Never leave early. It's one of those tenets you hear from baseball diehards because, unlike some timed sports where it's possible to just run out the clock, the defense still has to get 27 outs, even those pesky ones in the 9th inning. We hear it occasionally from traveling companions (you know who you are!), but y'know, you signed up for this when you got in the car. (For the record, our only legitimate reason for leaving one game early is to be on time for the start of another.) And as it turns out, a lot of those 8th- and 9th-inning outs this week turned out to be quite pesky indeed.
We're going to start with the very first game of the week on Monday afternoon, a special 3:00 start in Toronto in honor of Canada's August "civic holiday". (We attempted to go to Winnipeg on the first Monday in August three years ago only to discover a lot of things closed for no obvious reason. Oops.) The offenses of both the Jays and Indians decided to take a little holiday as well, with Robbie Ray giving up back-to-back RBi singles in the 3rd for Cleveland's 2 runs. Meanwhile, as we see often, the Jays were having trouble figuring out rookie pitcher Eli Morgan and didn't break through until Vlad Guerrero Jr hit a 2-run dinger in the 6th. Thanks to the Jays not being able to play in Toronto, it was Vladdy's first homer at the Rogers Centre in 717 days; he took Wade LeBlanc deep on August 16, 2019. But then we throw on 6 innings of bullpen work from 6 different pitchers, and we are off to Extra Inning Land with its free runners designed to keep a game like this from dragging out your Civic Holiday.
Amed Rosario, who was actually thrown at home on one of those plays in the 3rd (or else we might have been out of here by now), singles home the free runner in the 10th. Rosario would finish as the first Clevelander with 3 hits and 2 steals in a game in Toronto since Omar Vizquel did it on May 6, 2000. But the dagger is Jose Ramirez's 2-run homer that also scores Rosario, the second multi-run shot Cleveland has ever hit in extras at The Rogers. Travis Fryman had the other one off Scott Almanzar on September 9, 1998. As for the Indians' last extra-inning win in Toronto, well, talk about dragging out your civic holidays. It was Carlos Santana who finally brought an end to the 2016 Canada Day game... with a homer in the top of the NINETEENTH.
Washington's Farewell Address
"Beware the military-industrial complex, and don't forget to tip your server." No, wait. Sorry. It's been a while since we had to study these things.
But yes, this might be the week when the final embers of the Nationals' playoff hopes were finally smothered. According to Baseball Reference's system, they began the week with a 6% chance of making the postseason. Four losses to division-leading Philadelphia later, it's under 1%. And two of those losses were of the most painful "end game" type.
This series is going to take us to Monday night as well, when they got 5 solid innings from Josiah Gray in just his second major-league start and first appearance with the Nationals. He was one of the pieces that came back in the Scherzer/Turner blockbuster trade to the Dodgers. So of course the Phillies were like, who's this guy?, we've never seen him before and can't hit him. Meanwhile it was the Phillies' day to try and piece together a bullpen game, which also went fine until Enyel De Los Santos and Jose Alvarado struggled through the 6th and 7th and left the Nats out front 3-2. Along the way Ryan Zimmerman recorded his 42nd career go-ahead hit in the 7th or later, passing Andre Dawson for the most in franchise history. Gabe Klobosits has a 4-pitch 8th, so of course we're gonna let him pitch the 9th also. What could happen.
Well, two singles to lead off the inning and chase him from the game. Then a game-tying double by Jean Segura off Wander Suero, an intentional walk so that Bryce Harper won't beat us, and of course a 2-run single by J.T. Realmuto to beat us. The Phillies had hit only one other go-ahead bases-loaded single at Nats Park as late as the 4th inning; that was Raul Ibañez's 12th-inning winner off Kip Wells on May 15, 2009. And by the time the dust settles and those last two runners score as well, it's a 7-3 Phillies win, the first time in 12 years that they trailed after 8 innings and then scored 5 runs in the 9th to win. It last happened at Florida on April 24, 2009. The last time the Nationals led after 8 innings and wound up losing by at least 4 runs was April 28, 2007, against the Mets, when Carlos Beltran and David Wright combined for 4 runs in the 12th.
Since we've already spoiled it, this same thing is about to happen again on Thursday. This time the Nats get to Aaron Nola for 5 runs and lead going into the 9th. And you have to respect just good hitting beating you. When your own defense does it to itself, though...
