Shortly before 1 am the fine folks at Stats Inc offered us this helpful tweet.
So that's sorta cool. (Also, buried the lead on the Braves game.) But there are three key words there: "many other things". Many, many other things. Many, many...Among many other things, today in baseball there was:
— Stats By STATS (@StatsBySTATS) May 22, 2021
-A 3-homer game (Jesse Winker)
-A team hitting 2 grand slams in a game (Braves)
-A team turning a triple play (Yankees)
This is the first time in MLB history all three of those feats have occurred on the same day.
Atlanta, 8:01 pm EDT
We start our "whip-around coverage" with the first of those grand slams mentioned above. Ronald Acuña fired the first big shot in the Braves' game against Pittsburgh, and unlike most of his big shots, this one wasn't a leadoff homer-- for which he already holds the Braves' all-time record. Nope, this one came in his second at-bat in the 2nd inning, and because he usually bats leadoff, it's only the second grand slam of his career. The other was also against Pittsburgh, also in the 2nd inning, on June 10, 2019. Later in the game Acuña would sneak in a sacrifice fly for a fifth RBI, becoming the first Braves batter with both in the same game since Nick Markakis on June 30, 2018-- and the first leadoff batter in team history with such a line.
Pirates starter Tyler Anderson would last until the 5th but would get tagged for 4 additional runs, including back-to-back homers by Ozzie Albies and Austin Riley. The last time a Pittsburgh starter allowed 9 total runs and 3 homers to the Braves was July 13, 1979, when Jim Rooker did it in a 13-4 loss at Fulton County.
Cleveland, 8:30 pm EDT
As Acuña was grand-slamming the Braves to a 5-0 lead, Alex Kiriloff of the Twins was dropping a single into right field in Cleveland, such that the first two batters of the 3rd inning had quickly reached base. Max Kepler and then Miguel Sano drew walks on either side of Kiriloff, and when Rob Refsnyder drew the fourth walk of the inning, it was time for Indians starter Triston McKenzie to make his exit. McKenzie did allow only 2 hits, but why swing if he can't hit the zone? He became the first Cleveland starter to allow 2 hits but also walk 5 and not get out of the 4th inning since Ubaldo Jimenez on April 16, 2013.
Phil Maton came into the game and, well, had the exact opposite problem. Single, walk, double, single, double, another pitching change. There was a groundout in there, and Jean Carlos Mejia finally got the Indians out of the inning, but not before giving up the Twins' first 9-run inning in a road game since August 3, 2014, in Chicago. One of those doubles Maton allowed was also to Miguel Sano, who became the first Twins batter with a two-bagger and a walk in the same inning since Robbie Grossman did it against the White Sox on April 15, 2017.
The 9-run, 33-minute top of the 4th made it a 10-0 game following Rob Refsnyder's earlier homer, and you can just shut this one down now. Cleveland did manage several more hits, including having runners on second and third in the 8th, but neither team ever scored again. (The Twins, for their part, didn't really need to.) Thanks to all those walks, it would be the first time Minnesota scored double-digit runs on single-digit hits since another game in Cleveland, a 10-7 win on April 6, 2014. And as for the 10-0 shutout, it was the second-largest blanking in franchise history to happen in Cleveland. Muddy Ryel and Ossie Bluege were among the fun names who contributed triples to a 12-0 win by the Senators at League Park on May 17, 1927.
After scoring 2 runs in the 1st off John Curtiss, and adding a Tomas Nido RBI double in the 3rd, the Mets decided to do their best Mets impression when it finally came to the 7th inning. That's when Marcus Stroman led off the inning by issuing a walk to Brian Anderson, hitting the invisible pitch count of 89 and requiring his removal. That turned things over to Miguel Castro, who promptly wild-pitched Anderson to second, which didn't matter because Garrett Cooper tied the game with a homer. It was the fourth game-tying dinger the Marlins have hit in the 7th or later against the Mets in their new digs; Christian Yelich (2017), Justin Bour (2015), and John Buck (May 13, 2012, in the Mets' second game there) have the others. And lest you thought this might be the first game of the night to end,...
For the first several hours of Friday night, the game to watch was the pitcher's duel between Carlos Rodon (he of an earlier no-hitter) and Jordan Montgomery (wait, huh?). Yes, the starters for the White Sox and Yankees matched zeroes for 6 innings, and the offenses did their part by just constantly whiffing. Both pitchers recorded career highs in the "K" column (13 and 11, respectively), and in so doing joined a short list in MLB's modern era. It was only the fourth game since 1901 where both starters allowed 0 runs and fanned 11 opponents. San Diego's Andy Benes and Bret Saberhagen of the Mets did it in 1994, Oakland's Vida Blue dueled Rudy May of the Angels in 1971, and Bob Veale of the Pirates matched wits with the Reds' Jim Maloney on the final weekend of the 1964 campaign. (Also note that one pitcher in each pair also threw a no-hitter somewhere in his career.)
