Much like Memorial Day and Labor Day are often viewed as the start and end of summer, we've been splitting baseball seasons in half around the All-Star break for many years now. None of that is true, of course; every team's played at least 87 games now ("half" would be 81) and many are over 90. (Spoiler alert: The vast majority of "spring training" doesn't happen in the spring either.) But after 15 weeks of the daily grind, it's a nice chance to step back and collect thoughts and get ready for the final sprint (or inevitable collapse) toward October. Turns out a lot of teams already had breaks-- both good and bad-- over their games of the past week.
We could easily have made this post all about the machinations of the Phillies this week. We're not going to do that, because then many of you wouldn't read it, but they certainly took a lot of twists and turns on their way into the break. After spending Independence Day at home last Sunday, the Phillies took their message of newfound liberty to Chicago on Monday and proceeded to beat up on the Cubs by a score of 13-3. Once again, this game looked normal for a while, tied at 2 after 5 innings, then with an Andrew McCutchen double to take the lead in the 6th. But then it was the 8th when things came unhinged for Cubs pitching. Adam Morgan loaded the bases to start the inning, and was replaced by Kohl Stewart. Bases-loaded walk. An error. And the inevitable 3-run homer by Odubel Herrera. That created the Phillies' first 6-run inning at Wrigley Field since May 16, 2012, and their first double-digit win there since May 16, 1979 (33 years to the day). The final damage was done by Rhys Hoskins and Alec Bohm in the top of the 9th, and it marked the first time five different Phillies batters had homered in the same game at Wrigley since a 10-4 win on August 17, 1985.
And this game might have gotten lost in the shuffle of our week if it hadn't been for Tuesday. The Phillies picked up right where they left off against Jake Arrieta, who would promptly get put on the injured list with a hamstring issue. Not promptly enough, however, as he gave up 7 runs while getting just 5 outs. That was after a 6-on-5 outing against the Brewers last week, and it made him just the second Cubs starter in the modern era to reach that lofty mark in back-to-back outings. Ferguson Jenkins did it in July of 1983.
Four of Tuesday's runs came before Arrieta even recorded one out, with Jean Segura hitting a leadoff double, J.T. Realmuto getting plunked, and a Bryce Harper single to load the bases. This allows Andrew McCutchen to be the first Phillie in nine seasons to hit a grand slam as the team's fourth batter of a game; Ryan Howard went deep off Chris Young of the Mets on August 28, 2012. But "Cutch" is just the second Phillies batter ever to do it in a road game; Greg Luzinski had the other one of those, in Atlanta on June 11, 1977.
The Cubs did their best to not get blown out this time, putting up 3 runs in the 3rd only to see Bryce Harper (double) and Rhys Hoskins (sac fly) get them back in the 4th. Javier Baez homered in both the 6th and the 7th, but in between, Trevor Williams-- out there for a fourth inning-- finally melted down and gave up five more runs. Those included homers by both Harper and Hoskins again to raise the final total to 15-10. It was the Cubs' first time scoring 10+ against the Phillies and losing since April 18, 1993.
As a result of hitting leadoff, Segura was always on base for either Hoskins or Harper to score him; he posted the first 4-hit, 4-runs-scored line by a Phillie at Wrigley Field since John Kruk on August 10, 1989. And he didn't even have the biggest line of the day. Harper collected five hits (but only scored twice, on the homers). No Phillie had dropped a 5-hit game at Wrigley Field since Darron Daulton on September 20, 1989. And Harper also drove in 4 runs with said homers; the last 5-and-4 game by a Phillies batter on the road is also their only other one at Wrigley-- Mike Schmidt in a 3-homer game on April 17, 1976.
Someone say 3-homer game? Fast-forward a couple days to the series finale, when all that really happened is a "breakout" game from first baseman Brad Miller. He took starter Adbert Alzolay deep twice and then added a 2-run dinger off Cory Abbott in the 7th as the Phillies cruised to an 8-0 shutout. Jayson Werth had the Phils' last 3-homer game, on May 16, 2008, against Toronto; they had the longest drought of any team without such a game by over a year (the "honor" passes to the Angels). As for Phillies to have 3-homer games at Wrigley, that's not a bad list either. You already know two of the four. The others belong to Benito Santiago (September 15, 1996) and Johnny Callison (June 6, 1965).
We move ahead in our week philled with Phillies to Friday where the breaks are going the other direction. After the 7 early runs off Jake Arrieta on Tuesday, it would this time be Vince Velasquez giving them up as the Red Sox broke out for an 11-5 win. Oh sure, Segura did begin the game with a triple, the first leadoff three-bagger by a Phillies batter at Fenway Park since Dee Miles on September 6, 1942. But things even up on Velasquez's third pitch when Enrique Hernandez hit his fifth leadoff homer of the season. That by itself isn't a record, but the fact that all five of them have come at Fenway is. The only player we could find to even have four these in a season was Dwight Evans in 1985.