Odubel Herrera leads off the 9th with a double. Ronald Torreyes grounds one to third, Carter Kieboom holds Herrera at second, but then his throw is wide and Torreyes reaches. Segura strikes out and Travis Jankowski grounds another one to Kieboom, who makes the play that should have ended the game. Except it didn't. Which leaves the door open for J.T. Realmuto to tie it with a 2-out double. Still it's only a tie game and the Nats have one more at-bat (plus maybe some free runners). As you know by now, we can't let Bryce Harper beat us, so we'll walk him. And let Rhys Hoskins beat us instead. He hit the Phillies' first go-ahead double in the 9th or later at Nationals Park since Cameron Rupp off Jonathan Papelbon on April 28, 2016. And combined with Realmuto, it was the first time the Phils had a tying double and a go-ahead double in the 9th inning of any game since So Taguchi and Jimmy Rollins hit them against the Mets on July 22, 2008.
Kyle Finnegan got tagged with all four of these runs even though none of them are earned because he should have been out of the inning (and gotten a save, even). Instead he's going to get a blown save and a loss despite not giving up an earned run. The last Nats pitcher to pull that off? Why, it's Kyle Finnegan, on June 6, also against the Phillies when he got charged with 5 unearned runs after Jody Mercer dropped a pop-up. The other only pitcher in franchise history with two such games in a season is Matt Capps in 2010.
Josh Bell did get one run back in the bottom of the 9th to make the final score 7-6. He would end up finishing the game as the first Nats/Expos cleanup batter with 3 hits and 3 RBI in a loss to the Phillies since Hubie Brooks did it on September 25, 1988.
The Nationals would drop an 8-4 decision to the Braves on Friday to decrease those playoff chances under 1%. But it was the Braves' previous 8-4 win, against the Cardinals on Thursday, that would prove to be one of the more bizarre endings in recent memory. It's 2-2 after 5 before Tyler O'Neill scores on a passed ball to give the Cards the lead in the 6th. They add one more with a Paul Goldschmidt RBI single in the 7th. And now the wheels come off. Giovanny Gallegos gets to pitch the top of the 8th, gets two quick outs, but gives up a single to Freddie Freeman and a 2-run bomb to Austin Riley to tie the game. So we're back to 4-4, but of course, a home run clears the bases and we sort of start over. Heh.
Gallegos gets left out to face one more batter, Dansby Swanson, who promptly doubles. That will end up being his downfall as the losing run. He already blew the save by allowing the homer, and ends up as the first Cardinals pitcher with both a blown save and a loss against the Braves since Rich Croushore on August 1, 1988. But really, it's how the rest of this inning unfolded. Alex Reyes is your new Cardinals pitcher. His second pitch hits Adam Duvall. Then there's a four-pitch walk to Joc Pederson. Then there's a five-pitch walk to Ehire Adrianza, just the second go-ahead walk issued to a Braves pinch hitter this century. Charlie Culberson, June 9, 2019, at Miami, received the other.
Another pinch-hitter, Stephen Vogt, comes up with the bases still loaded. And Reyes walks him on four pitches as well. The Braves hadn't gotten two bases-loaded pinch-hit walks in the same game since Keith Lockhart and Andruw Jones were the lucky winners against Cincinnati on August 23, 1997. It's now 6-4 and the bases are still loaded and Reyes is still out there. Wanna guess? Yep, bases-loaded walk to Ozzie Albies, the third in a row, and finally signalling Reyes's exit from the game. But check out that line. Five batters, walked four and hit one. No Cardinals pitcher had done that, regardless of whether they got any outs or not, since Mike Thompson at Cincinnati on July 7, 1974. And the last Cardinals hurler to give up 0 hits but walk 4 and get 0 outs was Lloyd "Whitey" Moore at Wrigley on August 13, 1942.
Sooooo can Justin Miller get out of this? No. No he can't. Jorge Soler is your batter for Atlanta, and remember the bases are still loaded. Six-pitch walk to make the final score of this game 8-4. That is four straight bases-loaded walks, the first time that's happened in any major-league game since Steve Delabar of the Reds needed 36 pitches to get 1 out on May 17, 2016. The last time the Braves even received four bases-loaded walks in a game was May 25, 1983, against Pittsburgh. And the Cardinals had never allowed four in an inning; their last time even doing four in a game was June 20, 1917, also against the Pirates.
Yeah, we're not going to leave early, but could you do us a favor and just stop. walking. people. Nobody needs to sit here for 20 extra minutes and watch you struggle to hit the strike zone. Except maybe the Braves.
