Every so often, usually toward the end of a season, your favorite TV show, be it a sitcom or a reality show or a late-night talker, will basically throw you a repeat. They take the "best" clips from earlier shows, repackage them as a "brand-new" show, and then they don't have to write another one. Usually there's some cheesy setup where the sitcom characters are gathered for the holidays and "sharing memories" about the last year. In late-night it's usually because the host is on vacation.
We're stealing the concept but not the material. You see, some weeks we have a bunch of games that blow out the scoreboard. Some weeks we have a bunch of oddly interesting 1-0 games or 1-hitters or what have you. Some weeks it's a bunch of walkoffs. Or a bunch of grand slams. And so forth. As we close in on the end of 2021, this week happened to be a little bit of all of those. So we're sampling a little bit of each. It's an "all-new" Very Special Episode.
The Game We Have To Write About
They read like "Friends" episodes. The one where Scooter Gennett hit 4 homers. The one where Jose Reyes gave up 6 runs. The one that got suspended after 9 pitches. The 25-4 Game. The 29-9 Game. The 16-inning free runner game. The one where the Jays scored 11 in the 9th.
This one might not be quite worthy of a cute name, but we are of course heading to Citizens Bank Park on Thursday, where it is time for the Phillies' weekly "bullpen game", a new and "exciting" feature of MLB that it seems all teams are required to have every five or six days. (Despite previously bargaining for more off-days in the schedule so they didn't need as many pitchers. Okay.) So the lineup card got the name of Cam Bedrosian, now with his third team this season, but also back with the team where his father won the Cy Young Award 34 years ago. Cam "started" 7 other games in his career, all in 2019 when the Angels tried to do the "opener" thing for a couple months. He got 3 outs in every single one of those, so on this Thursday it was notable that he made it to the 2nd inning before walking Patrick Wisdom and getting pulled. Technically he's the fourth Phillies starter to leave a no-hitter this season, a team record, but the only one of any consequence was the guy who replaced him, Matt Moore. He took a no-hitter into the 6th back on August 14 just a few hours before Tyler Gilbert actually completed one.
Meanwhile, on the Cubs side, the starter is actual-starter Kyle Hendricks, who notched his 1000th career strikeout earlier this month and has made only one relief appearance ever. However, this has been a season where Cubs fans aren't really sure which Kyle Hendricks they're going to get. On Thursday they got a little of both. First 3 innings, good. Two hits, a walk, and a double play to erase one of them. The 4th, not so much. Double, hit batter, 2-run double by Andrew McCutchen. Single, another hit batter, walk, single, a failed attempt to convert an inning-ending double play, then one last walk for the road. By the time this is done, the Phillies have scored 7 runs, and Hendricks is the first Cubs hurler to give up 7 runs, 3 walks, and 2 hit batters since Sean Marshall at Florida on May 22, 2006. As mentioned, it's been a hit-or-miss season, and this was Hendricks' sixth start this year where he allowed at least 6 earned runs and didn't get through the 5th inning. In the modern era, the only other Cubs pitcher to pull that off was Jim Bullinger with seven such games in 1996.
So now the Phillies are up 7-0 and cruising along, and-- oh wait. You mean that 7-run inning didn't enable the cruise control? You mean it didn't even give them the lead? Nope, because remember the Phillies bullpen is trying to get through the heart of the Cubs' order, albeit an order that's now missing Kris Bryant and Javy Baez and Anthony Rizzo. But still it's a Phillies bullpen that, according to Fangraphs, has given up more runs per inning this season than any team except the Rays. They're in the bottom five of most other Fangraphs categories also, but that one jumped out at us. It also jumped up in this game. So after Matt Moore got his required 3 outs, it is Hammer Time. That's J.D. Hammer, who plunked the second batter he faced and allowed us to use the line "please Hammer don't hurt 'em". Unfortunately that was already with the bases loaded, and the Cubs were about to hammer Hammer, whom we hope someday goes to Japan and becomes a Nippon Ham-mer. (Buffalo buffalo, anyone?) Anyway, Hammer then gives up a single, a double, and a 3-run homer to Matt Duffy such that the Cubs also collected 7 runs in their big inning, which is why the Phillies' 4th only managed to tie them. Since CBP opened in 2004, it's the third game where both teams had a 7-run inning; the others were both against the Braves, on August 10 of last year and back on July 26, 2008. Hammer is the first Phillies pitcher to give up 5+ runs to the Cubs while getting only 1 out since Paul Byrd did it on July 26, 2000.