Rodon left the game after 95 pitches, thus opening the door for Gleyber Torres to break the scoreless tie with a 7th-inning homer. Montgomery was replaced by Jonathan Loaisiga in the 8th, which opened the other door wherein Nick Madrigal ties the game back up with a single following a leadoff walk and a wild pitch. So we go to the 9th locked at 1-1 and with Aroldis Chapman on the hill. Yermin Mercedes draws a leadoff walk and gets pinch-run for by Billy Hamilton. Leury Garcia lays down a sac bunt which goes awry when Chapman botches the throw. And now we join you at 9:49 when Andrew Vaughn sends a ground ball perfectly placed down the third-base line. Perfectly placed, that is, for Gio Urshela to step on third and retire even the speedy Hamilton. And around the horn we go, ((5)-4)-3 triple play to erase the Sox threat and swing the old momentum meter. The Yankees hadn't turned a triple play since another 5-4-3 against the Rays on April 17, 2014. BUT they hadn't turned one against the White Sox since June 1, 1918, in which such luminaries as Wally Pipp, Del Pratt, Happy Felsch, and Buck Weaver all participated. (That was also scored 5-4-3, but it was a lineout to retire the batter first, with the other runners doubled off.)
That famous "momentum meter"? That took only 11 minutes, including the inning break, to come to fruition. Because Gleyber Torres is up again in the bottom of the 9th, and this time it's with 0 outs after Aaron Judge and Gio Urshela start the inning with back-to-back singles. So in addition to his go-ahead hit in the 7th, Torres gets to provide the Yankees another go-ahead hit in the 9th, the team's first walkoff single against the White Sox since Martin Prado scored Ichiro Suzuki on August 22, 2014. The last Yankees batter with multiple go-ahead hits in the 7th or later of the same game was Derek Jeter against the Orioles on June 2, 2006.
And the last team to turn a triple play in the top of the 9th and then walkoff in the bottom of the 9th? Well, we remember that one well. Mass confusion took over at Dodger Stadium on April 15, 2012, when plate umpire Dale Scott appeared to call time and/or a foul ball-- causing the Padres to stop running-- but an alert A.J. Ellis started a 2-5-6-3 bunt triple play which was mysteriously upheld after replay.
It's still only 10:00.
Back in Atlanta, recall Pirates starter Tyler Anderson leaving after giving up 9 runs and 3 homers. That was in the first five innings. Since then we've managed to play, well, not quite three more. Kyle Keller has given up a homer to make it 10-0. Austin Riley has gone back-to-back again, this time on the other side of the order with Dansby Swanson.
It's the first time the Braves have gone back-to-back twice in the same game since June 11, 2019, also against Pittsburgh, when they hit 4 homers in the span of 5 batters. Riley is the first Atlanta hitter to be a part of multiple back-to-backs in the same game since Jeff Francoeur against the Mets on September 27, 2006 (with Brian McCann before him and Scott Thorman after him). So it's 12-0 before we even get to the 8th inning. Gulp.
We are quite obviously in blowout territory, so it's no surprise to see a position player come out to throw for the Pirates in the form of middle infielder Wilmer Difo. It's the rest that leaves you speechless. Walk, double, walk, sac fly (13-0). Walk, single (14-0), single (15-0), and now the pitcher's spot is up for the Braves. If there was ever a time for Josh Tomlin to have a plate appearance (and he's actually had 2 this year!), just let him strike out please. Nope. Pinch hitter Ehire Adrianza. Against an infielder. With the bases loaded. Need we tell you the rest?
The Braves hadn't had a pinch-hit grand slam since Brian McCann hit one in the 10th inning in Houston on August 11, 2010. They'd only hit one other grand slam in their history when already ahead by 15 runs, and that was in the famous 29-9 game from last September. In fact, Friday's game is going to invoke a lot of comparisons to that outburst. That was the only other home game in team history where they hit 7 homers (Adrianza's was the seventh if you've lost track). They did once hit 7 homers against the Pirates at their place-- which was Forbes Field when it happened on August 30, 1953.
And to round this out, let's have Freddie Freeman and Marcell Ozuna hit back-to-back doubles to flip a scoreboard over to 20 for the first time this season. Those were also the Braves' sixth and seventh doubles of the contest, setting a team record with 14 total extra-base hits, and making them the fifth team in the modern era with 7 homers and 7 doubles in a game. And yikes, Wilmer Difo. He stayed out there the entire 8th in full "take one for the team" mode. No position player for any team-- not even Jose Reyes-- had given up 8 runs as a pitcher since Hank Lieber of the Giants on September 25, 1942. That was Lieber's final game in the majors, and a doubleheader, and the season's last weekend with New York 18 games out, so in those days it could have totally been a "let the kid pitch" situation. The Braves' 8-run 8th (exactly) was their first such inning in a home game since July 20, 2003, against the Mets.
