And yet it seems like we just started. But we're not talking about the end of the season here, we're talking the end of the game. Since the international tiebreaker rule (you may know it as the "free runner", "ghost runner", "runner on second", "a good idea", "a really stupid idea", etc.) was introduced for the shortened 2020 season, the ends of games are greatly compressed. We've yet to have one go beyond 13 innings, and only 10 percent even make it to the 12th. So a lot of drama can be squished into those couple extra frames. And this week, if you wanted to find the fun and oddities, you went straight to the end.
One of those three games that's even gotten to a 13th inning happened on Tuesday when the Diamondbacks and Rockies hooked up at Coors Field. Stephen Vogt put Arizona ahead with a 2-run homer in the 7th. only to have Ryan McMahon answer in the bottom half. When Sam Hilliard took Chris Devenski deep with 2 outs in the 9th, we mumbled something under our breath and headed off to extras. Hilliard also had a tying homer with 2 outs in the 9th on September 28, 2019, against Milwaukee; he and Todd Helton are the only players in Rockies history to hit two of them when the team was down to its final out.
We trade runs in the 10th thanks to a leadoff double by pinch hitter Josh Fuentes (and the free runner rule, of course). The Rockies had recorded only one other tying or go-ahead double by a pinch hitter in extra innings, and it was in the very first game at Coors Field on April 26, 1995. Jim Tatum doubled off the Mets' Mike Remlinger to send that contest to a 14th inning.
Tuesday would not end up with a 14th inning. Charlie Blackmon gets thrown out at the plate as the winning run in the 11th. We trade runs in the 12th. But then Stephen Vogt offers up a go-ahead single in the 13th, joining Luis Gonzalez (August 15, 2006) as the only D'backs players to hit one that late in a game at Coors. Ketel Marte then doubles home Vogt and Matt Peacock for a 10-7 lead. Did we mention Ryan McMahon is up in the bottom half?
No, he didn't go yard. He definitely didn't hit a 3-run homer to tie it, which is the only reason the game mercifully ended at exactly midnight. He did double in Trevor Story to finish the scoring at 10-8, thus becoming the third player in Rockies history to have 4 extra-base hits in a loss. The others on that list are Jeff Baker (May 30, 2008, at Wrigley) and Todd Walker (June 25, 2001, vs Padres). It was, not surprisingly, the first game in Colorado history where they scored in three different extra innings and still lost.
Entering Tuesday, there was one team left who not only hadn't had an "end" yet, they hadn't even had a beginning. Five days after most of their counterparts, the Nationals finally got to play their season opener, and well, maybe we'll just do that first pitch over again. Because Ronald Acuña launched it to left field for a 1-0 Atlanta lead. In the past four seasons, Acuña leads all MLB hitters with seven homers on the first pitch seen by a team in a game; Shin-Soo Choo has six. Two batters later, Freddie Freeman had also taken Max Scherzer deep for a 2-0 lead. Dansby Swanson then led off the 2nd with a homer, and wouldn't you know it, Acuña is back up to start the 3rd. And that ball is in the seats in left-center. It was the first time in Scherzer's career that he allowed homers in each of a game's first three innings, and Acuña's fourth time leading off a game with a homer and then going yard again later. The only other Braves batters to do that multiple times are Martin Prado and Felipe Alou.
But we're about endings this time. The Nats chipped away until an Andrew Stevenson RBI single tied the game in the 8th. That got Scherzer off the hook, joining John Patterson (2004), Tony Armas (2003), and Scott Sanderson (1982) as the only pitchers in franchise history to allow 4 homers and not take a loss. Alas he was long gone by the time Juan Soto reached home plate in the 9th. Soto dumped a line-drive single into center to allow Victor Robles to also reach home plate with a 6-5 Nationals win. Since moving from Montréal, the "Nationals" had only won one other season opener in walkoff fashion; that was 2008, also against Atlanta, when Ryan Zimmerman homered.
Tuesday was the first game in Nationals history to begin with a homer on the first pitch and end with a walkoff (of any kind) on the last pitch. The last known time the Expos did it was July 26, 1990, against the Cubs (Dave Clark HR, Tim Raines single).
