Baseball is usually a game of threes. Three strikes. Three outs. Three times three = nine players and nine innings. But it has its terrible twos as well. This week it started with just doubles and ended with doubleheaders.
"The town so nice, they named it twice." You've heard all the clichés. But if you're a baseball fan in the Big Apple, you probably hated Wednesday and loved Thursday.
The schedule-makers usually try hard to prevent the two-team cities like New York and Chicago and the Bay Area from having both their teams home at the same time. On the few occasions where it does happen, it's often a Wednesday or Thursday where one team has an afternoon game to finish a series ("getaway day") and the other is welcoming a new opponent for the weekend. These always make for great opportunities to see both teams in the same day, and we can personally vouch for being on the 7-train to Shea on a few occasions with other baseball fans who were doing the same thing.
On Wednesday you couldn't do that. The Yankees were hosting Toronto, and the Mets were hosting Colorado, but both games were 7:00 starts. Gotta choose. Or you could just let the weather choose for you. It rained. A lot. Both games got postponed. And then both games got rescheduled into doubleheaders on Thursday. Thanks to the new MLB rules, that means two 7-inning games each-- starting at noon in Queens and at 4:00 in the Bronx. With the travel time in between, you would never have seen the entirety of all four games in person, but you could get parts of them. OR, the Mets' minor-league affiliate in Brooklyn also got rained out Wednesday and rescheduled to a twinbill on Thursday at 6. So the choices for baseball-watching were plentiful.
As for dueling doubleheaders, Thursday was the first time that New York hosted four MLB games on the same day since September 13, 2008. That was a Saturday, and the same thing happened Friday-- it rained, and being September, it was the last trip in for both opponents, so the only choice was to do a two-fer on Saturday. But now let's play the games.
It's still 10 am in Denver when the Rockies' doubleheader in Queens begins, so maybe they're forgiven for only coming up with 3 hits in the opener. But the Mets only came up with three of their own. And only one of them mattered-- Jose Peraza's solo homer off German Marquez in the 3rd inning. That would be your final score, the Mets' first 1-0 win over the Rockies since August 10, 2010, when they won on a sac fly by Jose Reyes. Marquez pitched the entire game (since nobody else was awake) and became the second hurler in Colorado history to eat a CG loss despite allowing only 3 hits. Ubaldo Jimenez did that in Milwaukee on May 22, 2011. It was the Mets' first time winning a doubleheader opener by a 1-0 count since July 6, 1994, against Cincinnati. They walked off in the nightcap later that day.
They did not have to walk off on Thursday. Tied 1-1, Peraza had a go-ahead single in the 4th to secure a Mets sweep by a final of 4-2. Only one other player has had a go-ahead hit for the Mets in both games of a doubleheader against the Rockies; it's Mike Piazza on August 18, 1998. And Thursday was the second doubleheader in Mets history where they had 5 or fewer hits in both games but still won them both. The other was on August 17 of that magical year of 1969 against the Padres.
Okay, so we didn't quite make it to the Bronx in time to catch all of the Yankees' doubleheader. Didn't miss much. They got shut out on 2 hits in the opener by Alek Manoah, who was, oh yeah, making his major-league debut. As a kid you dreamed of walking onto the mound at Yankee Stadium. Manoah not only did it, he became the first pitcher ever to allow 2 hits, strike out 7, and get a win in his MLB debut there. His mom was excited too.
For the Yankees, the only comparable performance was another of Dave Stieb's near-no-hitters on April 10, 1989. That's the only other time they got shut out on 2 hits by the Jays in their own ballpark. They would, however, rally for a 5-3 win in the nightcap with Gary Sanchez's homer doing the honors in the 4th. Sanchez joined a short list of Yankees hitters with three go-ahead homers against the Jays in one season: Carlos Beltran, Brett Gardner, Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada, and Jason Giambi.
Tiger Beat (Double Issue!)
