There used to be a joke that would get hurled at tourists going to Mexico about not drinking the water or you'd get a case of the runs. Well, even though MLB hasn't been able to play a game in Mexico for the last couple seasons, there certainly was something in the water this week.
The Blue Jays, who have seemingly played everyplace except Mexico in the last two seasons, started their week with Ross Stripling on the mound. They ended the 1st inning on Monday with Ross Stripling no longer on the mound, because that went double, homer, groundout, walk, double, walk, and oh yeah, grand slam by Hunter Renfroe. The Red Sox have only ever hit one other 1st-inning grand slam in a road game against Toronto, and it was in the Jays' very first season. It was also by Carlton Fisk, off Mike Darr on September 6, 1977. It was at least quite easy to close out Stripling's line, making him the first Jays starter to give up 6 runs while getting 1 out since Matt Boyd also did it against the Red Sox on July 2, 2015.
That 2015 game finished with a final score of 12-5 after Boston piled up 8 runs in the 1st. History, repeat thyself. Let's welcome Anthony Kay to Monday's game and watch him give up a single and a 2-run homer to complete the snowman. Although the Jays and their opponents have had 8-run innings in Buffalo over the past two seasons, there hadn't been one in a 1st inning yet. And it turns out the Federal League never had one there. So alas, we don't have handy searchable linescores for the Players League of 1890, but it's at least that far back since there could have been one in Buffalo.
That homer was Enrique Hernandez's second extra-base hit of the inning; he would finish the game with 3 of those, plus 3 RBI, plus 3 runs scored, the first Boston leadoff batter not named Mookie Betts to do that in over a decade. (Marco Scutaro, September 8, 2010.)
Anthony Kay gets left out there for the 2nd and promptly gives up another homer to Rafael Devers, plus 3 walks and a double. Jacob Barnes rescues him from that mess, but not before Kay and Stripling become the second pair of teammates in Jays history to each give up 5 runs while getting 4 outs in the same game. Joe Biagini and Chris Rowley pulled it off at Target Field on September 17, 2017. And that means the Red Sox are up to 11 by the end of the 2nd inning, their first time doing that since June 27, 2003. That was a noteworthy 25-8 game against the Marlins where Boston matched the American League record by putting up 14 runs in the 1st. On Monday they would finally calm down and only end up with a 13-4 victory after two more solo homers. But that meant 6 total homers in the game, their second time ever doing that in a road game against Toronto. The other was actually at Rogers Centre-- to which the Jays will finally return next weekend-- in a 13-0 shutout on April 7, 2013.
And though we don't have a long narrative about Wednesday's series finale, suffice it to say that the Red Sox runs were coming one at a time. They won 7-4 behind five separate homers by five different batters, only one of them of the multi-run variety. Combined with Monday's outburst, it's the first time Boston hit 5 homers in multiple games of the same series since June 1977 against the Yankees at Fenway.
Would it really be a week in a baseball season if we didn't mention the Nationals getting wrapped up in some 15-run escapade? Just last Friday it was the 24-8 game that earned itself about half of our post. And we also just mentioned that 2003 game where the Marlins lost by 17. So of course the stars are perfectly aligned for another pitcher named Ross-- and one who previously did 6 years with the Nationals-- to have an implosion for the Marlins against them.
That would be Ross Detwiler, who starts his Monday with a single, a triple by Trea Turner, and then back-to-back homers from Juan Soto and Josh Bell. After that, however, he gets used to the Nationals Park mound again, gets three straight outs, and maybe this game isn't going to blow up on us. Yeah, right. Leadoff homer by Tres Barrera in the 2nd. Then a single, a hit batter, and Trea Turner is back up again already to hit a 3-run homer and knock Detwiler off said mound. Count 'em, 4 homers while getting just 3 outs, the first pitcher in Marlins history to pull that off. And only one other Marlins starter has given up 8 runs while getting 3 outs-- Chris Hammond against the Giants on April 28, 1996. Turner already has a homer and a triple, his eighth career game doing that to surpass Andre Dawson for the most in Nats/Expos history. And Monday is the first home game in Washington where the Nationals opened with 4 runs in each of the first two innings.
Unfortunately the Marlins still don't have an out in the 2nd. By the time David Hess gets out of the inning, the Nationals have run the lead to 10-0, their second home game in Washington where they scored 10+ that early. The other is the famous 25-4 game against the Mets in 2018, the one where Jose Reyes ended up pitching and giving up 6 runs. (That game had 7 in the 1st and 3 in the 2nd, so the 4-4 note above is still valid.) Hess actually calms the storm for a few innings, but you can tell he's just about done when Jon Lester, yes the Nationals pitcher, connects for a 2-run homer in the 5th. Five pitchers in Nats/Expos history have recorded 2 hits, 2 runs, and 2 RBI on offense; Tanner Roark did it in that 25-4 game, plus Stephen Strasburg in July 2019, and Bryn Smith and Steve Renko in the Montreal days. Combined with the Red Sox putting up 11, Monday was the first time since September 29, 2000, that multiple teams hit double digits by the 2nd inning.
