The Rest Of The Story

We always like to joke that some teams see our posts and think, hey, that's a good idea, and then go off on Monday and do the thing we just wrote about on Sunday night. And of course, in last week's post a 23-5 game was all the rage. Hmm, yeah.

The first-ever 29-9 score in MLB history was so mind-blowing that it earned its own special post with 29 exciting factoids to go with the Braves' 29 runs. You should go read that (again!) for all your Braves/Marlins needs. We're gonna reserve this post for all the other neat stuff that happened while you were staring in amazement at that one. Because we believe every game is special (yes, even you, AL West), so stand by for NEWS!


19 Proof

The Milwaukee Brewers were probably understandably excited after completing their early-afternoon victory in Detroit on Wednesday. But imagine if you had just won the first game of the day in a 19-0 shutout and it turns out to not be either the highest-scoring game or the largest victory of the day. Well, at least you had the spotlight for a few hours. And you'll get it for a few paragraphs right now, because that game had plenty of notes of its own. You see, while the Brewers offense was busy piling up runs, mostly off Matt Boyd, their defense and Corbin Burnes were happily throwing a no-hitter at the same time. Shades of that 13-0 Angels no-hitter last July in their first home game without Tyler Skaggs. Willi Castro finally broke that up with a 5th-inning triple, but that would turn out to be the only hit off Burnes, who also fanned 11 Tigers before leaving after 7. Only four other Brewers pitchers had allowed 1 hit and fanned 11 in any outing: Freddy Peralta (2018), Chase Anderson (2017), CC Sabathia (2008), and Steve Woodard (1997).

By the time Castro breaks up the no-hitter, it's already 7-0, with a good chunk of that damage coming from the bottom of the lineup. Orlando Arcia, Luis Urias, and Tyrone Taylor (6-7-8 in the order) led off the 2nd with three straight doubles, which the Brewers had actually done last July as well (Mike Moustakas, Jesús Aguilar, Keston Hiura vs Giants). When the lineup turned over to Avisail Garcia and he tacked on another two-bagger, the Brewers had their first 4-double inning since April 24, 2016.

When Rony Garcia made it into the game in the 6th, that same trio of Arcia/Urias/Taylor greeted him by going single-double-double, at which point it's 12-0. And in their final hacks in the 9th, it was single-single-homer to account for the final three runs. Taylor joined Bill Hall (June 13, 2007) as the only Brewers hitters with 3 extra-base hits in a game in Detroit; the combo of Taylor and Arcia were also the second Brewers teammates ever to have 4 hits each there. B.J. Surhoff and Darryl Hamilton did that on September 22, 1991.

Back up toward the top of the order, Jedd Gyorko chipped in a pair of solo homers for yet another "second" in Brewers history. Their only other player with a multi-homer game at Comerica Park was Jeromy Burnitz on June 10, 2001. Burnitz had 5 RBI in that game, which stood as the only one of those by a Brewers hitter until Urias drove in 5 in the same game on Wednesday. Avisail Garcia doubled again in the 6th as well (before Rony Garcia entered); the trio of Avisail, Taylor, and Urias were the first set of three Brewers with multiple doubles in the same game since Brady Clark, Carlos Lee, and Geoff Jenkins did it in Cincinnati on September 5, 2005.

We mentioned in the Braves/Marlins post that by some miracle a position player did not end up pitching in that game. Ah, but those final Brewers runs in the 9th were brought to you by right fielder Travis Demeritte, who wasn't even playing right field in the getaway game. He was the designated hitter, soooo... might as well let him go run out on the field after all? Demeritte, who never pitched in college (because he was drafted at 18 and didn't go) or in 7 years in the minors, joined Andrew Romine (August 22, 2014) as the only Tigers position players to give up 2 homers on the mound. And the last Tigers position player to get charged with 4 earned runs in a game was Mark Koenig in a 20-8 loss to the Yankees on May 18, 1931.

While the Brewers are piling up a team-record 13 extra-base hits (we didn't even mention them all), remember that Corbin Burnes only gave up 1 hit the whole time he was out there. And then Eric Yardley gave up a leadoff single, also to Willi Castro, upon entering for the 8th. But that's all. The Tigers had 2 hits in the game, versus Milwaukee's 21. Not only did the Tigers get outscored by 19, they got outhit by 19. The last time that latter part happened to them was in another classic "scorigami" game, on June 18, 1953 against the Red Sox. That's still the most recent 23-3 game in the majors, and it contains what is still (at least for this week) the only 17-run inning in the modern era.

As for those 13 extra-base hits, it did indeed break the old team record of 12 which had happened three times. Amazingly though, the 19-0 final score did not break the Brewers' all-time shutout record. For both of these items we must jump back a decade to April 22, 2010, in Pittsburgh, when they "only" had 12 XBH but won the game 20-0-- in what was the first occurrence of that score in the majors since 1889. For Detroit, however, it was their worst shutout loss ever, by 3 whole runs. Their lone 16-0 defeat came at the hands of the St Louis Browns-- incredibly, 98 years earlier to the day (September 9, 1922).