Giant Finish
Every week we have a long list of things that could go in this post, and sometimes a few of them don't quite make it. In last week's edition about teams and players in strange places, we had a couple nuggets from the Astros' series in San Francisco, but not quite enough to end up with an entire "Giants" section, so they got left on the cutting-room floor. Mmm, yeah, they'll show us.
On Monday Anthony DeSclafani and Arizona's Taylor Widener "matched wits" in the sense of both giving up 5 runs in 4⅓ innings, but in Widener's case it was what happened after he came out of the game in the 5th. He turned a bases-loaded situation over to J.B. Bukauskas, who promptly turned it into a bases-unloaded situation by allowing a grand slam to Alex Dickerson. As it turns out, Dickerson also hit a slam at Chase Field back on June 21, 2019, in an 11-5 victory, and is the first Giants batter ever to hit two slams in Phoenix. He then tacked on a triple in the 7th-- just like he also did in that game two years ago. In the modern era, no Giants batter has ever had multiple games with both a grand slam and a triple-- at Chase Field or any other park.
However, in the Arizona half of the 7th, they manage to rally for 3 runs off Jay Jackson, with Christian Walker's double being the first multi-run, game-tying two-bagger that late in a game since Aaron Hill hit one at Coors on September 1, 2015. And off we go to free-runner land again. Since you can do such a thing now, Buster Posey leads off with a go-ahead double, the fourth one the Giants have hit in extras this season. Granted, they have a little help from the rulebook now, but that's the team's most in a single season since 1975. Posey also had a go-ahead double in the 7th at Chase Field back on May 14, 2016, and is the first Giants batter to have two that late in a game there. This one ends up 11-8 after the Giants put up their first-ever 3-run extra inning in Phoenix.
You actually could have left early on Tuesday and Wednesday, but for Thursday's "getaway game", make sure you don't get away too quickly. Unless you're a D'backs fan who doesn't want to see the lead get away. Pavin Smith records RBI singles in his first two at-bats, and a bases-loaded walk has Arizona up 4-0 after the 3rd. And then we start to look like a west-coast game again. From innings 4 through 8 we combine for six baserunners and only half of them make it to second base. Hmm, maybe we actually can get away.
Enter Taylor Clarke to pitch the 9th. New neighbor Kris Bryant with a leadoff double. Dickerson singles. Brandon Crawford double. Exit Taylor Clarke. Tyler Clippard, get us out of this. Hit batter. Single. Two outs and still a 2-run lead. Remember what we said about getting 27 outs? Yeah, LaMonte Wade, bases-loaded single to tie the game. Picked quite a time to have the Giants' first-ever tying or go-ahead hit when down to their final out at Chase Field. (They've had four against the D'backs at home.) This also made Taylor Clarke the first D'backs pitcher to face 3+ Giants batters and have all of them get a hit and score. Plus Merrill Kelly-- whom Clarke replaced-- ended up throwing 8 scoreless innings and not getting the win, which no Arizona pitcher had done since Brandon McCarthy on May 12, 2013.
And guess what. Free-runner land one more time. And Kris Bryant, who led off the 9th with a double... also manages to lead off the 10th with a double. Remember Buster Posey just did that on Monday, so now they have five go-ahead two-baggers in extras this season, their most in (at least) the live-ball era. And when Arizona fails to score their free runner in the bottom half, it means the Giants have come all the way back to win after trailing by 4 at the end of the 8th inning. They hadn't done that since way back on April 18, 1993, when opponents were still pitching to Barry Bonds, and his double plus a couple of sac flies led to a 4-run 9th against Atlanta. That was easily the longest drought in the majors without such a comeback. In fact that drought is longer than the Diamondbacks' entire existence; in their history Arizona had lost such a game only once, on September 9, 2017, when San Diego scored 6 in the 9th after trailing 7-2 against them.
It was then off to Milwaukee and just how much extra-inning "fun" can one team have in a week? Friday's game is worthy of just a couple sentences because it ended 2-1 after Logan Webb and Corbin Burnes dueled each other. And as we've said before, these are the type of slogs that the free-runner rule is good before, because Rowdy Tellez steps up in the 10th and hits a "leadoff walkoff"-- a single to score Avisail Garcia who magically appeared on second base. The Brewers hadn't hit an extra-inning walkoff against San Francisco since Prince Fielder homered in the 12th on September 6, 2009.