What better time to send Andrew Bellatti out there to make his Marlins debut. Bellatti appeared in six games for the Rays, so it's not quite an MLB debut, but it probably felt similar because that was six years ago. He bounced around the Rays' minor-league system in 2015 and 2016 before having Tommy John surgery and missing two years. And his Marlins debut was, well, not stellar. Granted it's already 12-0, so nothing much to lose. But after striking out Andrew Stephenson to start the 7th, Bellatti gives up a double and four straight singles, the first pitcher to give up 5 runs while getting 4 outs in his Marlins debut since Mat Latos in April 2015. When Juan Soto closes the scoring with a homer to make it 18-0, we can once again update our list. Because when we joke about the Nationals scoring 15 runs all the time, it's no joke. Since the start of 2017 they've now done it 22 times. The Astros and Dodgers are tied for second place on that list, and they've only got 13 each.
Also, as we say around here, never do the shutout notes early. Because sure, it's 18-0 and this is going to land on a list of biggest wins and losses for either team, but there's always a Miguel Rojas hanging around to spoil that zero. He hits a solo homer off Wander Suero in the 8th to avoid tying the 1999 season finale in Atlanta for the worst shutout in Marlins history. The only other homer the Marlins have hit when trailing by 15 or more runs... came in that same 25-8 game from June 27, 2003, by Derrek Lee off Jason Shiell.
But how did the Marlins respond to that game? On July 1 they went out and thumped Atlanta by a count of 20-1. That's a 17-run loss and a 19-run win. Look familiar? Remember how this section started with the 24-8 game from last week? Sure enough, the Nationals just did the exact same thing-- and they're the only two teams in the modern era to have a +16 and a -16 within a five-day window.
We have yet to take an official position on the free-runner rule. It's come in handy when the game is a boring 2-to-1 slog with a bunch of walks and it's already past 10:00 and nobody's even making contact and please someone score. (Looking at you, AL West!) On the other hand, if the score is 9-9 and both teams seem to be scoring at will because the bullpens are terrible, then adding more free runners seems unnecessary because this thing is probably gonna end on its own.
We take you to Cincinnati, and we're still in the 7:00 hour on Monday. The Red Sox just dropped an 8, the Nats are busy doing 4-and-6, and the Mets and Reds can't decide who wants to win the 1st inning. Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil started things with back-to-back homers, the Mets' first set of those IN Cincinnati in the 1st inning since John Olerud and Mike Piazza on June 15, 1999. The Reds escape allowing only 3 runs when Michael Conforto lines into a double play. So Jerad Eickhoff has a 3-run lead before ever throwing a pitch.
Jerad Eickhoff plays for the Mets. Which means Mets-ian things must now happen to him. (This is only one day after The Taijuan Walker Play, remember.) Double. Single. E6. Hit batter. Tyler Naquin game-tying double. Jerad Eickhoff no longer has a 3-run lead. In fact, Shogo Akiyama is about to hit a sac fly and make this 4-3 the other way. If this sounds familiar, it's because the Mets memorably did the same thing in Arizona back on June 2, scoring 4 in their half and then giving up 5. The 2019 Pirates are the only other team in the last decade to do that twice in a season (for 3 or more runs).
Jerad Eickhoff gets to go back out for the 2nd. Strikeout of the opposing pitcher. Hit batter. E4. E6. E6. Yes, the Mets just made three errors in one inning, and shortshop Luis Guillorme already has three in the game. By the time Eickhoff gets out of this mess, it'll be 7-3 in favor of Cincinnati, though only 2 of the runs are earned.
The good news for the Mets is that there are still seven innings left. Conforto hits a 2-run dinger in the 4th. Dom Smith leads off the 5th with a homer. And by the time James McCann goes deep in the 8th, the Mets have come all the way to lead 9-8. McCann's homer was the first lead-flipping one by a Mets pinch hitter in the 8th or later since Ike Davis's famous walkoff grand slam, also against Cincinnati, on April 5, 2014 (it's mostly famous because the Mets traded him a couple days later and just 2 weeks into the season).