The Yankees dodged additional raindrops by going west to Detroit for the weekend, where Rougned Odor's solo homer knotted Friday's game at 1-1 in the 5th. Gerrit Cole only struck out 5, Casey Mize was typically average, by the 6th it's a bullpen show, and these are the slogs that the free-runner rule was meant to alleviate. Aaron Judge is said free runner. He goes to third on a groundout. As for how he scores, well, that's a little different. The last time the Yankees scored any extra-inning run (not even the go-ahead one) on a passed ball was May 18, 1976. It just deprived Odor of having both RBIs in the game, because he promptly singled for his fourth hit of the day. Bernie Williams (July 2, 2005) is the only other Yankees batter with 4 hits and a homer at Comerica Park since it opened in 2000. The last one to do it in a loss in Detroit was Steve Sax at Tiger Stadium on June 27, 1989.
A loss, you say? Mm-hmm. Robbie Grossman cranks a 2-run walkoff homer to score free runner Eric Haase. The Tigers hadn't hit a walkoff homer when trailing in extras (i.e., a lead-flipper) since Alex Avila had one on April 8, 2012. And they hadn't hit any walkoff homer against the Yankees since Carlos Guillen took Sean Henn deep on August 24, 2007.
The Tigers gave us interesting combinations of things for the entire week, however. Some are interesting just because the Tigers usually can't hit at all. On Thursday they posted their 44th game since the start of 2018 where they mustered 3 or fewer hits. That's eight more than any other team, and it was on the heels of doing it on Wednesday as well. But Thursday's 3 hits were strangely unique. For starters, none of them came in the first 6 innings which put us back on Shane Bieber no-hitter watch again. The spoiler was Jonathan Schoop's homer to lead off the 7th, leaving Bieber to join Bob Feller (June 27, 1939) as the only Indians pitchers ever to have a 1-hit, 12-strikeout performance against the Tigers. After Bieber's departure, Jeimer Candelario blooped a 2-out double in the 8th. And with Haase on first in the 9th, Victor Reyes legged out an RBI triple. So homer, triple, double... but no singles. It's only the second game in Tigers history to have that oddity; the other was against the Browns on July 6, 1924, and the homer was hit by pitcher Lil Stoner. (You can't make this up.)
We mentioned the Tigers having 3 hits on Wednesday as well, this time made interesting because they won. In another "will someone please hit the ball" fest, Triston McKenzie and Jose Ureña "battled" to a 0-0 tie before leaving in the 6th with 7 strikeouts combined between them. It would take a leadoff double by Niko Goodrum in the 8th for anyone to score, and that happened two batters later on a Robbie Grossman sac fly. The Tigers had not won a 1-0 game against Cleveland since May 8, 2009, and hadn't done it via sac fly since Bobby Higginson hit one on April 14, 2001.
And scrolling back to Monday, we find Grossman had a sac fly in that one as well. Along with 2 walks. But no hits. He's the first Tigers leadoff batter to post that line since Brandon Inge against Minnesota on July 22, 2005. At the other end of the order, Willi Castro had both a homer and a double, the first Tigers #9 to do that in a home loss since Ryan Raburn on June 29, 2011. For their part, Cleveland had no doubles. And no homers. And nary a triple. And they still won 6-5. The Indians hadn't scored 6 runs in a game without benefit of an extra-base hit since beating San Diego 8-5 on June 10, 2003.
Bring The Cheese
If you had to rank all 435 combinations of MLB teams from a "rivalry" perspective, Brewers/Padres wouldn't exactly be in the top 10. In fact its rank would probably start with a "4". But they played a fun series this week in which every game had something right up our alley.
Like most of us, the Padres took a little while to get going on Monday, although some of that credit belongs to Brandon Woodruff. Woodruff, whom you might remember from the list of nearly two dozen pitchers already this year to take a no-hitter into the 7th, gave up just 3 base knocks while striking out 8. It was his fourth career start of 7 scoreless innings with those other numbers included, the most in Brewers history. Teddy Higuera, Jimmy Nelson, and Freddy Peralta each did it three times.