And oh yeah, spoiler alert: This game isn't over.
A few hours up I-75 at Great American Ball Park, there is also not a lot of drama. Tyler Naquin hit a 3-run dinger in the 1st and the Reds are well on their way to beating Milwaukee in a game that we might not have even noticed... but for Jesse Winker. The Reds leadoff man began the game with a single and was the first of those 3 runs on Naquin's homer. He then led off the 3rd and the 5th with solo shots of his own. Not a bad night. We'd have thrown him a couple #Kernels on Twitter and moved on to the next game. But nope, couldn't settle for that, could we, Jesse?
We are still less than half an hour removed from the Yankees' triple play and the Yankees' walkoff and the Braves' 8-run inning to go ahead 20-0. And Winker leads off the 8th by jacking his third homer of the game, this one off Josh Lindblom who had a 29-pitch 7th and are we sure we want him back out there? That would be the last Reds run, and the 9-4 final was never particularly in doubt, but now we have a 3-homer game on top of everything else. Only three other Reds leadoff batters have ever cranked 3 dingers in a game: Chris Heisey against the Yankees in 2011, Jay Bruce against the Cubs in 2010, and some dude named Pete Rose against the Mets on April 29, 1978. Even forgetting the 3 homers, remember that Winker also had that leadoff single and scored a fourth run early on. The last Reds leadoff batter with 4 hits and 4 runs scored in a home game was Chris Stynes against Cleveland on July 8, 2000. And Adrian Houser, who gave up the other 3 homers (two to Winker plus Naquin's), was the first Brewers pitcher to allow 3 dingers at GABP since Junior Guerra did it on June 27, 2017.
Wait, suddenly there's West Coast games just now starting? Arrrrgh. But yeah, here come a few more blips for the radar screen. We're actually about 10 minutes into this one already, because the Mariners have already batted in San Diego and gone ahead 1-0 on Mitch Haniger's double and Kyle Seager's RBI single. It's the second pitch from their own pitcher, Chris Flexen, that sounds the alarm, because it's a leadoff homer by Trent Grisham. Hitting a leadoff homer with your team already trailing obviously requires it to be a home game where you gave up runs in the top of the 1st. We looked up the last Padres batter to hit a leadoff homer when trailing... and it's Trent Grisham. He did it on August 22 of last year against Houston after Yuli Gurriel had hit a sac fly in the top half. The only Padres batters in team history to pull this off twice are Rickey Henderson (here he is again!), Manuel Margot, and Will Venable.
Atlanta, 10:26 pm EDT
Never ever ever do the shutout notes early. Because someone like Jacob Webb will come along and destroy it all. Mr. Webb is the Braves pitcher who gets tasked with "protecting" a 20-run lead as we go to the top of the 9th. This is, shall we say, not a save situation. But it is teetering on history; there have been only three 20-0 finals in the 146 seasons of major-league play. (Editor's note: We have draft pages devoted to every score combo of 20+ and had planned to put them up before the season started, but never got to it. Stay tuned.) Webb got two outs, but they were around a walk, a single, and his own throwing error that advanced the shutout-breaking run to third base. All we need is for Will Craig to not get a base hit and-- oh come on really?
That would be Craig beating out an infield single with two outs in the 9th inning of a 20-0 game. It would be Erik Gonzalez crossing the plate to remove the Pirates' place in history. It would give us the sixteenth 20-1 final in the MLB annals, the previous being Phillies/Marlins on April 7, 2018, and with the Braves being involved in three of them. They lost such a game to the Marlins on July 1, 2003, and took one from the Cardinals on September 8, 1915. And Will Craig gets his own place in MLB history. Since 1901 only one other player has broken up a shutout of 20-0 or more in the 9th inning, and he did it with 0 outs (remember Craig had 2). It was Boston's Dave Stapleton against the Angels on June 20, 1980; Jim Dwyer would later ground out to score Stapleton for one of the (also 16) 20-2 finals in MLB history.