Monday, Monday

The Mets and Phillies played the first game of our baseball week on Monday afternoon, and at least one team was awake for it. The visitors jumped on David Peterson for 5 early runs before the Mets did their best Brewers impression and dropped their own 4-double inning in the 5th. The Mets had never before had one of those in 12 seasons of games at Citi Field, and the only time they did it at Shea was another decade before that-- May 24, 1988, against Milwaukee. That got them to within 6-3, and then 6-4 when Didi Gregorius not only failed at turning an inning-ending double play in the 7th, he chunked the ball in the dugout for an extra base. Happily for Sir Didi, all that did was take away a grand-slam opportunity from Jeff McNeil, who greeted David Phelps with a 3-run, lead-flipping homer, the first they had hit against the Phillies in the 7th or later since Asdrubal Cabrera walked off on September 22, 2016.

Unfortunately for the Mets, no lead is ever safe (we know; wait for it), and Alec Bohm promptly tied the game up with a single in the 8th. That set up Jean Segura for a 2-run homer (counting the free runner) in the top of the 10th, just the third time the Phillies had gone yard in extras at Citi Field. Chase Utley and Raul Ibañez had the others on back-to-back days in June 2009. That homer was also Segura's fourth hit of the day, bookending his bases-loaded double in the 1st which put Peterson in that early hole. They'd never before hit a 3-run double in the 1st inning in Queens, and they'd also never had a player with 4 hits and 5 RBI in a game there as Segura had on Monday.


Streets Of Philadelphia

The Phillies headed back home after Monday's game in New York, followed closely by the Boston Red Sox, their opponent for a doubleheader on Tuesday. In this bizarre season where the past two World Series champions are mired in last place, it was a hopeful sign when the Sawx got 7 hits from the duo of Rafael Devers and Christian Vazquez just in the first game. Devers connected for two homers and a double, the first 3-XBH game by a Bostonian in Philly since Mookie Betts did it in June 2017. Mookie actually had 4 hits in that game, just as Vazquez did on Tuesday; with Julio Lugo in 2009 and J.D. Drew in 2008, they make up the four Red Sox batters to have 4-hit games at Citizens Bank Park. Zach Eflin got tagged for 8 hits and 3 homers, the seventh time he's done that in his Phillies career. Only HOF'ers Robin Roberts and Steve Carlton have done it more.

And of course the Red Sox lost. The Phillies took advantage of 6 walks from Martin Perez to hang around at 5-4, then greeted Matt Barnes in the 9th with a leadoff walk, a single on which J.T. Realmuto took third, and then a stolen base to also put Gregorius at second. Enter Alec Bohm again. With 2 outs and a 2-2 count he ropes a walkoff single to left as Gregorius beats the play at the plate. It was the first walkoff anything for the Phillies when they were down to their final strike since Pat Burrell went yard to beat the Giants on May 2, 2008. Since 1980 the Phillies had only one other walkoff single when trailing (so it must be a multi-run variety); that was by Maikel Franco against the Braves on April 22, 2017. And they'd never had a walkoff single of any type against the Red Sox. Their last one against "Boston" (as you know, we enjoy these historical quirks) came when that city still had its National League team. Dick Sisler drove home Richie Ashburn to break a scoreless tie in the 15th inning on August 7, 1951; the pitcher on that fateful hit, throwing in relief, was Warren Spahn.

Game 2 was definitely not as interesting, although the Red Sox did win it behind 3 hits and 3 runs scored from Jackie Bradley. He became the first player in team history to do that in the second game of a double-dip after striking out 3+ times in the first game. And newcomer Bobby Dalbec homered in both games, the first Red Sox batter to do that since Stephen Drew against Baltimore on July 5, 2014. Dalbec had also gone deep against Toronto in the last two games of their weekend series, giving him Boston's first 4-game homer streak since Adrian Gonzalez in May 2011. And when the Sawx turned up at Tropicana Field on Thursday, Dalbec went deep in that game too, putting his name with several other luminaries as the only 5-game homer streaks in team history: Jose Canseco (1995), George Scott (1977), Dick Stuart (1963), Ted Williams (1957), and Jimmie Foxx (1940).


Empire State Of Mets

In having good-natured fun with the Mets (because it's so easy to do), we mentioned that no lead is ever safe. But maybe, just maybe, they found one that was. On Friday the Mets piled up the most runs they had ever piled in the state of New York, and they didn't do it in Queens. Not in the Bronx at Yankee Stadium, where we have followed tales of them managing to hit walkoff homers because 2020. Wasn't even in Manhattan at the Polo Grounds (also, the stadium is gone, though the plaque marking home plate lives on). Nope, it was 400 miles away in Buffalo, and it appropriately featured the player nicknamed "Buffalo", Wilson Ramos who got that moniker during his days with the Nationals. Not only did his Mets teammates enjoy watching Buffalo buffalo Buffalo, they all got in on the stampede themselves. (If only Ramos was from western New York, he could be a Buffalo Buffalo too. Sigh.)