Woodruff would eventually leave, however, paving the way for Tommy Pham to break up the 5-0 shutout. His homer was the first shutout-breaker the Padres had ever hit in the 9th inning against Milwaukee, and it gave them their first game in nearly 15 years where they didn't score for the first 8 innings but then hung at least 3 runs in the 9th. The previous one of those was July 20, 2006, in San Francisco.
You may remember Corbin Burnes and Joe Musgrove from that no-hitter list also. Musgrove waited until the 5th to give up a hit this time, but then plunked Travis Shaw with a pitch, walked Burnes, and was pulled after 84 pitches. So he couldn't even get a win for his 1-hit, 0-run effort (repeal this rule!). Three Padres relievers combined to also give up only 1 hit, making Tuesday the first home game where the Brewers had 2 hits and struck out 13 times since... um... April 3 against the Twins. They've never before done that twice at home in the same season, and we still have four months left.
Meanwhile, the Padres offense was in "manufacturing" mode, with six different players stealing a base for the first time in team history. No team in the majors had done it since the Yankees in September 2013. Between that, an error, a sac fly, a hit batter, and a couple well-placed doubles, the Padres created the unusual combo of 7 runs on 5 hits, another first in their history. And because they also committed an error, they ended with a linescore of 7-5-1. The last one of those was on April 22, 2013-- between these same two teams. Except the script was flipped; the Brewers were the ones posting the 7-5-1 at Petco Park.
Wednesday looked promising for the Padres when Fernando Tatis Jr lifted a 1st-inning sac fly for a 1-0 lead. Naturally, though, that would be all he'd do; he became the first San Diego hitter with a sac fly and 3 strikeouts since Matt Kemp in May 2016. That would also end up being the only run the Padres scored in regulation. And by mentioning "regulation", you know that the Brewers managed to tie this one with a run of their own before losing the battle of free runners in the 10th.
Eric Lauer is not on that list of near-no-hitters. But he had one particularly big hit in the 3rd inning, his first career homer-- and it came against the team for whom he played in 2018 and 2019. (Can confirm; he started the game that was the official gathering of the SABR conference that year.) Brewers pitchers do occasionally homer; Adrian Houser has two already. Yovani Gallardo hit four one year. The team record is five, in the pre-DH American League days. But it's not often that they get their only run(s) of a game from a pitcher homering. Lauer was the fourth to do that, joining Gallardo (a 1-0 win in 2009), Brooks Kieschnick (who was always an experiment in pitching to start with) in 2003, and Skip Lockwood in 1971.
And why not end the series with a walkoff? After battling to a 5-5 tie, Jackie Bradley would win the battle of free runners this time, hitting the Brewers' first extra-inning walkoff single against San Diego since J.J. Hardy on September 5, 2008. Kolten Wong, subbed in for defense in the 7th, became the first player in Brewers history with a hit, a walk, a run scored, and 2 steals in a game he didn't start. Willy Adames joined Ryan Braun (April 30, 2012) as the only Milwaukee batters to have 4 hits and 4 RBI in a game against the Padres.
The back-to-back extra-inning games between the two "rivals" had also happened only once before-- June 16 and 17, 2017, also in Milwaukee (and also split the two games). But in our theme of 2's we must shout-out Fernando Tatis Jr again. He did contribute 2 hits, 2 walks, and 2 runs scored to the cause. He also managed to commit 2 errors on one play for an MLB-"leading" 14 miscues on the season. And only 2 players in Padres history have put all those 2's in one game; the other is Ken Caminiti against the Giants on July 6, 1996.
The Padres then went on to Houston on Friday and still couldn't finish a game in the predefined 9 innings. It was the fourth time in their history that they'd played three straight extra-inning games (August 2014, May 1995, July 1972). But the key to this one was what happened in extra innings.