Wait, you mean we haven't even been to the Central Time Zone yet? Nope. And while the East Coast games are still trying to figure out how they want to end, here comes another batch. 9:31 is the important time in Kansas City, but the 2 hours before that weren't exactly a snoozefest either. The Tigers and Royals are smacking the ball all over Kauffman Stadium to where you basically assume that whoever hits last is going to win. Jose Ureña gave up 10 hits and 5 runs, the first Detroit starter to do that in KC since Justin Verlander on August 28, 2012. His counterpart Mike Minor also gave up 10 hits but somehow managed to strike out 8 Tigers batters, the first Royals pitcher with that strange line since Wade Davis at Texas on May 31, 2013. It would be the first game at Kauffman where both starters allowed 10 hits but neither of them got the loss since Mark Redman and then-Clevelander CC Sabathia did it on August 24, 2006.
And why did neither of them get the loss, you ask? Fast-forward to 9:31 when Minor is now out of the game as we go to the 7th. He's responsible for the run on third. But Tyler Zuber is getting charged with the tying run on second. And the go-ahead run that's on first... when Miguel Cabrera launches a grand slam to welcome Greg Holland to the game. The Tigers hadn't hit a grand slam in Kansas City since Randall Simon (yes, that Randall Simon) off Blake Stein on September 26, 2001. (We were at the prior two games of that series but missed the slam.) And Detroit has only ever hit one other lead-flipping grand slam in KC, at either stadium and against either opponent (remember the A's?). That was Alan Trammell off Dan Quisenberry on May 8, 1984-- a date that is remembered for another very famous Central Time Zone game.
Just in case you thought a game might end on time, the Rangers would like to send Joely Rodriguez to the mound with a 4-1 lead in the 8th. He did get credited with a "hold" because he did leave with the lead. But not before giving up back-to-back RBI doubles to Carlos Correa and Jason Castro, who now stands at second base as the tying run. Annnnd Ian Kennedy will take care of that by allowing Jose Altuve to tie the game. Rodriguez became the first Rangers pitcher to "earn" a hold despite giving up 3 hits and 3 runs since Eddie Guardado pulled it off against the White Sox on July 23, 2008. And as you can tell, we're going to play on here as well.
St Louis, 10:04 pm CDT
The Cubs, at least, made sure there would be no more playing on. But really, did you need to be that over the top about it? Over at Busch Stadium, they held a 4-3 lead going to the 8th, in a game where Joc Pederson has already hit their first leadoff homer in St Louis since Dexter Fowler on September 13, 2016, and more notably, Carlos Martinez has become the first Cardinals pitcher to hit three Cubs batters in a game since Al Jurisich did that on June 20, 1944.
Kodi Whitley starts the 8th by giving up a single, a walk, and an error, meaning he is soon going to be the first Cardinals pitcher to face 3 batters and have all them of score since... um... Kodi Whitley did it on Wednesday. That's when he gave up 3 runs to the Pirates in the 7th but had been staked to an 8-2 lead so it didn't matter as much. No St Louis pitcher had done that twice in an entire season since Trevor Rosenthal in 2016, and since nobody's ever done it twice in 3 days we'll give a shout-out to Mark Petkovsek (September 20 & 26, 1998) for at least doing it twice in a week.
So yeah, those 3 runs are gonna score. So are the single and the walk given up by Tyler Webb. Followed by another bases-loaded walk from Seth Elledge to Willson Contreras. And a bases-loaded double by Anthony Rizzo that only results in 2 runs because Contreras gets hung up in a rundown. Javier Baez and Ian Happ both get hits. The Cardinals only get out of this mess when David Bote singles to score Happ but then gets gunned down at second base trying to stretch it. Eight runs by 11 batters with two of the three outs coming on the basepaths.
So remember how the Braves had an 8-run 8th buried in that 20-1 game? The Cubs just had one too, less than an hour later. The last time we had a pair of 8-run 8th innings (exactly) on the same day was June 9, 1999, when the Cardinals did it at Kaufmann and the Red Sox did it up in Montréal. But the weirdest part of this one? The last time the Cubs themselves had an 8-run 8th was May 21, 2011, at Fenway Park... a decade earlier to the day.
San Diego, 8:20 pm PDT
"Pitching Change: J.T. Chargois replaces Chris Flexen."
Wait, huh? Remember Chris Flexen, the guy who gave up a leadoff homer to the Padres almost an hour ago? Yeah, he's still in the game. And while you haven't been watching, the score is now 7-1 and we're still in the 2nd inning. Flexen gave up 4 singles and 3 runs after the homer in the 1st, and has added 3 singles, a 3-run homer, and now a Tommy Pham triple here in the 2nd. He's the first Mariners starter ever to give up 10+ hits and 8+ runs without finishing the 2nd inning. And we're not done with this one yet either.