J.D. Martinez followed with a 3-run shot in the 2nd, and Rafael Devers led off the 3rd with another homer off Velasquez and this one was over early. The 3 homers were a first by a Phillies pitcher at Fenway since Randy Wolf did it on June 8, 2001, and that was in a complete-game loss. Velasquez also became just the second pitcher in Phillies history, or at least since earned runs became a thing in 1912, to give up 8 of them and 3 homers while getting no more than 7 outs. The other was one Adam Bernero on June 30, 2006, in what turned out to be his only career appearance for the Phillies.
And hey, at least the Phillies still have Jean Segura. After that leadoff triple on Friday, he took it one base further on Saturday, joining Doug Glanville (July 15, 1999) as the only Phillies ever to hit a leadoff homer at Fenway Park. But the combination? Turns out, in 25 years of interleague play, plus a handful of World Series games, plus those early years when the Braves and Sawx would borrow each other's parks on occasion, there had never been a National League batter to hit both a game-starting triple and a game-starting homer at Fenway.
Slam On The Breaks
After their 11 am start for Independence Day last Sunday, the Nationals had plenty of time to get to the west coast for a series with the Padres. The teams split the first two games, neither one terribly noteworthy. Jon Lester became the first Nationals pitcher with a hit, a run scored, and an RBI in San Diego since the Nationals weren't the Nationals and the Padres weren't at Petco. Dustin Hermanson did it for the Expos at then-Qualcomm Stadium on August 29, 1998. (We're gonna have much more on pitchers hitting in a moment.) Victor Robles and Yan Gomes made up the first pair of Nats/Expos teammates to have multiple doubles in back-to-back games in San Diego since David Segui and Sherman Obando did it in May 1996. And five of Tuesday's seven runs were driven in by Wil Myers, who joined Mark Loretta (2004), Ken Caminiti (1998), and Archi Cianfrocco (1995) on a list of Padres with a homer, a double, a sac fly, and 5 RBI in a game.
On Wednesday, however, the Nationals couldn't help themselves. It had been a whole entire week since they scored 15 runs in a game, and then the Phillies did it on Tuesday, so... so they just had to, right? As it turns out, Chris Paddack was happy to oblige, hitting Alcides Escobar to start the game, and eventually giving up a 3-run bomb to Juan Soto. Similar to the McCutchen slam, it was the first time the Nationals' third batter of a game had hit a 3-run dinger since Anthony Rendon in the 2017 season finale. It was also the first time the franchise had ever hit such a homer against the Padres. And it apparently was so nerve-wracking that in Soto's second plate appearance he got intentionally walked, with first base occupied. Of course, that just led to Josh Bell and Starlin Castro each hitting 2-run singles to make it 7-0 by the end of the 2nd. And Paddack didn't even record an out in the 3rd, joining a dubious list of Padres pitchers. Their others to give up 9 hits and 9 runs while getting no more than 6 outs are Nick Margevicius (2019), Woody Williams (2005), and Matt Whiteside (1999).
Nabil Crismatt gave up 2 hits and another run in the 4th, but then settled down (and also, the Nats have a 10-run lead) and those were the only hits he allowed the rest of the game. The last time a Padres pitcher threw 5 innings of relief in a home game and only allowed 2 hits was May 28, 2003, when Charles Nagy did it against the Brewers. It was Nick Ramirez who got sent out for the 8th and gave up 5 more hits to send the Nationals up to 15-run land again. If it seems like you read about this a lot, well, since the start of 2017, the Nationals have hung a 15-spot (or more) a whopping 21 times. That's eight more than any other team over the same span. However, Wednesday was only the franchise's second time doing it in San Diego, and the other goes back to Expos-at-Jack-Murphy days again. They had a 15-0 shutout in which Tim Wallach had 8 RBI on May 13, 1990.
Thursday's series finale certainly looked like it would be a repeat of Wednesday. This time it was Yu Darvish who fired off six early runs, including a homer by Trea Turner in the 1st and then 4 hits plus a sac fly in the 3rd. Turner bumped the lead up to 8-0 when he homered off Daniel Camarena in the 4th, joining Matt Adams (2018), Michael Taylor (2016), Adam LaRoche (2013), and Ryan Zimmerman (2010) as Nationals batters with a multi-homer game at Petco. Oh, and did we mention Max Scherzer is on the mound? What could go wrong?