Chase Anderson got chased in the 3rd inning after Ramos doubled and then Michael Conforto launched a 3-run homer. Anthony Kay managed to escape that frame (via the K, naturally) with only one more run coming across, but things were not 'kay in the 4th. (It is here where we really hoped his middle name was Oliver or something. A.O. Kay. Nope. Benjamin. C'mon parents, do better.) Walk, single, walk, failed forceout at home because Danny Jansen dropped the ball. This is fine, it's only one run, just damage contr-- Dom Smith grand slam. That would be the first slam ever hit by a visiting player in Buffalo, going all the way back to the American Association franchise from 1879. Two more singles and a hit batter surround Jacob Waguespack's entry into the game, and Ramos clears all three bases with another double for runs 6 through 8 of the inning. Conforto singles home Ramos, J.D. Davis drives in Conforto for a double-digit frame, and Dom Smith, apparently deciding he can't hit another grand slam, so oh well, finally strikes out to end this mess. It is now 14-1 and the Mets have their first 10-run inning since that 24-4 game in Philadelphia on August 16, 2018. The Jays hadn't given one up since July 3, 2010, at Yankee Stadium, and hadn't done it in a home game since June 21, 1994, when the Red Sox opened with a 10-spot that included 5 doubles (but no homers!) and went on to win 13-1.

At this point the damage is basically over, although Conforto would reach on an error in the 7th and score on a bases-loaded walk because why not. That made him the first Mets batter to score 4 runs and drive in 4 runs in the same contest since Yoenis Cespedes had a 3-homer game in Denver on August 21, 2015. And when Ramos led off the 8th with a solo homer, that made him the first to do it since... uh... Conforto about 15 minutes ago. The Mets had never before had two players with 4 runs and 4 RBI in the same game. But if you're looking for the last team in the majors to do that, you've only gotta go back 2 days, to that 29-9 game in Atlanta on Wednesday. And the last season where there were multiple such games was 1999.

Forgot about Dom Smith's grand slam, did you? Well, that gives him 4 RBI as well; he, Conforto, and Ramos are the second trio in Mets history to have a homer and 4 RBI in the same game. Ike Davis, Scott Hairston, and Daniel Murphy did it in a 17-1 romp at Wrigley on June 27, 2012. But the reason we're enjoying Buffalo so much, other than that we're in Buffalo, is that he batted 9th. Even in the Before Times, the Mets would have gotten to use a designated hitter in the AL team's home stadium, so no asterisk on this one. Ramos is their first #9 batter with 3 hits and 4 RBI in a game since Steven Matz's famous MLB debut on June 28, 2015. He's only the second #9 in Mets history with 3 extra-base hits in a game; Desi Relaford did it against the Expos on September 27, 2001, and that was after a double switch (i.e., he didn't start there). And only one other NL player in MLB history has recorded 4 runs scored and 4 RBI out of a starting #9 slot. That was another famous game by a pitcher, when Micah Owings hit 2 homers against the Braves in 2007.

Your 18-1 final score was the first in the majors in over a decade, since the Brewers did it against the Cubs on August 2, 2010. Yes, those same Brewers who just hung a 19-0 on Detroit this week as well (and who were busy no-hitting the Cubs at the time this Mets game ended, but we'll get there). It also exactly matched the worst loss in Jays history, another 18-1 in Kansas City on May 16, 2003. And remember how Bryse Wilson got a save in that 29-9 festival the other day because he "pitched effectively" for 3 innings? Guess what Erasmo Ramirez did in this one. The Mets' old mark for "most ridiculous save" had been held by Ron Taylor, in a 14-run win (20-6) in Atlanta on August 7, 1971. Never before had two pitchers gotten "official" saves in 17-run games in the same season, and even if you apply the modern rules retroactively, you'd have to go to 1931 to find it. That was only 16 years removed from Buffalo last having a herd of its own.


Ten-Der Is The Night

As the old saying goes, the 10-run inning giveth, the 10-run inning taketh away. (Nobody says that.) But if you had a little flashback during that discussion of a New York team and a 10-spot in Buffalo on Friday, don't worry, the Blue Jays did too. Because just four days earlier, it was their 10-spot that beat that other New York City team. They did have to weather Hyun-Jin Ryu giving up 5 runs including back-to-back homers to Luke Voit and Aaron Hicks in the 1st. But trailing 6-2 in the 6th, they encountered the Yankees' bullpen. Heh.

Walk, walk, single, fielding error against Chad Green. So it's already 6-3 and the bases are still loaded when Adam Ottavino takes the hill. Last week we told you about the Yankees finally giving jersey number 89 to Miguel Yajure; Ottavino has, for his entire career, famously worn jersey number 0. Particularly appropriate on Monday because that's the number of outs he got. Single (6-5). Stolen base since second is now open. Single (6-6). Another stolen base. Walk to reload the bases. Single (6-8). Walk to reload the bases. That always-helpful "mound visit", during which the "advice" must have been to hang a 3-1 meatball and let Danny Jansen put the game out of its misery. You may remember Danny Jansen as the guy who dropped the ball in the Mets game just before Dom Smith's grand slam. The slam that we had to describe as the first one ever hit in Buffalo by a visiting player-- because Jansen had just hit this one on Monday. Jansen's was not, however, the first one hit by a home player. Hal Chase-- of many good years with the Yankees and Reds-- took a foray into the Federal League and hit one for the Blues against Pittsburgh on August 9, 1915. And Irishman Curry Foley hit all of 3 homers for the Bisons in 1882, but two were slams-- and one was at home against the Blues (that's the Cleveland Blues, before the Buffalo Blues became the Blues, got it?) on May 25 of that year.

