Baker's Dozen

If you're of a certain age, you probably know the term "baker's dozen". Most sources believe the term was coined in jolly old England in the days where merchants (bakers, in this case) could be fined for not delivering enough product by weight. BUT they also didn't always have accurate scales back then, so if a customer ordered 12 of something, they would often throw in a 13th one just in case the first 12 were slightly under the advertised weight, and then they wouldn't get flogged. Good luck getting a free 13th of something these days, where mass production dictates that there shall be exactly 0.45 of an ounce of glaze on every donut, because, you know, the focus groups said 0.44 was not enough glaze, but 0.46 might cut into our profits and thus our stock price and we can't have that, now can we? You, however, can still have 12 of some things, and frequently a 13th, as we journey through the week in baseball.

Dusty Dozen

What better way to begin our collection of 13's than with the team managed by Dusty Baker? That, of course, is the Houston Astros, and Wednesday's contest with the Orioles turned out to be a Baker's dozen of eggs-- goose eggs, that is. Carlos Correa, Kyle Tucker, and Yuli Gurriel knocked in 4 runs in the first 2 innings, while Jose Urquidy was busy retiring 15 of the first 17 Baltimore batters. It's already 7-0 before Yordan Alvarez and Abraham Toro both go deep off Mickey Jannis in the 7th, and the Astros wind up with a final blowout score of 13-0. That was the team's second-largest win ever in Baltimore (although they didn't play there often prior to switching leagues in 2013); there is a 23-2 game from August 2019 that messed up a bunch of notes on Wednesday's affair. That game, and Wednesday, were the last two road games where 10 different Astros batters scored a run, 11 different Astros had a hit, and/or 10 different Astros did both.

Wednesday was also just the fifth road shutout of 13 or more in Astros history; the only two that were larger were a 14-0 at Dodger Stadium in June 2018, and a 15-0 in Montréal on April 26, 1998 (which we think is more like 11½-0 with the exchange rate). Toro drove in the final Houston run with a single in the 8th and became the second player to have a 4-RBI game against Baltimore while hitting 7th or lower; Jason Castro did it in a 12-2 win on August 20, 2016.

O's starter Thomas Eshelman, along with Jannis, both got tagged for 8 hits and 6 runs, the third time in the last 15 seasons that multiple O's pitchers have done that. Dylan Bundy and Gabriel Ynoa did it in a 16-4 loss to the Rays two seasons ago; before that you have to go back to (of course!) The 30-3 Game against Texas in 2007. And as for Jannis specifically, he was on the wrong end of 8 hits, 4 walks, and 3 homers, the first "Orioles" pitcher ever to post that line in a single outing. The last to do it in a Browns uniform was Tommy Fine against Boston on June 24, 1950.

And oh yes, did we mention this was Jannis's major-league debut? No pitcher had gotten knocked around for 7 runs and 3 homers in a debut since Zach Eflin in 2016, and the only other in Orioles/Browns history to do it was John Stephens on July 30, 2002. (Stephens pitched 12 games this season and never made it back to the majors.)

Dirty Dozen

There aren't quite enough 13's to fill up a whole week, so we'll be mixing in some more-traditional dozens as well. Fortunately the Astros had another one of those the very next day. They left Baltimore behind for the wetter climate of Detroit, but they remembered to bring the bats. The Tigers at least scored 3 more runs than the Orioles did against them, but those 1's on the scoreboard couldn't make up for the four straight 2's the Astros hung from the 2nd through 5th. They began two of those innings with multiple base hits in a row, eventually collecting 18 for the game on the way to a 12-3 victory.

It was Houston's first time scoring 12 runs in back-to-back road games since September of 2017, but the hit column was more impressive. They had 17 in the 13-0 game on Wednesday, so with the 18 on Thursday, it was the first time they'd reached that number in back-to-back road games since September 8 and 9 of 2000 at Wrigley Field. Myles Straw collected 4 of those hits on Thursday, along with a stolen base and 3 runs scored. No Astros leadoff batter had done all that in a game since John Cangelosi against the Giants on July 22, 1995.

And after those four 2's, the final blow would be delivered by Yordan Alvarez in the 9th. Against actual pitcher Bryan Garcia, the Astros went single, double, walk, and naturally, grand slam. That was the first slam that the Astros had ever hit against the Tigers, home or road, and thanks to switching leagues a few years back, there are only two remaining teams-- Cleveland and Tampa Bay-- against whom they've never hit one. After the slam, Harold Castro would have to get the final two outs, making him the second player in Tigers history to play shortstop and pitch in the same game. The other was Mark Koenig in a 13-4 blowout by the Red Sox on July 27, 1931.

Alvarez and Carlos Correa would end up hitting back-to-back homers on Saturday, also the first time the Astros have ever done that in Detroit (at either stadium).

You Must Be An Angel

The Giants are no strangers to the southern half of their own state, but usually they're just passing through Orange County as they go between Dodger Stadium and Petco Park. They don't often take that off-ramp from the 57 where the big "A" is. This week, however, we saw a strange interleague match between the Giants and Angels, and we're pretty sure the free-runner rule is designed for the AL West.

It is 1-1 after 9 innings, with only one of those innings really having anything happening-- the 5th when Mike Yastrzemski and Luis Rengifo traded solo homers. The last four innings saw only four combined baserunners, and the second-most-exciting thing was that the Giants had the potential go-ahead run thrown out at the plate. So let's plop some free runners out there and hope someone can do something.

If by "something" you mean three strikeouts in the Giants' half of the 10th, then okay. The Angels, as most every team does when the opponent doesn't score, bunt their free runner over to third, walk the bases loaded, and then ground out to the pitcher to send us to the 11th. Neither team gets a ball out of the infield in that frame. Steven Duggar hits a leadoff double in the 12th which seems promising at the time. But then Juan Lagares hits a slow roller to short that nobody can get to, it's a game-tying infield single, and we play on.

In our New World Order (as we're calling the set of rule changes that was hurled upon us last season), only four games have even reached a 13th inning (and none has gone 14). A team from either the AL West or NL West-- or both-- has been involved in all of them. But finally the Giants are awake and done with this "1 run at a time" junk. Alex Claudio manages to walk the bases full and then still not find the zone, forcing in the go-ahead tally by walking Brandon Crawford. By inning, that was the Giants' latest go-ahead walk in a road game since Ed Goodson scored Derrel Thomas at Dodger Stadium on April 20, 1975.

Claudio would finish with the bizarre pitching line of 0 hits but 4 runs; only Chris Knapp (1980) and Bo Belinsky (1962) had done that in Angels history. The reason those other runs scored is because Junior Guerra didn't fare an ybetter. He wild-pitched in another run, gave up a 2-run single to Duggar, and then watched Mike Tauchman hit the Giants' third-ever extra-inning homer in Anaheim. Barry Bonds (2000) and Bill Mueller (1998) had the others, but neither of them polished off a seven-run inning. No team had scored 7 runs in an inning numbered 13 or higher since the Red Sox dropped a 9 at Tropicana Field on September 15, 2017. But the Giants hadn't done it in over a century. They played 16 scoreless innings against Pittsburgh on July 16, 1920, before erupting for a touchdown (and extra point) in the top of the 17th.

Four-Four Time

While we're on the topic of crooked numbers (and dozens), another 12 came rolling across our screen on Saturday. This would be the number of runs scored by Toronto in knocking off that same Orioles team at Sahlen Field. And it's not the 12 itself that's interesting, it's how they got there.

Since runs are a counting stat, and thus we are restricted to positive integers, there are 77 different scoreboard combinations that can end up with 12 runs in a game. (We do actual research for these sometimes.) The one where you score 1 run in 12 different innings is gonna be hard, since the game probably ends after the 9th. You could score all 12 in the same inning, which the Cardinals famously pulled off back in 2012 against the Cubs. But generally you're going to have a couple 1's and a couple 2's and maybe a stray 5 in there. Back to Saturday.

Jays 3rd: Marcus Semien double, Bo Bichette double (1), Vlad Junior's league-leading 26th homer (3), Teoscar Hernandez homer (4). In the 5th it's a double, a walk, a George Springer single (1), then Randal Grichuk unloads a 3-run bomb (4 again). The next inning, the same group again. Starting from bases-loaded, Hernandez, Springer, and Grichuk hit three straight singles off Konner Wade for a third 4-run inning... and a game total of 12. We actually didn't have to go very far to find the last team to assemble 12 runs via three 4's. In fact, we only had to go to the other dugout; the Orioles did it against the White Sox on April 22, 2019. But trailing 12-0, watch what the O's do in the 7th. They load the bases for Pedro Severino who hits a 2-run single. Then Cedric Mullins follows that with a double to score the last run plus Severino. They too have a 4-run inning. And there's your ballgame. A 12-4 final with all the runs coming via four 4-run innings. We scoured about 600 boxscores for every game in the modern era that ended with a score of 16-0, 12-4, or 8-8. Guess how many of them broke down to four 4-run innings? Yep, one-- Jays and Orioles on Saturday.

Straight A's

We do like to give the AL West grief because most of their games are 3-1 snoozefests that somehow still take 3½ hours. But once in a while they throw us a curveball, and once in a while it falls right in line with our theme. So we'll show the A's a little love for scoring 13 runs in Tuesday's contest with the Rangers. More notably, they wasted no time. Mark Canha drew a walk to start the game, and Matt Chapman immediately followed with a 2-run homer. The last time Oakland did that against Texas (i.e., the second batter of the game hit a 2-run dinger) was by Jose Guillen off Joaquin Benoit on September 24, 2003. Taylor Hearn then gave up a single and two more walks to reload the bases before getting yanked from the game. Normally we'd have a bunch of notes about a starter giving up 4 runs and not finishing the 1st inning, but Hearn isn't even the first Rangers pitcher to do that this year. Kyle Gibson didn't get through the first inning of the season without allowing 5 to the Royals on Opening Day.

Demarcus Evans would join Hearn in the "4 runs, 2 outs" club later on in the game as the A's continued to pile up runs. The last time two Rangers pitchers did that in the same game was also against Oakland; Mike Venafro and Brandon Villafuerte were the unlucky ones who got battered on August 8, 2001. In between, it fell to Jordan Lyles to try and keep things calm for 6 whole innings on Tuesday. Lyles has been a starter for much of his career, so is no stranger to being out there for a while (78 pitches on Tuesday). Appropriately, he also threw 6 innings of "relief" on September 11 of last season, also against Oakland. The last Rangers pitcher with multiple such games was John Barfield in 1990.

And while the Athletics did blow up the scoreboard early, scoring 9 runs in the first 3 innings, they denied us another research project by failing to score in the 4th. A sequence of 4-3-2-1 hasn't happened at the start of a game in at least 15 years (we stopped looking when the A's stopped scoring). But it was the first time the A's scored 9 by the 3rd in a road game since September 10, 2019, on their way to a 21-7 blowout in Houston. The last time they did it in Arlington was June 30, 2001, when they started 4-5-1-2 in a 15-4 thumping of Kenny Rogers and Mark Petkovsek.

Rays Your Glass

If we're going to mention the A's scoring 13 runs, it's only fair that we mention the Rays doing it also. Here we catch up with the Angels again, who are now over in St Petersburg and staring down the wrong end of those 13 runs. They didn't start out there, however. Yes, Alex Cobb may have given up a homer to Manuel Margot, but the Angels got 3 runs in the 3rd on doubles from Shohei Ohtani and Anthony Rendon. Unfortunately that would be the only 3 runs they scored in the game as the Rays dropped 11 unanswered on them. Cobb had a little meltdown in the 4th, allowing three singles, a 2-out triple, and then wild-pitching in Brett Phillips who hit said triple. Only Kevin Kiermaier (2019) and Mallex Smith (2018) had hit go-ahead triples for the Rays against the Angels, and this made it 6-3 before Jose Quintana could cough up two more runs. And now you have to pay attention. Because for the 7th, it is not Jose Quintana who comes out to pitch for the Angels... it's Jose Quijada. They are not in fact the same person despite the amazingly similar names. And even forgetting the first name, Saturday was the first time in MLB history that one "Q" pitcher had directly replaced another "Q" pitcher. (There have only been about 20, this wasn't hard.)

The second "Q" would leave more Q's than A's, giving up a walk, two doubles, another walk, striking out Joey Wendle, and then surrendering a 2-run single to Phillips to make it 11-3 before leaving. Quijada would ultimately get charged with 5 runs on just 1 out, the first Angels pitcher ever to post that line against the Rays. Randy Arozarena would finish off the scoring with a bases-loaded single; he would be the first Rays batter with 3 hits and 3 runs scored against the Angels since Evan Longoria and Dioner Navarro both did it on June 9, 2008-- which also happens to be the only other game where the Rays scored 13 runs against Anaheim.

Thanks to our various "countdown"-style posts, we've struggled for a long time to find songs with 12's or 13's or 14's in the title. Nothing new there. But this week we have the "Baker" theme. So we're pulling in '80s R&B diva Anita Baker. And what, according to Wikipedia, is her dozen-th solo single. Also the highest-charting one. It's the best that we got. Intermission!