Then there is Saturday, where the Brewers are again leading 2-1 as we go to the 9th. Only takes one little hiccup to change that, however, and this one is in the form of a 2-out triple by Tommy La Stella to score Kris Bryant. The last time the Giants hit a game-tying triple when down to their final out was April 16, 2015, when Joe Panik connected off Addison Reed of the Diamondbacks. But hooray for more free runners. Miguel Sanchez gets tagged for two singles and a walk, in addition to his free runner, and the Giants are sitting pretty up 5-2. But we're going to hit that weird phenomenon again-- the 2-run leadoff homer. It turns out the pitcher's spot is up, so we even get pinch hitter Luis Urias to be the one to do it. In our two years of New Rules, the Brewers hadn't yet hit one of these special-asterisk homers, and it's only the third pinch-hit homer that Milwaukee has ever hit in extra innings of a home game. Those others belong to Mike Hegan (1974) and Ted Savage (1970), and both came against the White Sox.
Except that still only makes it 5-4. It's up to Willy Adames to hit a solo shot later in the inning and bring us all the free runners! This would end up being the second time in Brewers history that they'd hit multiple extra-inning homers in a game and not won it; Tyler Houston and Devon White did it in Pittsburgh on June 26, 2001, before they got walked off in the 12th. The Brewers will naturally lose on Saturday because, if 3 in the 10th wasn't enough, why not drop 4 more in the 11th? Brandon Belt would connect for his second homer of the game, the first Giants batter to do that in Milwaukee since Buster Posey on July 7, 2010. He joined Hector Sanchez (2012) and Ellis Burks (2000) as the only Giants batters to homer in the 11th or later in Milwaukee, and that includes the Braves years. The Brewers managed to score their free runner to finalize the score at 9-6, but in the meantime the Giants had their first game in (at least) the modern era where they scored 3+ runs in multiple extra innings. And it was the first time the Giants had played three straight extra-inning games since June 1996.
All the songs about endings are either sappy or depressing. They're all about breaking up or graduating or saying goodbye or somehow starting a new chapter. We're not here to depress you. This is baseball, after all. So since we're about to jump back to the beginning of a few games, let's do a "start" link instead. Disco break!
For what it's worth, there were still a few games this week where you really could mail it in and leave early.
The Reds were pretty effective this week, and it being Cincinnati, you know there's going to be a rain delay anyway, so may as well get your 5 innings in and leave after that. On Thursday Jonathan India greeted Wil Crowe of the Pirates with a leadoff homer, the ninth for Cincinnati this season. That's their most since 1987 when Kal Daniels had eight by himself for a team total of 10. Crowe at least escaped that 1st inning when Joey Votto hit into a double play. The 2nd, not so much. Single. Error. 3-run homer by Eugenio Suarez. Single. Walk. Two quick outs so at least Joey Votto can't ground into another double play. Nope, all he's gonna do is crank another 3-run homer to make it 7-0. The Reds hadn't hit multiple 3- or 4-run homers in the same inning since April 23, 2016, when Suarez and Adam Duvall did it against the Cubs. Wil Crowe became the fourth pitcher in Pirates history to give up 7 runs and 3 homers against Cincinnati, after Joe Beimel (2002), Ray Kremer (1930), and Deacon Phillippe (1901). And while Sonny Gray did hit a speed bump in the 4th and the Pirates eventually got back to 7-4, those first two innings were all the Reds needed. It was the second time in the past 18 seasons that they scored 7 runs in the first two frames and no more runs after that. The other was September 8, 2018, and-- what did we tell you?-- it was shortened by rain so they only batted six times.
And we're sorry, was hanging around until the 2nd inning getting to be too much? On Friday let's just drop all 7 of those Reds runs right into the 1st inning. J.T. Brubaker is the Pirates starter who gets roughed up for this one, finally getting Jonathan India to make both the first and third outs of the inning. In between, however, there are two doubles, two walks, an error, and a 3-run homer by Tucker Barnhart. It was Cincinnati's first 7-run 1st inning since September 24, 2004, which also happened to be against the Pirates (but at PNC, not GABP). And in case you did show up late, we'll have Jesse Winker and Kyle Farmer save a couple runs for the 2nd and push Brubaker's line up to 9. He's the first Pirates pitcher to allow 9 runs to the Reds, in an outing of any length, since Kip Wells did it on May 29, 2005. India does make up for his 1st-inning woes by homering to give us a 10-0 final, the Reds' largest shutout against Pittsburgh since an 11-0 game on August 13, 1966, that was-- what else?!-- shortened by rain. Combined, Thursday and Friday were the first time this century that the Reds had scored 7+ runs by the 2nd inning in consecutive games.