And what about a beginning full of endings? Meet Akil Baddoo. Selected by the Twins out of high school in 2016, he never made it above high-A before needing Tommy John surgery and missing most of 2019 and all of 2020. But that meant he had been in the minors for five seasons and was subject to the Rule 5 draft. The Tigers picked him up and here he is on their Opening Day roster.
Last Sunday, in his MLB debut with the Tigers, all he did was provide half of the team's offense. Okay, that's a small sample size, because Detroit mustered just two hits in a loss to Cleveland, but one of them was Baddoo's first major-league homer. On the first pitch he ever saw in the majors. Only nine players in Tigers history have ever homered in their first at-bat, and the only other one known to do it on the first pitch is George Vico in 1948.
Monday's series opener with Minnesota was, well, also not close. Jose Ureña and Buck Farmer gave up 8 early runs and it was 15-2 by the time Baddoo came to the plate in the 9th inning. With the bases loaded. And at least 15-6 looks like less of a blowout. Baddoo was the first Tigers batter to hit a grand slam with his team down to its final out since J.D. Martinez did it against the Royals on June 16, 2014. More notably, Baddoo is the first ever to play his first two MLB games in a Tigers uniform and homer in both of them.
Spoiler alert: On Tuesday Baddoo did not homer. So no 3-game streak to start a career. Ah, but he does have another 3-game streak. Because in this one the Tigers bullpen surrendered two late runs to force more of those weird extra innings we've come to, well, know. And with 2 outs in the 10th, it was Baddoo's turn to single home free runner Harold Castro for the walkoff win. That got Baddoo another place in Detroit history; the only other Tigers batter with an extra-inning walkoff hit within his first 3 MLB games was Gabe Alvarez on June 24, 1998. And that walkoff hit also means another RBI. Four others have played their first 3 major-league games with the Tigers and had at least 1 hit and at least 1 RBI in all of them: Ron Cash (1973), Johnny Lipon (1942), Don Ross (1938), and Dale Alexander (1929).
As for that Monday game, Randy Dobnak was on the hill for the Twins to give up that grand slam. But he'd also been on the hill throughout the 7th and 8th innings also. That earned him the loophole of a 3-inning "save" despite turning a 14-run lead into "only" a 9-run lead. Oh yeah, and the grand slam. He was the second pitcher in Twins history to give up 5 runs and 2 homers, yet still "earn" a save because of the 3-inning rule. Dave Goltz did it in Cleveland on June 6, 1973.
Friend Of Kernels Jayson Stark asked us to look into the part about the slam. Since saves became an official thing in 1969, Dobnak is the fourth pitcher to "earn" one despite giving up a 2-out, 9th-inning grand slam. And two of the other three are Francisco Rodriguez (K-Rod), who did it for two different teams (the 2005 Angels and 2017 Tigers). The remaining one is Kevin Gregg of the Marlins in 2007.
J.D. Martinez just got mentioned in that Tigers section, but his days in the Motor City ended in 2017. He's now in the fourth year of a five-year deal with the Red Sox, and so far the negotiations for a new one are looking good. Tuesday's game with the Rays featured more of those pesky extra innings after Christian Vazquez hit a tying homer in the 9th. Mike Lowell had the only other such homer for Boston against the Rays on August 14, 2007. After the teams traded free runners in the 11th, Randy Arozarena's groundout in the 12th scored Mike Zunino to give Tampa Bay a 5-4 lead.
Enter Mr. Martinez. With Hunter Renfroe as the free runner at second, he could only stand there as the first two batters made quick outs. But then Alex Verdugo got hit by a pitch to allow Martinez to bat again. A wild pitch puts both runners in scoring position, and when J.D. doubles to right, the Sawx have not only walked off, they've done so when down to their last out because the Rays were winning at the time.
The Sawx had not recorded a walkoff win that late in a game since Blake Swihart's automatic double in the 13th on July 30, 2018, against the Phillies. It was also Boston's latest walkoff win ever against the Rays (if you consider 2 outs in the 12th to be later than 1 out in the 12th, which we do). But the last time the Red Sox had a walkoff hit when trailing in the 12th or later? For that you have to go back to April 29, 1967, when Rick Monday of Kansas City (that's the A's) homered in the top of the 13th but Jose Tartabull hit a bases-loaded single in the bottom half.