Miami, 11:30 pm EDT
Let's check in with the Mets and Marlins, who were cruising along in the 7th inning back at 9:15 and why on earth are you still playing? Well, seems Garrett Cooper, who did play the hero's role for most of the week, struck out with the bases loaded to end the 8th. Presented with their free runners in the 10th, neither team got a ball out of the infield, and then Mets proceeded to get theirs picked off in the 11th. Finally in the 12th, just before we flipped back, Khalil Lee connects for a pinch-hit RBI double to put the Mets ahead, tying for the second-latest such hit (by inning) in Mets history. John Milner had one in the 13th back on June 19, 1975.
Then comes the real hammer in the form of rookie Johneswhy Fargas. He unloads a triple down the right-field line to score two more runs, thus becoming the first batter in Mets history with a multi-run triple in the 12th or later. Their previous mark (in the 11th) had been by Steve Henderson against the Cubs on June 30, 1979. And then suddenly Fargas remembers he's a Met and opts to stretch his triple into an inside-the-park homer. Which fails miserably because Mets. No player for any team had been out trying to pull that off in the 12th or later since Luis Valbuena of the Cubs on July 10, 2014.
Finally at 11:49 we'd put a bow on this one after the Marlins managed to score 2 runs in their half of the 12th but still lose. They hadn't scored multiple extra-inning runs and lost since July 3, 2018, against the Rays. Friday was also the Mets' first extra-inning win in Miami since April 13, 2017, when Travis d'Arnaud homered in the 16th.
Dunedin, 11:53 pm EDT
You didn't really think there was a song about Dunedin, Fla., did you? C'mon man.
We always thought Florida was about early-bird specials. So here we are on the other coast, at 7 minutes to midnight, checking in on yet another extra-inning game that is still going. We hadn't mentioned this one earlier because, well, not a lot happened. It's 5-5 after 6 innings between our two Pinellas County teams, and the exciting part so far is that Marcus Semien has already gone for a homer, a triple, and a double in his first three plate appearances. Needing only 90 little feet for the first cycle of the MLB season, he struck out to end the 6th and grounded out to end the 9th, which is why we're now in extras. Like their friends in Miami, neither team got a ball out of the infield in the 10th. The Jays nearly walked off in the 11th but struck out trying to bunt their free runner over, had to settle for a walk to load the bases, and then had the winning run retired on a force at home. Semien still had the bases loaded, which means he could only get a single or a homer this time, but instead he struck out again and got neither. He will end the game as the first Jays batter to miss the cycle by the single since Jose Bautista, also against the Rays, on April 22, 2011. And only two other leadoff batters in team history have done it-- Shannon Stewart (May 25, 2000) and Tony Fernandez (June 22, 1986).
So it is the top of the 12th when the Jays decide Brandon Lowe would not be the one to beat them and intentionally walk him. Both runners move up before Manuel Margot whiffs for the second out. Joey Wendle, also not going to beat us. Another intentional walk. We'll take our chances with Francisco Mejia. And sure enough we'll get burned for a 4-run homer, the second extra-inning slam in Tampa Bay history after Dioner Navarro hit one in the 13th, also in a road game against Toronto, on May 8, 2008. Jeremy Beasley, who issued those two walks and also got stuck with the free runner, is only the second pitcher in Toronto history to give up 4 runs on 1 hit and have the 1 hit be a homer. Joey McLaughlin did it in Baltimore on August 24, 1982.
As the clock struck midnight, Vlad Guerrero did try to make a game of it by homering in the bottom half of the 12th. With the free runner (again Marcus Semien), it marked the first time the Jays scored multiple extra-inning runs and lost since August 7, 2018, against Boston. And Vlad had also homered for one of those long-forgotten runs back in the 3rd inning. Only two other batters in Blue Jays history have hit multiple homers, one of them in extras, and seen the team still lose: Roberto Alomar (May 10, 1991) and John Mayberry Sr (April 25, 1982).
Arlington, 11:14 pm CDT
As mentioned, the Astros tied up that game in Arlington with 3 runs in the 8th, and at least this time we'd only need one set of free runners to settle things. It didn't start well, with Texas 3B Brock Holt trying to retire Myles Straw at second and, well, not doing so. That was Holt's second error in as many innings, but Taylor Hearn was able to escape allowing only the 1 run. So it's 5-4 with that tying run placed out there at second, and Joey Gallo's not going to beat us. He draws his third walk of the game, passing Ian Kinsler for fifth on the list of 3-walk games in franchise history (he has 13, leader Tobby Harrah has 24).
No, instead Adolis Garcia is going to beat us by launching a 3-run walkoff homer. Texas hadn't hit an extra-inning walkoff homer when trailing since Josh Hamilton against Toronto on May 26, 2012. And there's only been one other extra-inning walkoff homer by either Texas-based team against the other. That was also by the Rangers-- Mitch Moreland off Enerio Del Rosario on June 21, 2011.