This, naturally, came after the Reds started their week by blowing a late lead (back to our theme!) against the Twins. Heath Hembree got handed a 5-4 advantage, walked the first two batters of the 9th, and then served up a 3-run homer to Jorge Polanco. You can imagine that the Twins and Reds don't play very often, so that turns out to be only the second lead-flipping homer Minnesota had ever hit in Cincinnati (any inning). Josh Willingham had the other against Aroldis Chapman on June 24, 2012. Hembree got a blown save and a loss together with that one swing by Polanco, and it turns out he also did that on July 6 at Kansas City. The only other Reds pitchers to have two games in the same season where they allowed 1 hit but got both the "BS" and the "L" are J.J. Hoover, Rob Dibble, and Scott Williamson.
Polanco's homer came after Mitch Garver had also chipped in three of the four earlier runs with a homer. It marked the first game in Twins/Senators history (including postseason) where they hit multiple 3- or 4-run homers in a National League stadium. It also tripled the number of such homers they'd hit in Cincinnati; Brian Dozier had the only other one there on June 29, 2015.
Where's The End Of A Loop?
We pose this question not to get you in a philosophical mood, but because we're off to Chicago and we're hoping that Craig Kimbrel has an unlimited-ride CTA pass. Because just a week ago he had to hop the Red Line toward 95th when he got traded from the Cubs to the White Sox, and this weekend he had to go right back toward Howard when his new team played a series at Wrigley. Perhaps he forgot which team he was supposed to be playing for?
The Sox hold a 4-1 lead after Cesar Hernandez homers in the top of the 8th. It should be noted that the lone Cubs runs came on a sac fly by David Bote, the first-ever pinch-hit sac fly the team has ever hit against an American League opponent. Kimbrel gets the bottom half in his third appearance for the black-and-gray. (Okay, officially it's "silver", but silver would be shiny, and then we'd have to check them all for foreign substances, and nobody needs that. Gray.) He does record two outs. The problem is that in between them he gives up two singles and a 3-run game-tying homer to Andrew Romine. That was the first dinger of its kind in the 8th or later for the Cubs against the Sox since Addison Russell hit a grand slam on July 27, 2016. (It was so memorable they named the street outside Wrigley, and the Red Line stop, for him.)(Not really.) Kimbrel also became the first pitcher to blow a save against the North Siders in any of his first three appearances for the South Siders. The good news was that the last three Sox pitchers to blow any save against the Cubs, also stuck around long enough to get the win when they retook the lead the next inning. The last to not have that happen was D.J. Carrasco on June 27, 2009.
Well, the last until Kimbrel on Friday. Because he didn't even stick around to end the inning. Liam Hendriks had to be summoned to get the final out, plus avoid damage from a 2-out single in the 9th, and yay, another trip to free-runner land. (We may or may not claim intellectual-property rights to a theme park based on this. You've been warned.)
Since we've gotten so good at these, why not a multi-run leadoff homer from Brian Goodwin? Not only is it the first one of those the White Sox have ever hit, it's the first extra-inning homer of any kind they've ever slugged at Wrigley Field. Manuel Rodriguez sticks around to give up two more singles and a reached-on-error, which is eventually going to lead to the first 4-run extra inning by the Sox since July 3, 2018, in Cincinnati. Rodriguez will end up as the first Cubs pitcher to give up 4 runs, get 0 outs, and take a loss, since the great Carlos Marmol against Florida on July 14, 2011.
Cubs still have their free runner though. We'll see your Brian Goodwin and raise you a... Frank Schwindel? The Cubs' first baseman, picked up off the waiver wire from Oakland in July and now playing almost every day with Anthony Rizzo off to more-pinstriped pastures, hits his own 2-run leadoff homer to make it 8-6. That's also the first such homer ever hit by the Cubs, but more notably, it's the first game under our New World Order (where this is possible) where both teams did it. It's also the first time the Cubs trailed in extras and hit a multi-run homer that didn't at least tie the game, since Geovany Soto against Houston on July 21, 2010 (hit a 2-run shot when down 3).
We'll mention Saturday's 4-0 shutout just to point out that Carlos Rodon struck out 11 more batters on the way to the first White Sox shutout at Wrigley since a 1-0 win on July 10, 2015. Rodon pitched that game as well. Saturday was also the third time this year that Rodon has allowed 2 hits and struck out 11; no other White Sox pitcher has even done that three times in a career.