How Long Has This Been Going On

You can measure how "long" a game is either by innings or by time (or the less-scientific "yawn factor"), but all innings are not created equal. So even though the Giants and Angels played 13 of them on Wednesday, that game "only" took 4 hours 51 minutes (also kind of defeating the purpose of a "getaway day").

We take you to Minneapolis on Monday. Where even the light rail makes its last departure from Target Field at 11:20. You might have been just as well off waiting for it to start up again at 4:45 am. Or just hanging around, since there was another game at noon on Tuesday.

The Twins start things by cobbling together 3 runs in the 2nd, starting with a Nelson Cruz solo homer. Counting his time as a visitor with the Rangers, Cruz has hit 14 go-ahead homers at Target Field, breaking a fifth-place tie with Trevor Plouffe. The third run of the inning scores on a foul sacrifice fly which Aristides Aquino doesn't bother to let drop. Not to worry, he's going to redeem himself for that extra run with a solo homer in the 4th. That came back-to-back with Eugenio Suarez's 2-run shot, and now we are tied up. Aquino hit only the second game-tying homer for the Reds ever in Minneapolis; Ruben Rivera took Bob Wells deep for the other on July 7, 2001.

From here on out there is only one 1-2-3 inning left in the game. That means 18 more baserunners with all of them stranded (except for one who was caught stealing). It's already 11:06 when Andrelton Simmons grounds out to end the 9th, and oh yeah, we're still tied. Ding ding, Blue Line leaving in 11 minutes.

If you have decided to stay and pony up for an Uber, it would be quite frustrating that Nick Castellanos immediately singles to score the Reds' free runner in the 10th. Suarez then hits a sac fly to score Castellanos, making him the first Reds batter ever to homer and hit a sac fly in the same game against the Twins. But then Minnesota must play its half of the 10th also. With free runner. Luis Arraez hits a leadoff double to score him. Two batters later, rookie Trevor Larnach also connects for a sacrifice fly to score Arraez and put us back at 5-5. It's now 11:44.

The only notable thing that happens in the 11th is that the clock flips to midnight and we have a 5-hour game on our hands. (Also, that last Blue Line train has just arrived at Mall Of America and has gone to sleep for the night.) Two walks load the bases for the Reds in the 12th, but Suarez whiffs to leave us tied at 5. And therein lies the opening, for Miguel Sano to blast a 2-run walkoff homer. On that list of go-ahead homers at Target Field, guess who's right above Nelson Cruz. Yep, Monday was Sano's 16th such dinger, putting him in a tie with Max Kepler and trailing only Eddie Rosario (21) and Brian Dozier (24). The walkoff made a winner out of Matt Shoemaker who pitched the 11th and 12th, the first Twins pitcher to throw 2 hitless extra innings and get a win since Michael Tonkin against the Angels on April 17, 2016.

Sano's homer was the first of the multi-run, walkoff variety for the Twins in the 12th or later since Joe Crede brought an end to a 13-inning game against the Tigers with a grand slam on May 13, 2009. And it was also the Twins' first-ever walkoff win against the Reds (whom they don't play very often due to being in the other league). That leaves five current franchises (all in the NL, of course) against whom the Twins have never hit one-- Arizona, Colorado, the Dodgers, Philadelphia, and Washington. And if you forgot to mark down the time, it's 12:24. And you have just witnessed the longest game in MLB history (by time) that did not reach the end of the 12th inning. (There have been three longer 12-inning games, including a 5:40 at Fenway two years ago, but in all of those the visiting team won so B12 had to be played to its conclusion.) See ya back here in 11½ hours for that getaway game.

25 Or 6 To 4

As you can see, we haven't really been able to decide between 12's and 13's here in our little post about dozens. So we head back to Wednesday again, where another game will give us the best of both worlds. That, of course, would be the one that ended 13-12 and was destined to be That Game that we had to write about.

The Phillies shot out of the gate with 5 early runs against Erick Fedde of the Nationals, and this one looked like it might not be very interesting. The Nats couldn't solve Vince Velasquez, although they did have a grand old time running his pitch count up, forcing him out of the game by the 5th inning after 86 offerings. So with that out of the way, it's time to unload on Archie Bradley and Sam Coonrod and get those 5 runs back and, oh yeah, make this interesting after all.

Velasquez had started the 5th with a pair of walks and was finally pulled after Starlin Castro and Victor Robles brought those runs home. That left Kyle Schwarber to take Bradley deep and get us back to 5-5. (Yes, there's plenty more on Schwarbs coming up next.) Meanwhile, Erick Fedde has been pinch-hit for and replaced with Kyle McGowin, who has now replaced those clean white bases with three Phillies runners via two singles and a walk. Someone order a pinch-hit grand slam? Because that's what Andrew McCutchen just dropped off. It was the first one the Phillies had hit at all since Ty Kelly in San Francisco on August 19, 2017, but their first to take a lead since Ryan Howard orr Arizona's Brandon Medders on May 9, 2007.

McCutchen the pinch hitter was doing so in the pitcher's spot, which puts Coonrod out on the mound for the 6th. And in "three true outcomes" mode, he faces five batters, striking out two and walking the other three. (Hope they didn't change out those nice clean white bases between innings.) Trea Turner greets David Hale with a 2-run single to get the Nats back to 9-7, but another walk sets up... would you believe another grand slam? (Of course you would, because that's why we're talking about this game.) This one comes off the bat of Josh Bell, and because of Turner's single, it actually flips the lead back to 11-9 in favor of the Nationals. In franchise history, the Nats/Expos have only hit one other lead-flipping slam in Philadelphia; it was by Henry Rodriguez off (!) Curt Schilling on September 26, 1996. Bell joined Jayson Werth (2015), Ian Desmond (2013), and Ryan Church (2006) as the only Nationals batters to hit any grand slam at Citizens Bank Park. And with McCutchen doing it some 34 minutes earlier, it's the first game in CBP history where both teams connected for a 4-run homer. For those who loved Veterans Stadium (we think there are still one or two of you out there), the curse of the cookie-cutter (and their swirling winds) meant it also only happened once in that park's 33-year history: Darren Daulton and the Cardinals' Todd Zeile on July 28, 1993. Also recall that both of Wednesday's slams took the lead; the last MLB game to have go-ahead slams in consecutive half-innings was May 13, 2005, when Adam LaRoche of the Braves and the Dodgers' Milton Bradley (he got game) traded them.

We neglected those 5 early runs that the Phillies scored against Erick Fedde. (Sorry, 5 early runs.) But the first 3 of those came on a homer by Travis Jankowski. Didn't really seem relevant until the slams happened. Because now the Phillies have a go-ahead 3-run homer (Jankowski) and a go-ahead 4-run homer (McCutchen) in the same game. Hadn't pulled that off since August 13, 1993, against the Mets when Wes Chamberlain did the honors in the 2nd and then Kim Batiste did the real honors with a walkoff slam in the 9th.

We spoiler-alerted you that this game ends 13-12 to fit our theme. It's only 11-9 right now. Well, the Phillies are going to chip away with three more RBI singles in the 7th and 8th to hold a precarious 12-11 advantage. Alec Bohm, who tied things at 11, would join Jankowski in having 3 hits and 3 runs scored; they are about to become the first Phillies teammates to do that in a loss since Milt Thompson and Phil Bradley against the Braves on July 18, 1988.

That's all because Hector Neris gets the 1-run save opportunity and in the 9th and, in kind, then provides Nationals closer Paolo Espino with a 1-run save opportunity in the bottom half. Neris allows two singles to lead off the inning, Alex Avila lays down a sac bunt to put runners at second and third, and then Starlin Castro comes through with a lead-flipping 2-run single for our final tally of 13-12. The Nats/Expos hadn't hit a lead-flipping single (which must, by definition, be a multi-run deal) in the 9th inning of a road game since Brian Schneider did it in Cincinnati on September 28, 2001. Since the start of the 2017 season, the Nationals have piled up thirty games where they scored at least 13 runs, the most in the majors (the Cubs have 27, while the Angels and Mariners have but 7 each because (we told you!) AL West). The Phillies had never scored 12 runs in a game at CBP and lost. And even for you one or two Veterans Stadium fans, they never did it there either! Their last such home game was August 3, 1969, at Shibe Park (by then renamed Connie Mack Stadium).

It also means those go-ahead homers by Jankowski and McCutchen went for naught. The last team to have a go-ahead 3-run homer and a go-ahead 4-run homer and still lose was the Royals on May 22, 1998. And there was one even stranger fact about Wednesday's game that was brought to our attention: Between Jankowski, McCutchen, Schwarber, and Bell, both teams had both a 3-run homer and a grand slam. Although we did find one instance of a 4- and a 3- against two slams, we were able to confirm that it was the first game in major-league history where both teams had both 4- and 3-run homers.

Schwarbombs Away

You were promised More Kyle Schwarber. More Kyle Schwarber you shall get. Although how much more Kyle Schwarber can we take?

Let's explore the last two weeks in the life of Schwarbs. June 12, leadoff homer to start a doubleheader with the Giants. June 13, homers in his first two at-bats to almost single-handedly beat the Giants, and the only reason he didn't hit leadoff homers in back-to-back games is because of the doubleheader. June 14, homers in the 7th to give the Nats a 3-2 win over Pittsburgh. Naps for a few days. Goes 1-for-4 a few times. No problem, maybe this little outburst is over with.

June 19, leadoff homer against the Mets, plus another 3-run dinger later in the game. June 20, a three-homer game that includes yet another leadoff bomb. Wednesday in that 13-12 game, the 3-run tying homer we mentioned. Thursday in Miami, homered in his first two at-bats again. That joined Bryce Harper (July 29, 2015) as the only Nationals to have a 2-HR, 4-RBI game at Marlins Park. It was also his fourth such game this season, already tying the franchise record for 2-HR, 4-RBI games in a season. The others to do it are Henry Rodriguez (1996), Adam Dunn (2010), Bryce Harper (2015 and 2017), and Ryan Zimmerman (2017). Did we mention it's the last week of June?

That first homer on Thursday also gave Schwarbs five leadoff homers in the span of 13 days. There are 25 teams who haven't hit five all year yet. In the 21st century only one other player has cranked five leadoff bombs so quickly-- Ronald Acuña in August 2018. Schwarber also now trails only Brad Wilkerson (2004) and Alfonso Soriano (2006) on the Nats/Expos single-season list; they each had 9 leadoff homers in their respective campaigns.

And for good measure, or maybe in case you are worried about not getting fined for underselling your baked goods, why not one more homer for Schwarbs in Friday's game in Miami? If you've lost count, that gives him 13 (theme again!) home runs in the 14 games the Nationals played between June 12 and June 25. Only six players in MLB history have had such a prolific span, and none of them is Sammy Sosa (remembering when he broke the single-month record in 1998. Schwarbs follows in the footsteps of another Washingtonian, Frank Howard in May 1968; the others after that are Albert Belle (1995), Barry Bonds (2001 when they would still pitch to him), Troy Tulowitzki (2010), and Nelson Cruz (2019).

Bottom Of The Bag

⚾ Tigers, Sunday: First walkoff win on an "SHX" (sacrifice bunt with no out recorded) in at least 80 years. Before that we start to lose play-by-play and the record gets incomplete.

⚾ Freddie Freeman, Wednesday: First Braves batter to have 4 hits in a loss in Queens since Terry Pendleton on September 14, 1996.

⚾ Manny Machado, Monday: First Padres batter with 3 hits & 3 RBI in a home game against the Dodgers since Geoff Blum on August 23, 2006.

⚾ Kevin Pillar, Saturday: Third game-tying pinch-hit homer in Mets history in the 7th or later against the Phillies, after Val Pascucci in 2011 and Jim Hickman in 1962.

⚾ Yasmani Grandal, Tuesday: Second White Sox batter ever to hit a lead-flipping homer against the Pirates. Brian Anderson had the other off Jeff Karstens on May 24, 2009.

⚾ Jimmy Lambert, Sunday: Second reliever in White Sox history to give up 4 runs, hit a batter, and commit a balk in a home game. Rube Peters did it against Cleveland on May 4, 1912.

⚾ Dean Kremer, Thursday: Third starter in Orioles/Browns history to walk 5 batters and not finish the 1st inning, joining Rob Milacki (1991) and Sig Jakucki (1945).

⚾ Shohei Ohtani, Sunday: Second designated hitter in MLB history to have a homer, a triple, a double, 3 runs scored, 3 RBI, and a stolen base all in the same game. Hal McRae did it for the Royals on May 28, 1977.

⚾ Hunter Renfroe, Friday: Second Red Sox player ever to have a double, a sac fly, 2 walks, and an outfield assist in the same game. Dwight Evans against Texas on April 21, 1981.

⚾ Luke Voit, Tuesday: First Yankees batter to homer and triple in a loss to Kansas City since Charley Smith did it on July 31, 1967-- and yes, that's against the A's.

⚾ Antonio Senzatela, Saturday: First Rockies pitcher to be called for multiple balks in a game since Tyler Anderson at San Francisco, April 14, 2017.

⚾ Jonathan Schoop & Daz Cameron, Wednesday: First Tigers teammates to homer and steal a base in the same game since Omar Infante & Bobby Higginson in Chicago, August 17, 2004.

