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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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