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.