this point). He's the first Mets batter to have 2 homers and drive in 4 against the Marlins since Wilmer Flores on September 16, 2014, and as it happens, Conforto also had a game-tying (not walkoff) homer in the 9th inning against the Marlins last September. In Mets history, the only other player to hit two such dingers at home, regardless of the opponent, is Mike Piazza.

Conforto has now succeeded in getting Noah Syndergaard off the hook for the loss, making him the fourth pitcher in Mets history to give up 10 hits in back-to-back starts and somehow not lose either of them. Jason Isringhausen did it in 1996, along with Dennis Ribant (1966) and Al Jackson (1963) in the Mets' early years. It also, of course, sends us off to extra innings, where Adam Conley finally makes his way in from the bullpen for the bottom of the 11th. With Conforto up first. Gulp. You can kinda understand a walk there, why give him a chance to hit a third homer for the walkoff? Why that now requires another pitching change escapes us, other than it's September and you've got 45 people out there, so keep the line moving. Jeff Brigham promptly hits Amed Rosario. Then bounces the first pitch to Todd Frazier, and with first base suddenly open, the Marlins just put Frazier on. They succeed in forcing Conforto at home, but the bases are still loaded and Brandon Nimmo looks at four straight pitches off the plate for the true "walk-off". The Marlins had issued only two others in their history: Kyle Barraclough to Atlanta's Ender Inciarte in September 2017, and one at Shea Stadium when Vic Darensbourg passed Jay Payton on May 24, 2002. The Mets also had a "walk-off" on September 6 against the Phillies, their first time receiving two in a season since 1988.

The one bright spot for the Marlins was leadoff batter Jon Berti, who not only had 3 hits but managed to steal 4 bases. He's the first in Marlins history to do that-- and yet he still never scored a run. Only six other players in the live-ball era, for any team, have pulled that off (3-4-0): Ichiro Suzuki (2012), Kenny Lofton (2007), Luis Polonia (1992), Rickey Henderson (1987), Garry Maddox (1978), and John Lowenstein (1974).

The Mets had one more sendoff in the season finale against the Braves on Sunday. Holding a 4-3 lead in the 9th after Joe Panik had just homered in the 8th, well, as they say, Mets gonna Met. Adeiny Hechavarria takes Paul Sewald deep to effectively blow the save, although Sewald was in the game before they took the lead, so he technically didn't have one to blow. In the top of the 11th, now facing Chris Mazza, Hechavarria comes up again and shoots one to left for a 5-4 Braves lead. Adam Duvall then cranks the next pitch over the fence to make it 6-4. And now it's the Braves' turn to try and hold the lead. Which three pitchers combined can't seem to get done. Jerry Blevins gives up a leadoff single. Anthony Swarzak another on a ball that Dansby Swanson dove for but couldn't corral. Then with 2 outs, Grant Dayton hangs one to Dom Smith, making his first plate appearance since July 26 after a foot injury. And we'll never know if his foot is quite healed, since all he really had to do was a light jog. Dom raises the apple at Citi Field for the 126th and final time this season with a 3-run walkoff homer, the first walkoff homer the Mets had ever hit in a season finale.

This all gives Adeiny Hechavarria an interesting spot in Braves lore as their first player to hit 2 homers, including one in extras, in a game they still lost, since Joe Torre against the Pirates on April 12, 1966-- the Braves' first-ever game representing Atlanta. The Mets' last walkoff in any regular-season finale was in 2000 against the Expos, when Benny Agbayani scored on Geoff Blum's third error of the game. It was their first extra-inning walkoff homer against Atlanta since Mookie Wilson took Ken Dayley deep on June 26, 1983. And Smith's homer was the second-latest in Mets history to occur when trailing in extra innings; Tim Harkness hit a grand slam in the 14th against the Cubs on June 26, 1963.


Rays The Roof

As dramatic and exciting as that bases-loaded walk on Tuesday was, you needed to wait only 8 minutes to have another New York/Florida matchup result in a walkoff. Of course, the teams themselves had waited several hours before that; after Cameron Maybin (3rd inning) and Kevin Kiermaier (5th) traded solo homers, we went through six innings and eleven more pitching changes despite the teams combining for only two singles over that span. (Ah, September.) That did include Chad Green facing six batters and striking out five of them, the fourth game of his career where he's fanned five and allowed zero baserunners. That's the most such games in Yankees history; Ron Davis did it three times (all in 1981).

If only Green had been left in to face that seventh batter. Because that was Ji-Man Choi leading off the 12th, and Choi took the fifth pitch from Cory Gearrin into the right-field seats for the walkoff. Since 2005 the Yankees have had five pitchers give up an extra-inning walkoff homer to the first batter they faced, and four of them did it against the Rays. The previous one on that list was Chasen Shreve (to Jake Bauers) on June 24 of last year. Bauers and Choi account for two of the three walkoff homers the Rays have hit in the 12th or later against the Yankees; you might remember the other one. Evan Longoria sure does. Tampa Bay has hit three walkoff homers in the 12th or later against the Yankees, and four in their history against all other teams combined.