That Martinez walkoff was the most exciting of his hits this week, but there were plenty to choose from. J.D. homered on Monday and would go on to double on both Wednesday and Thursday as well (alas, no walkoffs). The streak extended to Martinez having at least 1 extra-base hit in every one of Boston's first 7 games of the season. Four other players in the modern era have pulled that off: Alex Rodriguez in 2007, Larry Walker and Phil Nevin in 2001, and Ken Griffey Jr in 1997. However, A-Rod remains the only one to extend that streak to 8; J.D.'s hopes were dashed by not playing at all on Saturday due to cold symptoms and an abundance of caution. Perhaps he should have shown this column to Alex Cora.
Or maybe he did. On Sunday J.D. was cleared to come back, and he did so with a vengeance, crushing 3 homers in a 14-9 slugfest with the Orioles. The only other Red Sox batter to do that in Baltimore (either stadium) was Mookie Betts in a 6-2 win on May 31, 2016. Rafael Devers added 2 homers of his own, making them the third set of Boston teammates to have 2 HR & 4 RBI in the same game against the O's/Browns franchise. And the other two happened in back-to-back games! Vern Stephens and Clyde Vollmer did it on June 7, 1950, in a 20-4 escapade, and the next day three Red Sox batters-- Bobby Doerr, Walt Dropo, and Ted Williams-- all collected that line (and much more) in a still-famous 29-4 game at Fenway Park.
And even though Martinez didn't have an extra-base hit in his team's first 8 games of the season, he did have one in each of his first 8 games of a season. Along with A-Rod, the only other player in the modern era to pull that off is Cleveland's Sandy Alomar in 1997.
How The East Was Won
Elsewhere in the AL East, the Orioles and Yankees found themselves in an extra-inning escapade the next day after Gio Urshela hit an RBI double in the 8th. It was the Yankees' first two-bagger to tie (not take the lead) a game with the Orioles in the 8th or later since Tony Kubek ruined Dave McNally's pitching night on May 2, 1965.
After the teams traded free runners in the 10th, Baltimore finally sealed the win when Chance Sisco singled home free runner Rio Ruiz in the 11th. Luis Cessa then came in and struck out Anthony Santander and Ryan McKenna with the bases loaded to keep the game within reach. The Yankees still didn't score in their half, but Cessa became the first Yankees pitcher to record back-to-back bases-loaded strikeouts in an extra inning since Shawn Kelley on June 30, 2014.
The Orioles' run in the 10th managed to score on an error as Gleyber Torres got a little too anxious to end the inning and airmailed the throw to first. So Sisco's hit in the 11th was still just the fourth base knock of the game for Baltimore. The O's hadn't played an extra-inning game where they managed to score 4+ runs on 4 or fewer hits since May 11, 1996, at Milwaukee.
On Saturday the Orioles found themselves in another extra-inning tangle, this one against the Red Sox. After Freddy Galvis gave Baltimore the lead in the 8th, the Sawx tied the game when Bobby Dalbec grounded into a potentially-game-ending double play but the O's couldn't turn it. And that would end up giving Dillon Tate an unfortunate piece of Orioles history. Tate was the pitcher who started the 10th for Baltimore, with free runner Michael Chavis quickly advancing to third... and in position to score the go-ahead run on a wild pitch. Which we mention because of course it happened. Only three Orioles pitchers this century have wild-pitched in a go-ahead run in extra innings, and they've all done it against Boston at Camden Yards. The others are Brad Brach (September 19, 2017) and Willis Roberts (September 23, 2002).
As for the Yankees, they waited until Sunday to meet up with the extra-inning rule again, but this time they seemed to like it. Free runner Aaron Judge got erased at the plate, but behind him came Aaron Hicks who had been plunked, Rougned Odor who singled, and then Gary Sanchez who singled and scored on a fielding error. The Yankees doubled their total for the game with 4 runs in the 10th, and the Rays went 1-2-3 in the bottom half.
And there's something about these two teams and extra innings. In the past eight seasons, to the start of 2014, there have been five occasions where the Yankees scored 4 or more runs in an extra inning-- and all of them are against the Rays, including back-to-back wins on July 4 and 5, 2019.