Well, Fernando Tatis breaks up the shutout with a solo homer. Eh, happens. Still 8-1. However, then Scherzer seems to be broken as well. He plunks both Manny Machado and Eric Hosmer, walks Wil Myers to force in another run, and now it's two outs and bases loaded with the pitcher's spot due up. Didn't seem to be a point in double-switching since you don't figure the team's going to bat around right after you bring in said new pitcher. And it's too early in the game to start wasting pinch hitters. Guess we'll let Camarena bat for himself and see what happens.
So where to begin. If not for one other pesky strikeout against the Reds in June, Camarena would be on an even shorter list than he already is. Another Daniel-- Nava of the Red Sox-- is famously (still) the last player to hit a grand slam in his first at-bat, but Camarena is the first to have a slam be his first MLB hit since Brandon Crawford in 2011. Only three other players have hit a grand slam off Scherzer, including Vlad Guerrero Jr earlier this year. The others were Stephen Piscotty in 2016 and Matt Joyce in 2010. The last Padres batter to hit any slam against the Nats was Khalil Greene on September 17, 2005.
And all that is true without the asterisk that he's a relief pitcher. Mike Corkins, who was a starter, is the only other pitcher in Padres history to hit a grand slam, doing so against the Reds on September 4, 1970. To even find any 4-RBI game by a Padres pitcher (slam or not), you have to go back to Jake Peavy against the Dodgers on July 26, 2006.
The last relief pitcher to hit a grand slam for any team was Don Robinson of the Pirates on September 12, 1985. And only one RP had ever slammed against Washington-- and that obviously wasn't the Nationals. Dizzy Trout, father of '80s Chicago stalwart Steve Trout-- but no relation to Mike Trout-- hit a slam for the Tigers against the Senators on July 28, 1949. And according to StatsPerform, the only other pitcher in MLB history whose first career hit was a slam was Bill Duggleby of the Phillies on April 21, 1898.
Camarena wasn't even around to get the win (well, he was around, just not still in the game), because that didn't happen until Trent Grisham walked it off in the 9th. And that barely even made the radar screen because Austin Hedges also had a walkoff single the last time the Nationals visited Petco in 2019. In fact their last five walkoffs against Washington, going back 15 years, have all been singles. For the Nats it was the first time they scored 8 runs in the first 4 innings and ended up losing since Atlanta came back to win 11-10 on June 12, 2017. And going from 0-8 to 9-8 tied for the largest deficit the Padres have ever overcome to win; their last such game was on June 10, 1974, when they scored 4 in the 8th and 5 in the 9th to beat the Pirates.
Break-Fast
Although it's one of the few numbers they haven't retired yet, you still don't see too many zeroes when discussing the Yankees. On Tuesday the only goose eggs were on the Mariners' side of the scoreboard as they lit up Justus Sheffield en route to a 12-1 thumping. Giancarlo Stanton got that one going with a 3-run homer in the 1st inning, just the third such dinger the Yanks have ever hit at Safeco/TMobile. Alex Rodriguez took Jamie Moyer deep on May 18, 2005, and Scott Brosius hit one against Jeff Fassero on August 6, 1999, in the first series they ever played there. That 1st-inning homer was the exception, however; the Yankees piled up 14 singles for the first time in over 5 years (June 27, 2016, vs Rangers), with some of those leading to 3 more runs off Sheffield in the 2nd. The two walks, hit batter, and wild pitch probably didn't help either; Sheffield is the first Mariners pitcher ever to start against the Yankees, give up 6 earned runs, and not get out of the 2nd inning.
The Yankees ended up with at least one of those singles in every inning except the 7th, with Luke Voit's 5-hit game blowing up the boxscore. Voit did have one of the Yankees' four non-single hits, but that was a two-bagger; he posted the Yankees' first 5-hit game that did not include a homer since Derek Jeter did it in Chicago on August 3, 2011. Voit also became just the second Yankees batter ever to have a 5-hit game against the Mariners; the other is Don Mattingly on August 25, 1984.
Wednesday was more of the same, at least for the first 2 innings. Yusei Kikuchi got tagged for 3 runs in the 1st (including another RBI single from Voit) and a 2-run homer by Aaron Judge in the 2nd. That marked the first time the Yankees had scored multiple runs in both the 1st and 2nd of back-to-back games since doing it in Kansas City on July 23 and 24, 2007.
But Kikuchi calmed down and actually got through 5 innings, which is why he doesn't have a bunch of notes here. Nope, those instead go to Yankees starter Nick Nelson, who at least did get 2 outs. Around them, however, he walked three, hit a batter, and threw a wild pitch (naturally on ball four, thus scoring a run). He's the first starter in Yankees history to do all that without finishing the 1st inning. The last starter to do it for any team was Joe Mays of the Twins on August 10, 2000. And technically Nelson did not give up a hit, thus becoming the first Yankees starter to leave a no-hitter since Chad Green did it three times in August 2019 during their "opener" phase.