Tuesday's game was also the second time in Rays history where they struck out 17 times, scored no more than 2 runs, and won. The other was May 6, 2000, when Steve Trachsel and Pedro Martinez tossed a double complete game at Fenway and Tampa Bay won 1-0 when Dave Martinez singled in the 8th, stole second, and Greg Vaughn singled him in.


They Might Be Giants

Just when you thought two extra-inning walkoffs within 8 minutes of each other were enough, it turns out the baseball gods had a little extra in store for us on Tuesday night. Actually a lot more. Because when those two east-coast games ended shortly after 11 pm, the Giants and Rockies were still only in the bottom of the 4th. Which is actually a pretty good pace considering the time difference. The part we didn't know then was that we're only a quarter of the way through the game.

By the time we get to the 8th it's tied 4-4 and Garrett Hampson smacks a leadoff homer to welcome Jandel Gustave to the game and give the Rockies the lead. To which Carlos Estevez, who enters for the bottom of the 8th, says, nah, we don't really want to win this game, here Evan Longoria, hit your own solo homer and tie this back up. And then we wait. Two teams that have 170 losses between them and are a combined 58 games back of the Dodgers can't decide who wants to lose more. Because by the time we get to the 11th or 12th, it would have been real easy to just have someone issue four intentional walks and let's go home. This game means nothing to either team, why waste a dozen pitchers and sit here until midnight. So what do we do? Of course we waste a dozen pitchers and sit there until midnight. Both teams have bases loaded in the 11th and can't be bothered to score. Mike Yastrzemski reaches on a leadoff error in the 12th and doesn't score. The 14th and 15th breeze by on 12 batters. Finally Dereck Rodriguez puts this out of its misery in the 16th by giving up singles to Hampson and Nolan Arenado, and then on the next pitch, a 3-run homer to Charlie Blackmon. That tied for the latest home run by inning in Rockies history; Arenado himself hit one at Dodger Stadium on September 15, 2015, with 1 out in the 16th. No player for any team had hit a 3- or 4-run bomb that late in a road game since the infamous Orioles/Red Sox game at Fenway on May 6, 2012, where Chris Davis got the win and Darnell McDonald got the loss by serving up said homer to Adam Jones in the 17th.

Blackmon's homer was also the second-latest (by inning) ever allowed by the Giants in their 127-season history. Doug Clarey of the Cardinals hit one at Candlestick on April 28, 1976, with 2 outs in the 16th (as opposed to Blackmon's 1). Hampson, who had also homered way back in the 1st, became the second Rockies batter with 2 homers and 3 runs scored in a game in San Francisco; Ryan Spilborghs did that in a 5-1 win on May 2, 2009.

And speaking of hitting homers earlier in the game, Madison Bumgarner had one of those early Giants runs with his first dinger of the season (though he already owns the Giants' career mark for homers by a pitcher). It was the third time he's allowed 3 homers on the mound but also hit one at the plate; all other Giants pitchers have done that four times combined. And the 16-inning game at "Oracle Park" was the third one played in the building this season-- matching the total number of 16-inning affairs it saw during the 19 seasons it was named other things.



Hey Nineteen

Often, late in the evening, the west-coast announcers will give you the "out-of-town scoreboard" and pronounce that this game you're watching/listening to is the last one going on in the majors for the night. Oh but not on Tuesday. There was a different kind of scoreboard-watching going on, not to see who was winning, but whether anyone was going to win. Because while that 16-inning game was plodding along in San Francisco, it had-- of all things-- competition from the state next door. In Phoenix, the Cardinals-- who did still have something to play for-- were stuck in an even sloggier slog with the Diamondbacks. Dexter Fowler led off the game with a solo home run, just the second one the Cardinals had ever hit at Chase Field. Rafael Furcal took Joe Saunders deep on May 7, 2012. And then nothing. In fact Jack Flaherty had us deep into no-hitter watch until the 7th when Eduardo Escobar shot a ground ball up the line that actually hit the first-base bag (that's why they're in fair territory!) and deflected away from Paul Goldschmidt for Arizona's only hit off Flaherty, who would leave after that inning having also struck out 11. He also had a game last June in Milwaukee where he allowed 1 hit, fanned 11, and didn't get a win; the only other Cardinals pitcher in the live-ball era to pull that off was Alan Benes at Atlanta on May 16, 1997. And the only others for any team to do it twice are Nolan Ryan and Justin Verlander.

Why didn't Flaherty get the win, you ask? Well, that's because Ildemaro Vargas appears in the 9th and hits the first game-tying, pinch-hit homer for the D'backs in the bottom of the 9th since Jake Lamb against the Giants on September 9, 2016. That makes it 1-1 (the Cardinals still haven't scored since Fowler's leadoff) and here we go again.