⚾ Jazz Chisholm, Sat-Sun: Second batter in Marlins history with a leadoff triple in back-to-back games. Jose Reyes did it against the Red Sox on June 11-12, 2012.

⚾ Trent Thornton, Friday: Second pitcher in Jays history to give up 0 hits and 0 earned runs but also walk 3 batters and take a loss. Roy Lee Jackson did it against Seattle on June 22, 1982.

⚾ Trevor Bauer, Wednesday: First Dodgers pitcher to strike out 10+, but also walk 4 and allow 3 homers, since Ben Wade against Pittsburgh on May 17, 1952.

⚾ Aaron Nola, Friday: Second pitcher in Phillies history to strike out 12 Mets batters and not get a win. Chris Short worked fifteen innings of a scoreless tie on October 2, 1965.

⚾ J.C. Mejia, Thursday: First Cleveland pitcher called for 2 balks in the same game since Steve Woodard aganist Chicago on September 9, 2001.

⚾ Braves, Monday: First time held to 4 hits or fewer in 4 consecutive games since August 1942.

⚾ Julio Urias, Saturday: First Dodgers pitcher to strike out 12+ against the Cubs and NOT get a win since Kevin Gross on May 18, 1992.

⚾ Jonathan Loaisiga & Aroldis Chapman, Tue-Wed: Second time in Yankees history that a pitcher has allowed 5 baserunners, 2+ runs, and blown a save in back-to-back games. Goose Goosage pulled it off by himself on September 28 and 30 of 1980.

⚾ Kyle Muller, Sunday: First Braves pitcher to allow 1 hit and strike out 9 against the Reds since Phil Niekro did it in the next-to-last game of the 1976 season.

⚾ Rays, Thursday: First team to win a 1-0 game via "bounce-off" (game-winning wild pitch) since the Henderson Alvarez no-hitter on September 29, 2013.

⚾ Keston Hiura, Friday: Brewers first sac-fly-off in the 11th or later since Henry Blanco against Houston on May 16, 2000.

⚾ Charlie Morton, Tuesday: First Braves pitcher to allow 1 hit but also throw a wild pitch and hit 2 batters since Ray Boggs against the Cubs on September 17, 1928.

Back, Jack, Do It Again

There is something to be said for consistency. Whether consistently good or consistently bad, at least it's predictable. We spend a lot of time in these posts looking at the unpredictable, the teams that score 18 one day and get shut out the next. That pitcher who strikes out 14 batters and somehow doesn't get a win. This week, however, we found a bunch of teams offering us repeat performances. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Bears Repeating

We begin at Wrigley Field, where change has been fairly slow over its 108 seasons. There's a couple of videoboards now. And lights (that only took 75 years). A World Series banner finally got added 5 years ago. So it's a work in progress. You might say the same for the Cubs offense.

Their week actually started at Citi Field, with Jake Arrieta headed to the mound against David Peterson and his 1-5 record and his 6.32 ERA and his WHIP of 1.51. This should be a no-brainer. And maybe that's why the Cubs never got started. Maybe they got on the wrong train (they're letters and numbers here, guys, not colors). And 2021 has certainly not been Arrieta's year so far (more to come). But Peterson shut the Cubs down to 1 hit over 6 innings while Arrieta walked four and gave up a 2-run double to Kevin Pillar plus a home run to Dom Smith. It's 5-0 by the time Anthony Rizzo and Patrick Wisdom hit back-to-back homers off Trevor May in the 7th. On the up side, that was the first time the Cubs had ever gone back-to-back in the 7th or later of a road game with the Mets, at any of their three stadiums. On the down side, those would be the only other Cubs hits in the game. They were held to 3 hits at Citi Field for just the second time; the other was against Mike Pelfrey on April 20, 2010. And as for Peterson's 6-inning, 1-hit outing-- and your "flashback" theme-- no Mets pitcher had done that since, well, Jacob deGrom the Friday before. The last time two Mets pitchers had such a line in a 4-day span was June 15 and 17 of 2003, by Steve Trachsel and Jae Weong Seo.

By Tuesday the Cubs apparently figured out their transit problems (it's okay to get on the "purple" train, you're not going to end up in Evanston) and even found a "7" in the hits column. Unfortunately, they ran into the buzzsaw that was Taijuan Walker, who became the first Mets pitcher in 45 years to strike out a dozen Cubs and get a win. Jerry Koosman did that in 1969 and again in 1976; the only other in team history was Nolan Ryan in 1970. It had been 5 years since Noah Syndergaard struck out 12 batters (April 12, 2016, vs Miami), and no other Mets pitcher except deGrom had done it since. Walker did get tagged for two early runs, meaning it was up to Pete Alonso to first tie the game with a 2-run single in the 3rd, and then win it with a sacrifice fly in the 5th. He's the third batter in Mets history to have 3+ RBI, account for all the team's runs in a game, and do it without an extra-base hit. Hubie Brooks did it against the Dodgers in 1982, and Rusty Staub in a loss in San Diego in 1974. Alonso's sac fly was the first go-ahead one for the Mets against the Cubs in the 5th or later since Rey Ordoñez off Kerry Wood on April 10, 2002.

On Wednesday the Cubs were back to their familiar 3-hit routine, and they might have been lucky to get that. Mets fans have likely blocked out this game in spite of their 6-3 win, because it's the one where Jacob deGrom left the game after the 3rd with another bout of "shoulder soreness". In a repeat of Monday, Anthony Rizzo and Rafael Ortega each homered to provide the Cubs' only runs and only hits until Sergio Alcantara lined a meaningless single with 2 outs in the 9th. It marked the first time the Cubs had ever been held to 3 hits by the Mets twice in the same series; the last time it even happened twice in the same season was 1976.

On the other side of this one, Robert Stock made his Cubs (though not MLB) debut after a decade of bouncing around the minor-league systems of seven different teams. All he did was walk six Mets, hit Dom Smith (who then homered in his next at-bat), and throw a wild pitch. The last pitcher to do that in his Cubs debut was Joe Vernon, and he didn't even do it at Wrigley. That was at West Side Park against the Phillies on July 20, 1912, and it was Vernon's only game for the Cubs. He showed up in the Federal League 2 years later and played one game for the Brooklyn Tip-Tops. He walked 5 in that one and never appeared again.

Meanwhile, deGrom's early exit did make for a rather unique pitching line. You see, the Mets' ace had been perfect the first time through the order, striking out 8 of the 9 batters he faced. Then he was unable to come out for the 4th, meaning he also finished with that line. Only one other Mets pitcher had left a game in the 4th or later with a perfect game still intact-- Seth Lugo in a doubleheader spot-start last August 25. (Lugo hadn't started a game in 2½ years and was on a pitch count.) And only one other Mets pitcher has ever had his final line for a game show 0 hits and 8 strikeouts. You might be able to guess it.

The Cubs did avoid a series sweep with Javier Baez's 2-run homer in the 1st inning of Thursday's game. Once again, however, that would end up being all the offense they really got, finishing with those 2 runs on only 4 hits. Happily that was double the Mets' total, the first time the Cubs had held them to 2 hits at home since May 12, 1996. Kyle Hendricks not only won Thursday's game, he was the pitcher the last time the Cubs had 4 hits at Citi Field and won; that was a 1-0 game on June 30, 2015. And exactly two months after that was the last time that a 1st-inning homer accounted for all the Cubs' runs in a game and they still won. Granted, it also helps when Jake Arrieta throws a no-hitter.

Fish-tory Repeating

By Friday the Cubs were back in Chicago, but apparently their offense was still back on the 7-train in Queens. Against the Marlins, in a rare Friday-night home game, they trotted out that old reliable line of 2 runs on 4 hits. In this case both the runs came from Joc Pederson, and it looked promising when he homered to start the game. He would end up being the second Cubs leadoff batter to have a multi-homer game against the Marlins, joining Dwight Smith in Florida's inaugural season (August 12, 1993).

However, it wouldn't be long until Adam Duvall came to the plate with the bases loaded in the 3rd and proceeded to unload them with the fifth grand slam of his career. His previous one famously provided runs 26 through 29 of that 29-9 game against the Marlins last September. On Friday, however, he would join Adeiny Hechavarria (2013) and Carlos Lee (2012) as the only Marlins batters to hit a grand slam at Wrigley. He then reappeared in the 7th and added the final runs of this game as well, with a 2-run dinger to give Miami a 10-2 victory. Duvall also had a 6-RBI game (actually 7) against his old team, the Braves, on April 13, and is the first player in Marlins history with multiple 6-RBI games at all, much less in the same season. He's the first Marlins batter to have a multi-homer game at Wrigley since Giancarlo Stanton did it on July 16, 2011, in a 13-3 win that was also the previous time the Marlins hit double digits in Chicago.

So go back, Fish, and do it again. This time, instead of waiting until the 3rd to hit a grand slam, Duvall lofted a 2-run homer in the 1st, already putting the Marlins well on their way. Then we get to the 3rd after all, and apparently forgetting that he already homered in the 1st, Duvall goes yard again. That's two more runs, a 6-0 lead, and a second straight 2-homer, 4-RBI game for Duvall. The Marlins' list of consecutive 2-HR games contains only three players, and the 4-RBI list contains only four players-- and Duvall is the only one to appear on both lists. The other batters with back-to-back multi-homer games are Giancarlo Stanton (July 2016) and Derrek Lee (June 2002). The other 4-RBI players are Cody Ross (July 2008), Preston Wilson (May 2000), and Gary Sheffield (September 1995).

We mentioned 2021 hasn't been Jake Arrieta's year so far. Because guess who's on the mound to give up those 6 runs on Saturday. That was his fourth start already this season where he allowed 5 or more runs, didn't get through the 4th inning, and lost. That's the most such starts by any Cubs pitcher in a season since Shawn Estes in 2003. By the end things would be so bad that Eric Sogard became the first player in Cubs history to play second base, play third base, and pitch in the same game. He was also the only Cubs "pitcher" on Saturday not to allow a run.

It's 11-0 after Lewin Diaz hits his second career homer in the 8th, and it does give the Marlins a nice repeat to add to their collection. Now in their 10th season as "Miami", it's only the second time they've scored 10+ runs in back-to-back games, home or road. The other was September 22 and 23, 2017, in Arizona. And no visiting team had scored 10+ in consecutive games at Wrigley Field since the Tigers did it on August 18-19, 2015.

The Cubs did at least avoid a shutout when Jason Heyward hit a solo homer off Anthony Bass in the 8th. The last Cubs batter who homered to break up an 11-0 (or worse) that late in a game was Kyle Schwarber against Milwaukee on September 9, 2017. (Much more Kyle Schwarber fun to come.) The problem, once again, is that Heyward's homer was only their second hit of the game. Pablo Lopez allowed only a 2nd-inning single to Sogard and then retired him on a double play. Rafael Ortega added a meaningless double in the 9th so the Cubs finished with 3 hits. Yep, 3 hits. Again. After 4 on Friday, 4 on Thursday, and 3 on Wednesday. The North Siders hadn't been held to 4 hits or fewer in 4 straight games since, well, they weren't the North Siders. They were the West Siders, playing back-to-back doubleheaders with the Pirates on Labor Day weekend... of 1905. (We actually had to check to see if Labor Day was a holiday by that point. It was.)

And so needless to say, when it happened yet again on Sunday, we really don't have any precedent for the last time the Cubs did it. At this point we extend to all of MLB to find that no team has posted 4 or fewer hits in 5 straight games since the Giants did it in September 2016. And no team in the live-ball era has ever done it in six straight (set your DVR for Monday night!).

The bizarre-est highlight of Sunday's game was that, for a while, it stood a chance of being another no-hitter-that-wasn't. Zach Thompson walked three batters and the Cubs managed to score a run on a passed ball, even though they didn't have a hit until Patrick Wisdom's 15-pitch at-bat in the 5th. Problem is, they were the home team, so if that 1 run on 0 hits had stood up, they wouldn't have batted in the 9th. No worries; Wisdom became the second Cubs batter in the "pitch-count era" (which is usually 1988) to get a hit on the 15th pitch; Jon Jay did it against Brandon Woodruff on Septembre 22, 2017. However, that came off Ross Detwiler, not Thompson. Thompson was pulled after 4 due to a pitch count, having struck out 7 but still not allowed a hit. The last Marlins starter to leave a game with a no-hitter intact was Jarlin Garcia on April 11, 2018 (after 6 in what was a very controversial move at the time).

And even though the Cubs would get a couple more hits and score another run, that first unearned run on the passed ball ended up costing Thompson the loss. How many pitchers in MLB's modern era can say they gave up 0 hits, struck out 7, and got stuck with a loss? Well, that club is now three, and it's no longer an Astros exclusive. The other members are Houstonians Erik Bedard (July 20, 2013) and Ken Johnson (April 23, 1964).

Over And Over

Although they did lose that series finale to the Cubs on Sunday, the Marlins were no doubt happy that on Friday and Saturday they were on the right side of that 10-run repeat. Because they were coming off another set of repeating history in their midweek series with the Cardinals.