Thanks partly to Nelson's efforts in the 1st, the Mariners would manage to score 4 runs and almost come back to win that game despite having only 3 hits. Two of the hits came in the 6th, and one of those was Tom Murphy's 3-run tater-- the Mariners' first 3- or 4-run homer that late in a game against the Yankees since Mike Zunino off Anthony Swarzak on August 22, 2016. It was only the second home game in Mariners history where they had 3 hits but somehow scored 4 runs; the other was July 31, 2000, against the Red Sox, and involved 7 walks and 5 stolen bases.
But back to those zeroes. The Yankees did not end up scoring in the 1st inning on Thursday, so that streak is over. Giancarlo Stanton led off the 2nd with a double, and then Voit got hit with a pitch, so this seems promising. Nope, three outs against Logan Gilbert. We say this about debuts all the time, but an above-average number of teams seem to just freeze up and not do anything against a pitcher they've never seen before. Gilbert's not quite an unknown quantity, Thursday was his 10th major-league start, but still the Yanks had never faced him before. And 2019 was his only season in the minors, and he's on a west-coast team, so none of the current Yankees would have seen him there either. So maybe that explains it. But that Stanton double to start the 2nd? Only hit that Gilbert gave up. Plunking Luke Voit? Only other baserunner that Gilbert allowed. Eighteen in a row after that, putting him in rarefied company even though he didn't go on to finish the game. Gilbert is the second pitcher in Mariners history to allow 1 hit, walk 0, and strike out 8+ in a game. We'll give you a minute to guess the other before clicking on it.
The Yankees did no better against Paul Sewald in the 8th or Kendall Graveman in the 9th, meaning that Stanton double was their only hit of the game. The Yankees still haven't been no-hit in over 18 years, the fourth-longest streak among teams, but they also hadn't been one-hit in 18 years. In fact, 18 years to the day. Shortly after that 6-pitcher no-hitter by Houston on June 11, 2003, Billy Traber of the Indians came along and threw his only career complete game on July 8 of that year against New York. A John Flaherty single to start the 3rd was the only thing separating Traber from the perfect-game list.
And now it is of course perfectly appropriate that Houston Street in New York is the starting point of the Manhattan street grid, or basically, 0th Street. Because the Yankees would be taking their zeroes to Houston (the Texas one, pronounced differently) for the weekend. After Nestor Cortes and friends cobbled together a 3-hit shutout on Friday, it was Gerrit Cole's turn to take the ball on Saturday. And he did not let anyone take it back. Aaron Judge hits a solo homer in the 3rd to put the Yankees ahead. Meanwhile Cole goes through the order once unscathed before finally giving up a single to Abraham Toro in the 5th. Yuli Gurriel sends a single to left to start the 7th. Cole finishes the inning on 97 pitches, so there's no doubt he'll get the 8th. His career average is 99, and that includes some duds where he got pulled in the 4th inning. Sure enough, a perfect 8th but 15 more pitches for a total of 112. He's never gone more than 116. And it's still a 1-0 game. This is why we don't get paid the big bucks.
Out he goes. To give up a first-pitch single to Jose Altuve, who oh by the way, is the tying run. Michael Brantley works a 10-pitch at-bat to put Cole well over his career high in pitches. But Yuli Gurriel and Yordan Alvarez both manage to strike out on three pitches to end the game, give Cole his fifth career CG, and give the Yankees their first 1-0 win in the state of Texas since April 27, 1976. Their only other 1-0 win over the Astros was a Carlos Beltran sac-fly-off on August 24, 2015. And their last 1-0 win via solo homer was another Derek Jeter effort, May 25, 2010, in their first visit to Target Field. The Yankees had easily gone the longest of any team without such a 1-0 win (an "honor" which passes to Arizona).
As for Cole, he was the first Yankees pitcher to throw an individual shutout (commonly known as the redundant "complete-game shutout") while fanning a dozen batters since Mike Mussina did it on September 24, 2002. And the only other one they've thrown in Houston, regardless of how many K's, was by Luis Severino on May 2, 2018. And if you were counting along, you see the Astros got held to 3 hits yet again. Only once before had they been shut out on 3 hits in consecutive games at home, and it wasn't at Minute Maid Park. It wasn't even at the Astrodome. The Colt 45's had it happen in their second season, by Sandy Koufax and Johnny Podres of the Dodgers on August 3 and 4, 1963. The Yankees hadn't been on the front end of such a thing-- shutting out their opponent on 3 hits in consecutive road games-- since June 1980 in Seattle.
We couldn't figure a way to use this one as a section header, but it's an '80s classic, so we'll stuff it in here. It's also a good baseball message, although technically if you never touch ground, you can't score a run. (Bases, yes, they're elevated, but the plate is not.) Either way, we got to keep on movin'. Intermission!