When the Padres game ends at 10:10, both the Giants and D'backs games are in the 11th inning and the race is on to see which one will end first (or last, if you're into that kind of thing). At 10:47-- with the Giants still in T12-- we have a potential breakthrough in the 13th when Paul Goldschmidt connects for the first extra-inning homer ever hit by the Cardinals at Chase Field. Their only one against Arizona at home was a walkoff by Jhonny Peralta on May 25, 2015.

Ah, but that would be too easy. Now trailing 2-1, Nick Ahmed proceeds to lead off the bottom of the 13th with a triple, the latest one by inning in Diamondbacks history. Their previous record-holder had been Didi Gregorius, who hit one in the top of the 12th, 6 years earlier to the day. Ahmed scores on a Caleb Joseph single and here we are again. At 11:12 the teams have traded runs in the 13th (the Giants are now in the 13th) and both games play on.

Both teams have baserunners in both the 14th and 15th, but two are with 2 outs, one gets caught stealing, and one gets erased on a double play. By 12:10 both games have started the bottom of the 16th, with the Rockies having already homered in their half in San Francisco; they would get their 3 outs within 6 minutes to bring an end to our scoreboard-watching. But it sure looked like it was gonna be close when Vargas led off the 16th for Arizona with a double. But no. Two more baserunners for each team in the 17th and no. At 1:06 am the scoreboard at Chase Field is forced to display a 19th inning for the first time ever. And finally, very similar to the other game, back-to-back singles in the bottom of that inning create another sense of hope. Until Robbie Ray is sent to the plate, one pitcher pinch-hitting for another, and whiffs for the second out of the inning. Ray at the time was the 30th player used by Arizona in the game, tying the all-time record (which, at least for now, can never be broken with the roster limit dropping to 28 next season), and the 14th pinch-hitter for both teams in the game. Because the baseball gods find ways of doing this, the last game to have 14 pinch hitters was a 16-inning affair in San Francisco. And not the one that just finished an hour ago (it "only" had 13). This one was against the Dodgers on September 28, 1996.

So just when those two leadoff singles are still stuck on first and second with two strikeouts, we get a fascinating decision from the Cardinals dugout. Maybe, like we suggested with the other game, there is just an intent to let somebody score so we can go home, especially when there's an afternoon game on Wednesday, but again, the Cardinals are still fighting for the NL Central title and want the win. So only Mike Shildt knows for sure why they intentionally walked Christian Walker to get to Ildemaro Vargas who hit that tying homer in the 9th and the double in the 16th. MLB had not seen an intentional walk in the 19th or later with first base occupied since the Expos passed Dave Winfield on May 21, 1977.

But whatever. Vargas jumped on the first pitch he saw from John Brebbia and blooped a single to left for the walkoff. It was the latest walkoff single for any team since Willie Randolph, then of the Brewers, also hit one with 2 outs in the 19th against the White Sox on May 1, 1991. In Cardinals history (1882), they had never gotten walked off in the 19th or later; all their other games to go that many innings were either at home or ended in victories. And Vargas? Well, he's the first D'backs batter with a tying hit in the 9th and a walkoff hit in extras since Aaron Hill did it against Baltimore on August 14, 2013. And that walkoff was actually his fourth hit of the game, counting a wasted single in the 11th, joining Quinton McCracken (July 18, 2005, at Florida) as the only Arizona hitters to have 4 hits in a game they didn't start.

Needless to say, the game-ending time of 1:33 am was also the latest in Arizona history. Suddenly they're probably glad they don't observe Daylight-Saving Time.


It's Only 12 In Canadian Innings

Speaking of Arizona being the last game going anywhere in the country, that was the expected outcome on Monday when the entire MLB slate consisted of five games, and four of them were east-coast 7:00 starts. The Diamondbacks would only be in the 2nd inning or so when all those games ended, say between 9:45 and 10:30, creating a very unusual scoreboard-watching experience. OR the Blue Jays could blow a 5-run lead and hang around until 12:30. Mm, yeah, we'll go with that one.

Toronto held a 6-3 lead going to the 5th, but Clay Buchholz might have thrown three pitches too many by this point. Because the second one of the inning got taken for a homer by Jonathan Villar, and the very next one did likewise off the bat of Austin Hays. Buchholz gets pulled after walking Trey Mancini, who then scores when Rio Ruiz homers to flip the lead to 7-6. That also made this game the first one in major-league history where both starters (Buchholz and Chandler Shepherd) gave up 6 runs, 3 homers, hit a batter, and didn't make it through the 5th inning.

Cavan Biggio homered to re-tie the game in the 7th; by game's end he would also draw 3 walks. He also had a homer and 3 walks on July 27 against the Rays, joining Josh Donaldson (2017) and John Olerud (1993) as the only Jays batters to do it twice in a season. Villar and Hays would hit back-to-back RBI singles in the 8th to put the O's back on top 9-7. And naturally that younger generation that we discussed last week comes through again, with Biggio's sac fly and Vlad Guerrero's 2-out RBI single bringing us back to 9-9. After 9. Once again, two teams that have (so far) combined for 198 losses can't seem to agree on who wants to lose this one more.