Jansen also became the fourth Jays #9 batter ever to have 4 RBI in a game against the Yankees, and three of them did it via slam. Ryan Goins took Masahiro Tanaka deep in September 2017, and Hector Torres hit one off Ron Guidry on June 27, 1977, in the Yankees' first-ever visit to "The 6". Manuel Lee on June 8, 1992, is the one who had the 4 RBI without a slam. As for Ottavino, he got charged with 6 runs, didn't record an out, and got the loss because the go-ahead run was the first batter he faced. Only three other Yankees have ever gotten tagged with that line; Jonathan Holder did it August 2, 2018, against Boston, while Catfish Hunter (1978) and George Pipgras (1928) did it in games they started. We also put those stolen bases in the narrative for a reason; since earned runs were first official-ized in 1912, only two pitchers have given up 6 of them and allowed 2 stolen bases while getting 0 outs-- Ottavino and Holder. That's for any team, not just the Yankees.

And circling back to our big 1-0, the Jays last had a 10-run inning in the year 1-0, August 31 against the Rays. When they then allowed the one to the Mets on Friday, they became the first team to be on both ends of a 10-run frame so quickly since Tampa Bay did that on July 22 and 26, 2006. And at the risk of forgetting the elephant in the room, the Braves had their own 10-run inning (actually 11) in what will forever be known as The 29-9 Game on Wednesday. It's the first time there have been three of them in five days since September 2004.


My Sacrifice

Somewhere in baseball's long history (more specifically, the early 1950s), someone-- or more likely a "committee"-- decided that if there's a runner on third, a good teammate is just trying to hit the ball far enough to get him home, and thus he shouldn't be charged with an at-bat for that. Clearly his intent is to give himself up for the greater good of scoring the run, not try to rope a double off the wall or put a multi-run homer into a river somewhere. Um, have you seen anybody hit lately? But anyway, the statistical anomaly known as the "sacrifice fly" is still on the books, and while the per-game rate of sac flies is actually on pace to be its lowest ever, the new "free runner on second" rule has made a few of them even more noticeable.

Earlier we hinted that Brandon Woodruff of the Brewers was happily no-hitting the Cubs on Friday until Ian Happ shot one back up the middle in the 6th. That would end up being the only hit Woodruff allowed before leaving in the 8th; he joined Freddy Peralta (May 2018) and Steve Woodard (July 1997) as the only pitchers in Brewers history to allow 1 hit and strike out 12. Problem: The Brewers weren't exactly doing anything either. Jon Lester pitched 6 innings and also allowed only 3 hits, two of them to Avisail Garcia. So we head to the 9th in a 0-0 slog, one of those games where you're happy to have the free-runner rule just so there's a chance of someone scoring and getting it over with. Except we didn't quite get there. Christian Yelich drew a leadoff walk, rumbled around to third on a single by Jedd Gyorko, and that set up the <sarcasm font> most exciting play in baseball, the walkoff sac fly. Ryan Braun hits it, your final score is 1-0, and the cardboard cutouts can go back to staring aimlessly into space. (They're good at that.) It was the first time in Brewers history they'd won a 1-0 game via sac-fly-off, and no team in the majors had done it since Pedro Alvarez hit one for the Orioles on May 5, 2016. The only other sac-fly-off the Brewers ever had against Chicago, any score, came back when they were in the American League and played the White Sox regularly. That was August 15, 1973, when John Briggs scored Dave May.

Speaking of the White Sox, we'll mention here, because it provides a "visual aid", that they were busy getting no-hit at the same time the Cubs were on Friday. They also broke theirs up in the 6th, and they ended up winning because the second hit was a 3-run homer by Eloy Jimenez. It was the first day on which both Chicago teams were held to 3 hits since September 6, 2017. And it was the first time the White Sox had 3 hits but managed to score 4 runs since July 1, 2014, in the first half of a rain-induced doubleheader with the Angels. We were there. At 4:00 on a Tuesday. At least somebody was.

And the stadium looked a lot like it did this week.

Knock Your Sox Off

The White Sox were most definitely not getting no-hit on Saturday. Tim Anderson took care of that with the third pitch from Michael Fulmer, and it wasn't long before more of his pitches were getting hit also. At least the ones that could find the strike zone. Fulmer gave up three straight RBI hits in the 1st and then finally departed when Nomar Mazara made it 5-0 in the 3rd. Fulmer also gave up 4 earned runs without finishing the 3rd inning on Monday; technically Jordan Zimmermann was the last Tigers pitcher to do that, but that was on either side of one of his multiple DL trips in 2016. The last Tigers starter to do it back-to-back in a week, like "normal", was Matt Roney in 2003.