Okay, so what... was... that? If you were out enjoying yourself on Saturday night, we can only hope you had nearly as much fun as the Los Angeles Dodgers. Yes, it's The Game We Can't Not Talk About. Originally we thought it was going to be that 15-10 mess in Chicago. Yeah, we hear you laughing, baseball gods.
Caleb Smith is the unfortunate soul who gets to face the Dodgers on this fateful night, and let's just say it doesn't start well. Cody Bellinger and A.J. Pollock hit back-to-back homers in the 1st such that it's already 5-0. The Dodgers have already had four 5-run 1st innings this season, matching their total for the four previous regular seasons combined. Walker Buehler-- yes, the Dodgers pitcher-- leads off the 2nd with a single. Smith walks Mookie Betts and Chris Taylor to load 'em up. And now it's time for a breakdown. That would be Justin Turner's grand slam to make it 9-0, still with nobody out in the 2nd. That'll do, Caleb, we'll see you after the break. He joined Juan Cruz (May 17, 2006) and Edgar Gonzalez (September 3, 2004) as the only Diamondbacks starters to give up 9 runs while getting 3 outs. Matt Peacock does well to get through the next 3 innings unscathed, but he's a reliever, he's beyond done after 40 pitches. Alex Young got through the 5th and 6th on 30 pitches, and should he really be out there for the 7th?, well, again, this is why we do not get paid the big bucks. Pollock singles. Austin Barnes gets hit by a pitch. Matt Beaty beaty-ies out an infield single, and here we are loaded again. Wanna Betts what's gonna happen? The Dodgers have called their little bowl built into the side of Chavez Ravine home for 60 seasons now, and before Saturday they'd never hit two grand slams in the same game there. Betts will end up with 4 hits and 4 RBI, which he also did last August 13 against the Padres. The only other leadoff batter in Dodgers history with two such games is Davey Lopes.
Suddenly it's 13-0 and Alex Young is stuck in "take one for the team" mode even though he's already thrown 39 pitches. Pitch 47 ends up being a 2-run homer by Zach McKinstry. Pitch 49 is Albert Pujols's 674th career dinger. 16-0. Alex is finally done after becoming the first reliever in D'backs history to give up 7 runs and 3 homers. So we're going to end up with position players pitching in this mess, aren't we? Yep. But hold that thought. Andrew Young, not to be confused with Alex Young, hits one of the most meaningless home runs in Diamondbacks history in the top of the 8th. It does serve to erase the shutout, so maybe from a mental standpoint it gets a little bit of credit. But the only other homer in D'backs history to be hit with the team trailing by 16 runs was by Alex Cintron off another Young-- Jason of the Rockies-- on September 23, 2003. (For what it's worth, Shea Hillenbrand promptly went back-to-back, only trailing by 15 now. The game ended 20-9.)
Jordan Weems is ostensibly a pitcher. He appeared in 14 games for Oakland over the past two seasons and arrived in Phoenix last Monday after the A's waived him. Let's see if he can "protect" this 15-run defici-- mm, yeah, no. A.J. Pollock, leadoff homer in the 8th. He joined Yasmani Grandal (May 7, 2015, at Milwaukee) as the only Dodgers batters ever to have 4 hits, 2 homers, and 2 walks in the same game. And forgetting the homers, he's the first to do 4 hits and 2 walks while batting 7th or lower since Ron Fairly on August 7, 1966.
So that's 17-1. But Weems still can't find the plate. Walks Austin Barnes again. Matt Beaty singles. Mookie Betts walks to generate another note for us; he's the first Dodgers batter with 3 walks and 4 runs scored in a game since Jim Gilliam in Pittsburgh on April 19, 1953. And how does he score, you ask? Well, not another grand slam. The Yankees still lay claim to that feat. But how about a bases-clearing triple from Gavin Lux. The Dodgers haven't had one of those in a home game since Cody Bellinger off Matt Moore of the Giants on May 2, 2017. Twenty. We have twenty runs and a duplicate of that Braves/Pirates score from May. And now it's time for outfielder Josh Reddick-- who wasn't even in the game-- to mop things up. But one last thing before he goes.
That's Albert's career homer number 675, and it comes with the Dodgers already leading by 19 runs. The team's last batter to go yard with them already that far ahead was Joe Kelley, and we don't mean their current pitcher. Hall of Famer Joe Kelley-with-a-second-E played 17 seasons for the Orioles, Dodgers, and Reds, and hit that fateful homer in a 25-6 game against Cincinnati on September 23, 1901. All told the Dodgers had eight different players with at least 1 hit, at least 1 run scored, and at least 2 RBIs. No team had pulled that off since the Rangers in the famous 30-3 game at Baltimore in 2007. And ignoring the RBIs for a moment, 11 different Dodgers had both a hit and a run scored. Since moving to Los Angeles in 1958, they'd only had one other game where that happened, and it was also against the Diamondbacks. That was a 19-1 beatdown on September 2, 2002.