Monday's opener gave us a hint as to what the pattern would be, as the Cards and Fish were tied going to the bottom of the 8th. That's when Tyler O'Neill came through with his second double of the day, scoring Dylan Carlson and putting St Louis ahead for good. O'Neill was the first Cardinals batter with a multi-double game against Miami since Tommy Pham on July 5, 2017, and it was the team's first go-ahead double in the 8th or later of a home game since Matt Adams hit one on September 21, 2018. Only five teams had gone longer without one.

Tuesday found our combatants knotted at 1 in what was less of a "pitcher's duel" and more of a "who ARE these people?". Trevor Rogers and Kwang-Hyun Kim held the opposing offenses, most of whom had never seen them before, to 3 hits each and sent us to the 9th still tied. That's when Paul Goldschmidt decided to spare everyone the free-runner escapade and crank a leadoff homer off Yimi Garcia for a 2-1 Cardinals win. The complete list of Cardinals batters to hit a walkoff homer against the Marlins is Paul Goldschmidt and... um... Paul Goldschmidt. He also had one on June 19, 2019, off Adam Conley, to say nothing of the one he hit against them with the Diamondbacks on June 18, 2013. (Don't pitch to him in the third week of June.) Tuesday's loss was the first time the Marlins had been held to 3 hits at Busch Stadium since they faced Adam Wainwright on July 16, 2016.

Back-to-back walkoffs, anyone? (We warned you, things are gonna repeat themselves.) Wednesday's game was a slightly-better battle between Sandy Alcantara and Johan Oviedo, both of whom scattered 6 hits and no runs until we get to the 9th. Alcantara is still in the game as who else but Paul Goldschmidt leads off the 9th inning again. No, he doesn't homer again, it's not quite that exciting. He hits a grounder to short. But Jazz Chisholm boots it and Goldy is safe at first representing the winning run. Three batters later he is scoring that winning run as Yadier Molina singles through the left side for a 1-0 walkoff. The Cardinals had one other 1-0 walkoff against the Marlins, and it was in the very first series the two teams ever played. Todd Zeile also singled on May 16, 1993. The only other 1-0 win by St Louis against Florida was August 11, 2004, when Edgar Renteria had an RBI double in the 6th.

The Cards hadn't won any 1-0 game in walkoff fashion since Peter Bourjos's single beat the Pirates on September 3, 2014. And with the 2-1 win on Tuesday, it was the first time St Louis had walked off in back-to-back games without scoring more than 2 runs in either one since May 1-2, 2015, also against Pittsburgh.

Thanks to the leadoff error, Goldy's run was unearned, and thus Alcantara got the distinction of throwing a complete game, allowing 0 earned runs, and losing. No pitcher in Marlins history had ever pulled that off. And no pitcher for any team had done that and lost on a walkoff since Kenny Rogers, then with the Yankees, on May 28, 1996.

As for Goldschmidt, he had the walkoff hit (and also scored the walkoff run) on Tuesday, and then scored the walkoff run again on Wednesday. The last Cardinals batter to pull off either combination (hit plus run, or scoring the run in both games) was Albert Pujols when he homered to win consecutive games against the Cubs on June 4 and 5, 2011.

D.C. You Again

We left the Mets in Flushing after the Cubs departed on the 7-train back toward Hudson Yards, but the New Yorkers would take a little trip of their own for the weekend. They ended up on the Green Line to Navy Yard for a four-game set with the Nationals that included a makeup game for the lone rainout we had on Opening Day. The teams may be different, but here we are locked in another 0-0 game as Erick Fedde and Joey Lucchesi match wits in Friday's opener, while both teams forgot to check the area around them when getting off the subway and let their bats ride all the way to Suitland. Through 8 innings the Nationals have 5 hits and the Mets have managed only 2 singles.

No worries, Edwin Diaz will take care of this. Bottom of the 9th, leadoff walk to Juan Soto. Ryan Zimmerman single. Yan Gomes single to score Soto for the 1-0 walkoff. The last time the Nationals beat the Mets in a 1-0 game was September 14, 2016, on a Wilson Ramos homer in the 7th. They'd never had a 1-0 win over the Mets via walkoff. It was also the Nats' second 1-0 walkoff win this season, after Kyle Schwarber homered against the Diamondbacks on April 16. The only other season in Nats/Expos history where they did it twice was 1972. That Arizona game, thanks to its "scoreless tie" nature, also saw Max Scherzer throw 7+ innings with 2 hits and not get a win-- just as Erick Fedde did on Friday. That's the first time in franchise history that two different pitchers had that line in the same season, through John Patterson did it twice by himself in 2005.

And if you've forgotten the last game of that Mets/Cubs series, it's the one where Chicago staved off a sweep by shutting out the New Yorkers on 2 hits. Look what happened again Friday. It's only the second time in Mets history doing that in back-to-back games; the other was only two years ago, May 18-19, 2019, in Miami.

Starting Over

Someone say Kyle Schwarber? Turns out he's not only capable of hitting walkoff homers such as the one against Arizona in April, he's also capable of hitting leadoff homers. Well, now he is, since last weekend the Nats decided to move him to the top of the order.

After dropping the day game of Saturday's doubleheader by a 5-1 count to the Mets, Schwarber decided that wasn't going to happen again. Or, if it was, at least he would be responsible for the "1". He greeted Robert Gsellman with a leadoff homer in the night game, the Nats' first in a home game against the Mets since Ian Desmond off Dillon Gee on September 3, 2011. Schwarber would tack on another homer in the 4th to lead the Nationals to a split of the twinbill. To find the last Washington batter to hit a leadoff homer, and then add another dinger later in the game, well, our theme should be a hint that you don't have to go too far. Because Kyle Schwarber did it last Sunday against the Giants in the second game after they moved him to the leadoff spot. The only other player in franchise history to have two such games in an entire season was Alfonso Soriano in 2006, and he didn't do it in the same week.

Did we mention that Schwarber likes leadoff homers all of a sudden? That one last Sunday was his second game in the #1 slot, but guess what that was a repeat of. Yep, his first game in the #1 spot the day before (June 12). The only other player in Nats/Expos history to crank out three leadoff homers in an 8-day span is Brad Wilkerson, who did it in late August 2004 in the next-to-last homestand at Stade Olympíque. And he's not done, either. Because in the final game with the Mets this Sunday, guess what. Four in nine days, a first in franchise history and just the sixth player to do it this century (Ronald Acuña, George Springer, Brian Dozier, Jose Altuve, Derek Jeter). Only one other player in Nats/Expos history had even hit leadoff homers in back-to-back games; that was Tony Tarrasco on May 8 and 9, 1995.

Schwarbs wouldn't be satisfied with just the leadoff homer on Sunday, however. He repeated his trot in the 5th and then again in the 7th for just the sixth 3-homer game in Nationals history. (The Expos also had six.) Anthony Rendon had the previous one, in that wacky 23-5 game with the Mets on April 30, 2017, where he also had 10 RBI. Rendon, Bryce Harper (2015), and Adam Dunn (2010) are the others to do it at Nationals Park, with Kris Bryant of the Cubs (May 2019) being the only visitor with a 3-homer game there. The only other leadoff batter in franchise history with a 3-homer game was (of course, when you think leadoff) Alfonso Soriano against the Braves on April 21, 2006.

While Schwarber's leadoff homers this Saturday and Sunday were in consecutive games, the ones last weekend were not because of doubleheaders. So on Monday, when he went yard again against the Pirates, it was not in fact a third consecutive game, but a third consecutive day. Also that one wasn't a leadoff homer per se because it came in the 7th inning. But it did come out of the leadoff spot, and once again we look to Alfonso Soriano for all things leadoff. He was also the last Nationals batter with any homer from the leadoff spot on three straight days, May 18-19-20 of 2006.

Now that we're into that Pirates series, that 7th-inning "Schwarbomb" on Monday gave the Nats a 3-2 win, but Kyle had also tied the game with a single in the 3rd. In the 17-year history of the "Washington Nationals", only two other players have recorded a tying hit and a go-ahead hit in the same game against the Pirates: Anthony Rendon on April 12, 2019, and Ronnie Belliard on June 10, 2008.

Unfortunately for Pittsburgh those 2 runs would be the high point of the series. On Tuesday the Nats exploded for 5 runs in the 1st inning including a Yan Gomes grand slam. Since the move to Washington, the only other 1st-inning slam they'd hit in any home game was by Austin Kearns against the Marlins on April 18, 2009. Trea Turner would add 4 hits including a triple on the way to an 8-1 win, his third game with that line. That's a record for the current incarnation of Washington baseball; the last Washington batter to have three such games (4 hits including a triple) was Eddie Yost from 1949 to 1957.

And the Pirates limped to a 3-1 loss (and sweep) on Wednesday where the highlight was pitcher Chase DeJong hitting a double. Jameson Taillon (2018) and Zach Duke (2010) are the only other Pirates pitchers with a two-bagger at Nationals Park, and this week was just the second time the Pirates had scored 2 runs or fewer in three straight games at the Navy Yard and lost them all. The other such streak was June 19 through 21, 2015.

Take It To The Bridge

The Pirates were back in the friendly yellow shadow of the Roberto Clemente Bridge on Friday, and this is The Game we have to talk about. And it is not a repeat of earlier in the week, although it does feature some repetitive things within the game. Let's start with a 5-run 1st inning off Cleveland starter J.C. Mejia, Pittsburgh's largest B1 in an interleague game since April 2, 2018, when they rode a 5-spot against the Twins all the way to a 5-4 win. They'd never before dropped a 5-run 1st on the Indians, home or away. Mejia survived all the way to the 5th, giving up only another solo homer to Bryan Reynolds, so it's 6-1 when Kyle Nelson attempts to take over in the 6th. Two walks and a single load the bases with 2 outs. And then, well, strike zone much?

Bases-loaded walk to pinch hitter Phillip Evans. Plunks Adam Frazier with an 0-2 pitch to extend the inning. Bases still loaded for Ke'Bryan Hayes to fire a double to the warning track in right. That would be another 5-run inning, the first time the Pirates have had two in a game since May 2, 2017, in Cincinnati. They hadn't done it at PNC Park since August 1, 2007, against the Cardinals. That also gives them 10 runs (actually 11 now) in a game for the first time this season, the last of the 30 teams to achieve a fairly bland milestone. They'd been the last team not to do it after Seattle dropped a 10-0 on the Twins on Tuesday.

Note how Evans and Frazier got a bases-loaded walk and a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch. Back-to-back. Incredibly, that's a repeat of just two weeks ago when Kevin Newman and Ka'ai Tom did it against the Marlins on Saturday the 5th. In the entire vault of play-by-play on the great Baseball Reference Stathead site, which covers nearly every game for the past 75 years, the Pirates had never even done that twice in the same season.

However, if our metaphor is that we're in a musical bridge, that means our song still isn't over. Sam Howard is given an 11-1 lead to, well, not do what he did with it. Walk, single, walk, single (11-2), strikeout, single (11-3), lineout, Cesar Hernandez grand slam. That is a 6-run inning to go with the pair of 5's for the Pirates, the first game in PNC Park history with three 5-run frames. The last time it happened at Three Rivers was a 12-8 slugfest with the Marlins on June 15, 1996.

Rene Rivera would get the Indians to 11-9 with a bases-loaded single in the 8th, and Bryan Reynolds would boot said single to instantly make it 11-10. Richard Rodriguez escaped two baserunners in the 9th for the save, giving the Indians their fourth-ever interleague game where they scored 10 and lost. The most recent had been June 15, 2009, against Milwaukee (14-12), and the one before that had also been in Pittsburgh-- a 13-10 loss at Three Rivers on July 17, 1999. The only other time they did it was, oh yeah, in Game 3 of the 1997 World Series against Florida, the wacky 14-11 game.

And getting back to Cesar Hernandez and his grand slam. He had also driven in that first run for Cleveland an inning earlier, and is thus the first leadoff batter in Indians history with 5 RBI in a loss. As we mentioned, the slam was hit with the score 11-3, the first one the Indians have hit with the team trailing by 8 runs since Bill Knickerbocker did it against the non-Knickerbocker New York team (the Yankees) on September 9, 1936. And in nearly a quarter-century of interleague play, no Indians batter has hit a grand slam against the Pirates, home or road. To find the last "Cleveland" slam against Pittsburgh you have to go back to the days when the Spiders roamed the National League. Jack O'Conner was the batter who hit it... on July 17, 1893.

Admit it, you've had the post's "title track" in your head ever since you clicked it. Over here the wheel's been turnin' round and round since about Thursday. Release the Steely Dan. Intermission!

Let's Twist Again

Cleveland arrived in Pittsburgh on Friday after presumably following their previous opponent down the Turnpike. The Orioles had been getting swept at Progressive Field to extend their road losing streak to 19, so they were more than happy to keep driving right past Pittsburgh and go home to Camden Yards.

Cedric Mullins wasted no time, opening Friday's game with the Blue Jays by blasting his third leadoff homer of the year (all at home, naturally). He also hit Baltimore's previous leadoff homer against Toronto, way back on September 18, 2018, and joins Brady Anderson, Phil Bradley, and Brian Roberts as the only Orioles to have multiples against them. On the way to a 7-1 win, Mullins then hit a 3-run bomb in the 8th, duplicating a feat he pulled off on April 26 against the Yankees. The last Orioles batter to have two multi-homer games that included a leadoff, in the same season, was also Brady Anderson, in that 1996 season that always comes with its own asterisk.