San Diego, 9:39 pm PDT
People tend to be fascinated by round numbers. (Except for no-hitters, you can stop with those.) Ever have that little sense of glee when the odometer rolls over just as you pull in the driveway? When you've picked out a random combination of items and the cash register total comes to exactly $20.00?
We may never know exactly how many people have ever played a game in the majors. Constant research is uncovering new names and/or duplicate names, especially in the early days when people are just listed as "Smith" or "Clark". And of course, the definition of "the majors" changes from time to time as well; some folks count the National Association of 1871-75, where MLB does not. MLB is working on recognizing the Negro Leagues as part of their fold but hasn't officially done so for statistical purposes yet. So there's no single answer. But when the counter of "all time players" on the Baseball Reference front page stopped on 19,997 on Thursday, the round-number people took notice. And similar to the vigils for the 500,000th error or the 300,000th homer a few years ago, the race for 20,000 was on-- even if that footnote is almost certain to change in the future. Juan Carlos Mejia of Cleveland and Tyler Ivey of the Astros have both made their debuts as relief pitchers, setting us firmly on 19,999 with one game to go.
Back in San Diego, Wyatt Mills has continued Chris Flexen's legacy by giving up 4 more runs and making it 12-1 in the 5th. Might be time to give some regulars the rest of the day off. And with one little line we unofficially flipped the odometer. "Jose Godoy replaces Tom Murphy, batting 7th, playing catcher." Signed out of high school in Venezuela in 2012, Godoy spent eight seasons rising through the Cardinals' minor-league system, only to be stuck at triple-A Memphis with no MiLB season last year. That rendered him a minor-league free agent, he signed with the Mariners over the winter, and replaced Luis Torrens as backup catcher earlier this week.
If you're curious, by the same unofficial count, the 10,000th player was Andy Kosco of the Twins on August 13, 1965 (the only player to debut that day, so no gray area). The 5,000th is one of three relief pitchers-- Oscar Fuhr of the Cubs, Bert Cole of the Tigers, or Johnny Cooney of the Braves-- who would have all entered around the same time on the afternoon of April 19, 1921. And the 15,000th-- no kidding-- is none other than Roy Halladay (September 20, 1998).
San Diego, 10:45 pm PDT
This game finally ends with a 16-1 final, the most runs scored by the Padres at Petco since May 31, 2010 against the Mets. Only twice have they scored more in an interleague game-- June 7, 1998 at Texas (17-8) and May 25, 2019 at Toronto (19-4). It was the second 15-run interleague loss in Mariners history (also 16-1 vs Cincinnati on June 22, 2007)... and the first time they'd ever scored any number of runs in the 1st inning ("hey, this looks promising") and then lost by 15.
If nothing else it was obvious right away that this was going to be a pretty easy post to write. Still think I need a ginger ale. And we probably should get that chandelier off the floor. Intermission!
If you've been counting along, you (a) should stop, but (b) realize there are still five other games on Friday's schedule that our timeline didn't touch. That's because they were "normal" enough to not blow up the research desk and earn their own section. But of course they've all still got a little something. So in the spirit of looking at every game every day (which we promise we do), here's a "Bottom Of The Bag" nugget from each of those leftovers-- completing your Friday and probably making #Kernels history as the first day on which every game has found its way into this post somehow.
⚾ Ryan McMahon: Also had a 2-homer game against the Diamondbacks on April 6. Only other Rockies batter to do it against Arizona twice in same season is Vinny Castilla in 2004.
⚾ Rafael Devers: Also homered and doubled in Philadelphia on September 8 of last year in a 6-5 loss. Last Red Sox batter with two such games in Philly: Yep, when the A's were there. Jackie Jensen did it twice at Connie Mack Stadium in their final season, 1954.
⚾ Freddy Galvis: Second batter in Orioles history to break up an interleague shutout by homering with 2 outs in the 9th. The other was Brian Roberts at Coors Field on June 20, 2004, and all he did was give them the lead with a grand slam.
⚾ Trevor Bauer: Third pitcher in Dodgers history to allow 2 hits and strike out 11 in a game in San Francisco. The others are Clayton Kershaw (September 29, 2015) and Hideo Nomo (August 5, 1995).
⚾ Yusmeiro Petit: First Oakland pitcher to start a season 6-0 despite blowing a save in one of the wins (as he did Friday) since Dennis Eckersley in 1992.
Not Friday Night
Until, well, that happened, we were going to lead this week's post by pointing out that we did one of our famous countdowns last week. But you may have noticed some numbers were missing. We had no entries for 16 or 19, and of course that is because we already knew in advance that those would happen this week. Really. (For a nominal-but-non-refundable fee we will also pick lottery numbers.)