So in the 9th, all that Edwin Diaz has to do is-- oh right, he's a Met too. And the old leadoff walk strikes again. Jesse Winker's 2-out double brings us back to 9-9 and as mentioned, do we really need free runners in this one? No, but we have them and that means it's quickly 10-10 after the first round. Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil combine to score the Mets' runner in the 11th, but Nimmo gets thrown out at the plate trying for another run. So it looks like we might go another round. But instead the Reds send Ryan Hendrix out to get the last out of the 11th. Which he does. Eventually.
That is, however, after Kevin Pillar hits a 3-run bomb on Hendrix's second pitch. In their history, the Mets have hit only one other 3- or 4-run homer in extras in Cincinnati; it was by Howard Johnson at Riverfront on July 22, 1986. If you're wondering whether the Mets have ever hit back-to-back homers in extras, well, they have. Once. It was against the White Sox two years ago by Jeff McNeil and Michael Conforto. Guess who's up.
Conforto, in addition to now being the back end of both pairs of homers, has connected for the Mets' seventh homer of the game, the first time the Mets have ever hit seven taters at a park not named for Citizens Bank. No, not Citibank (their home stadium). Citizens Bank, the one in Philadelphia. There are three other 7-HR games in Mets history, and they're all at CBP (2005, 2015, 2017). Remember those four errors? The Mets hadn't done that in a game and won since July 27, 2000, against the Expos. They also had only scored 15 runs in Cincinnati once before, a 15-2 thumping on April 28, 1997. And Monday was their first time scoring 5+ runs in an inning numbered 11 or higher since September 30, 1989, in Pittsburgh.
The Reds did end up scoring their free runner to bring us the first 15-11 exact final since the Astros beat the Rockies on May 13, 2009. There hadn't been an extra-inning game to land on 15-11 since the Yankees beat the Tigers on July 25, 1953. And if there was one bright spot for the Reds it was that Tyler Naquin finished with 5 hits and 4 RBI. He's the fourth player in team history to do that in a loss, after Sean Casey (2005), Ken Griffey Sr (1977), and George Crowe (1957). Naquin is also the second player in Reds history, win or lose, to have 5 hits and 4 RBI but never get to score a run himself. Center fielder Edd Roush did that in Philadelphia on September 26, 1922.
And from the "shoulda saved some runs" file, the Mets would close out that series on Wednesday with a 7-0 win that featured a grand slam from Dom Smith. Lucas Duda and Carlos Beltran are the other two Mets to hit slams at Great American Ball Park. But the story of the game was a 1-hitter from basically Marcus Stroman. (Jeurys Familia did have a 1-2-3 9th.) Stroman did hit Jonathan India but retired him on a double play, along with walking Joey Votto because that's what you do to Joey Votto. As for the lone hit, that was a single by Aristides Aquino, and at least it was in the 3rd inning so we didn't have to deal with another no-hitter watch. That was different from the last time the Reds got 1-hit by any New York team. And most likely your phone did not alert you to that one. It's by the Giants' Jim Hearn on July 23, 1955, and he also hit one batter and walked one batter before losing the no-hitter to Chuck Harmon with 1 out in the 9th.
NFL training camps are already starting up, and you might imagine the Lions and Cowboys are looking forward to the relative normalcy of playing on Thanksgiving. Last year Detroit played another Texas team, the one actually named the Texans, who scored 41 against them. The "Texas" baseball team, well, they haven't scored 41 since Independence Day. And they found themselves on the wrong end of a football score on Monday against the Tigers.
This one came at us out of nowhere because, while the Nationals and Red Sox and Pirates were piling up early runs, this one was only 2-0 after 4 behind an Akil Baddoo homer. But Kyle Gibson starts to lose it in the 5th (that "third time through the order" jinx), capped by Miguel Cabrera's bases-loaded double. After a walk and a single to start the 6th, Gibson's not going around the order again. He's going down the stairs to sit in the dugout.
Or maybe he should have stayed. Because Brett Martin gets the top of the Tigers order, and they knock him around for five straight singles, ending with another 2-run knock from Cabrera. Miggy now has 15 career 5-RBI games with the Tigers, trailing only Cecil Fielder (20) and Hank Greenberg (17) for the most in team history. Those singles made Kyle Gibson responsible for 10 hits and 8 runs, joining Colby Lewis (2011), Kris Benson (2009), and Kevin Brown (1992) as the only Rangers pitchers to chunk up that line against Detroit. And Brett Martin got an even more dubious line, because Joe Barlow let in his inherited runners as well. So Martin faced five batters, all of them got hits, and all of them scored. Only two others in Rangers/Senators history have pulled that off: Shawn Tolleson in 2016 and Len Barker in 1978.