Aside from fitting our theme, we'll skip past the 2-2 score in regulation, and the fact that Kyle Tucker had 2 doubles. In the 10th, Manny Machado hits a leadoff double to bring home free runner Tommy Pham. But then Chas McCormick ties it up with a sac fly in the bottom half. McCormick had already homered to score those other two Houston runs; he's the first Astros batter to have 3 RBI and account for all the team's runs in an extra-inning loss since Carlos Lee on September 16, 2011.
Yes, an extra-inning loss. Padres 11th: Single, single, single, pitching change, fielder's choice, single, sac fly, error, double, single, groundout, 7 runs and a 10-3 blowout. Brooks Raley, the first pitcher in that sequence, joined Brandon Lyon (June 11, 2011) as the only Astros pitchers ever to give up 4+ runs on 0 outs and take an extra-inning loss (and he only faced 3 batters to do it!).
Pham, who had that last single to knock Raley out of the game, ended his night with another series of 2's: hits, walks, runs scored, and RBI. Only three other Padres leadoff batters have done that in a road game-- Fernando Tatis Jr (2019), Damian Jackson (2000), and Quilvio Veras (1998). Speaking of Tatis, he hit that sac fly in the 11th and is the first cleanup batter in team history with a homer, a sac fly, and a stolen base in the same game.
But seven runs? Well, let's say you don't want to take the Padres to extras on May 28. In that other series of three straight extra-inning games in 1995, we find the last instance of San Diego hanging a 7-spot in any extra inning. It was a 9 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia to win 13-5... and it was 26 years earlier to the day.
We're slowly running out of songs that mention twos or doubles or the like. We used Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock last year. There was another, completely different, song with an "it takes two" chorus that came out around the same time. But we still have a few up our sleeve. So give us a "ho" if you got your funky bus fare. And we hope you don't have to walk to work. It's fifteen blocks, after all. Intermission!
Seven Rays Of Light
The Padres weren't even the only team to throw up a 7 this week. The Rays were playing a wrap-around rare Monday day game which would be the final intra-Pinellas County game in MLB history (let's hope). Their snowbird neighbors from Dunedin were finally going back north for the summer, but the Rays wouldn't let them leave without some gifts. There was Joey Wendle's 1st-inning grand slam, the fourth ever in Rays history (Joey Butler 2015, Carlos Peña 2012, Jared Sandberg 2002). There was an unnecessary comeback by the Jays in the 8th, when Rowdy Tellez hit the team's first pinch-hit triple in a home game in four years, and then Vlad Guerrero's second homer of the game tied things at 5. Austin Meadows and Manuel Margot brought home 2 runs in the 10th, but Marcus Semien spoiled that with a homer that included the free runner.
Finally in the 11th, the Rays put their foot down and said, you have to leave now. Buffalo needs you. (Or something.) Joel Payamps gave up a walk and two singles, and counting the free runner, became the first Jays pitcher to give up 4 runs on 0 outs and take a loss since Matt Boyd did it in a start in July 2015. Manuel Margot would add two more runs with a triple, just the second RBI triple in the 11th or later in Rays history. (The other one claims to be a Ben Zobrist walkoff from July 2012, and walkoff triples are always suspect because the batter usually gets mobbed before actually making it to third base.) And by the time we're done we have the first 7-run extra inning in Rays history. And the second one allowed by Toronto (August 26, 2014, to Boston).
We maintain a file of 5-run innings that goes back 30 seasons. We don't have any other team to score 5 in the 1st and 5 in an extra in the same game. Stats LLC took a slightly different twist and determined that it was the first game in the modern era in which a team scored 5+ in the 1st and 5+ in extras with no other runs in between (i.e., 2nd through 9th).