As for your exact score of 22-1, it's the eighth such occurrence in MLB history, with none of the others involving either of Saturday's teams. The previous one was Phillies over Reds on July 6, 2009. And the Dodgers have posted a handful of 19-run victories in their storied history that begins in 1884. (That 1901 Joe Kelley game is one of them.) But they haven't won a game by 20 or more since 1892. And only once before have they ever won a game by 21 runs. That just happens to be the only 25-1 exact score in MLB history, a "severe beating" of the original Baltimore Orioles franchise on June 24, 1886.
We covered a couple of walkoffs already, but if you like your walkoffs weird and wacky, then Tuesday was your day. That's when several teams caught quite a lucky break, while fans of the losing team could only say "give me a break". (They probably said some other things too, but we're a family-friendly blog here.)
We start you in Pittsburgh, where the not-anticipated-by-anyone pitchers' duel between Ian Anderson and Chad Kuhl resulted in a 1-1 knot with the Braves. Orlando Arcia's solo homer in the 5th accounted for the Braves' only run, while Adam Frazier led off the 3rd with a single and eventually scored on Bryan Reynolds' sac fly. Guillermo Heredia got hit by a pitch in the top of the 9th, but that's all and we are headed for free runners if the Pirates don't score in their half. Rodolfo Castro works an 8-pitch walk from Tyler Matzek. Frazier rolls a single through the left side. A walk to Ke'Bryan Hayes to load them up. And then a game-ending walk to Reynolds, on four pitches no less, to give the Pirates a 2-1 win. There have only been four servings of "shrimp" (as it's referred to by the baseball internet) in the majors this season, well off-pace from the 10 we had two years ago, though Kevin Newman (June 23) was one of those 10 and had the last one for the Pirates. Matzek was the first Braves pitcher to face 4 batters, get none of them out, and get walked off, since Jesse Chavez did it in extra innings against the Marlins on July 25, 2010. And Reynolds-- who had the sac fly for one run and a bases-loaded walk for the other? He had both RBIs in a Pirates win, without having a hit anywhere in the game. The only other batter in team history to pull that off was Kiki Cuyler against the Dodgers on July 27, 1927; he drove in one run on a groundout and the other on what would have been a sacrifice fly if such a stat had existed back then.
Alphabetically on your weather scroll we move up one slot to Phoenix (sorry, Piscataway, denied again), where the only thing quicker than a four-pitch walk is a plunking. Merrill Kelly and the Rockies' Jon Gray hooked up in an otherwise ho-hum 3-2 game where all the D'backs runs came in the 1st inning. Gray gave up only 6 hits in the game, but the problem was that four of them were doubles-- four in a row by Josh Rojas, David Peralta, Eduardo Escobar, and Christian Walker to start the game. The D'backs had never pulled that off before, and there are adults who weren't botn the last time any team did it. The White Sox of Willie Harris, D'Angelo Jimenez, Frank Thomas, and Magglio Ordo�ez did it against Boston on June 17, 2003.
Yonathan Daza tied the game with a 7th-inning groundout, leading to something else the D'backs had never pulled off. In the bottom of the 9th Stephen Vogt led off with a single, two walks load the bases, pinch runner Stuart Fairchild is now on third, and the second pitch to Peralta hits him. Forcing in the winning run. We affectionately call this a plunk-off, and it was not only the first one in Arizona history, it was the first one ever issued by the Rockies. It's actually the first one the Rockies have ever been on either side of, and they were the last team who had never experienced the "thrill". The Angels and Rays are the two remaining teams who've never issued a plunk-off, and four expansion teams (Rockies, Marlins, Mariners, and Jays) have yet to receive one.
And then to Miami, which had already gotten an 8th-inning homer from Jorge Alfaro to win Monday's game over the Dodgers by a 5-4 count. Pablo Lopez worked the first 4 innings of Tuesday's game and struck out 8 batters, which would turn out to be the second-most impressive thing he did this week. Also somewhere on that list is the 3rd-inning double he hit against Tony Gonsolin, just the second one ever by a Marlins pitcher against Los Angeles. Alex Fernandez connected for the other against Ismael Valdez on April 26, 1997.