For the extra point on this 13-0 festival, Joely Rodriguez is going to issue a bases-loaded walk in the 8th. And we never do the shutout notes early (see: Miguel Rojas). But this one did not have a meaningless homer to add 0.01% to the win probability. Nope, it ended with the worst shutout loss by the Rangers since September 4, 1973, against the White Sox. And, as pointed out by Friend Of Kernels Jayson Stark in his column, the Rangers were coming off back-to-back shutouts in Buffalo on Sunday. Since moving to the Metroplex in 1972, the Rangers had never before been shut out in three straight games. Their last time doing it was in April 1969 against the Orioles. And those three losses came at the expense of 29 runs allowed. Only one other team in the modern era has been outscored 29-0 over a three-game span, and let's say it's been a while. (The Royals did manage a 28-0 in 2017, so props to them.) On July 6 and 7 the Dodgers got blanked by the Phillies, 10-0 and 12-0, then went to Pittsburgh on the 9th and lost 9-0 for a combined 31. The year that happened... was 1906. (Meaning those home games weren't even at Ebbets Field yet, they were at Washington Park.)
From the Tigers' side, not quite as much fun. They had actually beaten Cleveland in another 14-0 game as "recently" as September 26, 2011, so it only took them a decade to repeat the feat. But since we looked it up, the last time the Detroit football team won a game by an exact count of 14-0 was on November 5, 1972, against Chicago. So yes, we have Lions and Tigers and Bears. Oh my.
And for one final "oh my" moment before we leave Monday, July 19, 2021... we just rattled off teams scoring 18, 15, 14, and 13 runs on the same day. Thanks to the Players League, the last time your daily scoreboard page showed all those exact numbers was July 19, 1890-- one hundred thirty-one years to the day!
Speaking of calendars, and today being the 25th, it's the old tradition of "Christmas In July". Which is totally a shameless excuse to get in this link to a "run"-related song. Intermission!
A River Runs Through It
The Cardinals took a quaint little 6-1 lead into Tuesday's 9th inning at Wrigley Field. Surely Luis Garcia, recently released by the Yankees and picked up by the Cardinals earlier this month, can protect that. Well, in a way he did, but he also picked up what we've discussed in earlier columns as a "blown hold" by putting the next pitcher in a save situation. Oddly enough, Garcia doesn't qualify for an actual hold because, well, he didn't get an out. Strikeout but Patrick Wisdom reaches on a wild pitch. Single and a walk to load the bases. Now Alex Reyes has the 5-run lead. All he does is issue two more walks to make the score 6-3. It was the first time the Cubs received multiple bases-loaded walks in a 9th inning since Keith Moreland and Ron Cey got them from the Padres on April 8, 1984. And then Ian Happ hits the team's first lead-flipping double in the 9th inning since Jon Jay on June 29, 2017. They hadn't hit one against the Cardinals since Diego Segui served one up to Jose Cardenal on September 25, 1973.
As for Wednesday's game, well, walks take longer but they're also less painful than what the Cubs got, um, hit with. Rafael Ortega hits a triple to put the Cubs ahead, but then gets caught trying to swipe home as part of a delayed double steal. Kyle Hendricks gives up a pair of doubles in the 7th to put St Louis back in front. Now the fun begins. In the 8th, Javier Baez hit by a pitch. Moving Willson Contreras-- who had been hit by Adam Wainwright earlier in the game-- to second. This time, however, there are two outs and the Cubs don't convert. Two outs in the 9th, Nico Hoerner gets plunked. And here is pinch-hitter Eric Sogard to double him home for the tie. The last Cubs pinch-hitter to hit either a tying or go-ahead double when down to the team's final out was Troy O'Leary against the Diamondbacks on August 1, 2003.
And now it's fortunate for the Cardinals that the ball is dead on an HBP. Because there are now two bases open. And John Gant promptly plunks Jake Marisnick and Contreras again, on back-to-back pitches. That's five, the most the Cardinals have ever issued in a game in the modern era. The Cubs had only received 5 plunkings once before, and it was last season at Cincinnati. But now we're in extra innings land again and a double play gets Gant off the hook in the 10th. And Yadier Molina lines one to right that was initially scored a walkoff double, which would have been a cool note because the Cardinals hadn't hit one of those in extra innings since 1990. They had the longest drought of any team by more than 16 years. And guess what, they still do. The next day it got changed to a single, which is usually the ruling because the batter never makes it to second, he's standing there watching his teammate score the winning run and then gets mobbed by a Gatorade bucket. So Yadi will have to settle for his eighth career walkoff hit, the same number as Lou Brock and Jim Edmonds. Six of those have been at the current Busch Stadium, trailing only Albert Pujols (8).