Connect Four
Thought we were done with the Padres after that 7-spot on Friday, didn't you? Yeah, so did we. Except on Saturday they rallied for 2 runs in the 8th, and Fernando Tatis couldn't just fly out to left to end the game. Nope, he had to fly over the wall in left for a game-tying 3-run homer. He's the first Padres batter with a tying or go-ahead homer when down to the team's final out of a road game since... he did it last July in Colorado. The only other player in team history to do it twice is Wil Myers.
Enter Wil Myers. Well, not quite yet. First the teams have to trade their free runners in both the 10th and 11th. Since the Padres enter the bottom of the inning with a lead each time, that means Mark Melançon gets to blow another save, just as he did on Friday. The last Padres pitcher to blow a save in consecutive games, but still have the team end up winning them both, was Scott Linebrink in July 2006.
Yes, winning them both. The Astros intentionally walk leadoff batter Tatis in the 12th. He's not gonna beat us again. Nope, Myers is. Three-run homer for an 11-8 final. Turns out Myers also hit a 3-run homer on April 30, 2017, against the Giants, and is the only player in team history to hit two in the 12th or later. He also had a solo shot in the 16th inning of a 2018 game in Arizona. And only one other player in Padres history has hit three total home runs (any variety) in the 12th or later-- Dave Winfield from 1974 to 1979.
As you already know, it was the first time in Padres history they've played four straight extra-inning games, and Saturday was (not surprisingly) the first time they'd ever scored in the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th innings of the same game.
And while Sunday's game finally broke the extra-innings streak, that was Wil Myers homering again in the 9th for no reason other than to make a 7-1 game into a 7-2 game. He's the first Padres batter to go yard in the 9th or later of consecutive games since... yeah, Wil Myers on July 8 and 9 of 2018. The only other Padres batters to repeat the feat are Adrian Gonzalez and Ryan Klesko.
Double Sevens
You also thought we were done talking about rain, but as it turns out, there was more of it on Friday night, because that's just what happens in May. This latest round would cause washouts and Saturday doubleheaders in Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Washington (more on those later), but the Indians were able to get in just enough of their game to make it official. And the Jays were able to get in just enough runs against Cleveland that the decision didn't take long. Toronto won an 11-2 contest that was called in the 7th, and even in that time Lourdes Gurriel doubled up on the doubles. He had two of them plus a sac bunt, the first Jays batter with that combo since Alex Gonzalez on May 2, 1998.
The Jays were coming off that doubleheader in New York on Thursday, which means those games were by rule both shortened to 7 innings. And then the rain continued into Saturday, cancelling their afternoon contest and forcing another 7-inning doubleheader on Sunday. Meanwhile, look at Cleveland. They already have another twinbill coming with Chicago on Monday thanks to an April rainout. That means both teams could potentially play five straight 7-inning regulation games. Even with the "new" doubleheader rule last year, no team did that. In fact, we found only one other squad in MLB history who had-- the 1886 Chicago White Stockings (the Cubs now). In the 19th century, before there were weeks of playoff games, the regular season often went into mid-October, and you might remember that the sun doesn't like to cooperate. So many teams saw their October games called after 6, 7, or 8 innings due to impending darkness. And the now-Cubs had such a stretch from September 30 to October 5 of that year.
While we're shortening games, that rain also moved into Boston late on Friday, but not before they had taken a 5-2 lead on the Marlins. Since we're doubling down on the theme, Hunter Renfroe joined the double-double club, the first Sawx batter to do that against Miami since Kelly Shoppach in June 2012. It was nearly 11 until they finally gave up and called the game in the 6th, the shortest Marlins game since another Fenway washout on June 18, 2009. It's been nearly a half-century since there was both a 6-inning game and a 7-inning game on the same day; it last happened on August 2, 1972. But throw in that 11-inning Padres win, and the 10th-inning walkoff by the Tigers, and it's been three-quarters of a century since we've seen that. The last day that had individual games of 6, 7, 9, 10, and 11 innings... was June 16, 1946.
Daily Doubles
Long before all the doubleheaders came to be, we noticed a pattern of other doubles throughout the week. We'll rapid-fire some of them at you now.