To the 12th, where Chris Davis-- who hasn't been heard from much this season-- hits the Orioles' latest-ever homer in Toronto (either stadium), breaking Adam Jones' mark from July 31, 2016, by one out. And proving why these teams have 198 losses, Guerrero pokes a grounder to Ruiz at third to start the bottom of the 12th, and he bounces the throw down the right-field line. Rowdy Tellez then becomes the fourth Jays batter to be hit by a pitch, their most in a game since September 7, 2011, against the Red Sox. And sure enough, it is Davis versus Davis as Jonathan pokes a sac fly to score Guerrero and make this thing 10-10. The Jays had hit only one other tying (not go-ahead) sac fly in extra innings in their history, by Alan Ashby against the Tigers on July 31, 1978.

Off we go to the 15th-- the Diamondbacks game is now somewhere around the bottom of the 7th-- where finally, mercifully, the Orioles have left Ryan Eades out for a third inning of work. He manages to get two outs and then two strikes on Anthony Alford, but Eades' 37th pitch of the night goes just over the wall in left-center for the latest (by inning) walkoff homer in Blue Jays history. The previous record-holder had been Otto Velez, who-- in that same 1978 game where Ashby tied it in the 10th-- walked off with 1 out in the 14th. The last one the Orioles allowed in the 15th or later was to George Brett on May 28, 1979, to lead off the 16th. Alford's dinger was also the 10th of the game, five by each team, making Monday the second time in SkyDome/Rogers history that both teams went deep five times. The other was less than a year after it opened, an 11-7 win over the Tigers on May 6, 1990.

Hays, who managed to strike out in the 11th, 13th, and 15th, would end the game with a combination of fascinating lines. He had 2 homers, drove in 5, stole a base, yet struck out 4 times and his team lost. Four strikeouts and 5 RBIs has been done by only four players, half of them named Austin and half of them this season in Toronto. The Padres' Mr. Hedges did it back on May 25; the others are Hank Blalock of the Rangers in 2013 and Arizona's Devon White in 1998. Hays is the fifth player in MLB history with 2 HR, 5 RBI, and a stolen base in a loss; Derek Dietrich did that for the Reds in a 12-11 loss on May 3. The others on that list are Gary Sheffield (1995), Barry Bonds (1992), and Phillies HOF'er Chuck Klein (1933).

And if the Orioles scoring 10 runs and losing sounds familiar, it's because they had just done it five days earlier-- against the Blue Jays at Camden Yards! It's the first time the franchise has had two such losses to the same opponent in a season since they played the 1942 Senators.



Thanks to those two opening games in Japan, the 2019 regular season lasted 193 days 13 hours 36 minutes, the longest in the Wild Card era (which is, for now, as far back as we've tracked). So now October is upon us and it's time for the postseason to take us home. Seems so long we've been waiting. Intermission!



Around The Globe

As for those 1942 Senators, they had their own signoff a couple decades later when Calvin Griffith moved the team to Minneapolis and it was replaced with a new Senators franchise. The second Senators would also have a sendoff-- and not a terribly great one-- in 1971 when they up and left for the Metroplex and became the Texas Rangers. And after a quarter-century at their current stadium in Arlington, the bulding got its final sendoff on Sunday as the team prepares to move to a new facility next door in 2020.

The Yankees got the honor of being the final team to occupy the visiting clubhouse at Globe Life Park, as it's currently named. Twenty-five years ago, the stadium's first home run was hit by Dave Nilsson of the Brewers, but it appeared the Yankees were having a little competition of their own to see who could hit its last. On Friday they crushed six of the things-- the recently-returned Giancarlo Stanton in the 1st, Cameron Maybin in the 2nd, Brett Gardner in the 4th, Gio Urshela and Mike Ford in the 6th, and Austin Romine in the 8th-- en route to a 14-7 thumping. Only three visiting teams ever hit 6 homers in a game there, and the Yankees are two of them. They also did it in an 8-4 win on July 20, 2005, followed by the Tigers the next April. Five of those six homer-hitters also had another hit elsewhere in the game; the last road game where five different Yankees had 2 hits including a homer was May 12, 2002, at the Metrodome.

Maybin and Ford batted 8th and 9th and each had their own little nuggets. Maybin ended up with 3 hits and 4 runs scored (he also walked once), the first Yankee to do that from either the 8- or 9-hole in a road game since Scott Brosius at the very same stadium some two decades earlier (August 23, 1999). And Maybin scored those runs largely because Ford drove him in a bunch of times; Ford's other hit was a double, making him just the third Yankees #9 batter ever to have 2 extra-base hits, 3 runs scored, and 4 RBIs in a game. Juan Rivera did it 16 years earlier to the day, and our buddy Scott Brosius also did that in the 1999 season, this time in a September 30 game at Baltimore.