That brought on Daniel Norris, and who better to light him up than Jose Abreu. A 3-run homer in the 4th makes it 8-0, and before we had even cycled around to refreshing the boxscore, it quickly jumped to 11-0 when he also took Rony Garcia deep in the 5th. Abreu also hit a pair of 3-run dingers back on September 4, 2016, at Target Field. And, even including grand slams in this definition, he's the first player in White Sox history to do that twice. And those three straight RBI hits off Fulmer in the 1st, well, Abreu had the first one of those also, meaning he collected a total of 7 RBI on the day. The last White Sox batter to do that in a home game was Jim Thome on July 17, 2009, against the Orioles.

Nope, of course they're not done. Abreu would end up scoring the final White Sox run on Luis Robert's sac fly in the 7th. And did we mention he was on base for that Nomar Mazara double that knocked Fulmer out of the game? (No, we didn't mention that.) Count 'em, that's five runs scored in addition to seven driven in. No player in White Sox history had pulled that off in the same game. In fact, since the leagues started officially counting RBIs in 1920, only 18 players ever had. But you don't have to look very far to find the 17th-- it was Adam Duvall, because The 29-9 Game. Only twice before had it happened twice in the same season: 2018 by Jackie Bradley and Yoenis Cespedes, and 1950 by Walt Dropo and Gil Hodges. And forget the 7 RBI for a moment (go on, we dare you), only one other cleanup batter in Sox history had even scored the 5 runs in a game. He "cleans up", it's the guys above him who are supposed to be scoring all the runs. Abreu joined Earl Sheely, who also did it against the Tigers... on September 9, 1921.

The 14-0 final (you notice we didn't have any Tigers highlights) was the 16th shutout of 14+ in White Sox history, and four of them have been against the Tigers. (It helps that they're in the division.) But the last of those four was on July 6, 1956. The last one against any opponent was another 14-0 over Cleveland on July 21, 2004.


Our title was chosen almost immediately after we put up the special post about The 29-9 Game on Thursday. Turns out it's kinda hard to theme a lot of Paul Harvey catchphrases. And Matt Harvey didn't really do much this week. (Though stay turned for a Hunter Harvey mention!) But if you're old enough to have owned a radio back when those were a thing, you know what the news is. In a minute you're going to hear the rest of the story. If you'd rather hear it now, we stumbled onto a fascinating site with thousands of the radio icon's segments from over the years. So sprawl out on your Select Comfort mattress and fire up your Bose speakers, you could be here a while. Intermission!


State & Madison
(If you don't get the reference, it's Chicago's zero point. It's also fun that a big zero happened in a neighboring state whose capital is Madison.

Someone mention Chicago and no-hitters? Yeah, seems we have to talk about it, especially since we mentioned their other brushes with greatness. Back up the Edens we go to Milwaukee, where Alec Mills was on tap to face the Brewers. (On tap. Brewers. It's late.) And for a time we wondered if anybody was gonna get a hit, because Adrian Houser also shut down the Cubs until the 4th inning blew up with 3 hits, 2 errors, a walk, and a hit batter. Keston Hiura walked in the 4th but got erased on a double play. Craig Counsell couldn't even stand to watch his team get no-hit, so he got himself ejected in the 5th. After a 6-pitch 6th, various broadcasters are noting that Mills has never even thrown a complete game, and will they leave him out there? Both of our cliffhangers (that and the NH) intensify when Daniel Vogelbach works another walk in the 7th. Meanwhile, the Cubs have been tacking onto their lead, with David Bote homering in the 5th, Victor Caratini doubling in the 7th, and both of them driving home another run in the 8th. They would end up as the Cubs' first starting #8 and #9 batters with 3 RBI in the same game since pitcher Steve Engel hit a 3-run homer (to go with Shawon Dunston as the #8) on August 26, 1985. Bote was the second #9 batter in Cubs history with a homer, a sac fly, and a hit-by-pitch in the same game, after current Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow did it in 1979. (That was not Krukow's only career home run. That's Duane Kuiper. As you KNBR fans know all too well.)

The score got ridiculous enough (10-0) that, with a doubleheader scheduled for Monday, the Brewers sent shortstop Orlando Arcia, well, not quite to shortstop for the 9th. He made his second pitching appearance of the season and once again gave up 2 more runs, just as he did against Detroit on September 1. He's the first position player in Brewers history to give up multiple runs multiple times. (But he's also about to get a special place in no-hitter history too.) That also led to the 12-0 final being the Cubs' biggest shutout victory ever against any team from Milwaukee (not just the Brewers), topping a 10-0 on June 5, 2012.

You know how this ends. It also brings an end to one of the quirkest no-hitter notes out there: That the only one at Miller Park was not thrown in a Brewers game. It was, however, thrown by another Cubs pitcher, Victor Zambrano, 12 years minus 1 day earlier when MLB moved two Astros games to Milwaukee in the wake of Hurricane Ike. Combined with that one Lucas Giolito threw three weeks ago, it's the first time the Cubs and White Sox have ever thrown them in the same season, though they did both get no-hit on the same weekend in 1917.