If you guessed there might be a repeat performance on Saturday, you'd be very close. No leadoff homer this time, but Mullins cranked out two more as Baltimore once again scored 7 runs. The last Orioles batter with back-to-back multi-homer games was Chris Davis in September 2015, and in franchise history no player had ever done it batting leadoff in both games. And Ryan Mountcastle, who's hit only 2 homers on the road all year, enjoyed watching Mullins so much that he decided to do an imitation. And then raise the bar by hitting three. He joined Juan Beniquez (1986), Eddie Murray (1980), Boog Powell (1963), and Moose Solters (1935) as the only players in franchise history to have 3 homers in a loss. And only three sets of Orioles/Browns hitters had each had multiple homers in the same loss; the others are Manny Machado and Delmon Young (2015), Bobby Bonilla and Brady Anderson (1996*), and Frank Robinson and Boog Powell (1966).

A loss, you say? A-yup, because the Jays didn't score 1 run this time like they did on Friday... they scored 10. After rallying for six 2-out runs in the top of the 9th for just the third time in team history. One of the others was at Camden Yards two seasons ago, and the third was in Milwaukee 13 years earlier to the day. Marcus Semien drew a bases-loaded walk to open that floodgate in the 9th, his third RBI of the day. And it turns out he got in on this "multi-homer game" thing as well with solo shots in the 1st and 8th. He joined Alex Rios (2006) and Jose Cruz (2001) as the only Jays leadoff batters with a multi-homer game against Baltimore, and the other two did it at home. And a leadoff batter who homered in the 1st?, well, pretty good chance that also came as the first batter of the game. He's the eighth batter in Jays history to hit multiple leadoff homers within a 4-day span; Cruz and Rios are also on that list, but the most recent was Eric Sogard in April 2019.

Flip Fantasia

Which begs the question, Marcus Semien repeated his leadoff homer feat from 3 days earlier? Why yes he did. It was one of the few things that went right for the Blue Jays this week. Last Sunday we had to hastily bring you tales of Toronto's 18-4 jamboree at Fenway Park that included a whopping 8 home runs. Maybe they shoulda saved a few. From Monday to Saturday they hit 8 homers total. In six games. And they lost five of them, including a midweek sweep by the Yankees in which many games looked alike. And they looked like a lot of other Yankee games in which the offense suddenly blows up right at the end.

On Tuesday it was 5-3 before Brett Gardner opened the 7th with a solo shot. Anthony Castro then wild-pitched in the tying run to blow the save, the third pitcher in Jays history to perform that neat trick after Aaron Loup in 2012 and Jason Frasor in 2010. And while there's no lead-flipping homer in this one (wait for it!), there were two game-tying homers when Gary Sanchez (in the 2nd) and Chris Gittens (in the 4th) both answered Jays runs from the inning before. Only twice before had the Yankees hit multiple tying homers in a game against Toronto; Tyler Austin did it by himself in the third game of the 2018 season, while Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon did it on Independence Day 2009.

The game being tied up on the wild pitch also gives Clint Frazier the chance to be today's hero with an 8th-inning RBI double for the win. That was the Yankees' first go-ahead double in the 8th or later against Toronto since Vernon Wells hit one in September 2013, and just their second ever against the Jays by a pinch hitter. Dan Pasqua took Mark Eichhorn for a two-bagger on September 11, 1986.

On Wednesday we get to Semien's other leadoff homer of the week, irrelevant at the time aside from being their first one against the Yankees when already trailing since Former Yankee Melky Cabrera in April 2014. That left us knotted at 1-1 until Cavan Biggio hit a solo dinger in the 5th, leading the Yankees to summon pinch hitter Gary Sanchez in the top of the 7th. Given that Miguel Andujar had started the inning with a single, Sanchez then took the lead with a 2-run homer, the Yankees' first lead-flipper by a pinch-hitter against Toronto since Carlos Beltran in August 2015. That also sent starter Ross Stripling to a defeat despite allowing only 3 hits and striking out 9; only Brandon Morrow (2011), Ted Lilly (2006), and Jimmy Key (1987) had done that in Jays lore.

Wednesday wasn't without its nervous moments, however, as Aroldis Chapman gave up a single and a double to start the 9th before getting a strikeout, an ill-advised fielder's choice at home (there's no force, why are you running on a grounder to third?), and a fly ball to center for the save. We could find no other game in Jays history where they trailed by 1 in the 9th, had runners on second and third with no outs, and failed to score in the inning to at least tie the game. (They did pull it off in a 10th inning once, 2008 against Seattle.)

Stop us if you've heard this one, but the Yankees had a 7th-inning lead-flipping homer for a win over the Blue Jays. Yes, this is now Thursday's series finale, and they trail 4-3 before Rougned Odor opens the frame with a single. It's then Giancarlo Stanton's turn to launch a 2-run bomb, start a 4-run inning, and cruise the Yankees to an 8-4 win. Combined with Gary Sanchez's homer on Wednesday, it's the first time the Yankees had a lead-flipping homer in the 7th or later of consecutive games since Curtis Granderson and Alex Rodriguez did it in September 2010. Anthony Castro, of the wild-pitch blown save on Tuesday, gave up all 4 runs this time to not only blow another save but also take the loss. He joined a short list with Jason Grilli (2016), Tom Henke (1986), and Matt Williams (1983) as Jays pitchers to give up 4 runs and take a loss against the Yankees while getting only 1 out.

Maybe Castro could have used the Yankees defense behind him. Because the memorable part of Thursday's game was not him facing 6 batters and getting 1 out. It was the Yankees facing 1 batter and getting 3 outs. Yes, it's the old triple play, the Yankees' first since, oh, only May 21 against the White Sox. They'd never before turned two in the same season, and it was the first one started by a Yankees pitcher since Dooley Womack to Bobby Cox to Mickey Mantle on June 3, 1968. But it's the other shenanigans of having both runners at third base that make Thursday's play so fun. If you're scoring at home, it goes ((1-3)-6-2-5)-6, the first TP in MLB history to have that exact combination. It's only the second one in Yankees history to involve five different fielders, after a ((3-2-5)-4-6-4)-3-6 escapade in Detroit on May 22, 1946 (sorry, video not available).

And oh yeah, the Blue Jays still haven't been able to return to Toronto. This is all still happening at Sahlen Field in Buffalo. So when, you ask, is the last time a triple play got turned in Buffalo? Why, that's "only" September 29, 1890, when Billy Nash hit a liner that was snared by the second baseman and the two baserunners were both doubled off.

Buffalo (N.Y.) Evening News, September 29, 1890 (via Newspapers.com)

Back (Bay) In The High Life Again

And that first Jays loss that started the week was the finale of that wraparound series at Fenway that included the 18-4 game. Monday was nowhere near a repeat of that; instead it was a repeat of the first game of the series on the previous Friday. With Boston holding a 1-0 lead, Vlad Guerrero Jr said, let's make this series go a little bit longer so we don't have to go back to Buffalo. (All in good fun, Buffalo.) It was the first tying or go-ahead homer the Jays had ever hit when down to their final out in a game at Fenway; their only other one against Boston was a walkoff by Roy Howell on May 26, 1979.

Except in the bottom of the 9th, Rafael Devers overrules Vladdy and says, no, you've been here too long, back to Buffalo you go. He delivers a walkoff single to score Alex Verdugo (who led off the inning with his own single) for the 2-1 victory. That followed Verdugo's own walkoff single from the Friday before, and it's the third time the Sawx had walked off twice against Toronto in the same series. Kevin Youkilis and Jason Varitek hit singles in back-to-back games on April 29 and 30, 2008, and Luis Alicea and Bill Haselman had back-to-back walkoffs on June 26 and 27, 1995.

This is, of course, just leading into Boston's next series, the one against Boston's former team (now in Atlanta by way of Milwaukee). And that escalated quickly too, with Rafael Devers and Hunter Renfroe hitting back-to-back homers in the 1st inning on Tuesday. That's only the second time the Red Sox have ever hit back-to-back homers in Atlanta (any inning); Damon Buford and Mike Stanley led off the 4th against Bruce Chen on July 9, 1999.

The Braves would eventually claw all the way back to tie the game in the 6th on a passed ball and a sacrifice fly. So we're 7-7 going to the 8th when our buddy Alex Verdugo unloads another 3-run homer that would hold up for the win. The only other 3- or 4-run go-ahead homers hit by the Sawx against the Braves were by Travis Shaw in 2016 (in the 1st) and Cody Ross in 2012 (in the 4th). Their only go-ahead ones in the 8th or later were by Brandon Phillips in 2018 (a 2-run version) and Nick Green in 2005 (solo walkoff). The 10-8 final would be the first time the Braves scored 8 runs in an interleague game and lost since September 5, 2018, also against Boston.

So by now you know what happens on Wednesday. It's almost like they forgot to reset the scoreboard. Red Sox, 10 runs on 14 hits-- again. Braves, 8 runs-- again (this time 12 hits instead of 9). This one took a slightly different path to get there, with Boston collecting 8 doubles out of their 14 hits, their most ever in a National League park and their first time doing it in any road game since June 21, 2015, at Kansas City. Xander Bogaerts joined Alex Verdugo (2020) and David Ortiz (2016) as the only Bostonians with 3 doubles in a game against the Braves, and even pitcher Garrett Richards got in on the party at second base. Josh Beckett (2007) and Derek Lowe (2004) are the only other Red Sox pitchers to hit a double against the Braves.

Atlanta, however, would counter all those doubles with a couple of well-placed long balls. Dansby Swanson tripled and scored in the 4th, then provided a game-tying 3-run shot in the 5th. Martin Prado (2010), Kelly Johnson (2007), Andruw Jones (2003), and Chipper Jones (1998) make up the other Braves players to homer and triple in the same interleague game. And that homer was only the second 3- or 4-run one in Braves history to tie an interleague game in the 5th or later; Gerald Williams hit the other against the Yankees on July 17, 1999. Freddie Freeman gave the Braves a brief 7-6 lead with a solo homer in the 6th... which just meant that lead was ripe for taking back.

Shane Greene gives up a double and two walks to start the 7th and then it's time to go. Bring on A.J. Minter. Red Sox, bring on pinch hitter Christian Arroyo. And then bring on the pinch-hit, lead-flipping grand slam notes. There have now been four such homers in Red Sox history, after Shea Hillenbrand (2002 at Tampa Bay), Rich Gedman (1986 at Detroit), and Clyde Vollmer (1950 vs Cleveland). And ignoring the pinch-hit part, there have only been two other lead-flipping slams hit by the Red Sox against an NL opponent. Brian Daubach hit the first one against the Marlins on June 14, 2001, and you might remember the second. Daniel Nava certainly does.

For the Braves, well, we know the last time they scored 8 runs in an interleague game and lost. But the last time they scored 8 runs in back-to-back games against any opponent and lost them both was July 26-27, 2008, in Philadelphia. And our exact matching scores of 10-8? Well, specific to that score, it's only happened one other time in the past 85 years, and if you thought Coors Field might be a good place for a couple of 10-8 affairs, yeah, you'd be right. The Rockies won a pair from the Mets by that count, 3 years ago this weekend.

Turn It On Again

We had already written nearly all of this post about history repeating itself when the Yankees dropped another one in our lap. Remember that wacky triple play they turned in Buffalo on Thursday? Fast-forward all of three days to Sunday's series finale with Oakland.

Gary Sanchez briefly continues the Yankees' theme of late lead-flipping with a 2-run double in the 6th. The Yankees hadn't hit one of those so late in a game against Oakland since Ruben Sierra on May 4, 2004. But in the 9th, it's time for Aroldis Chapman to make the Yankee faithful sweat nearly as much as he does. Leadoff walk to Jed Lowrie. Four-pitch walk to Tony Kemp. And then, boom, perfectly placed ground ball by Sean Murphy to Gio Urshela at third. Ballgame over. Thaaaaaaaaa Yankees. Win. That is yet another triple play, the more-conventional ((5)-4)-3 variety that is the most common of all types, but it's their second one this week. That's the closest together that any team has recorded two TPs since July 17, 1990, when the Twins famously became the only team ever to turn two in one game. But as for different games? No team had done it in two separate games within a four-day span since the Tigers turned them in back-to-back games on June 6 and 7, 1908. The only other before that was the 1886 Brooklyn Dodgers who recorded them on April 26 and 29. The 31 days it took the Yankees to collect three TPs was also a major-league record.

The Athletics had not hit into a game-ending triple play since July 24, 1915, and on that day they were trailing Cleveland by 8 runs anyway. The Yankees hadn't turned one since May 6, 1911, against the Red Sox, although that one last month against the White Sox was also in the 9th inning. No team had ever turned two in the 9th inning or later in the same season before. And check out the bizarre pitching line this created for Chapman. 1 IP (3 outs), 3 batters faced, but 2 walks. (Huh?) The only other pitcher in Yankees history to post that line was Wilt Gaston against the Senators on May 28, 1924. We couldn't find an exact play-by-play of his 9th inning, but there appears to be a caught-stealing and a double play involved. And totally bringing this full circle? That 1924 Gaston appearance was in the second game of a doubleheader. In the first game that same day... the Yankees turned a triple play.