With all this discussion of "Ray"s and "ghost runners", we can't not drop
this classic on you. Intermission!
Out in the Golden State, four of its five MLB teams matched wits with each other this week, and on Wednesday neither game could be bothered to end in nine innings. Wil Myers forced extras at Petco Park with a solo homer, the team's first tying homer against the Giants in the 8th or later since Hector Sanchez took Mark Melançon deep on April 30, 2017.
But in the top of the 10th, it was Donovan Solano's sac fly that held up for the win; he brought home free runner Alex Dickerson after a strikeout and a roller to second failed to advance him. The Giants had hit just one other go-ahead sac fly in extra innings against San Diego, and it was a walkoff. Jim Dwyer hit it off Rollie Fingers on July 5, 1978.
Up in Oakland, it was the Dodgers' turn to visit there in an unusually-early interleague series. This one ended up in extras when Elvis Andrus hit a sacrifice fly in the 9th. And with the benefit of the free runner at second, it didn't take long for Mitch Moreland to hit a walkoff single in the 10th. Even though interleague play has now been with us for a quarter-century, it's only the third time the A's have walked off against the Dodgers in extras. Billy Butler hit a 10th-inning double on August 18, 2015, and on June 17, 2006, Bobby Crosby drew the latest-ever "shrimp" in Oakland history, a bases-loaded walk with 2 outs in the 17th.
Not to be forgotten, the remaining California team, the Angels, posted an 11-inning win over the Blue Jays in Dunedin, Fla., on Thursday. Leadoff batter Jose Iglesias walked, and with the added bonus of free runner Justin Upton, it would soon be David Fletcher's turn to bloop a 2-out, 2-run single into center field. The last time the Angels hit a multi-run, go-ahead single in the 11th or later was Opening Day 2013 in Cincinnati, when Chris Iannetta provided a 3-1 win off J.J. Hoover.
Then on Saturday the Angels and Jays played one of the most fascinating games of the young season before a "sellout" crowd of 1292 at the little single-A park in Dunedin. After a 2½-hour rain delay, the first pitch finally crossed the plate at 9:45 pm, and by 11:00 the Jays had wasted no time unloading on their Halo visitors. They knocked Jose Quintana out of the game in the 2nd after 7 runs, and dumped 7 more on Jaime Barria before he was rescued in the 4th. Those two pitchers were the first teammates in Angels history to give up 7+ runs each in the same game while getting no more than 6 outs. It was the first time since May 14, 2010, that the Jays had scored 14+ runs by the end of the 4th, and then Joe Panik added a meaningless RBI single in the 8th. The final score of 15-1 was easily the Jays' largest victory margin ever against the Angels, and the first time they'd scored 15+ without hitting a home run since July 14, 2011, against the Yankees (W 16-7).
Tommy Milone invoked that 3-inning rule to become the second pitcher in Jays history to "earn" a save in a game they won by 14 runs. Dave Stieb also did it in a 16-2 win at Seattle on August 19, 1998.
And Josh Palacios began his MLB career on Friday by going 0-for-3, but no worries, he's joining the parade on Saturday. His 4-for-4 performance, including scoring a run on all four trips around the bases, put him in rare company. Only two other players in the modern era have done 4 hits and 4 runs scored in either of their first two MLB games. Wid Conroy of the Brewers (slash Browns, slash Orioles) did it on April 25, 1901, in a game that is famous for being the first one in Tigers history. It ended with a 14-13 Detroit walkoff. The other player was Michael Conforto of the Mets on July 25, 2015.
Sooooo yeah, about Michael Conforto. You might have heard he was the topic of a wild ending on Thursday that even the Mets' own announcers couldn't believe. Things were set up by Jeff McNeil's solo homer to lead off the 9th, the second such dinger in Mets history to tie a game against the Marlins. Endy Chavez also started the 9th with one off Kevin Gregg on May 28, 2008.