And while leadoff batter DJ LeMahieu was left out of the homer parade, he did collect 3 hits and 3 RBIs; combined with Stanton batting right below him, it was the first time the Yankees' 1- and 2-hitters had both done that in the same game since Steve Sax and Luis Polonia against the Tigers on July 5, 1989.

The Rangers would bounce back to win their final two games at the stadium, with Saturday's game due in large part to the early wildness of Luis Severino. The Yankees starter walked Shin-Soo Choo to start the game, then Danny Santana with 2 outs. They pulled off a double steal before Rougned Odor scored them both. A walk to Scott Heineman led to another double steal. Although Severino also worked around 2 errors, Santana walked and stole another base in the 3rd before Severino finally got taken out in the 4th. That's five stolen bases, and while they're not entirely on either the pitcher or the catcher, Sevy is the first Yankees starter to allow 5 steals in 3 innings or less since Ted Lilly in Seattle on May 18, 2001. He's also the first pitcher for any team to allow 5 steals while giving up only 1 hit (in order to steal, you must get baserunners somehow) since Dan Miceli of the Pirates did it on September 11, 1995-- in relief, and got a save!

Odor would go on to hit a grand slam off Nestor Cortes as the Rangers sealed things with a 6-run 6th. Counting that 1st-inning double, that gave him 6 RBIs, the first Rangers batter to do that against the Yankees since J.P. Arencibia on July 29, 2014. Arencibia, in that game, was also the last Rangers batter to hit a grand slam against the Yankees; the others to do it in Globe Life history were Marlon Byrd (2008) and Rusty Greer (1996). And it turns out Danny Santana also had a 6-RBI game that included a grand slam back on July 25 in Oakland; together they are the first Rangers teammates to do it in the same season since Ivan Rodriguez and Rafael Palmeiro in 1999.

Didi Gregorius did try to make things interesting with a bases-loaded double in the 9th that made the final margin 9-4. No Yankees batter had connected for a 3-run double when down to the team's final out since Willie Randolph against Toronto on September 17, 1980. And Randolph's at least tied the game; we were unable to find any such doubles in Yankees history when trailing by 8 runs or more.


Kingless In Seattle

It's hard to say whether Felix Hernandez will turn up with another team in 2020, but the faithful in Seattle certainly gave him a sendoff fit for a king on Thursday as Felix plays out the final year of his 7-year, $175 million contract. Unfortunately his final game in a Mariners uniform ended up looking a lot like many other games this season, a 3-1 Mariners loss. And also like many of the others, it's not because Felix pitched particularly badly, it's that the Mariners offense can't seem to get going when he's on the mound. (Or when anyone else is on the mound, for that matter.)

Matt Chapman's 2-run homer in the 2nd inning would prove to be all the offense the Athletics would need as Sean Manaea and friends held Seattle to just 4 hits. Chapman may not only become the answer to the trivia question as the last player to homer off King Felix, it turns out he had never hit one off Hernandez before. And so a total of 185 different batters went yard against Felix in his 15-year Mariners career, the most ever against any M's pitcher. Jamie Moyer, who holds the MLB overall record by giving up homers to 332 different batters, is second on the Mariners list with 159 different dinger-hitters.

As mentioned, the Mariners managed just 4 hits and 0 walks, sending Felix's season record to a dismal 1-8. Only five other Mariners pitchers have ended a year at that level or lower, and only Ryan Rowland-Smith (1-10 in 2010) did it with all the decisions coming in starts. Those to do it with relief appearances included are Danny Farquhar in 2015, Bobby Ayala in 1998, Milt Wilcox in 1986, and Mike Parrott in 1980.

And in this strange 2019 season, between record numbers of home runs and strikeouts and pitching changes and so forth, the Mariners came out on top of a number we'd tracked the entire year. Early in the season we took the stance that baseball doesn't need more offense, it needs better distribution of offense. Because for every Twins and Astros and Yankees team that was throwing up 15 runs and 6 homers every game, there were plenty of teams who struggled to get to 3 and 4 singles and kept us on no-hitter watch into the 5th or 6th seemingly every night. Thursday's game was the 27th time this season that the Mariners had been held to 4 or fewer hits in a game. They held the top spot for one day before the Blue Jays matched them on Friday, and both of them (of course) ended the season in a tie. The Diamondbacks came in third with 24 such games, followed by the Indians and Marlins at 23. At the opposite end? The Yankees with just 6 such games out of 162.

If only Felix had pitched on Friday instead, when the Mariners got some glimmer of good news. He still wouldn't have gotten the win, but at least the team got its final "sendoff" of the year when J.P. Crawford connected for a walkoff double, the Mariners' third ever against Oakland. Edgar Martinez (1996) and Alvin Davis (1984) had the others, and Crawford's hit came after Matt Olson had taken the lead back with a 2-run homer. The A's have hit only four lead-flipping homers in the 7th or later in Seattle, and three of them are by "Matt"s: Olson, Joyce in 2017, and Stairs in 1997. The odd man out is Danny Tartabull in 1995.