From their own roost at the edge of the Mississippi, the Cardinals then got to paddle upstream, making sure to turn right at Cairo, to another park with some great river-related views. (This is completely false, we're sure they have outboard motors by now.) And sure enough, they held a 5-3 lead in Friday's opener in Cincinnati, although that wasn't without some effort. After Paul Goldschmidt homered in the top of the 1st, Wade LeBlanc gave up two quick singles and a two-bagger to Joey Votto (you're supposed to walk him, remember?), the first time any Reds batter had hit a lead-flipping double in the 1st inning since... Joey Votto did it against Milwaukee on August 31, 2010. The last Reds batter to hit two of them was George Foster, 5 years apart in 1976 and 1981.
The Cardinals got that lead back with a flipping double of their own, this one in the 6th by Andrew Knizner. St Louis hadn't hit one of those in any inning in Cincinnati since Bernard Gilkey did it in the first game of a doubleheader on September 7, 1993. If that date seems familiar, it's not because of Gilkey. In the second game of that same doubleheader, Mark Whiten sorta went off. This one, however, was ultimately lost on Tyler Stephenson's sac fly in the 8th; the Reds' only other go-ahead SF in the past 40 years to happen that late against the Cardinals was by Todd Frazier in 2015.
And remember how we started the week with a 15-11 game against the Mets? Well, we're going to end it with another 4-hour slog that ends in a 4-run win for the visitors. This time it is Tyler O'Neill, not Goldy, who homers in the 1st inning. And it's time for Joey Votto to flip the lead back again, except this time he does it with a 3-run dinger. Since we looked it up, the Reds' last lead-flipping homer in the 1st was by Yasiel Puig against Cleveland on July 6, 2019. And exactly a month after that was the last game at GABP where both teams hit a multi-run homer in the 1st (Jose Iglesias and the Angels' Justin Upton). There's no back-and-forth ending to this one, though. The Cardinals erupt for a 7-run 4th inning, knock Sonny Gray out of the game, and we can't even do much with that because Luis Castillo gave up 8 runs to the Cardinals on Opening Day. Gray is at least in a club of four Reds starters to give up 8 runs and 3 homers to the Cards without getting through the 4th inning. Its other members are Aaron Harang (August 16, 2008), Jose Acevedo (August 21, 2001), and Tom Browning (April 9, 1993).
And by homering on both Saturday and Sunday, Joey Votto has tied for, and now taken sole possession of, second place for the most homers ever hit by a Reds player against the Cardinals. He passed Ted Kluszewski and then jumped over Wally Post with his 32nd such dinger against St Louis. The only Reds batter ever to have more is Frank Robinson with 46.
Around 15 years ago there was a brief period when the Dodgers started their home games at 7:40 pm. (Here's your chance for the late-arriving crowd joke.) We're glad they stopped that. Because the "time for Dodger baseball" was already creeping past 1 am Eastern this week-- and that's before the fun started.
Let's start on Tuesday where the Dodgers are trying to cobble together a "bullpen game" from a bunch of 1- and 2-inning pitchers. That's actually working out if you don't mind Josiah Gray giving up 3 homers. Forunately Chris Taylor is there to get two of those back by himself; he will end up finishing with 3 hits, 3 RBI, and 4 runs scored. Only four other leadoff batters in Dodgers history have had that line, and Mookie Betts (last August) is the only one since the Brooklyn days. There's a statue outside the double-A park of the last Brooklyner to do it, Pee Wee Reese in 1949. (The others are Goody Rosen in 1938 and Bernie Neis in 1923.)
But we go to the bottom of the 9th with the Dodgers still trailing 6-5 and the fresh arm of Tyler Rogers trotting in from the bullpen. He probably wants nothing to do with Chris Taylor at this point, so a 4-pitch walk is not the worst thing that could have happened. No, the worst thing would then be the 5-pitch walk to Matt Beaty, which only has the extra pitch because of what we like to call the 3-0 "mercy strike". Then, like every few years at a theater near you, it's time for Will Smith to show up. Walkoff homer, 8-6, tip your server and drive home safely. Tyler Rogers is the fourth pitcher in San Francisco history (1958) to give up 3 runs, get 0 outs, and get walked off; Rod Beck did it twice in the '90s and Santiago Castillo had such a game in Miami in 2015. It was the first time the Giants hit 4 homers of the own at Dodger Stadium and lost since they tagged Orel Hershiser for a bunch of solo shots on June 28, 1994.