Those two Brewers errors in the 4th helped them become the first team to commit three miscues while also getting no-hit since the Indians did that against Ervin Santana in 2011. That NH, however, is famous as still being the last one where the no-hittees scored a run. For the last 0-0-3 linescore you have to go back to the Braves in Randy Johnson's perfect game in 2004. As for Orlando Arcia's special place in no-hitter lore, yes, there have been some lopsided ones recently. The Cubs' previous one, thrown by Jake Arrieta in 2016, was a 16-0 game. The Angels threw up that 13-0 last year on Tyler Skaggs' memorial night. But none of those had a position player pitch in them. In fact, as best we could find (excluding people like Babe Ruth who really were used as pitchers for part of their careers), the last position player to pitch on the other side of a no-hitter was George "Peaches" Graham, also in a Cubs game in 1903. There is some evidence that Peaches pitched a few games in the minors in 1902 and 1903, but that fateful day (September 18) marked not only his lone big-league pitching appearance, but his lone game with the Cubs. Chicago and Philadelphia were in the midst of back-to-back doubleheaders, and in those pre-contract days it wasn't uncommon for teams to just go grab a local player who wasn't doing anything else that day. Hence Graham, who was from Illinois (offering us no insight into the nickname), got the spot-start and threw 5 innings while his own team got no-hit by Chick Fraser (and also committed 3 errors, as it happens). Peaches went on to a multi-year career as a catcher with the Braves but never threw off the mound again.

What kind of career lies ahead for Alec Mills still remains to be seen, but he's in the permanent record books at least once. He's also the first major-leaguer to play for the University of Tennessee at Martin (go Skyhawks!), whose previous claim to sports fame was as the alma mater and first coaching stop of basketball great Pat Summitt. (Both Mills and Summitt are from sort-of-nearby Clarksville as well.) They might have to add to the signs after this one.

Lord Of The Sacrifice Flies
(This has us pondering a baseball-themed horror movie. The outfielders are kind of like islands out there. It's the type of thing that would be perfectly set in some random out-of-the-way place like, say, Martin, Tenn.)

Meanwhile, back in Lack Of Offense Land, the Yankees pulled off another one of those "exciting" sac-fly victories on Saturday against the Orioles, with whom they were knotted at 1-1 in the 9th. The Orioles' run was unearned, and the Yankees' run came on a sac fly of its own, by Clint Frazier in the 1st after DJ LeMahieu started the game with a double. Both teams got 2-out hits in the 8th, but that was the only activity until LeMahieu got sent to second as the Yankees' free runner in the 10th. And then Hunter Harvey immediately sent him to third when his first pitch bounced through the proverbial 5-hole of Pedro Severino. Luke Voit then lofted one to center for the win, the Yankees' first extra-inning sac-fly-off since Nick Swisher scored Mark Teixeira, also against the Orioles, on April 14, 2011. It was only the sixth time since sac flies became a thing in 1954 that the Yankees had scored multiple runs in a game, all of them via the SF, and won; the previous one of those was on July 13, 1991, in Anaheim (Matt Nokes and Pat Kelly hit them).

And on Tuesday, Maikel Franco of the Royals broke an 8th-inning tie with his fly ball that scored Adalberto Mondesi. Kansas City's last batter to hit a go-ahead sac fly in the 8th? Why, that's Maikel Franco in the second game of the season back on July 25. And that was also at Progressive Field in Cleveland. No Royals batter has had two such sac flies in the same season since Alcides Escobar in 2011, but before Franco, no Royals batter had ever had two in the same park in the same season (including Kauffman).


One For The Road

We covered the Brewers winning that 1-0 game via walkoff sac fly on Friday, but they were actually the second 1-0 walkoff of the week. On Monday the Rockies and Padres took a holiday from the hard labor of scoring runs, with Dinelson Lamet and Kyle Freeland not helping matters. They scattered nine hits over the game's first seven innings-- eight of them singles, two of them with 2 outs, and three of them followed by double plays to retire the runner in question. The closest either team came to a run was when a hit batter loaded the bases for San Diego in the 7th but then replay took a run off the board when it ruled that Fernando Tatis had indeed been doubled off first.

Finally Carlos Estevez took the mound for the Rockies in the 9th, surrendered a leadoff single to Greg Garcia, and then Jurickson Profar pounds just the second extra-base hit of the game for the 1-0 walkoff. The last Rockies pitcher to enter a game, give up a base hit to the first batter, then give up a walkoff hit to the second batter, was Boone Logan against the Phillies on May 28, 2014. And Profar's double, appropriately, made a pair of "seconds" in Padres history. Mark Kotsay, on August 8, 2003, against Cincinnati, had the only other walkoff two-bagger in their history to win a 1-0 game. And the only other time they had any walkoff against the Rockies in a scoreless game was when Paul McAnulty homered off Nate Field on September 6, 2006.

If it feels like it's been a while since you've heard about a 1-0 game, it was. There hadn't been one since August 7 when the Rays got a late run against (imagine that) Adam Ottavino. The last time the majors went a full month without a 1-0 game was from August 2 to September 2 of 2001.