The Marlins had six different players collect a double in Monday's 9-6 win over the Phillies. Now in their 10th year at we-still-call-it-Marlins Park, it's just the second home game where that's happened; Jose Reyes and Giancarlo Stanton were among the two-baggers against Milwaukee on September 6, 2012.
Justin Upton doubled up on the leadoff homers, hitting them both Tuesday and Wednesday against Texas. He's the first Angels batter to have one in consecutive games since Mike Trout against Detroit on September 8-9, 2012.
Jonathan Villar had a pair of hits on Tuesday, one of which was a double. Because Mets, he also had a pair of caught-stealings, one of third (after the double) and one of second (after a walk). He's the first Mets player to double up both of those categories (hits and CS) in a game since Carlos Baerga on July 25, 1997. (We should also mention that in the same game, Jacob deGrom became the first Mets pitcher to start a season with 7 straight games of 0 or 1 earned run allowed. David Cone in 1988 and Nolan Ryan in 1971 had done it in 6.)
Dean Kremer's record dropped to 0-5 on Tuesday as the Orioles slumped their way to a 13-game losing streak (which is still active as we post this). The runs that gave Minnesota the lead for good came one right after the other in the 2nd inning. Not on a double, but on back-to-back wild pitches by Kremer. He's the first Orioles pitcher to bounce in 2 runs in a game since Eddy Rodriguez also did it in the same at-bat on June 8, 2004. Three Twins players did each have multiple doubles in this game, the second time that's happened at Target Field. C.J. Cron, Byron Buxton, and former Oriole Jonathan Schoop did it on July 5, 2019.
Jack Flaherty finally got a loss on Tuesday, so we can't talk about him starting the season 9-0. But we can talk about him doubling his wild-pitch count and nearly doubling his hit-batter count by having 2 of each against the White Sox. He's the first Cardinals pitcher to commit 2 of each "infraction" in a game since Woody Williams against the Reds on June 19, 2004.
For all they do, catchers are usually not the fastest players on your team, mostly because their knees are shredded. So when Willson Contreras not only hits a double but then steals a base, we noticed. On Thursday he became the first Cubs catcher to do that in the same game since Koyie Hill on September 15, 2010.
D'backs rookie Pavin Smith irritated the Cardinals on Thursday by hitting a 2-run double in the 7th to bring Arizona within 1, and then doubling down with another two-bagger in the 8th. That caused the Cardinals to wait until the 10th inning to finally win the game (on another double, by Yadier Molina). Smith is the second player in D'backs history with multiple RBI doubles in the 7th or later, joining Robbie Hammock against the Dodgers on June 6, 2004.
Randal Grichuk rounded out the last of the week's doubleheaders by (what else?) hitting a double in both games in Cleveland on Sunday. That, of course, was also the twinbill that ended with Tyler Chatwood issuing 5 free passes, including four straight in the 9th to lose the lead, before Jose Ramirez's walkoff sac fly. Chatwood joined Kevin Gregg (June 2010) and Jerry Johnson (May 1977) as the only pitchers in Jays history to issue 5 walks and blow a save. But Grichuk made history of his own: He also doubled in both games of a twinbill on September 4 of last season at Fenway Park. And he's the first Toronto hitter ever to do that twice.
Triple Double(headers)
We mentioned that rain-induced twinbill in Pittsburgh on Saturday. The Rockies could have just stayed at the hotel. They lost by counts of 7-0 and 4-0, their first time ever being shut out in both games of a DH. It was the Pirates' first time doing such shutting out since October 3, 1976, against the Cardinals. Gregory Polanco tripled for the Pirates in the first game, and then Jacob Stallings did likewise in the second. It's the second time Pittsburgh's had a three-bagger in both games of a DH at PNC Park; Rob Mackowiak and Salomon Torres (yes, the pitcher) did it on September 19, 2003.