Well, no, of course we didn't know that the White Sox were going to start off the week by reading our post and noticing the lack of a 16 and helping us out. And unlike our 8- and 9-run innings from later in the week, this one didn't feature any one huge outburst. The Sox just hammered anyone who had a Twins uniform and a baseball-- to the point of causing a huge "unwritten rules" controversy at the end of the game.
There were 3 runs in the 1st off J.A. Happ, the last coming on a sacrifice fly by Yasmani Grandal. Nick Madrigal adds a solo dinger in the 3rd and then a 4th-inning double to knock Happ out of the game. Once he scores, it will make Happ the first Twins pitcher to give up 6+ runs and not finish the 4th in back-to-back starts since Pedro Hernandez did it during a callup in September 2013.
Derek Law doesn't doesn't fare much better, loading the bases to start the 5th and then allowing Danny Mendick to unload them. He was the first White Sox batter to hit a grand slam in Minneapolis since Ron Karkovice was credited with an inside-the-parker on August 30, 1990 (watch and decide for yourself).
Shaun Anderson, what can you offer? Well, that's only a single, a double, another walk to Yasmani Grandal, and then two more hits to score all four of those runs. It's now 14-1 and we have the first game where the Twins' first three pitchers all allowed 4+ runs since Nick Blackburn, Jose Mijares, and Chuck James pulled it off in Arlington on July 25, 2011.
Grandal draws a third walk in the 8th and scores the 15th run on Billy Hamilton's sac fly. Josh Donaldson has chipped in the Twins' first home run when trailing by 13 or more in a home game since Eric Fryer on September 11, 2013, so we've gotten back to 15-4 before Yermin Mercedes' little dustup. Willians Astudillo joined Chris Gimenez (twice in 2017) as the only players in Twins/Senators history to both pitch and catch in the same game (though Cesar Tovar did it in an "all-9" stunt in 1968). The 16-4 final was the largest White Sox win over the Twins since a 13-1 on September 25, 1982. Their last 12-run win in Minnesota came on May 24, 1967, against Dean Chance and Jim Kaat.
And we've kept weaving Yasmani Grandal into this. The Sox catcher collected 4 walks and that 1st-inning sac fly... but no official at-bats. This is one of our favorite quirks, an 0-for-0 by a batter who plays the entire game. There have been three of them in the majors this year-- and ALL of them are by Yasmani Grandal! He did it on consecutive Saturdays, May 1 against the Indians and May 8 at Kansas City, before repeating it on the 17th. Only one other player in the live-ball era has done it three times in an entire season, and if you guessed that's Barry Bonds, you're right (2004).
50/50 It's Red
The Reds may want to steal a marketing campaign from the New York Lottery: "Hey, you never know." Tune in to any Cincinnati game and they could throw a no-hitter, they could come dangerously close to getting no-hit, they might win a 1-0 walkoff, and on any random day they might give up 19 runs. If by "any random day" you mean Thursday.
That's when the Giants came to town and thought they were going to get top billing on our countdown which last week began at 17. (Also, countdowns work the other direction, but details.) They managed 1 run off Tyler Mahle in the 1st thanks to a no-doubt double into the corner, but Mahle tied the proverbial MLB record by inducing three 1-3 groundouts in the 2nd. (It is actually possible to have more than 3 assists in an inning thanks to the famous "intervening error or misplay" rule, but that's for another day. Next January maybe.) In the 3rd, however, the wheels come off. Walk, single, single, annnd repeat. Mahle faced 6 batters and didn't get any of them out, after which Michael Feliz let them all score by giving up a grand slam to Steven Duggar. Duggar is just the third Giants batter to hit a slam at Great American, after Brandon Crawford on May 16, 2015, and Fred Lewis on July 4, 2007.
Darin Ruf would round out the scoring with another 2-run homer to cap a 9-run 3rd, the Giants' first 9-spot in Cincinnati since dropping a 10-run 6th on June 27, 1977. If you recall the Giants having another 9-run inning not too long ago, it's because they did-- on May 4 at Coors. And the last time they had two in a season was 1973 when they did it twice in three days (June 29 and July 1).
So now it's 10-1 and we'd probably be done with this game if Heath Hembree and Carson Fulmer hadn't made appearances. Duggar led off the 5th with another single and scored on a passed ball, just after Curt Casali got hit with a pitch, and just before Brandon Crawford uncorked a 3-run homer of his own to get us to 14-1.