And while we're on the topic of former Cubs, while "new" shortstop Andrew Romine was hitting that game-tying homer off Kimbrel on Friday, previous shortstop Javier Baez was busy whiffing 5 times for the Mets in their loss to Philadelphia. Even in the Amazin' Annals of Mets lore, they've only had a half-dozen 5-K games, and two of those were in extra-inning games. Before Baez the most recent was Ryan Thompson on September 29, 1993, and that was an 0-for-7 with 5 K's included. If you define the "platinum sobrero" as a straight 0-for-5 with 5 K's, you are left with Dave Kingman (1992), Frank Taveras (1979), and Ron Swoboda (1969). Swoboda also has the distinction of a second 5-K game for the Mets, on April 15, 1968. That's the longest scoreless game in MLB history, one which went 24 innings before the Mets walked off, and in which BOTH Swoboda and Tommie Agee got saddled with 0-for-10 lines.
Ah yes, the Mets. Now in their sixtieth season of finding creative ways to Met. Let's go to Saturday in Philadelphia, where there were indeed some late-game fireworks... and yet you still could've left early. It's a 5-0 Phillies lead going to the 9th, and rookie Mauricio Llovera is off to the mound. Two days earlier, despite those two L's at the start of his name, Llovera became just the second pitcher in MLB history to earn a "W". On Thursday he was the pitcher of record in that game where the Phils scored 4 in the 9th against the Nationals to secure the series sweep. (The other double-L to have a W is, of course, Graeme Lloyd.) On Saturday, however, he's going to serve up our favorite made-up stat, the "blown hold". Because at 5-0 he's not in a save situation. But by the time he leaves, the pitcher after him will be.
Michael Conforto, third-pitch homer. Jonathan Villar fouls off three pitches before connecting for another homer. James McCann... foul ball, homer. Pitching change. Eleven offerings from Llovera to three batters and all of them went yard. The Mets' previous set of three straight homers was also against the Phillies-- by Carlos Delgado, David Wright, and Paul Lo Duca on June 7, 2007. They'd never done it in the 9th inning; in fact, the only other time in Mets history they hit three in any 9th inning (not consecutive) was on June 11, 1967, at Wrigley. Jerry Buchek, Jerry Grote, and Bob Johnson managed to turn an 18-5 blowout into an 18-10 less-of-a-blowout.
Llovera, for his part, is the 14th pitcher in the modern era to give up 3 homers while getting 0 outs. Albert Abreu of the Yankees also pulled it off on June 29, marking the second time two pitchers have done it in the same season. The other unlucky pair was Alex Hinshaw and Mark Melançon in 2012. But if you restrict it down to 3 batters faced and 3 homers, that's only happened one other time since 1901-- and of course it was by another Phillies pitcher. B.J. Rosenberg, who would retire after the 2014 season and is now a high-school athletic director in Florida, did it on April 14 of that season against the Braves.
We mentioned that you still didn't miss anything. That's because Ian Kennedy entered the game, gave up a single to Kevin Pillar and a walk to Brandon Nimmo, but then got Pete Alonso and J.D. Davis to strike out to end the game. The last time the Mets had back-to-back game-ending strikeouts against the Phillies, with the tying run(s) on base, was September 15, 1997, when Ricky Bottalico fanned Roberto Petagine and Alex Ochoa.
And just when you think the Mets can't find more interesting ways to lose, there is Sunday when they had a 2-hit shutout thrown against them by none other than Zack Wheeler, who you might remember pitched for them until signing with the Phillies as a free agent last year. Wheeler rattled off 11 strikeouts, and thank goodness for Brandon Nimmo and leadoff doubles. Because after starting the game with a two-bagger, Wheeler retired 22 straight Mets batters before walking Michael Conforto in the 8th. The synergy was not lost; Sunday happened to be the day the Phillies retired Roy Halladay's jersey number-- and the last Phils pitcher to retire 22 straight in any game? That's Roy Halladay, in his perfect game back in 2010.
Nimmo would then disturb all our 1-hitter notes by hitting a meaningless single in the 9th, but when Pete Alonso struck out to end the game, the Phillies had their first 2-hitter in a home game since Jack Sanford against Brooklyn on June 1, 1957. Four Phils pitchers had done it on the road since then, and we already spotted you one of them. They are Cole Hamels' no-hitter in Chicago in 2015, Halladay's perfect game against the Marlins, Curt Schilling at Dodger Stadium in 1996, and Steve Carlton against the Giants in 1972.