Jose Abreu hit cleanup in both games of Saturday's double-dip against the Orioles. He also collected multiple RBIs in both games as the White Sox swept the Orioles to consecutive losses 11 and 12. Their last sweep of a home DH against Baltimore was April 17, 1982. And Abreu is the first Sox cleanup batter with 2+ RBI in both games of a DH since Albert Belle against Toronto on July 15, 1988.
And Saturday's final doubleheader takes us to Washington, where the Brewers were the ones doing the sweeping. Kolten Wong hit leadoff for Milwaukee in both games, and of course he collected a double in both of them as well. He's the first Milwaukee batter to pull that off since Jim Gantner in Oakland on May 20, 1979. Meanwhile, Freddy Peralta threw a 7-inning complete game in the opener, something no Milwaukee pitcher had done in Washington since the inaugural season of the American League. Remember the Orioles/Browns started life as a one-year reincarnation of the Milwaukee Brewers (who had themselves existed for only one season in the American Association), and one Bert Husting threw a rain-shortened CG against the Senators on September 18, 1901.
Bottom Of The Bag
⚾ Rich Hill, Tuesday: Struck out 13 batters and lost. Only other pitcher in modern era to do that after the age of 41 is Nolan Ryan (twice).
⚾ Nick Madrigal, Sunday: First go-ahead triple for White Sox in 7th or later against the Orioles since Lance Johnson off Pete Harnisch, July 6, 1990.
⚾ Mark Canha, Thursday: Second A's leadoff batter to have 3 hits and 2 walks in a game against the Angels. Rickey Henderson did it in a 4-3 win on September 26, 1998.
⚾ Austin Gomber, Monday: First Rockies pitcher to work into the 9th after allowing multiple homers since Aaron Cook at Shea, October 2, 2005 (a game better known as Mike Piazza's Mets farewell).
⚾ Frankie Montas, Saturday: First Oakland pitcher to throw 3 wild pitches and somehow not get charged with an earned run since Storm Davis at Boston, May 16, 1988.
⚾ Tommy Edman, Wednesday: Second Cardinals batter with a multi-homer game at Comiskey. Fernando Tatis (Sr) did it on July 13, 2000.
⚾ Jason Martin, Friday: Rangers' first pinch-hit foul-out to end a game with the tying run in scoring position since Kevin Reimer against Seattle on June 9, 1992.
⚾ Joc Pederson, Tuesday: First Cubs leadoff batter with 3 hits and 3 RBI in a game in Pittsburgh since Sammy Sosa, May 6, 1994.
⚾ Charlie Blackmon, Sunday: First player in Rockies history with both a go-ahead triple and a go-ahead double in the same contest.
⚾ Jesse Winker, Thursday: First Reds batter with multiple 4-hit games in less than a week (also May 21) since Dmitri Young in June 2001.
⚾ Andrew Vaughn, Monday: First lead-flipping homer for White Sox against Cardinals (any inning) since Frank Thomas off Darryl Kile, July 15, 2000.
⚾ Austin Barnes, Friday: Dodgers' first game-tying homer by a pinch hitter with 2 outs in the 9th since Tripp Cromer off Houston's Billy Wagner on May 20, 1999.
⚾ Tyler Mahle, Sunday: First Reds pitcher to allow 1 hit and strike out 8 at Wrigley Field since Jim Maloney threw his 10-inning (and 10-walk) no-hitter there on August 19, 1965.
⚾ Michael King, Tuesday: First Yankees reliever to scatter 6 hits but only get charged with 1 run since Ted Lilly on September 26, 2001.
⚾ Nick Solak, Saturday: Third player in Rangers history to have multiple sac flies accounting for all the team's runs in a game. Others are Alex Rodriguez (September 11, 2003) and Mike Hargrove (August 9, 1978).
⚾ Ozzie Albies, Wednesday: First Braves batter with a 1st-inning triple in Boston since... they were the home team. George Crowe against the Cubs, June 14, 1952.