Oops I Did It Again

We're not sure what got into the Giants this week, unless you consider that they were playing the Diamondbacks. Still, though, it's not like these were blowouts. On Tuesday Arizona collected 7 runs in the first 2 innings, including knocking Zack Littell out of the game before he recorded an out. Littell faced 6 batters, walked 2, gave up 4 singles, and became the first Giants starter to give up 4 runs while getting 0 outs since Gil Heredia on June 4, 1992. By the 8th, however, the Giants had inched their way to back to an 8-5 deficit, and a leadoff double and an error have helped them load the bases with 2 outs. Did we mention there's a guy named "Yaz" coming up? And not the synth-pop band from the early '80s, although this Yaz did indeed create a "situation", hitting the team's second lead-flipping grand slam in as many Tuesdays. Mike Tauchman did it last week; the last time San Francisco even hit two in a season was 1967. And since you're wondering, Grandson Mike and Grandpa Carl already have an equal number of lead-flipping slams in their careers; the elder Yaz hit his only one on April 12, 1979, in Milwaukee. Tuesday was the first game in D'backs history where they scored 7 runs in the first 2 innings and still ended up losing.

Wednesday's game had all the fun of nine innings jammed into three! Around a bunch of zeroes, the Giants hung two 4's and a 5 en route to a 13-7 win in which the D'backs also had a 5-run frame. It was the eighth game at the current stadium where both teams had a 5-run inning, and the second to involve Arizona, the other being September 7, 2003. The Giants had piled up 13 runs by the 5th inning, something they also did in that 19-4 game against the Reds back on May 20. They hadn't pulled that off twice in a season since 2004. Wilmer Flores, hitting in the pitcher's spot, cranked a pinch-hit homer with the Giants already ahead by 6 runs; only Travis Ishikawa (2014) and Ken Oberkfell (1989) had done that in their San Francisco history. And for Arizona, they scored 8 runs on Tuesday and lost, only to score 7 more on Wednesday and lose again. Four times in their history have they had 7+ runs in consecutive road games against the same opponent and lost both contests; two have been in San Francisco and two have been at Coors Field. The other instance against the Giants was September 3 and 4 of 2004.

And since this post is all about broken records, what about a 10-spot from the Giants on Thursday? Kevin Gausman held the D'backs to only 3 runs this time in running his record to 8-1, the best start for a Giants pitcher since Jason Schmidt in 2003. So we don't have any notes about the D'backs scoring 7+ in three straight games. But we do have one about the Giants scoring 9+ in three straight games: It's the first time they'd done that at home since August 23-25, 2010, against the Reds. Brandon Belt had a homer and a triple in Wednesday's victory before Curt Casali came along and matched that line on Thursday. The Giants hadn't had a player do that in consecutive games since Jeffrey Leonard did it by himself on August 14-15, 1983.

And as you know by now, the Diamondbacks returned home for the weekend and dropped three more contests to the Dodgers to run their losing streak to 17 games. (Had it not been for the 1st, they would currently be 0-for-the-month.) We know about a few other long losing streaks. The Orioles' 21 to start the '88 season. The Royals had a 19-gamer in 2005. The Mariners rattled off 17 around the All-Star break in 2011. But the last National League team to hit "L16" on the streak meter was the 1977 Braves-- and it so frustrated owner Ted Turner that he usurped actual manager Dave Bristol and decided he would manage the team himself. That lasted one game-- the 17th straight loss in the streak-- before the commissioner decided Ted was breaking the old Connie Mack Rule that prohibited owners from also being managers. Ted was removed the next day, Vern Benson got credit for managing that day's streak-breaking win over the Pirates, and then Bristol was reinstated for the rest of the season.

Bottom Of The Bag

⚾ Shohei Ohtani & Jared Walsh, Fri-Sun: First teammates in Angels history to each homer in the same three consecutive games.

⚾ Shohei Ohtani, Thursday: First Angels pitcher to draw 2 walks as a batter since Joel Piñeiro at Dodger Stadium, June 11, 2010.

⚾ Willy Adames, Saturday: Second batter in Brewers history with the combo of a homer and 3 doubles in the same game. Damian Miller vs Cincinnati, April 22, 2006.

⚾ Aaron Civale, Wednesday: First time a Cleveland pitcher has been the first in the majors to reach 10 wins in a season since Greg Swindell in 1988.

⚾ Odubel Herrera, Friday: First Phillies batter to hit a leadoff homer in San Francisco since Len Dykstra at Candlestick on April 20, 1994.

⚾ Sean Murphy, Monday: Second player in A's history with 2 hits, 2 runs scored, 2 RBI, and 2 hit-by-pitches in same game. Jimmy Dykes at Washington, July 3, 1921.

⚾ Twins, Friday: First team since at least 1950 (we start losing play-by-play before that) to have a triple and two bases-loaded walks in the same extra inning.

⚾ Jose Altuve, Tuesday: Astros' first walkoff grand slam since Brian Bogusevic off the Cubs' Carlos Marmol, August 16, 2011.

⚾ Astros, Wednesday: First game in team history where the bottom third of thair batting order combined to hit 4 homers.

⚾ Adam Wainwright, Sunday: First Cardinals pitcher to throw a complete game with 11 strikeouts against the Braves since Bob Gibson in Milwaukee on September 15, 1964.

⚾ Luis Urias, Thursday: First Brewers batter with a 3-run double accounting for all the team's runs in a game since Prince Fielder at Cincinnati, May 23, 2006.

⚾ Rhys Hoskins, Saturday: Joined Von Hayes (1989) and Dolph Camilli (1935) as the only Phillies batters to have 2 homers and 6 RBI in a game against the Giants.

⚾ Julio Urias, Tuesday: Became second pitcher in Dodgers history to record at least 1 RBI on offense in 5 straight games. Don Drysdale did it in their first season in Los Angeles, 1958.

⚾ Chris Paddack, Friday: Second pitcher in Padres history to strike out 11 and execute 2 sac bunts on offense. Andy Benes did it against the Mets in a 1-hitter on July 3, 1994.

⚾ Tony Watson, Wednesday: First Angels pitcher to give up 6+ runs and not record an out since Donne Wall at Seattle, April 22, 2002.

⚾ Shed Long, Sunday: Mariners' first walkoff grand slam since Mike Zunino, also vs Rays, August 8, 2006.

⚾ Dodgers, Monday: First game against the Phillies where they had 3 hits and won since April 25, 1974 (Tommy John pitching, 1-0 on a Jim Wynn sac fly).

⚾ Ronald Acuña, Friday: Second Braves batter in modern era to walk twice and be hit by a pitch twice in the same game. Bob Horner did it against the Padres on July 27, 1982.

⚾ John King, Saturday: Second pitcher in Rangers history to throw 3+ hitless innings and take a loss. Danny Darwin did it against Detroit on July 30, 1979.

⚾ Mariners, Monday: First team to score exactly 4 runs and have an RBI single, RBI double, RBI triple, and RBI (solo) homer-- in that order-- since the Yankees did it on August 23, 1956 (Billy Martin, Yogi Berra, Jerry Coleman, Mickey Mantle).

⚾ Reds, Tuesday: Second time in modern era that they had 2 hits in an extra-inning road game and won. The other was May 2, 1917, in Chicago, and is famous as (still) the only game in MLB history where neither team had a hit through 9.

Un-lead-ed

Now that Major League Baseball no longer recognizes ties (except on rare occasions at the end of a season), we know that every game must now come with at least one lead change. Or at least a go-ahead something-or-other (if you prefer to see 0-0 as the lack of a lead, and thus the lead cannot "change"). This week, however, the games that only came with one were very much the exception.

Back And Forth

We start in Boston, where Thursday's game brought us as many weird turns as the streets of the North End. It's Yuli Gurriel of the Astros who leads off the 2nd with a homer. But after Zack Greinke gives up 4 hits in the bottom half, Enrique Hernandez draws a bases-loaded walk and the Sawx are up 2-1. It was Boston's fourth go-ahead walk already this season; the last time they had four by June 10 was in 1998, and Jim Rice had three of those by himself.

Eduardo Rodriguez puts 2 on with 2 out in the top of the 3rd, and than Yordan Alvarez flips the lead back to Houston with a double. It was the second such hit the Astros have ever had at Fenway Park; Tony Kemp had the other off Ryan Brasier on September 7, 2018. It was also Alvarez's fifth go-ahead double so far this season, and the only other Houston batters to hit five so early in a season were Jose Cruz in 1979 and Rusty Staub in 1968. So of course J.D. Martinez leads off the 3rd with another homer to tie things at 3. Christian Vazquez singles home Xander Bogaerts later in the frame to put Boston ahead again.

By the 5th, Rodriguez is struggling and has loaded the bases with 2 outs before being replaced by Matt Andriese. He walks Gurriel to tie the game at 4, the first game-tying free pass the Astros have ever had at Fenway. Five pitches later, with the bases still loaded, Kyle Tucker unleashes a 3-run double that you thought might blow this one open. The Astros hadn't had a go-ahead 3-run double in the 5th or later of any game since Jose Altuve hit one in Anaheim on May 15, 2018, and combined with Alvarez's two-bagger from earlier, it's the first time Houston's ever hit multiple go-ahead doubles in the same game at Fenway Park.

That 7-4 lead lasted quite a while... not. Brandon Bielak, who eventually replaced Greinke, gives up 2 singles in the bottom half of the 5th. And then welcome to the game, Christian Arroyo. Three-run bomb to knot us at 7-7. With Martinez earlier, it's just the second time the Red Sox have hit multiple game-tying homers against the Astros; Dustin Pedroia and Manny Ramirez did it at their place on June 29, 2008.

Back in front goes Houston with a Jose Altuve homer in the 6th. Hernandez begins the Boston half with a double and then scores on Martinez's sac fly to tie us up yet again. Martinez just had the tying homer in the 3rd, and he now has a tying sac fly on top of it. Since the latter were split into their own category in 1954, only two other Red Sox batters have had a tying homer and a tying sac fly in the same game: Bob Tillman on May 19, 1962, and Carl Yastrzemski on July 22, 1972.

What we haven't mentioned yet is that Martinez's sac fly got dropped by center fielder Myles Straw. So the inning continues. Two more walks to re-load the bases for Christian Vazquez. Who gets that always-dramatic highlight of being hit by a pitch to force in the go-ahead run. It's now 9-8 Boston and the lead would not change hands again as the Sawx went on to a 12-8 win. But with the Hernandez walk in the 2nd (remember way back when?), it's the first game in at least 75 years where the Red Sox had both a go-ahead walk and a go-ahead hit-by-pitch in the same game. And according to Elias, the six lead changes were the most in any game since the Cubs and Cardinals played a 9-8 game on September 21, 2019.

One Thing Leads To Another

As the Astros departed, it was the Blue Jays' turn to occupy the visiting clubhouse at Fenway for the weekend, and they responded with 3 early runs on Friday. And it could easily have been much worse; there were 3 singles in the 1st, a double and 2 singles in the 2nd, and by the time Garrett Richards was done, he had surrendered 11 total hits but "only" 4 runs, the first Sawx pitcher to do that since Rick Porcello against Seattle on May 28, 2017.

Meanwhile, Ross Stripling was having his own issues holding onto a 4-run lead, eventually giving up a single to Hunter Renfroe (5-2) and then departing with runners on the corners. Unfortunately Tyler Chatwood missed the memo by about as much as he missed the strike zone. Plunked the first batter he faced, Christian Arroyo. That loaded the bases, and then walked Marwin Gonzalez on four pitches to force in a run. They're still loaded, so why not a wild pitch to clear a base (and score another run)? It's now 5-4 Toronto, and at least by clearing that base, Chatwood avoided forcing in another run when he also hit Bobby Dalbec. At that point his night is over, but what a night it was. Zero outs, zero hits, but a walk, two hit batters, and a wild pitch. Nobody's done that in a game since (who else?) "Wild Thing" Mitch Williams on July 31, 1988.

Carl Edwards is on the mound for the 8th when Christian Arroyo finally scores that tying run for the Sawx, via another solo homer. Remember Arroyo hit that 3-run shot to tie Thursday's game against the Astros; he's the first Bostonian to hit any tying homer in back-to-back games since Rafael Devers in August 2017. And we haven't talked about Alex Verdugo at all yet; he has quietly collected 2 hits, a walk, and a run scored before coming to the plate in the bottom of the 9th with Enrique Hernandez on second. Yep, walkoff single. Since they're in the same division, Red Sox walkoffs against Toronto aren't rare. They had two last year. But their last player whose third hit of the game was a walkoff-- against any team-- was Mookie Betts on April 27, 2015.

Come On Now, Follow My Lead

That 12-8 mess between Boston and Houston on Thursday... well, it wasn't even the first dramatic back-and-forth tilt that day. In a 12:30 "getaway" game, the Braves and Phillies played as though neither one of them really wanted to go anywhere.