Casali would get plunked again by Fulmer to start the 7th, the Giants' first #8 or #9 batter to receive multiple plunkings since Emmanuel Burriss at Arizona on May 28, 2008. And then Crawford would single home both him and Ruf again for his sixth RBI of the game. Crawford also had 6 RBI in that 2015 game at GABP where he hit the slam; the only other player in Giants history with multiple 6-RBI games against the Reds is Willie McCovey. Ruf would end up as the first Giants batter with 3 extra-base hits and 4 RBI against Cincinnati since Pedro Feliz did it on August 16, 2005. And we haven't mentioned Mike Yastrzemski, basically because he just walked three times. And scored three times. Leading to his weird line of 3 runs but 0 hits, a first by a Giants leadoff batter since Jose Cruz against Pittsburgh on August 7, 2003.
But you can't say the Reds gave up. Here's Eugenio Suarez in the 8th, belting a 2-run homer to cut that 18-2 deficit down to "only" 18-4. That actually puts himself in position to be the winning run in the 9th, y'know, if only the Reds can bat around twice. They, um, didn't do that. But Suarez did become the first Reds batter to homer with his team trailing by 16 since Scooter Gennett and Jesse Winker both did it in a 19-4 loss at Cleveland on July 11, 2018.
Bottom Of The Bag
(Now with less Friday!)
⚾ Zack Wheeler, Tuesday: First Phillies pitcher to strike out 10+ and hit a double since... Zack Wheeler against Atlanta, April 3. Only other in modern era to do it twice in a season is Steve Carlton (both 1972 and 1982).
⚾ Randy Arozarena & Joey Wendle, Thursday: Second set of Rays teammates with 4 hits each in a game at Camden Yards. Casey Kotchman & Ben Zobrist, June 11, 2011.
⚾ Randy Arozarena, Wed-Thu: First batter in Rays history to have 3 hits and 4 RBI in back-to-back games.
⚾ Max Kepler, Saturday: First Twins/Sens batter to triple and double in a loss in Cleveland since Joe Kubel at League Park on July 16, 1937.
⚾ Travis Bergen, Sunday: Second pitcher in Jays history to allow 3 inherited runners to score and blow a save without allowing a hit. Paul Quantrill on a sac fly and two walks at Texas, April 10, 1998.
⚾ Luis Castillo, Tuesday: First Reds batter to strike out 11 Giants batters and lose since Jim Maloney, September 20, 1965.
⚾ Eric Haase, Monday: First Tigers batter ever to have a multi-homer game at Safeco. Last at the Kingdome was Bobby Higginson on May 1, 1998.
⚾ Ryan Mountcastle & Josh Harrison, Saturday: First time any combination of Baltimore teams and Washington teams have both hit grand slams in a game against each other.
⚾ Jack Flaherty, Wednesday: First pitcher for any team with 2 walks and a sac fly on offense since John Candelaria of the Pirates on August 19, 1982.
⚾ Aaron Judge, Sunday: Yankees' first helping of "shrimp" (game-winning walk) since September 26, 2010 vs Boston. Only team to go longer without doing it is the Angels (August 2008).
⚾ Gio Urshela & Aaron Judge, Thursday: First game where multiple pinch hitters combined to drive in every Yankees run of a game since John Ellis & Ron Hansen vs Oakland, August 15, 1971 (each had a 2-run double).
⚾ Jackie Bradley, Saturday: First Milwaukee batter to hit a lead-flipping single in Cincinnati since Hank Aaron on September 1, 1965.
⚾ Padres, Tuesday: Won game on a walkoff wild pitch (a "bounce-off") for first time since April 15, 1991, against the Reds (by Ted Power).
⚾ Gregory Polanco, Thursday: Pirates' first extra-inning sac fly against Atlanta since Ed Kirkpatrick off Phil Niekro, May 3, 1977.
⚾ Nelson Cruz, Wednesday: First game where Twins had 2 hits and both were by the designated hitter since Jim Dwyer vs Cleveland, July 19, 1989.
⚾ Carlos Santana, Sunday: Royals' first walkoff homer against the Tigers when trailing since Mike Sweeney off Doug Brocail on May 15, 1997.
⚾ Tomas Nido, Tue-Wed: First Mets batter with a go-ahead hit in the 7th or later of back-to-back games since Ike Davis in August 2012.
⚾ Brad Miller, Sunday: Phillies' first 3- or 4-run homer in the 1st inning against Boston since Andy Seminick off Johnny Antonelli, July 4, 1950 (yes, that's the Braves).
⚾ Albert Pujols, Monday: Oldest player to record a base hit in his first game with the Dodgers since David Wells on August 26, 2007.
⚾ Tommy Pham, Saturday: First Padres leadoff batter to draw 4 walks in a game since Quilvio Veras at Pittsburgh, August 21, 1997.
⚾ Shohei Ohtani, Wednesday: First American League player to throw a wild pitch and be caught stealing (as a runner) since Vida Blue on the final weekend without the DH (September 29, 1972).
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