Gonsolin departs with a 1-0 lead in the 6th and Jake Reed blows the save on two singles and a stolen base. He escapes with only run when Chris Taylor snags a liner at second with the bases loaded. But this one does end up in free-runner land after the Marlins leave the bases loaded again in the 9th. A double play erases any thought the Dodgers had of scoring in the 10th. And with two outs in the bottom half, well, this happens. The last extra-inning "error-off" for the Marlins was on May 4, 2009, when Paul Janish of the Reds attempted to turn a double play and airmailed the relay to first. And technically the wild pitch is not the game-ending play (that only got Marte to third), but we can say that it's the first game-ending play started by a wild pitch, just as an excuse to watch this clip again.
The Marlins actually have one more surprise for us (and the Dodgers). On Wednesday Ross Detwiler got sent out to give up 5 runs and 3 homers, mitigated only somewhat by Garrett Cooper and Jesús Sanchez also homering for Miami. Only Brad Hand (2015), Mark Hendrickson (2008), and Kirt Ojala (1998) had given up 3 homers without finishing the 3rd inning of a Marlins home game. Not only were they all off Detwiler, they were all in the same inning-- A.J. Pollock to lead off the 3rd, then Mookie Betts after two strikeouts, then a 3-run shot by Justin Turner after two singles. It was the Dodgers' second time scoring 5 runs in an inning at Marlins Park (July 15, 2017, off Jose Ureña), and the first time they'd ever hit 3 homers in an inning at either of the Marlins' stadiums.
Sanchez unties the game in the 8th with an RBI single, but Zack McKinstry is right there to get us back to 6-6 with his solo homer in the 9th. The Dodgers had never before hit a game-tying homer in the 9th inning against the Marlins, whether at home or on the road. Having already used up Kenley Jansen to give up the run in the 8th, it's someone else's turn to give up runs. That would be Edwin Uceta, and after a single and a walk it's time for the Marlins to summon the other Jesús. (Can you have more than one? That's against some tablet somewhere, isn't it?) And Mr. Aguilar sends everyone (except the Dodgers) home happy with a 3-run walkoff homer, a first for Miami since Adeiny Hechavarria set off the old home-run sculpture on August 2, 2015. The only other 3- or 4-run walkoff homer the Marlins had hit against Los Angeles was by Josh Willingham off Derek Lowe on May 10, 2007. And as for walking off the Dodgers in back-to-back games, the Marlins had only pulled that off once in their history: August 12-13 2003, on homers by Ramon Castro and Mike Mordecai.
But no team went through quite as much walkoff drama this week as the Kansas City Royals. On Tuesday they faced an early deficit after Kris Bubic posted his fourth straight start of giving up 5 runs and not finishing the 5th inning. That ties for the longest such streak in Royals history with Chad Durbin (2000), Chris Haney (1993), and Ted Power (1988). The Reds would go up 6-1 in the 7th against Carlos Hernandez. Then the fun begins.
Hanser Alberto reaches on a dropped third strike. That extends the bottom of the 8th for Andrew Benintendi, who homers to make it 6-3. Brad Brach gets sent out for the 9th and can't catch a, um, break. Walk. Hit batter. 6-4 as Eugenio Suarez airmails a potential double-play ball. Nicky Lopez dumps a single into left to make it 6-5, then Aristides Aquino boots that to tie the game. And with two outs, Sal Perez rides one to the base of the wall left for the game-winner. It was the first home game in which the Royals trailed by 3 or more after the 8th inning and rallied to win since May 28, 2016. That was a 7-run 9th capped by Brett Eibner's walkoff single, and it's game we remember well because we were there.
(We always felt bad for Brett Eibner, who got sent back down to Omaha three days later and then traded at the deadline. But at least he had his One Shining Moment.)
Ah, but the walkoffs giveth, the walkoffs taketh away. (Nobody says that.) The Royals moved on to Cleveland on Thursday and held a 3-1 lead after 7 innings. Naturally, we wouldn't be writing about it if that lead had held up. Nope, Roberto Perez cranked a 3-run homer to give the Indians the lead again, and then after Carlos Santana re-tied things with a solo homer to start the 9th, Franmil Reyes deposited another 3-run homer, this one of the walkoff variety, into left-center for a 7-4 win. Only two other Cleveland hitters have launched a 3-run walkoff bomb against the Royals; they are Matt LaPorte (off Joakim Soria, July 30, 2011) and Travis Fryman (off Jose Santiago, April 12, 1999). Perez and Reyes became the first Indians teammates to hit 3-run homers in the 8th or later of the same game since Jody Gerut and Victor Martinez piled on to a 22-0 destruction of the Yankees on August 31, 2004. The only other time the Indians did it at Progressive Field was in an 11-run inning against Baltimore on August 4, 1996.