Let's Get It Started

Tuesday meant back to work for many people, including those little departments of the Rockies and Padres that are dedicated to scoring runs. So after the quietness of their 1-0 game on Monday, both teams woke up their "HR" department (sorry not sorry) very early on Tuesday. After a double and a walk, Nolan Arenado hit the Rockies' first-ever 3- or 4-run homer in the 1st inning at Petco Park, following in the footsteps of Larry Walker, Todd Hollandsworth, and Greg Norton who were the three to hit them at old Jack Murphy Stadium. Meanwhile, Colorado's own starter, Chi Chi Gonzalez, found everything except the strike zone-- issuing three straight walks and then hitting Austin Nola to force in the Padres' first run. The Padres hadn't started a game with three straight walks since August 22, 2012, against the Pirates, and the Rockies hadn't issued it since a year before that (Jason Hammel, August 3, 2011, against the Phillies).

So with the bases still loaded and Gonzalez not feeling it, what better time for the major-league debut of Jose Mujica. We presume, as is usually the case, they rolled his first pitch out of play for him to keep after Wil Myers, maybe intentionally, took it for a ball. The second pitch he threw in the majors, however, is on the shelf of some lucky cardboard cutout sitting in right field, because Myers cranked it for a lead-flipping grand slam. Yonder Alonso (2012) and Bret Boone (2000) hit the only other lead-flipping slams in the 1st inning in Padres history, and it made Mujica the first pitcher to allow a slam to the first batter he ever faced since Curtis Partch of the Reds did that on June 9, 2013, against Matt Holliday. The combination of Arenado and Myers marked the first game in Petco Park history where both teams hit a 3- or 4-run homer in the 1st inning. That happened twice at The Murph, by Ken Caminiti and Colorado's Larry Walker on September 17, 1997, and by former-Phillie-turned-Padre John Kruk and still-current-Phillie Von Hayes on May 25, 1987.

You might remember that about three weeks ago when the Padres were on that spree, Myers hit a 1st-inning grand slam then too (August 18 at Texas). The only other player in Padres history to hit two of them is Dave Winfield, and his were in different seasons. Mujica, meanwhile, would get left in for the 2nd inning as well and surrender 5 more runs on a Manny Machado double and Austin Nola's 3-run homer. Edwar Cabrera, on June 27, 2012, was the only other pitcher to make his MLB debut with the Rockies and give up 7 runs in less than 3 innings. Myers and Nola were just the second occurrence in Padres history of a 3- or 4-run homer in both the 1st and 2nd innings; Adrian Gonzalez and Kevin Kouzmanoff did it in Pittsburgh on July 26, 2008. And on their way to the second 14-5 win in team history (the other was against the Reds in 2004), Tuesday was also the first time in Padres history they'd scored 5+ runs in the 1st and 2nd innings of the same game.


Grand Slam Breakfast

Wil Myers wasn't the only one turning the scoreboard sunny-side up this week. In that one AL West game every week that proves our rule, the Athletics blew up for 8 runs in the first 3 innings against Luis Garcia. Or they might have, if he had made it through 3 innings. His first pitch of the game Friday was a called strike to Tommy La Stella. The next four were balls. Then four of the six to Marcus Semien were balls. Then four out of six to Ramon Laureano were balls. So we have the first occurrence of Oakland starting a game with three straight walks since Erik Bedard of the Astros granted them hall passes on April 15, 2013. Garcia then threw six more pitches to Matt Olson. Who did not walk. He more-or-less strolled. Trotted, some might say. Because he became the first Oaklander to hit a grand slam as the team's fourth batter of the game (which is the earliest one is possible) since Former New Britain Rock Cat Danny Valencia did it on September 4, 2015. That also knocked Garcia out of the game and made him the first Rangers starter to face four batters and have all of them score since Ray Hayward did it against the Yankees on July 5, 1988. Garcia had only been scheduled as an "opener" anyway (yeah, that's back), but his even-earlier-than-expected departure meant Jordan Lyles became the first Rangers pitcher to work 7 innings in "relief" since Luis Mendoza allowed 8 runs on 4 outs on July 7, 2008, and Dustin Nippert entered in the 2nd and finished the game.

Didi Gregorius could not quite match Olson's feat on Saturday, but is that really his fault? After all, it's Phillies manager Joe Girardi who put him #5 in the order instead of #4. But he can certainly give an assist to leadoff hitter Andrew McCutchen for striking out and then letting the next three guys reach base instead (via two walks and an error). Gregorius then hit just the third slam ever by the Phillies in the state of Florida, and the first one not in the 9th inning. As 9th-inning slams go, one definitely had some drama to it-- Shane Victorino off Matt Lindstrom to flip the lead on April 24, 2009-- and one just turned an 8-3 lead into a 12-3 lead-- Benito Santiago off Jay Powell on July 21, 1996.


Grand Junction: Colorado

And as for drama, it was all the rage back in 2018 when MLB shattered the record for walkoff grand slams with nine of them. And if everything counts 2.7 times as much in this abbreviated season, well then we've shattered it again. Because there have already been 10.8-- uh, we mean 4-- walkoff slams this year, and you can probably name two of them right away because Oakland. Our latest entry comes from Charlie Blackmon, who watched Wil Myers' slam on Tuesday (the first entry in this section) sail right over his head and maybe thought, hey, there's an idea. Blackmon hit the second walkoff slam in Rockies history on Friday night, joining Ryan Spilborghs against the Giants on August 24, 2009.