Alas on Saturday that Mariners offense would be right back in "stall" mode, mustering just 6 hits, all of them singles. That doesn't earn them another entry on our 4-hit chart above, but when Ramon Laureano hit a solo homer in the 3rd, the A's also probably didn't expect that would be all they'd need. The only other time Oakland beat Seattle 1-0 on a solo homer was June 25, 2012, by Seth Smith. However, the aforementioned Matt Chapman had a similar solo homer for a 1-0 win against Boston back in the first week of the season. In franchise history (1901), it's the first season where they've done it twice.


Marty Party

We-- and almost every Reds fan on the planet-- were hoping for some kind of neat sendoff for broadcaster Marty Brennaman, who sailed into retirement this week after 46 years in the booth. Like Vin Scully and others before him, the final series was filled with tributes, including a meet-and-greet with fans on the field at GABP after Thursday's afternoon finale. Unfortunately, the series didn't feature a single win in which Marty got one last chance to say "and this one belongs to the Reds". (If you have not seen Marty's 8-minute signoff, ending with the simple, unplanned, yet somehow powerful line "That's all I got", here's the video.)

So we're going to have to use Friday's game in Pittsburgh to get our Reds sendoff in, and the problem there is that, being a road game, that means it's another loss. This one hung onto a 4-4 score after Kevin Newman homered in the 5th and then Jose Peraza tried to double off Jacob Stallings on a line drive, but failed and threw the ball to the dugout instead (scoring Kevin Kramer who was on third). Michael Lorenzen, who started the game in center, pulled another Michael Lorenzen Special by coming to the mound to pitch in the 7th, recording a go-ahead RBI single in the 8th, and then going back to center after finishing two innings and potentially leaving with both the win and the go-ahead RBI. He becqame the first player for any team to start a game in center, go to the mound to pitch, and then go back to center, since current Nationals manager Davey Martinez did it on July 20, 1980.

Unfortunately Lorenzen didn't get that win or that game-winning RBI. He could only stand out in center and watch as Raisel Iglesias gave up a leadoff single, secured two infield groundouts, but then hung a 2-run walkoff homer to Newman for the 6-5 Pirates win. It being Newman's second homer of the day, he became the first Pirates batter with 2 dingers and 5 RBIs since Andrew McCutchen did it against Washington on August 1, 2009. He's also the first Pirates batter whose second homer of the game was a walkoff since Garrett Jones did that against the Giants, 2 weeks prior to McCutchen. And the last time the Pirates hit a walkoff homer against the Reds when trailing? That's a grand slam by Bill Virdon off Al Worthington on September 1, 1963. Not even Marty Brennaman called that one.


To Err Is Human

The sendoffs weren't always pretty this week, but you could say a couple of them came gift-wrapped. The Angels jumped out to a 3-0 lead on Houston on Thursday before Jack Mayfield's homer tied things in the 5th and essentially knocked Jaime Barria out of the game. Thanks to our wonderful new pitch-count overlords, Astros starter Wade Miley is also out of the game already, meaning we get the thrill of 13 more relief pitchers between the two teams, even though none of them gave up more than 1 hit. (Please make it stop.) And unfortunately none of those hits were homers. meaning we got all the way to the 11th before either team came close to threatening again. Jose Rodriguez-- reliever number 14-- did give up 3 hits and load the bases, but got out of it. Number 15, Trevor Cahill, gave up a leadoff double and a pair of 2-out walks to load the bases in the 12th but Jake Marisnick struck out. Finally, well, if the offense can't do it, the defense will. Against reliever number 16, the Astros' Joe Biagini, Kaleb Cowart works a leadoff walk, steals second, goes to third on a groundout, and then Kyle Tucker boots what should have been an inning-ending roller right to first base. Cowart scores the walkoff and the Astros have to wait another day to clinch home-field advantage (which they eventually did).

The last time the Angels walked off against the Astros in extra innings was June 24, 2015, on a Taylor Featherston single in the 13th (scoring Erick Aybar). But their last extra-inning error-off, against any team, was back on May 19, 1998, when Cecil Fielder grounded one to Oakland 3B (and current Mariners broadcaster) Mike Blowers, he booted it, and Darin Erstad scored to win it.

The win also spoiled a 5-hit day for Josh Reddick, who just had another 5-hit game back on September 15 in Kansas City. He became the first player in Astros history to have two 5-hit games in the same season, and the first to have 5 hits in a loss since George Springer did it in Chicago on June 10, 2015. Those two players-- Reddick on Thursday and Springer in 2015-- are also the only players in the live-ball era, for any team, to have 5 hits and a stolen base in a game, but neither score a run themselves nor drive one in. And the Astros, as happens in extra-inning games, ended up with 12 hits but only scored 3 runs, the second time this year they've pulled that off. The other game was also in Anaheim, on July 16; it's the first time they've done it twice in the same road stadium since 1979 at Chavez Ravine.