Then there is Friday's game, equally tense in a different way. This one was a pitchers' duel between two unlikely candidates, Brad Keller and Triston McKenzie, and we're locked at 1-1 going to the 9th. McKenzie would become the second pitcher in Indians history to allow 2 baserunners, strike out at least 9, go the required 5 innings for a win, and yet still not get said win. Corey Kluber pulled that off, also against Kansas City, on July 24, 2014. No, the win would have to come via another walkoff homer, this one by Bobby Bradley after Jorge Soler tied the game in the top of the 9th. Soler followed in the footsteps of Carlos Santana with his tying homer on Thursday; it turns out those are the only two game-tying dingers the Royals have ever hit in the 8th or later at Jacobs Field. It also matches the number they hit at Lakefront in their quarter-century of visiting the Indians at that park. George Brett (June 26, 1993) and Kirk Gibson (April 24, 1991) were the Royals batters to do it in those olden days.
Bobby Bradley's walkoff homer made a winner out of Cleveland pitcher James Karinchak for the second straight day. Although plenty of Indians relievers have lucked into wins in back-to-back games, the last one to do it via walkoff on both occasions was Steve Olin, who also did it against the Royals on July 25 and 26, 1992.
Bottom Of The Bag
⚾ Yankees, Sunday: First time leading by 5 runs or more after 8 innings and losing since August 18, 2000, against Anaheim.
⚾ Mets, Sunday: First home game where they scored 5 runs in the 1st inning and lost since June 20, 1989, against Montreal.
⚾ Genesis Cabrera, Friday: First Cardinals pitcher to give up 3 earned runs on 0 hits against the Cubs since Al Brazle on July 3, 1953.
⚾ Indians, Wednesday: Fewest hits in a doubleheader (2) since April 12, 1992, versus Boston. Matt Young also got credit for an unofficial no-hitter in one of those games too (gave up runs and it was an 8-inning loss).
⚾ Paul DeJong, Fri-Sat: First Cardinals batter with a multi-run homer in back-to-back games at Wrigley since Mark McGwire, April 30 and May 1, 1998.
⚾ Blue Jays, Tuesday: First time ever homering in the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings of the same game in Baltimore (either stadium).
⚾ Alcides Escobar, Saturday: Joined Tim Raines (1988) and Andre Dawson (1979) as the only Nats/Expos players to have a triple and a double in a loss to the Giants.
⚾ Matt Olson, Tue-Thu: First Oaklander with a go-ahead hit in the 1st inning of three consecutive team games since Mark McGwire in April 1990.
⚾ Luis Urias, Wednesday: First Brewers batter to homer in both games of a doubleheader since Elian Herrera at Cincinnati, September 5, 2015.
⚾ Robbie Ray, Sunday: Joined Brandon Morrow and Ricky Romero (both in 2010) as the only Rays pitchers to allow 1 hit and strike out 11 in a game.
⚾ Darrin Fletcher, Friday: First Angels batter to hit a leadoff homer at Safeco/TMobile. Their last at the Kingdome was Darin Erstad off John Halama, June 23, 1999.
⚾ White Sox, Monday: First game in franchise history (1901) where four different pitchers uncorked a wild pitch in the same game.
⚾ Carlos Rodon, Tuesday: Became first pitcher in White Sox history to strike out 8+ in each of 9 straight appearances. Chris Sale is the only one to do it 8x.
⚾ Athletics, Saturday: First time scoring 4+ runs in an inning numbered 11 or higher since September 22, 2012 (when the Yankees matched them and they lost in 14).
⚾ Marlins, Wed-Fri: First team to have relievers throw 4+ scoreless innings in three consecutive games since the Orioles did it in a series with Cleveland in September 1991.
⚾ Rays, Monday: First walkoff "FCX" (fielder's choice, no out) since Elliot Johnson against Detroit on August 24, 2011.
⚾ Tyler Anderson, Saturday: Second Pirates pitcher to homer at Ciri Field, after Paul Maholm hit one in their second game there, May 9, 2009.
⚾ A.J. Pollock, Wed-Fri: Homered and doubled in a loss twice in a three-day span. Only other Dodgers player in live-ball era to do that is Tony Cuccinello in May 1934.
⚾ Jazz Chisholm, Thursday: Sixth player in Marlins history to hit a leadoff homer for the team's only run of a game. The other five are all by either Hanley Ramirez in 2007 or Cliff Floyd in 1998.
⚾ Mets, Friday: First time in team history hitting a 3-run homer and a grand slam in the same inning. (They did once hit two slams in a frame, July 16, 2006.)
⚾ Duane Underwood, Wednesday: Second reliever in Pirates history to give up 8 hits and 7 earned runs while getting 3 outs. Mark Petkovsek did it at Dodger Stadium on August 24, 1993.
⚾ Andrew Vaughn, Sunday: Second White Sox batter to have a multi-homer game at Camden Yards. Frank Thomas did it 28 years earlier to the day (July 11, 1993).
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