But Blackmon's shot was the last in a series of four homers in that game, and you never heard about the first three. It was 3-2 in the 8th when Jared Walsh hit a game-tying solo shot off Mychal Givens for the first blown save of the night. Since MLB always makes the Angels play the Dodgers when interleague rolls around, that was the first tying or go-ahead homer the Halos had ever hit in the 8th or later against the Rockies. So in the top of the 9th, Anthony Bemboom hits the second. Since you already know the ending, Bemboom was the first Angels batter to hit a go-ahead homer in the 9th inning of a road game that they wound up losing since once-and-future Rockie Chris Iannetta did it for them in Arlington on August 1, 2012.

That left the Rockies trailing 5-4 going to the bottom of the 9th, and while Blackmon's grand slam certainly would have won the game either way, it would be Ryan McMahon who went yard first to at least guarantee that Colorado wouldn't lose in regulation. Combined with the slam, it was the third time in Rockies history that they'd hit a tying homer and then a walkoff homer in the same inning: Ian Stewart and Jason Giambi did it against Boston on June 23, 2010, and Todd Helton and Jeff Cirillo tag-teamed Arizona on September 18, 2001.

And now you know the rest of the story.


Bottom Of The Bag

⚾ Cody Bellinger, Tuesday: Second game (other was in 2018) with 2 walks and 2 stolen bases as Dodgers cleanup batter. Only other player in modern era to do it twice in that spot is Jackie Robinson.

⚾ Giants, Sunday: First time held to ≤ 3 hits in both games of a doubleheader since July 1, 1907, at Philadelphia. (And they won one of those games, because 1907.)

⚾ Ramon Laureano, Monday: Third game of career with both a sac fly and a hit-by-pitch. First player in Athletics history to have three such games.

⚾ Ronald Acuña, Wed-Thu: First leadoff batter for any team with 2 walks, a homer, and 3 runs scored in consecutive games since Eddie Yost of the Senators in August 1955.

⚾ Ian Anderson, Saturday: First Braves pitcher to throw 7+ innings, allow 1 hit, and strike out 9+ in a road game since John Smoltz at San Diego, April 14, 1996.

⚾ Shane Bieber: Friday: Became second pitcher in modern era to record 8+ strikeouts in each of his first 10 starts of a season. Other was Randy Johnson (15 straight games) in 2000.

⚾ White Sox, Tuesday: First time losing a game on a missed-catch error by the catcher since June 15, 1951, against Philadelphia.

⚾ Twins, Saturday: First game where their #7, #8, and #9 batters all homered since Oswaldo Arcia, Clete Thomas, and Eduardo Escobar on June 20, 2013.

⚾ Drew Smyly, Thursday: First Giants pitcher with 8 strikeouts in a "relief" appearance since Scott Garrelts vs Brewers, May 13, 1984.

⚾ Willians Astudillo, Tuesday: First Twins #9 batter ever to have a single, a double, and 2 runs scored in a game in a National League park (where normally the pitcher would be batting).

⚾ James McCann, Wednesday: First catcher to hit 2 homers but get called for interference in the same game since Rod Barajas of the Mets, May 7, 2010.

⚾ Daulton Varsho, Sunday: First Diamondbacks catcher ever to steal two bases in a game. Toronto is now the only active franchise who's never had a catcher do it.

⚾ Nelson Cruz, Tuesday: Oldest player to homer in both games of a doubleheader since Carlton Fisk on September 10, 1990.

⚾ Adalberto Mondesi, Thu-Sat: Second player in modern era to both homer and steal a base in three straight games. Other was Bobby Abreu of the Phillies in May 2004.

⚾ Ryan Mountcastle, Wednesday: First Orioles batter ever to have a 4-hit game in Queens (including the Yankees-at-Shea years).

⚾ Yankees, Fri-Sun: First time winning four straight home games against the same opponent, allowing 1 run in each, since July 13-15, 1984, against the Royals.

⚾ Rangers, Thursday: First home game where they had multiple triples but scored 2 or fewer runs since May 23, 1993-- in their final season at Arlington Stadium.

⚾ Kenley Jansen, Tue & Sat: First time in career giving up 3+ runs in back-to-back pitching appearances.

⚾ Brett Gardner, Friday: First Yankees batter to homer and get caught stealing twice in the same game (should've just stuck to homering) since Ben Chapman in Chicago on August 6, 1932.

⚾ Kevin Gausman, Monday: First Giants pitcher to allow 2 hits, strike out 9+, and pick off a runner, since Wilson Alvarez against the Padres on September 27, 1997.

⚾ Red Sox, Saturday: Stole 6 bases as a team and still lost. Hadn't done that since a 5-3 defeat in Washington on September 19, 1952.

⚾ Tony Gonsolin, Thursday: First Dodgers pitcher to throw 5+ innings of relief and get tagged with a loss since Dave Mlicki did it in an extra-inning game against the D'backs on April 13, 1999.

⚾ Ty France, Tuesday: Second Mariners batter to hit a triple at Giants' current ballpark. Tom Lampkin did it in their very first series there, on June 11, 2000.

⚾ Royals, Sunday: Shut out Pirates 11-0, matching their largest shutout win ever against a National League opponent. Though the other 11-0 was a little more exciting.