After Brandon Nimmo collected his third extra-base hit of the day, Francisco Lindor was intentionally walked to get to Conforto. Who had been hit by a pitch in the 5th inning already. Now technically Conforto and the ball did make contact. Which party initiated it, is a debate that will live on. To say nothing of whether the pitch was actually a strike, which isn't reviewable. So it goes in the boxscore as one of our favorite events here at Kernels, one which we affectionately call a "plunk-off". There's only been three in Mets history; the others with game-winning bruises in the morning were Justin Turner (June 22, 2011, vs Oakland) and Daryl Boston (April 23, 1992, vs Cardinals). Conforto also became the first player, for any team, since at least 1907 (we lose play-by-play before that) to have multiple HBPs in a game with the last one being a plunk-off.
Mets fans are all too familiar with another ending, the one where Jacob deGrom pitches his brains out and still can't buy a win. Against the Marlins on Saturday "JDG" fanned 14 batters and allowed just 1 run, but that was a solo shot by Jazz Chisholm and it was enough to tag deGrom with the loss. Chisholm, for his part, became the sixth Marlins batter to homer at both Citi Field and Yankee Stadium, joining Brian Anderson, Garrett Cooper, J.T. Realmuto, Giancarlo Stanton, and Christian Yelich. But with Trevor Rogers also striking out 10 for the Marlins, and the Mets mustering only 3 hits, deGrom got the second "L" of his career in a game where he fanned 14 opponents. The other was last September against the Rays. He joins an illustrious list of hurlers to do it for other teams-- including (among others) Randy Johnson, Nolan Ryan, Steve Carlton, Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, and Pedro Martinez-- but deGrom is the first pitcher in Mets history to do it twice.
You may know that "Mets history", at least the current incarnation, begins in 1962 with National League expansion after the Dodgers and Giants moved to the west coast. For half a century there was one elusive feat the Mets had never pulled off, and it wasn't a game-ending hit-by-pitch or even a pitcher striking out 14 and losing. It was a pitcher throwing a no-hitter. Johan Santana finally broke that streak on June 1, 2012, in the team's 8,020th regular-season game. For nearly a decade that left us with only one active franchise that had never thrown one-- the San Diego Padres. Elevated to major-league status seven years after the Mets, they finally passed the Mets' streak of games in 2019. Oh sure, there had been scares. Five Padres games had gone into the 9th inning as no-hitters but none ever broke through. The most recent of those was a five-pitcher combined affair against the Dodgers in July 2011, in which not only did the Padres lose the NH in the 9th, they lost the game on a walkoff.
Enter Joe Musgrove. The kid from the San Diego suburb of El Cajon who grew up as a Padres fan and finally got the chance to play for his hometown team after a three-team trade in January. He led that team onto the field in Arlington on Friday night, and the Padres already had a 3-0 lead by the 3rd inning. In the 4th, Musgrove plunks Joey Gallo with a pitch for the Rangers' first baserunner. But then he retires four more in a row to earn the bright-blue "no-hitter" banner on MLB's scoreboard page. Yeah, we've seen this movie before.
Except this one has a surprise (and happy) ending. Musgrove did indeed retire twelve more in a row to break the spell in the Padres' 8,206th regular-season game. That's still not the all-time record; according to Friend Of Kernels Dirk Lammers, who may now have to change the name of his website devoted to all things NH, that honor is held by the Phillies who went 8,944 games (from 1906 to 1944) without throwing one. The longest current streak is now with the Indians, whose last NH was also a PG, by Len Barker in 1981. To reach the record streak, Cleveland would have to get to at least the 2038 season without throwing another one.
A no-hitter is usually (but not necessarily) an individual shutout as well, but Musgrove struck out 10 Rangers batters along the way. No Padres pitcher had thrown one of those in a road game since Andy Ashby did it in Pittsburgh on June 18, 1995. Ashby, by the way, was one of those other five Padres to lose a no-hitter in the 9th (though not the same game). Also, note here that the only baserunner Musgrove allowed was Joey Gallo's hit-by-pitch in the 4th. No walks either. 27 of 28. The last time a hit batter stood between a pitcher and a perfect game was yet another controversial ending a la Michael Conforto. Max Scherzer retired 26 straight before Jose Tabata "got hit by" a pitch on June 20, 2015.