And the parting shot for Will Smith? It's the Dodgers' first pinch-hit walkoff homer when trailing since Olmedo Saenz hit one against Toronto on June 8, 2007. But, pinch-hitter or not, the last time a Dodgers batter crushed a walkoff homer to beat the Giants when trailing was May 27, 1953, by Roy Campanella-- a 3-run shot off Jim Hearn that also scored Pee Wee Reese and Jackie Robinson. (Yes, that's multiple Jim Hearn references for you fans out there.)
On to Wednesday, where Logan Webb and Julio Urias got locked in an unlikely pitcher's duel, and this time it was the Giants' bullpen that held together. Chris Taylor did start the game by homering again, his seventh of the leadoff variety, and tying him for fourth in Los Angeles history. (He's still a long way from Davey Lopes's 28, however.) Taylor singled again in the 5th, and the only other Dodgers run-- or hit-- would come on a double by A.J. Pollock in the 4th. The Giants also held the Dodgers to 3 hits in a home game on June 29, and it's the first time since 1988 that they've done it twice in a season. So we are limping toward a 2-1 final and Kenley Jansen going out for the save in the 9th.
Buster Posey drops his second pitch into right-center. And then Wilmer Flores drops his sixth pitch into the seats. That's only the second lead-flipping homer ever hit by a Giants batter in the 9th inning at Dodger Stadium; the other was Juan Uribe against another usually-reliable closer, Jonathan Broxton, on September 4, 2010. Kenley goes on to give up a double and two more walks, just the third game of his career where he allowed 3 runs and blew a save while getting only 1 out. There's been one in each of the last three seasons.
And that's technically still true, because Jansen got two outs on Thursday. The problem is that he again needed three. Will Smith has returned for a sequel and homered to put the Dodgers up 3-1 going to the 9th. The percentages are definitely in favor of Jansen not doing that again. And it does start well, with a strikeout of Mike Yastrzemski, who has already had a triple and a sac fly to score the Giants' lone run. Since sac flies were first counted in 1954, only one other Giants batter has had one of those plus a triple against the Dodgers-- Jose Pagán who did it three times in the early 1960s. But with 2 outs, here we go again. Donovan Solano doubles. Jason Vosler works a walk to load the bases. But still just need one out to win. Any base. Two-run lead. Thairo Estrada, infield single. They're all going on contact and it's too slow of a roller to get anyone. Still, one-run lead. One out to win. Any base.
Darin Ruf, on seven pitches, draws what is amazingly the first game-tying walk ever by a Giants batter at Dodger Stadium. In any inning. There was also a bases-loaded walk to Curt Casali to score that final run in Wednesday's game; it's the first time the Giants have received one in the 9th inning of back-to-back games since Eddie Stanky (May 30) and Wes Westrum (June 1) did it in 1950. This also means another blown save for Jansen, who will give up a fourth run for good measure before Phil Bickford has to come in to get that final out. Jansen is the first pitcher in Dodgers history (or at least since saves became a thing in 1969) to give up 3 runs and blow a save on consecutive days. Three Dodgers have done it in consecutive appearances-- Jeff Shaw in July 1999, Pat Zachry in September 1984, and Pete Mikkelsen in May 1971. The last pitcher for any team to do it on back-to-back days was Houston's Francisco Cordero in July 2012.
So by Friday you have to figure that Kenley Jansen is getting a day off for personal reflection. And the Dodgers are probably glad to be done playing the Giants until, um, well, Tuesday. But now the Rockies are visiting for the weekend and it's 5-3 going to the 8th. Hey, maybe they can blow this lead earlier! Why yes, yes they can. Charlie Blackmon RBI double, then a single through the right side by Ryan McMahon to score Blackmon. But that still only ties things up. To complete the meltdown it's going to take Sam Hilliard's homer, the first go-ahead shot ever by a Rockies pinch hitter in the 9th or later at Dodger Stadium.
Ah, but the bases-loaded walks are back. And this time it's the Dodgers' turn to benefit from them. Daniel Bard gives up two singles and a walk to start the 9th and then passes Justin Turner for a game-tying walk. That's the first one they've ever been gifted in the 9th inning by the Rockies, and guess what it's leading to.
Nope, not another Will Smith sequel. Those pesky free runners again. And 3 runs off James Sherfy in the top of the 10th thanks to a Charlie Blackmon homer. Nolan Arenado, on September 15, 2015, has the only other extra-inning homer by the Rockies at Dodger Stadium, and he hit it off Mat Latos because it's the 16th inning and we're down to only having starters left. Blackmon would also finish the game as the second Rockies batter with a homer, a double, a single, 3 runs scored, and 3 RBI at Dodger Stadium, after Wilin Rosario did it on April 29, 2013. We have easily-queried inning-by-inning data back to 2004 and this Wednesday-through-Friday stretch is the only time that the Dodgers had three straight games where they led after 7 innings and wound up losing.