You can blame Zack Wheeler for some of that; the former Mets pitcher, now with the Phillies, held the Braves to 4 hits, 0 runs, and 0 walks, while striking out 12. Only four other Phillies pitchers in the live-ball era had posted that line: Vince Velasquez (2016), Curt Schilling (1996), Steve Carlton (1982), and Jim Bunning (1965). Ian Anderson was equally good for the Braves, throwing 7 scoreless frames on just 4 hits of his own despite not racking up the strikeout numbers. So we are scoreless into the 8th until Odubel Herrera and Jean Segura hit back-to-back doubles off A.J. Minter in the 8th. And then, with 1 out in the 9th, well, this happened.

That's Freddie Freeman hitting a game-tying homer for the Braves in the 9th. If it looks familiar to Phillies fans, it's because Pablo Sandoval also hit one of those just a few weeks ago on May 8. The Braves hadn't hit two 9th-inning, game-tying homers against the Phillies in the same season since 1944. Meanwhile, Wheeler is haunted by the ghost of former Mets teammate Jacob deGrom. Back on May 18 he became the first Phillies pitcher ever to allow 0 earned runs, issue 0 walks, strike out 10+, and not get a win, something deGrom seems to do in every other start. On Thursday he became the second Phillies pitcher to post that same line.

But on we go to the 10th and the free-runner rule. Dansby Swanson moves up to third on a groundout, and then Phillies pitcher Jose Alvarado takes the unusual step of bouncing him home on a wild pitch. And if you're looking for Phillies pitchers to wild-pitch in a run in extra innings, you actually don't have to go far. David Hale did it against the Cardinals on April 29. It's the first time two Phillies pitchers have done it in the same season since 2006, and in the 75 years of play-by-play we have available, there's never been a season where both of their runs have been of the go-ahead variety.

We hadn't finished looking that up when Rafael Marchan commits a passed ball to score another Braves run. And no, in that same 75 years of play-by-play, the Phillies had never allowed a run on a wild pitch and a run on a passed ball in the same extra inning. But it's 3-1 Braves going to the bottom of the 10th (remember, scoreless after 7), and all they need to do is get three outs. Mmmm, yeah, about that.

Alec Bohm singles to score free runner Rafael Marchan. Odubel Herrera deals a big blow with a double down the left-field line to put runners at second and third. And then Jean Segura dumps a fly ball in left-center to score both of those runners for a 4-3 walkoff. It was the Phillies' first walkoff single when trailing (so, the 2-run variety) since Bohm did it on September 8 of last year against Boston. Their last one in extra innings was also against Atlanta, by Maikel Franco on April 22, 2017.

Take Me To Your Leader

If it sounds familiar that the Phillies walked off while trailing, well, you only need to go back about 18 hours. Before Thursday's lead-flipping hit by Segura, there was Wednesday night's walkoff homer by Luke Williams. Who? Yeah, Luke Williams, the Phillies' 3rd-round draft pick in 2015 who had slowly made his way up the minor-league ladder, finally got called up to make his MLB debut on Tuesday. And on Wednesday he came to the plate in the bottom of the 9th with the Phillies trailing 1-0 and Andrew McCutchen on first base. Only four players in Phillies history have had their first career homer be a walkoff; the others are David Doster (1996), Rick Joseph (1967), and John Peters (1921). It had also been seven decades since any Phillies batter hit a walkoff homer against the Braves with the team trailing. Willie "Puddin' Head" Jones went deep off Nels Potter on September 4, 1949.

The Phillies then had a rare Friday night off before entertaining the Yankees on Saturday. The New Yorkers sent Jameson Taillon to the mound, and let's see how that went. Single, single, single, single, walk, sac fly, single, cold shower. Nestor Cortes got two strikeouts to escape any further damage, but Taillon became the second starter in Yankees history to give up 4+ runs while getting 1 out in a National League park. At least he wasn't doing it on quite as big a stage; the other was Bob Turley in Game 2 of the 1958 World Series in Milwaukee. Cortes coming into the game so soon also made him the first Yankees reliever to get a plate appearance in the 1st or 2nd inning since Mike Myers against the Mets on May 19, 2007.

The Yankees got a couple runs back, one of them when Brett Gardner became just the third Yankee to hit a triple at Citizens Bank Park (joining Miguel Cairo and Johnny Damon). But by the time we get to the 9th it's 7-4, and we wouldn't be mentioning this game if DJ LeMahieu hadn't crushed a 3-run homer off Hector Neris to tie it back up. The Yankees hadn't hit one of those in the 9th inning of any road game since Juan Rivera off Lance Carter of the Rays on June 24, 2003.

Unfortunately for the Yankees, they would strike out twice in their extra inning and Aroldis Chapman would give up another walkoff single to Jean Segura. The Phillies have only one other walkoff win against the Yankees in their history; it was a bases-loaded walk on September 3, 1997. The last time the Phillies won three straight games in walkoff fashion was in August 2013. And the best one we found from this game: It was the first time the Yankees hit three homers in Philadelphia and lost since... yep, they were playing the A's. In their final series at Shibe Park, slash Connie Mack Stadium, on August 15, 1953.

Meanwhile, the Yankees were no strangers to getting walked off. In their previous game on Thursday against the Twins, they started early with a 3-run homer by fourth-batter-of-the-game Giancarlo Stanton. Gio Urshela tripled immediately after that, joining Brett Gardner (July 4, 2014) as the only Yankees to hit a 1st-inning triple at Target Field. He ended up not scoring, which could be an ominous sign. He would go yard later on in the game, creating the strange line of having a homer and a triple, but only 1 run scored and 1 RBI. No Yankees batter had done that in a road game since Bob Watson at Seattle on August 20, 1989.

So the Yankees obviously have at least 4 runs (actually 5) and send Aroldis Chapman out to the mound to protect a 2-run lead. Which he...um... doesn't. Leadoff single, 2-run homer by Josh Donaldson. Another single. And another 2-run homer, this one by Nelson Cruz for the 7-5 win. It was the second game of Chapman's career where he faced 4+ batters and all of them scored; the other was at Coors Field for the Reds on August 17, 2014. And in that one he didn't even take the loss because they brought in J.J. Hoover to give up the final walkoff run. Only four other pitchers in Yankees history have given up 2 homers and taken a loss while getting 0 outs: A.J. Cole (2018), David Robertson (2012), Chris Hammond (2003), and Wade Blasingame (1972, in a start!). And if you thought the Phillies didn't have many walkoffs against the Yankees, well, they're in different leagues and only play once a year and only then since 1998. The Twins' last walkoff homer against the Bronx Bombers was way back on July 28, 1995, by Dan Masteller off Jack McDowell.

Lead Balloon

It isn't just the walkoffs that make for late-game fun. Back to Wednesday we go for the Nationals and Rays, and Juan Soto's 1st-inning homer at the inflatable dome that is Tropicana Field. Only one other player in Nats/Expos history has hit a multi-run homer in the 1st at The Trop; it was Vlad Guerrero Sr on July 13, 2000. So how does Patrick Corbin start the bottom half for the Nats? Oh, only by walking the first three batters on 15 pitches, and then giving up a 2-run single and a sac fly to immediately lose the lead. It's the third time in Rays history that they've started a game with 3 straight walks; the others were against Cleveland on April 6, 2013, and Oakland on May 6, 2012.

Ryan Zimmerman ties the game, and then takes the lead back, with home runs in consecutive at-bats in the 3rd and 5th. He joined Wilson Ramos as the only Nats/Expos batters with a multi-homer game at The Trop. It also broke a tie with Andre Dawson for the most multi-homer games on the road in franchise history (Zim now has 14).

Except the Rays add homers of their own from Taylor Walls and Joey Wendle to tie the game again in the 8th. The Nats score 2 in the 10th after Juan Soto is intentionally walked to start the frame, meaning Randy Arozarena and Joey Wendle are responsible for getting those runs back. And they do. Aroz hits the Rays' second extra-inning triple this year, after Manuel Margot on May 24; the only other season where Tampa Bay hit two of them was 2011 (B.J. Upton & Desmond Jennings). And Wendle scores him with a single for his second game-tying hit of the night; the only other Rays batter to tie the same game twice in the 8th or later was Aubrey Huff against the Orioles on August 31, 2004. Starlin Castro would ultimately provide the game-winner for the Nats in the 11th with a leadoff double, as Tanner Rainey shut down the Rays in their half. Washington hadn't hit a go-ahead double in the 11th or later of any game since Ben Revere's walkoff against the Reds on July 1, 2016-- and their only one in an interleague game had been by Brian Bixler against the White Sox on June 24, 2011.

All Roads Lead To Arlington

The Giants and Rangers held a rematch of their 2010 World Series this week, at the same ballpark that hosted last year's World Series (but not the one with the Rangers in it). On Tuesday the Giants took a brief lead when Brandon Crawford homered in the 6th, but Adolis Garcia and Nick Solak quickly answered with RBI doubles, and the Giants are running out of outs. They have managed to load the bases in the 8th and knock Joely Rodriguez out of the game, which opens the door for Mike Tauchman to unload them. As you might expect, it was the Giants' first-ever grand slam in Arlington (any stadium), and their first one ever that flipped the lead in any American League ballpark. Also, since the Giants' #9 batter is usually the pitcher, Tauchman was their first #9 to hit a grand slam in a road game since Rich Aurilia aganist the White Sox on June 12, 2003.

They weren't done, because Crawford tacked on another 3-run job in the 9th for a 9-4 final. He thus became the second Giants batter to have either a multi-homer game or a 4-RBI game in Arlington, including in that 2010 World Series. The other 2-homer outburst was Brandon Belt on August 1, 2015, while Eric Davis had the other 4-RBI game on July 27, 2001.

And because he's going to come up again, we'll mention the 3 hits by Rangers leadoff batter Isiah Kiner-Falefa. He's the team's second leadoff batter ever to have 3 hits against the Giants, joining Mark McLemore on July 19, 1999.

Wednesday's getaway game finds the Giants holding a precarious 2-1 lead in the 9th. They hand the ball to Tyler Rogers, who faces the aforementioned Isiah Kiner-Falefa and gives up a leadoff single. "IKF" steals second and then scores the tying run when Adolis Garcia singles. Blown save number 14 for Giants pitching this year, trailing only the Dodgers and Marlins. At least the free runners should help. The Giants score theirs to go back in front. Now all Rogers has to do is get thr-- right, of course he didn't. Sac fly by Nate Lowe to score the Rangers' run. Blown save number 15-- oh wait, he can't blow his own save twice. (They should change this rule. Like, dude, we gave you multiple chances.) Rogers would at least not also get the loss. That would be the honor of Jake McGee who gave up the 11th-inning walkoff to Brock Holt. The Rangers' only other walkoff win against the Giants was on June 13, 1997, when Rusty Greer hit a solo homer. Holt was the Rangers' first batter ever to hit a walkoff single in the 11th or later of an interleague game; David Murphy (2009), Hank Blalock (2004), and David Segui (2000) each had one in the 10th.

And this walkoff spoiled the much-anticipated MLB debut of Sammy Long, who was pitching in low-A ball just two seasons ago. Long threw 4 innings on Wednesday, allowed just 1 hit, and struck out 7. We see this phenomenon with MLB debuts where often the other team can't get a hit off the guy just because they've never seen him before. But the numbers still say Long is the first Giants pitcher with that 1-and-7 line in his MLB debut since Juan Marichal on July 19, 1960.

We don't write about the Green Bay Packers on this blog, so we had one leftover "lead" song stuck in our heads that we couldn't use. So rev those engines and meet us at the candy store. Intermission!

Lead Foot

Depending on how you mentally pronounced it, it's either the phenomenon where you're cruising along on the highway and your mind drifts away and suddenly you're doing 80 or 85. Or it's the first step in a dance. Either way it works for our purpose here, which is to highlight some games this week that didn't have any chance of having a late lead change.

Since the Rangers are fresh on our minds, let's continue their little interleague journey on Friday at Dodger Stadium. That would be the game where Dodgers leadoff batter Mookie Betts reaches on an error and then Max Muncy and Justin Turner immediately homer. Gavin Lux adds another tater down in the #7 spot, the first time the Dodgers have hit three 1st-inning homers since Joc Pederson, Adrian Gonzalez, and Andre Ethier did it on April 29, 2015. More notably, it ended with the Dodgers posting their first-ever 6-run 1st inning in interleague play (including World Series). Their most recent of several 5's was at Detroit on July 8, 2014.

Mike Foltynewicz would eventually get tagged for 8 hits and 8 runs without finishing the 3rd, the first Rangers starter to do that since Luis Mendoza against the Angels on July 7, 2008. Even Clayton Kershaw got in on the offense, joining Hyun-Jin Ryu (2014) as the only Dodgers pitchers with 2 hits and at least 1 RBI in an interleague contest. By the time it's all said and done, it's a 12-1 Dodgers win, their largest ever against the Rangers/Senators franchise.

No worries, we'll see your 12-1 and raise you... um... a 12-1? Flip the script to Saturday and it is Texas who's piling up 9 hits off Trevor Bauer, although he made it into the 7th and there are no 6-run innings in this one. Bauer would finally exit after Willie Calhoun's RBI triple, the first three-bagger the Rangers had hit at Dodger Stadium in 20 years minus 1 day. Frank Catalanotto had the previous one on June 13, 2001. Once Calhoun scores it's 6-0, and then it's up to Nate Jones and Andy Burns to give up the rest of the runs. Nate Lowe doubles and then homers. Jonah Heim doubles. Brock Holt doubles and then scores on Jason Martin's homer. Eventually the Rangers would pile up 9 extra-base hits, their most ever at Dodger Stadium.