Four no-hitters have been thrown in Arlington, and all of them are notable in their own way. Two are among the 23 perfect games in MLB history: Mike Witt's in the 1984 season finale, and Kenny Rogers in 1994. And Nolan Ryan threw his seventh and final NH at Arlington Stadium on May 1, 1991.
All this meant that at 9:51 CDT on April 9, 2021, we could finally, once again, say that every existing MLB franchise had thrown at least one no-hitter. The Padres, as mentioned, date back to 1969, and the Mets to 1962 before them. Neither of the AL expansion teams (Angels and Senators) threw one in their inaugural season the year before. The Senators played their first-ever game on April 10, one day before the Angels did. That means that the last full day on which we could actually say "every team has thrown a no-hitter" was April 9, 1961-- sixty years to the day before the Padres allowed us to say it again.
Bottom Of The Bag
⚾ Ronald Acuña, Sunday: First Braves leadoff batter with 3 hits and a sacrifice fly in a loss since Lonnie Smith versus San Diego, September 15, 1990.
⚾ Lorenzo Cain, Wednesday: First extra-inning homer hit by Brewers at Wrigley Field since Prince Fielder off Rocky Cherry, April 23, 2007.
⚾ Roberto Perez, Saturday: Second player in modern era with a homer, 3 walks, and 4 runs scored batting either 8th or 9th. Boston's Trot Nixon did it at the Metrodome on April 28, 1999.
⚾ Mike Yastrzemski, Monday: First go-ahead pinch-hit homer for Giants against Padres since Bill Bathe off Atlee Hammaker, September 4, 1990.
⚾ Yasmani Grandal, Wednesday: First White Sox catcher to bat in the cleanup spot and draw 3 walks since Carlton Fisk vs Orioles, September 2, 1989.
⚾ Trey Mancini & Maikel Franco, Sunday: First Orioles teammates with 4 RBI each in a loss since Larry Sheets & Jim Dwyer against Texas, August 6, 1986.
⚾ Brandon Nimmo, Tuesday: First Mets leadoff batter with 3 walks and a stolen base since Jose Reyes vs Giants, May 3, 2011.
⚾ Luis Arraez, Thursday: First Twins #9 batter with a homer and a sac fly in the same game since Alexi Casilla at Oakland, August 31, 2008.
⚾ Adrian House, Saturday: Second pitcher in Brewers history to allow 6 hits, 4 walks, and throw a wild pitch, yet be charged with 0 earned runs and get a win. Jim Slaton did it in a shutout of Minnesota on July 4, 1971.
⚾ Dodgers, Friday: First 1-0 win over the Nats/Expos via solo homer since Mike Piazza off Pedro Martinez on August 14, 1997.
⚾ Dylan Carlson, Wednesday: Second grand slam ever hit by Cardinals in Dade County. The other was (really) by (pitcher!) Kent Mercker on September 2, 1998.
⚾ Trea Turner, Sunday: First Nats/Expos player with 3 hits and a stolen base in a game where the team got shut out since Marquis Grissom at Philadelphia, June 23, 1992.
⚾ Zack McKinstry, Monday: First Dodgers #9 batter with 3 hits and 3 RBI in a game since Randy Wolf at Arizona, August 16, 2009. First non-pitcher in Dodgers history to do it.
⚾ Tyler Mahle, Friday: First Reds starter to be removed from a game in the 5th or later having not allowed a hit since Jim Maloney at Pittsburgh, August 16, 1967.
⚾ Freddie Freeman, Wednesday: First player to be intentionally walked in both the 1st and 2nd innings of the same game since Albert Pujols against Detroit, June 16, 2009.
⚾ Nomar Mazara, Sunday: Second player in Tigers history to ground into 2 double plays (official since 1933) and commit 2 defensive errors in the same game. Pinky Higgins at Philadelphia, July 16, 1940.
⚾ Jonathan India, Tuesday: Second player in Reds history with a triple, a sac fly, and 3 runs scored in a game. Barry Larkin did it at Wrigley Field on July 13, 1995.
⚾ Shane Bieber, Wednesday: Became fourth pitcher in modern era to strike out 12+ opponents in each of first two starts of a season. Bieber is half of them (did it last year too). Others are Nolan Ryan 1978 and Karl Spooner 1954.
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