So finally on Saturday, there were no lost leads and no blown saves. In fact the only thing that happened on Saturday was an Austin Barnes solo homer. Kenley Jansen came back and actually got his 22nd save of the year. The final score of 1-0 was the first time the Dodgers had ever beaten the Rockies on only a solo homer. But they also did the same thing to the Nationals on April 9 via Justin Turner. And they haven't had two such wins in a season since 2002.
While Kenley Jansen was having an interesting couple games, back in New York it was the Brooks Kriske adventure. Kriske, a 6th-round draft pick in 2016, also had Tommy John surgery so missed all of '17 and half of '18. But he's steadily risen through the Yankees system since then, spending 2019 at double-A and then the first part of this season on the express back and forth to triple-A Scranton. Wednesday marked his fourth different stint with the Yankees this season, and it came after another one of these back-and-forth endings that the Yankees like to get mixed up in.
Jean Segura of the Phillies started the game with a leadoff homer, just the second one the team's ever hit in the Bronx. Jimmy Rollins took A.J. Burnett deep on the very first pitch thrown to a Phillies batter in the new (current) Yankee Stadium on May 22, 2009. Bryce Harper made it 2-0 with a double, which the Yankees then answered with a homer and double of their own. They get to Hector Neris in the 7th for a 3-spot including Rougned Odor's homer. Then they give it right back in the 8th. Gleyber Torres boots one and Zack Britton walks the next two batters before leaving. Britton will be the first Yankees pitcher to give up 3 runs but 0 hits since Bryan Mitchell against Toronto on September 12, 2015. That's because Luke Williams promptly singles in two runs, Segura walks to reload the bases, and Nick Nelson uncorks a wild pitch for the tying run. Since we looked it up, the last Yankee to blow a save via wild pitch was Aroldis Chapman on July 4, 2019.
The Yankees, however, have second and third in the 9th but fail to score when DJ LeMahieu, either forgetting there's no force or just wanting to make the Phillies make the play, gets himself thrown out at the plate. So we go to extra-innings land again and here comes Brooks Kriske. He fields the required sacrifice bunt, then strands the free runner at third base, such that he ends up with the win when Ryan LaMarre hits the walkoff single. The Yankees have hit five walkoffs in their history against Philadelphia, including one in the World Series, and all of them have been singles. The others belong to Melky Cabrera (2009), David Justice (2000), Ricky Ledee (1998), and Jerry Coleman (1950).
So then on Thursday the Yankees head north to begin a series with the Red Sox, and Brooks Kriske is along for this ride also. After Enrique Hernandez ties the game with a sac fly in the 7th, the Yankees take it right back on two walks, a single, and a sac fly of their own against Adam Ottavino. It is up to Chad Green to protect the 2-run lead in the 9th, which he, um, doesn't. Two outs but also two singles and then a game-tying double from Hernandez again. He's the first Bostonian to hit a multi-run double when down to the team's final out against the Yankees since Troy O'Leary on July 17, 1996.
The Yankees are now on the road, so it's their turn to bunt the free runner over to third and then score him on Brett Gardner's sac fly. The Yankees hadn't hit a go-ahead sac fly in extras against Boston since the Williamses teamed up on May 3, 1995, with Bernie scoring Gerald. Now we turn the lead over to Brooks Kriske for the bottom of the 10th. And in a bizarre "new world" first, he will turn it back before the leadoff batter even does anything. With Xander Bogaerts still standing at the plate, Kriske unleashes two wild pitches to score the free runner Rafael Devers from second. That's the Yankees' third blown save of the game, something they had only done once before in the "save era". Ray Burris, Jim Kaat, and Ron Davis all gave up leads to the Royals on June 9, 1979.
Bogaerts is already halfway to drawing a walk, so might as well complete that. And four pitches later he's standing on third because Kriske has uncorked two more. The only other pitcher in Yankees history to throw 4 wild pitches in a game is Freddy Garcia (5!) against the Orioles on April 10, 2012. And it took him five innings. So at this point it isn't long before Hunter Renfroe hits a walkoff sac fly, the first for the Red Sox since Kevin Youkilis against Texas on July 17, 2010. Only the Braves, White Sox, and Astros had gone longer without one. And one more on Kriske-- he gave up those 4 wild pitches and took a loss without ever giving up a base hit. Only one other pitcher has ever done that, Bobby Witt of the Rangers in an 8-walk start on April 17, 1986. And Witt left a tie game so didn't even get tagged with the loss.