Phifteen Innings Of Phame

So then on to Friday in Philadelphia, where the only thing left to play for is a winning season, and even that requires the Phillies to sweep their weekend series. Fortunately it's against the 103-loss Marlins, so there's a decent chance. And here we are again, with Vince Velasquez giving up 4 early runs, Pablo Lopez giving them right back, Bryce Harper tying things with a sac fly in the 5th, both "starters" being gone already, and then a parade of 17 more relief pitchers. The Marlins got a runner to third in the 10th, and the 11th, and the 12th, but all were with 2 outs and nobody broke through. Meanwhile, nine different Marlins pitchers are basically throwing an inning at a time, combining for a total of just 3 hits and 3 walks. And of course no runs.

That streak is finally broken when the Marlins maybe finally run out of pitchers and have to send Adam Conley back out for another inning (the 15th). He hits Rhys Hoskins, walks Phil Gosselin, and then Adam Haseley hits a little roller to short. Miguel Rojas does all the mechanics right, gets in position to come up firing to the plate to cut down that winning run... but forgets the baseball. Hoskins scores easily and the Marlins have committed the second "error-off" in team history. On September 17, 2006, Marcus Giles of the Braves singled to left, and Brayan Peña would have been held up until Josh Willingham misplayed it and Peña scored the winning run on an E7.

Until that 15th inning, Rojas had been the star of the game for the Marlins, collecting 4 hits and a hit-by-pitch. He still ended up being the team's first batter to do that since Dan Uggla on April 12, 2010 (also in a loss). Starlin Castro, batting right behind him, tallied three hits and also got plunked; they are the third set of Marlins teammates to do that in the same game. Jorge Cantu and Cody Ross did it in the famous 18-17 walkoff game at Coors Field on July 4, 2008; and the original pair was Hanley Ramirez and Mike Jacobs in 2007. Jacobs, also in 2007, is the only other Marlins batter besides Rojas to have 4 hits in a loss in Philadelphia (at either stadium).

Friday's game was the third time this year the Phillies had played 15 or more innings in a game, their most in a season since 1980. This year-- in which they did not quite end up with that winning season after losing the finale on Sunday-- ended just a bit differently than that one.


Back On Holliday

And no one finished out the 2019 season quite the way the Rockies did. After that 3-run homer by Charlie Blackmon in the 16th on Tuesday, they returned home to host the Brewers in the final series. Those same Brewers, while guaranteed a playoff spot, are still chasing down the Cardinals for a potential NL Central title, and/or the Nationals to be able to host the Wild Card game on Tuesday. They need at least two wins and a little help from those other teams. Mm, yeah, about that.

The fact that the Brewers lost all three games ends up not mattering too much, considering the Nationals swept the final interleague series of the year with Cleveland to earn the hosting role on Tuesday. But there was still a chance to catch the Cardinals. And the Saturday and Sunday games in Denver certainly looked like they were going to be Brewers wins, at least if you turned them off in the 7th inning.

Holding a 2-0 lead in Saturday's game, the Brewers gave the ball to Drew Pomeranz, who threw it toward Ian Desmond, who then gave it to a fan in center field in the form of a solo home run. It's still only 2-1 and the always-reliable Josh Hader awaits for the 9th. He gets two outs before pinch hitter (and former Hartford Yard Goat) Sam Hilliard squeaks a pitch just over the left-field wall for a blown save and a 2-2 tie. That was only the second tying or go-ahead pinch-hit homer in Rockies history when the team was down to its final out; Larry Walker hit the other off Cincinnati's Scott Williamson on July 17, 1999.

Unlike a bunch of other games you've read about, the Brewers would lose the game almost as quickly as they lost the lead. Trevor Story led off the bottom of the 10th, now facing Matt Albers, and six pitches later, Story put a "The End" on this one with his 35th homer of the year and second walkoff (May 24 vs Orioles). Only five Rockies batters have hit two walkoff homers in a season; the others are Dante Bichette (1996), Larry Walker (2001), Jason Giambi (2010), and Chris Iannetta (also 2010). Iannetta also owns the only other walkoff homer in Rox history against the Brewers; he hit that off David Weathers on September 29, 2009. And Saturday was the first game in Rockies history where they homered in the 8th, 9th, and 10th innings (or any extra frame for that matter).

Entering the season's final day, we actually still didn't know whether it would be the final day. A Brewers win and Cardinals loss would have created an exact tie for the NL Central and forced a Game 163 at Busch Stadium on Monday. And this is the exact scenario for which MLB changed the schedule a few years ago such that every game starts at the same time. Teams can't scoreboard-watch, realize they backed into or out of a playoff spot, and then scratch players (especially pitchers) at the last minute to save them for later in the week. As it turns out, the Cardinals blew away the Cubs early on Sunday and the Brewers knew they were destined for Washington anyway. So maybe it doesn't matter that they let another 3-0 lead slip away, starting with three singles in the 7th, a leadoff homer by Dom Nuñez in the 8th, and then an error, a walk, and an RBI single in the 9th. Off we go to extras again.