And reenter Isiah Kiner-Falefa. He collected 3 hits but also 3 stolen bases (two in the 1st inning). No Rangers leadoff batter had done that since Julio Borbon on August 18, 2009. Tack on his sacrifice fly in the 8th, and he's the first player, any spot in the order on any team, to have 3 hits, 3 steals, and a sac fly since Carlos Beltran, then still with the Royals, did it on September 4, 2003.

If the 12-1 victory was the Dodgers' largest ever against the Rangers, it's only fair to tell you that 12-1 was also the Rangers' largest against the Dodgers. But it was not their first 11-run win at Dodger Stadium. Remember, the Dodgers aren't the only team to have ever played there. The Angels borrowed it for their first four seasons before The Big A was ready. And sure enough, the fledgling Second Senators laid a 13-0 on the fledgling Angels there on June 2, 1965.

Birdshot
(It's made of lead, you know.)

You may remember last Sunday when the Orioles dropped 18 runs on Cleveland, just a couple days after ending a 14-game losing streak (in which they scored 18 total runs in the last 8 games). The O's had Monday off for personal reflection (wouldn't that be fun?) and apparently decided they liked scoring runs more than not scoring them. So on Tuesday, with the Mets now visiting OPACY, they churned out 10 more. This one did have a small bit of lead-flipping drama because Pete Alonso hit a 2-run homer in the 1st inning. That meant doubles by Pat Valaika and Cedric Mullins in the 2nd did actually take the lead back. But from there the rout was on. Valaika doubled again. Maikel Franco hit a 3-run homer. Anthony Santander homered and doubled. The Orioles ended up with four different players who had multiple extra-base hits, just the third home game where that happened since they moved to Baltimore in 1954. The others were an 18-2 blowout of Oakland on August 16, 2015, and a 12-10 slugfest with the Yankees on June 26, 1993.

The final score of 10-3 was made possible only by Pete Alonso, who tossed up another home run in the top of the 9th for no purpose other than this note. He's the third player in Mets history to homer in the 1st and the 9th of the same game, without the Mets scoring any other runs in between. The others to do it were Joe Torre on June 1, 1976, and Donn Clendenon on May 17, 1971. Alonso also joined Curtis Granderson (2015), David Wright (2010), and Robin Ventura (2001) as the only Mets with a multi-homer game at Camden Yards.

And the 28 combined runs were the most the Orioles had scored in two consecutive games since posting a 23-1 against Toronto and a 13-2 against the Yankees in September 2000.

Shoulda saved a few.

That list of Mets to have multi-homer games at OPACY? Add Billy McKinney to it. When you're done there, add Kevin Pillar to it. Make them the first Mets teammates ever to have 3 hits, 2 homers, and 4 RBI each in the same game. Tack on a 3-hit, 3-run, 3-RBI game from Pete Alonso, joining Brandon Nimmo (2018) and Bernard Gilkey (1997) as the only Mets to do that against Baltimore, and you will find yourself with a 14-1 beatdown, the Mets' second-largest victory margin ever in an interleague game. They rolled up an 18-1 game against the Jays in Buffalo last September. It was also the second time the Mets had ever scored 14 runs in Baltimore, after a 16-5 win on August 15, 2018. And in case you wanted the exclamation point, McKinney's second homer, the one that completed the 14-1... came with 2 outs in the 9th. Only one other homer in Mets history has been hit with 2 outs in the 9th and the team already ahead by double digits: Mike Jacobs to finish an 18-4 win at Arizona on August 24, 2005.

In The Library With The Lead Pipe

Someone say 18-4? We started in Boston nearly 5,000 words ago, so we might as well end there. Thursday's game with Houston and then Friday's game with Toronto went down to the wire. Sunday's game with Toronto, um, did not.

Teoscar Hernandez, 3-run homer in the 1st. Lourdes Gurriel follows that with a solo shot. Marcus Semien goes yard in the 2nd to knock Martin Perez out of the game and make him the second Red Sox starter ever to give up 3 homers while getting 4 outs in a home game. We knew this answer before looking it up, because we were at the other game where it happened. Steven Wright against the Orioles on April 12, 2017.

That brings on poor Ryan Weber, and he is in full-on "take one for the team" mode. Hernandez hits another 3-run homer in the 4th, already joining Lyle Overbay (2010), Reed Johnson (2005), and Ernie Whitt (1988) as the only Jays players with a 6-RBI game at Fenway. It's 9-1 before Semien hits a sac fly off Weber in the 5th. And then Bo Bichette finds his way into the 3-run-homer club. 13-1. Okay, Jays, it's a Sunday and we need to get this post done, you can stop now.

Solo homer by Cavan Biggio in the 6th. Bichette doubles in the 7th and then Vlad Guerrero Jr (forgot about him, didn't you?) unleashes another 2-run bomb. 16-3, and did we mention poor Ryan Weber is still on the mound taking this? He became the first reliever in Red Sox history left out there to allow 11 runs since Hank Johnson did it in Cleveland on May 25, 1934. Only one other reliever in the past half-century had given up 11 runs and 4 homers in an outing, and that was Jordan Yamamoto in the famous 29-9 game last September. If you tack on 13 hits, Weber's the first with a 13-11-4 outing since Sid Schacht of the Browns in another famous game at Fenway, The 29-4 Game on June 8, 1950.

So at least Weber's got some famous games and not-so-famous pitchers with which to commiserate. (We could not find a connection to Vin Mazzaro's 14-run outing for the Royals. Sorry.) Just for good measure, Rowdy Tellez cranks a 2-run shot in the 9th off Christian Arroyo (yes, second baseman Christian Arroyo), and that makes 8 homers if you haven't been counting along. The Jays had never before hit 8 homers in a road game, and no visiting team had ever hit 8 homers at Fenway Park in its 110-season history. The Sawx did chip in two dingers of their own, making Sunday the third game in Fenway history with 10 total homers. The first of those was May 17, 1967, against Baltimore, and then the Sawx and Brewers combined for 11 on May 22, 1977. Bo Bichette would wind up with 4 hits and 5 runs scored in the confusion, joining Josh Donaldson (2015) and Orlando Hudson (2004) as the only Jays batters ever to do that. It was the first game where the top four batters in the Jays' lineup all homered since June 19, 2012, at Milwaukee. And they became the fourth team in MLB history to have six players with 2 hits, 2 runs scored, and a homer in the same game. Half of those games have happened at Fenway; the Red Sox did it against Detroit on September 4, 2013.

And lest you temporarily forget the "scourge" of the strikeout, Ryan Weber somehow managed to fan seven Jays batters around all those homers. He appears to be the first pitcher in MLB history (and definitely since 1901) to give up 11 runs and 4 homers in a game while also recording 7 strikeouts. So at least he's got that.

Lead A Horse To Water

Whether you've been using a long E (\leed\) or a short E (\led\) this whole time, doesn't really matter. You can go both ways. Just like Shohei Ohtani, who got another shot at pitching on Friday night against the D'backs. After all, it's a National League game, the pitcher has to bat anyway, so why take said bat out of the lineup? But this gave rise to some fascinating stuff that needed its own little section.

Ohtani the hitter doubled in a run in the 3rd and then scored on an Anthony Rendon hit. Ohtani the pitcher got rattled in the 5th and hit Tim Locastro with the first ball of the inning. Joah Rojas replaced him on a groundout. Ohtani then was called for back-to-back balks to score Rojas and advance Ketel Marte to third. One pitch later, a bouncer on which Eduardo Escobar swings and missed, but still Marte comes racing home on the wild pitch. Ohtani gets put out to pasture in right field, but the batter version is still in the game. And it hits another double in the 7th. The Angels eventually win in 10 innings, so Ohtani the pitcher gets a no-decision. But look at all the fun notes he did get instead. We always say, balks make everything funner.

2 balks and a wild pitch? Last Angels pitcher to do that was Nolan Ryan at Minnesota on June 16, 1977.

2 balks and a hit batter? Last Angels pitcher to do that was Willie Fraser at Seattle on April 16, 1988.

You may have picked up that Ohtani has collected our "Kernels trifecta" of a balk, a wild pitch, and a hit batter in the same game. Last of those by the Angels was Tyler Skaggs on September 6, 2017.

But 2 doubles as well! Last Angels batter to record 2 doubles in a game while also pitching in it was Clyde Wright on May 25, 1971. (This needs phrased properly because the second double came as the right fielder.)

And what of hitting 2 doubles AND committing 2 balks in the same game? In MLB's modern era (1901), no player had pulled that off until Ohtani did it on Friday.

Bottom Of The Bag

⚾ Matt Olson, Sat-Sun: First A's batter to record 8+ total bases in consecutive home games since Troy Neel vs Boston, July 8-9, 1993.

⚾ Vladimir Gutierrez, Wednesday: First Reds pitcher with the "Kernels trifecta" since Johnny Cueto at Florida, April 12, 2010.

⚾ Ty France, Tue-Thu: Joined Kyle Seager (July 2017) and Russell Branyan (August 2009) as only Mariners to be hit by a pitch in three straight games.

⚾ Kelvin Gutierrez, Saturday: Second Royals batter to homer and triple in a loss in Oakland. Jim Wohlford did it in a 1-run game on May 18, 1973.

⚾ Sean Murphy, Thursday: First Oakland catcher called for intereference against the Royals since Terry Steinbach, June 28, 1991.

⚾ Marlins, Monday: Second time collecting 12+ hits in an American League park but only scoring 3 runs. Other was a 10-3 loss in Detroit on June 29, 2016.

⚾ Pirates, Friday: First time issuing three consecutive bases-loaded walks since Jose DeLeon and Rod Scurry against the Padres on April 5, 1984.

⚾ Michael Brantley, Sunday: First player (any team, including Twins) to have a 3-double, 4-RBI game at Target Field. Only one to do it at the Metrodome was Javier Valentin against Toronto, August 1, 1998.

⚾ Robbie Ray, Tuesday: First Blue Jays pitcher NOT named Roger Clemens ever to strike out 13 and issue 0 walks in a game. (Rocket did it four times.)

⚾ Christian Javier, Wednesday: First Astros pitcher to get a 4-inning save since Ramon Garcia against St Louis, April 5, 1997.

⚾ Wade Miley, Saturday: Second Reds pitcher to have 2 hits and score a run against the Rockies. John Roper did it at Mile High on May 26, 1994.

⚾ Ha-Seong Kim, Tuesday: First Padres batter whose RBI double broke up a shutout of 9-0 or worse in the 9th since Mark Sweeney against the Mets, August 10, 2005.

⚾ Nelson Cruz, Thu-Fri: First Twins batter with a walkoff homer in one game, and a go-ahead homer in the 1st inning of the next game, since George Mitterwald in June 1973.

⚾ Randy Dobnak, Wednesday: First Twins pitcher to give up 11 hits including 4 homers since Carlos Silva against the White Sox on April 23, 2006.

⚾ Max Scherzer, Friday: Third starter in Nats/Expos history to leave a game after facing just 1 batter. Dennis Martinez was both of the others, once (1990) after being hit with a comebacker, and the other (1993) because he was ejected.

⚾ Tommy Pham, Sunday: Second Padres batter to hit a leadoff homer at Citi Field. The other was memorably the first homer ever hit at the stadium. It's Trivia Answer Jody Gerut off Mike Pelfrey, April 13, 2009.

⚾ Walker Buehler, Tuesday: First Dodgers pitcher to throw 7+ scoreless innings and allow 2 hits at PNC Park since Wilson Alvarez, May 7, 2004.

⚾ Luis Castillo, Thursday: Became first Reds pitcher in live-ball era to twice allow 1 hit, strike out 7+, and lose. Castillo also did it April 3, 2019, against the Brewers.

⚾ Aaron Civale, Friday: First Cleveland pitcher to give up a leadoff hit, then pitch 8+ innings without allowing another hit, since Dennis Eckersley at Baltimore, May 24, 1976.

⚾ Jackson Kowar, Monday: First pitcher to throw 3 wild pitches in his MLB debut since Chris Mabeus of the Brewers on May 29, 2006.

⚾ Kyle Schwarber, Sat-Sun: Second batter in Nats/Expos history with a leadoff homer on back-to-back days (not games because of doubleheader). Other was Tony Tarrasco in May 1995.

⚾ Matt Carpenter, Wednesday: First Cardinals batter to hit a 3-run double in the 1st inning, with team already trailing, since Gary Gaetti on September 19, 1996.

⚾ Griffin Jax, Tuesday: First pitcher to make his MLB debut as a reliever against the Yankees and give up 2 homers since Bill Currie of the Senators on April 13, 1955.

⚾ Triston McKenzie, Saturday: First Indians starter to walk 4+ while getting no more than 2 outs since Scott Elarton at Chicago, June 22, 2004.

⚾ John Gant, Saturday: First Cardinals starter to walk 5+ while getting no more than 5 outs since Pete Falcone at Pittsburgh, April 13, 1976.