And Sunday's finale could best be described as "interesting". Domingo Germán, doing his best work on the day of the week he's named for, took a no-hitter through the 7th and had us discovering that the Red Sox have not been no-hit at Fenway since 1958. (And other fun nuggets that only serve to delay this post.) But once Alex Verdugo doinked one off the right-field wall to start the 8th, Germán was done in favor of Jonathan Loaisiga. He only faced four batters. But all of them got hits, and by the time this ends, the Sawx have gone from being no-hit at the start of the inning, to having 5 hits, 5 runs, and the lead. Loaisiga is the third Yankees pitcher this year to give up 4 runs while getting 0 outs; Justin Wilson did it earlier this month against the Orioles, and Aroldis Chapman did it against the Twins on June 10 in a game that's widely considered to be the start of his troubles. The only other season where three Yankees pitchers pulled that off was 1930, and two of those were starters who broke down in the 1st inning.
Where's Brooks Kriske when you need him? After all, he pitched a perfect inning, with 0 wild pitches, on Sunday. For Scranton.
Bottom Of The Bag
⚾ Nelson Cruz, Sat-Sun: Joined Lucas Duda (2017) and Elijah Dukes (2007) as the only players to homer in both of their first two games with the Rays.
⚾ Andrew Benintendi, Tuesday: Second cleanup batter in Royals history to have both a sac fly and a sac bunt in the same game. Jorge Orta did it against Minnesota on September 21, 1985.
⚾ Sean Manaea, Thursday: First Oakland pitcher to strike out 13 batters in a road game since Jose Rijo on April 19, 1986. Oakland's drought of not having someone do this was the longest in the majors by 15 years (it's now the Yankees).
⚾ Jose Berrios, Monday: First Twins pitcher to throw a complete game (albeit a 7-inning DH) while allowing 3 homers since Bert Blyleven at Baltimore, May 11, 1987.
⚾ Patrick Sandoval, Saturday: First Angels pitcher not named Nolan Ryan to strike out 13+ and allow no more than 1 hit in a game. Ryan did it three times (two of them NHs).
⚾ Austin Meadows, Wednesday: Second walkoff single in Rays history with team down to its final out (i.e., a lead-flipper). Tim Beckham had the other against Toronto on October 3, 2015.
⚾ Max Kepler & Brent Rooker, Sunday: Second set of Twins this year to start a game with back-to-back homers, after Byron Buxton and Josh Donaldson on April 28. First season in franchise history (1901) where it's happened twice.
⚾ Rangers, Mon-Tue: First time in franchise history that they struck out 10 times and draw 0 walks in back-to-back games.
⚾ Austin Riley, Sunday: First Braves batter to have 3 extra-base hits in a game where the team only scored 1 run since Ernie Padgett against the Cubs on June 13, 1924.
⚾ Darren McCaughan, Wednesday: Second pitcher in modern era to throw 5+ hitless innings in an MLB debut yet still give up a run. Ross Stripling did it as a Dodger on April 8, 2016.
⚾ Yandy Diaz, Thursday: First Rays batter ever to homer and triple in the same game against Cleveland. Had been the only remaining AL opponent against whom they'd never done it.
⚾ Tim Anderson, Monday: Became first White Sox batter to homer in three straight games while batting leadoff in all of them since Ray Durham in May 2001.
⚾ Sal Perez, Sunday: Third time hitting a 3-run homer as the Royals' third batter of a game. Only player in team history with more is George Brett (4).
⚾ Athletics, Friday: Second game in franchise history where their pitching staff unfurled 5 wild pitches. The other was a 12-6 loss to the White Sox on June 7, 1937.
⚾ Josh VanMeter, Tuesday: First player for any team with a single, a double, a triple, and 3 RBI in a game he didn't start since Felix Mantilla of the Mets on May 25, 1962.
⚾ Framber Valdez, Saturday: Third pitcher in Astros history to allow 0 hits in a game but also issue 6 walks. Pete Harnisch (1991) and Don Wilson (1969) are the others.
⚾ Francisco Mejia, Tuesday: Second player in Rays history with a homer, a triple, and 5 RBI in one game. Melvin Upton did it when he hit for the cycle against the Yankees on October 2, 2009.
⚾ Bryce Harper, Friday: Third steal of home by a Phillies runner this season (McCutchen, Realmuto). First time team has had three in a season since 1967 (Dick Allen and Tony Taylor).
⚾ Orioles, Sunday: Recorded first walkoff FCX (fielder's choice, no out) since September 27, 1974, when they won a 1-0 game against Milwaukee in the 17th inning.
⚾ Merrill Kelly & Alec Mills, Saturday: First game at Wrigley Field where both starting pitchers hit a double since Paul Minner & Murry Dickson of the Cardinals on May 13, 1956.
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