And as Mets fans know all too well, Wheeler is not the first pitcher to leave their fold and then find success elsewhere. But only three other former Mets have turned around and thrown an SHO-2 against the Mets later in their careers: Gerry Arrigo for the Reds in 1967, Brent Strom for the Padres in 1976, and of course Nolan Ryan for the Astros in 1982.
End-Around
And let's bring this week back to where it started, in Toronto. It's Boston's turn to be the opponent on the Jays' first true homestand since 2019, and Friday's game was not going to feature any holidays. You could have left this one early as well as the Jays piled up 9 runs in the bottom of the 5th against Nate Eovaldi. The inning began with three straight doubles, looked like it might not be terrible as Eovaldi got two quick outs, and then yeah. Single by Bo Bichette, the fourth double of the inning (Teoscar Hernandez), and a 3-run jack by Lourdes Gurriel. Eovaldi will end up taking 7 runs, the most this year by a Sawx starter who didn't get through the 5th, with Hansel Robles hung out there to give up two more. We had lots of fun with big innings and big games in the Jays' other recent homes, especially since Buffalo hasn't been home to an MLB team since 1915, but Friday marked their first 9-run frame back at Rogers Centre since May 7, 2014, against the Phillies. It was the first time the Red Sox allowed a 9-run inning since that London series with the Yankees two years ago. Everyone remembers 6-6 in the 1st from the first game, but not always the 12-8 with a 9-run frame from the second game. That also means Boston's last three such innings have been in three different countries; the last time they allowed a 9-run frame in the States was July 2, 2016, to the Angels.
As for Buffalo, it did have the misfortune of not having a roof, which led to an occasional rainout during the Jays' tenure there. One of those was July 20 during the final homestand, and it wound up just creating one more chance for the Toronto faithful to welcome back their team. Rescheduled as a split doubleheader on Saturday, it also became subject to our new quirky ruleset that declares them 7-inning games even though the fans still have to pay full price for them.
And by about 4:00 on Saturday, those fans must have been wondering what they paid for. Through 4 innings neither Nick Pivetta nor Robbie Ray had allowed a hit, and the only baserunner in the entire game was a leadoff walk by Enrique Hernandez. If you've forgotten, there's still only one game in the majors this season to get through 5 as a double-NH, the battle between Jose Berrios and Corbin Burnes on opening weekend. Annnnd that's still true. Kevin Plawecki for the Sawx and Corey Dickerson for the Jays spoil both no-hitters in the 5th. But remember, 7-inning game. Someone needs to do something to save us from free-runner land.
"Someone" would be Marcus Semien, and the "something" would be greeting Matt Barnes with a walkoff homer in the bottom of the 7th. It's the third time in team history that the Jays have won a 1-0 game via walkoff homer; Brett Lawrie also beat Boston on September 5, 2011, and Rick Bosetti had the team's first against Milwaukee on April 17, 1980. The last time the Jays won any 1-0 game on a solo homer at any point in the game was June 24, 2015, at Tampa Bay. The only team to go longer without doing it is the Diamondbacks. Saturday's day game was also just the second contest ever at SkyDome/Rogers where neither team had more than 2 hits. The other was another 1-0 solo-homer affair, against the Rays on September 12, 2014 (Ryan Hanigan hit the dinger).
So if we said the Red Sox got an RBI single in the 8th to take the night game 2-1... eh, normally doesn't raise much of an eyebrow. But doubleheader and New World Order. The 8th has suddenly become an "extra inning". And thus Jonathan Arauz's hit to score the free runner gives the Sawx their first "extra-inning" win in Toronto since May 22, 2019. It also means, even though they split the two games, the Jays scored just 1 run in both halves of a twinbill for the first time since May 17, 1981, in Cleveland.
Sunday's finale, a little more interesting-- and a little more fitting to our theme. The Sawx actually jump out to a 7-2 lead against Hyun-Jin Ryu, who was seeking (and failing) to become the first 12-game winner in the majors this season. Instead he'll be the first Jays pitcher to give up 10 hits and 7 runs in a home game without losing it since Marcus Stroman, also against Boston, on May 28, 2016.