The Brewers almost took the lead back in the 11th, but Ben Gamel was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a wild pitch. By the time we reach the 13th, the Mets have already walked off in their game and we are watching the 2,429th and final contest of the 2019 regular season. (We lost one on Friday when both halves of a White Sox/Tigers doubleheader got rained out.) It will be the second time that a regular season ends in Denver. What we don't know yet is how it will end. And what goes around comes around. Hilliard draws a leadoff walk. Yonathan Daza drops down a sac bunt, which catcher Jacob Nottingham fields and fires to first... where nobody is covering. Hilliard scampers to third, and after an obviously-helpful mound visit, Jake Faria uncorks a wild pitch of his own, and the Rockies have their first back-to-back extra-inning walkoffs against the same team since beating the Rays on June 21 and 22, 2002. It's their second-ever "bounce-off" victory in extra innings, after Houston's Aneury Rodriguez bounced home Troy Tulowitzki on August 24, 2011. The Angels hadn't committed one since April 30, 2011, when Fernando Rodney brought home Matt Joyce of the Rays.

And Sunday was Colorado's fourth-ever walkoff win in a regular-season finale. They beat the Giants in both 1998 (Neifi Perez homer) and 1999 (Edgard Clemente sac fly). And what goes around comes around. Even though the Cardinals had already won, the Rockies sort of denied Milwaukee a chance at a Game 163 with the win. Colorado's other season-finale walkoff-- and the other time a regular season ended in Denver-- was the Rockies' own Game 163, in 2007 to determine the (then-only) NL Wild Card between them and the Padres. You may know it as "the one where Matt Holliday still hasn't touched the plate". Maybe by next March he finally will.


Bottom Of The Bag

⚾ Trey Mancini, Tuesday: Fourth 5-hit game by an Orioles batter this season. Most for team since 1974 (Mark Belander, Rich Coggins, Tommy Davis twice).

⚾ Raimel Tapia, Friday: Became first batter in Rockies history to hit two pinch-hit grand slams (his other was July 20, 2018, in Arizona).

⚾ Matt Thaiss, Sunday: First Angels batter with 3 extra-base hits and 4 RBIs in a home loss since Todd Greene against Chicago, July 31, 1997.

⚾ Dinelson Lamet, Wednesday: First Padres pitcher to strike out 10+ batters in consecutive outings since Mat Latos in September 2010. Padres had gone the longest of any team without having someone do it.

⚾ John Hicks, Saturday: First visiting player ever to hit a lead-flipping, pinch-hit homer in the 9th inning at current White Sox stadium. Last at the old Comiskey was the Twins' Gary Gaetti on September 10, 1988.

⚾ Trea Turner, Tuesday: First player in Nationals history to have 2 extra-base hits in both games of a doubleheader. Last to do it for the Expos was Rondell White at Coors on August 13, 1999.

⚾ Curtis Granderson, Thursday: Second go-ahead pinch-hit homer the Marlins have hit in the 9th inning in New York. Wes Helms took Scott Schoeneweis deep in the final game at Shea Stadium, September 28, 2008.

⚾ Giants, Sat-Sun: First team since at least 1900 to be shut out by 9 runs or more in both of their last two games of a season.

⚾ Jorge Alfaro & Amed Rosario, Monday: First game where opposing teams traded grand slams in the top and bottom of the same inning since the Tigers (Marcus Thames) and White Sox (Dewayne Wise) did it on September 14, 2008.

⚾ Giants, Friday: First team to score 2 or fewer runs while stranding 17 or more runners in a 9-inning game since the Cardinals squandered 11 walks against the Phillies on September 14, 1950.

⚾ Tommy Edman, Saturday: First Cardinals batter with a triple, a hit-by-pitch, and 3 RBI in a game since Shawon Dunston vs Expos, May 1, 1999.

⚾ Jose Ramirez, Tuesday: Second Indians batter ever to have a 7-RBI game against the White Sox. Ben Chapman did it at the original Comiskey Park on May 14, 1939.

⚾ Justin Verlander, Saturday: With CC Sabathia on April 30, second season in MLB history where two pitchers have joined the 3,000-strikeout club. Tom Seaver and Steve Carlton got theirs 11 days apart in 1981.

⚾ Tucker Barnhart, Wednesday: First Reds batter with 2 XBH and 2 walks, but 0 runs scored, in a home game since Joe Morgan vs Cardinals, August 24, 1976.

⚾ Spencer Turnbull, Sunday: First pitcher in Tigers history to finish a season with 3 or fewer wins against 17 or more losses. Last for any team was Jim Abbott of the Angels in 1996 (2-18).

⚾ Gabriel Ynoa & David Hess: First pair of pitching teammates to each go 1-10 or worse in the same season since Jack Nabors & Tom Sheehan of the 1916 Athletics.