That's because Vlad Guerrero Jr homers in the 5th to make it 7-4. Teoscar Hernandez gets another one back in the 7th to make it 8-6. And then George Springer launches the Jays' first lead-flipping homer in the 8th or later against Boston since Pat Tabler took Jeff Gray deep on April 10, 1991. Springer winds up as the second leadoff batter in Toronto history to have 4 runs scored and 3 RBI in a game, after Shannon Stewart on September 7, 1998. The Jays hold on to win this one 9-8, and the last time the Red Sox collected 16 hits and lost? Why, that's yet again in London-- the "6-6 game" that ended 17-13 against the Yankees on June 29, 2019. Which gives us just enough opening to drop in one more London-themed "end" song.
Bottom Of The Bag
⚾ Luis Gil, Tuesday: First pitcher to make his MLB debut with the Yankees and throw 6+ scoreless innings in it since Sam Militello against Boston on August 9, 1992.
⚾ Bryan Reynolds, Saturday: First Pirates batter to homer and triple in a loss in Cincinnati since Johnny Rizzo, October 1, 1938.
⚾ Twins, Friday: First time scoring in both the 10th and 11th innings of a road game (free runners for everybody!) since June 19, 2010, at Philadelphia (a 13-10 win).
⚾ Matt Olson, Wednesday: First walkoff double for Athletics when trailing since Miguel Tejada off Mariano Rivera, August 3, 2003.
⚾ Andrew Heaney, Monday: Second pitcher in Yankees history to give up 4 homers to Orioles/Browns in a game. David Cone did it in July 4, 2000.
⚾ Alex Verdugo, Thursday: First Red Sox sac fly that broke up a shutout of 8 or more in the 8th or later since Damon Buford on July 25, 1999. That was also in Detroit and was Boston's final game at "The Corner" of Michigan and Trumbull (i.e., Tiger Stadium).
⚾ Brandon Lowe & Brett Phillips, Sat-Sun: Doubled number of grand slams hit by Rays at Camden Yards. Others came from Austin Meadows in 2019 and Wilson Ramos in 2017.
⚾ Madison Bumgarner, Tuesday: Second pitcher in D'backs history with 2 walks and a sacrifice bunt on offense. Andy Benes did it in their inaugural season, May 17, 1998.
⚾ Starling Marte, Friday: First 3- or 4-run walkoff homer for Oakland in the 11th or later since Chris Carter off Seattle's Steve Delabar on July 6, 2012.
⚾ Lewis Brinson, Monday: Second player in Marlins history to hit a grand slam as the team's fourth batter of a game. Hanley Ramirez is the other, on July 2, 2011, at Texas.
⚾ C.J. Cron, Sunday: Second batter in Rockies history with a grand slam and a 3-run homer in the same game. Dante Bichette did it against the Dodgers on September 17, 1999.
⚾ Anthony Rizzo, Wednesday: Became first player in Yankees history to have at least 1 RBI in each of his first six games with the team. Last for any club was Bobby Murcer when he went to the Cubs in 1977.
⚾ Matt Peacock, Friday: First "reliever" to have 2 RBI and steal a base on offense since Joe Hatten of the Dodgers on May 17, 1946.
⚾ Lance McCullers, Tuesday: First Astros pitcher to allow 0 runs and strike out 9+ at Dodger Stadium since Mike Scott threw a 1-hitter on April 15, 1987.
⚾ Jaime Barria, Saturday: First Angels pitcher to record 3 strikeouts as a batter since Kevin Appier, also at Dodger Stadium, on June 22, 2003.
⚾ Sandy Alcantara & Jesús Luzardo, Fri-Sat: First Marlins starters to give up 7+ runs and not finish the 5th in back-to-back games since Daniel Barone & Scott Olsen, August 26-27, 2007.
⚾ Dansby Swanson, Wednesday: First Braves batter with 4 hits, a stolen base, 3 runs scored, but 0 runs batted in, since Chipper Jones at San Diego on May 24, 2006.
⚾ Albert Pujols, Sunday: First home run hit against the Angels since June 10, 2007, as a Cardinal off Chris Bootcheck.
⚾ Joey Gallo, Thursday: Hit first career home run at Yankee Stadium. Really. Spent 6+ years with the Rangers and never homered there.
⚾ Didi Gregorius, Friday: First Phillies batter with a homer, a triple, and a hit-by-pitch in same game since Dolph Camilli against the Cubs on May 15, 1936.
⚾ Jon Lester, Tuesday: First pitcher to give up 6+ runs in his first appearance for the Cardinals since Dustin Hermanson on April 6, 2001.
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