The Phillies are going to break the tie by getting 3 unearned runs off Manuel Rodriguez in the 6th (even though the error that made them unearned was by Rodriguez himself). Willson Contreras hits a solo homer off Hector Neris to make it 10-8. Tommy Nance gets summoned for the 7th and all he does is allow 3 hits and a walk. That sets up Rex Brothers to show some Brothers-ly love in the city that's famous for it. Bryce Harper, 3-run homer on the first pitch Rex throws. That's a five-run inning to go with the 7-spot from earlier, the Phils' first time doing that since April 7, 2018, in The One Where They Beat The Marlins 20-1. Jean Segura finishes things off with a 2-run single in the 8th to give us the 17-8 final that you're familiar with. That also completed the first game in Phillies history (or at least since RBI became official in 1920) where their top three batters (Odubel Herrera, Segura, Harper) all had 2 hits, 2 runs scored, and 3 RBI. Harper joined an "elite" list of Phillies batters to have 3 extra-base hits, 3 runs, 2 walks, and 4 RBI in a single game; the others are Pat Burrell in 2006 and left fielder Johnny Mokan who managed to do it on May 11, 1923, in one of the Phillies' 50 (fifty!) wins that entire season.
End-Of-Summer Blowout!
Last weekend we had tales of the Blue Jays scraping together a mere forty-four runs in the span of three games. (To be fair, that's only about 35 U.S. runs with the exchange rate.) This week it wasn't the Jays blowing up the scoreboard, it was... um... the AL West? (Yeah, we don't get it either.)
Now, it was mostly the Astros, the newest addition to the division, and maybe they're still learning how to adapt. Generally we expect AL West games to have about 3 runs each, and the Astros did that just in the 1st inning on Monday against Rangers rookie Spencer Howard. When Howard then gave up three straight hits to start the 2nd, it was time for him to go, the first Rangers starter to give up 6+ hits and 6+ runs while getting no more than 4 outs since Colby Lewis did it in Oakland on September 25, 2016. Yordan Alvarez would immediately hit the first of his 2 homers; he's eventually going to wind up scoring 4 runs as well. He also had that line in a 23-2 game in Baltimore two seasons ago; the only other player in Astros history with multiple 2-HR, 4-runs-scored games is George Springer.
The breakout star of Monday's game, however, is 26-year-old Jose Siri, who was called up by asking your iPhone if it could play the outfield better than the injured Michael Brantley. Or something like that. Anyway, after a few pinch-hitting appearances and late-inning replacements, Siri finally got his first MLB start on Monday. And all he did was connect for 2 homers, 2 singles, and 5 runs batted in. No big whoop. Only four others in Astros history have had 4 hits and 5 RBI batting either 8th or 9th: Tyler White (2017), J.R. Towles (2007), Geoff Blum (2002), and Brad Ausmus (1998). But, since RBI became official in 1920, Siri is the first player ever to have 4 hits and drive in 5 runs in his first big-league start.
After dropping the 15-1 on Monday, the Astros would then bookend the series on Thursday with another outburst against another Rangers rookie, this one the palindromic Glenn Otto. Like usual, the Astros needed a couple chances to figure him out, although Carlos Correa seemed to have his number with a 2nd-inning single and a 4th-inning homer. After that, however, Otto seemed to lose his, um, symmetry. Three straight walks to load the bases, then an Alex Bregman single and a Yordan Alvarez double to unload them and chase Otto from the game. Kyle Tucker's double play is the only thing that keeps this from getting worse, but still it's the Astros' first 7-run inning in Arlington since July 14, 2019, and Otto is the first Rangers starter to allow 7 hits, 4 walks, and not get through the 4th, since Martin Perez on April 10, 2018.
Kolby Allard, who has been converted into an 80- or 90-pitch starter over the course of this year, is the lucky one who gets to take one for the team. Bregman drives in two more runs in the 6th. Allard then can't get the final out in the 8th, giving up a homer, two walks, another single for Siri, and finally a double to Jake Meyers. That gave the Rangers two pitchers (Otto and Allard) who surrendered 6 hits, 5 runs, and 4 walks in the same game, a first in team history. That also gave us a 12-1 final (and once again, the lone Rangers run scored on a groundout). There's been only one other visiting team to post multiple double-digit wins in the same series in Arlington, in any stadium... and it's also the Astros. They put up 14-3 and 12-2 in back-to-back games on September 26 and 27, 2017.
Meanwhile, a few hours up Interstate 35, we find another AL West team engaging in some high-numbered affairs, although this does occasionally happen if you get them out of their natural habitats. And into a hitter-friendly park like Kauffman Stadium. This time our rookie starter is Jackson Kowar of the Royals, their #4 prospect who appeared in 3 games in June when Jakob Junis got sent back to the minors, but finally came up for good in September. In his previous start he gave up 6 runs and lost, although he made it to the 6th inning at least. On Tuesday... not so much.
The A's lead off the game with a walk, a double, and then back-to-back sacrifice flies against Kowar. To find the last time the A's hit multiple sac flies in a 1st inning, you have to go back to when Billy Beane-- yeah, that one-- was still playing. It was May 5, 1989, in Detroit, and he hit the second one off Frank Tanana two batters after Mark McGwire hit the first. Kowar's 2nd inning is even less fun, with three straight walks and not even fly balls for outs this time. Back-to-back singles from Elvis Andrus and Josh Harrison to make it 5-0 and bounce Kowar after 39 pitches.
Naturally for the A's, Frankie Montas is playing down to the competition. Handed a 6-0 lead by the 3rd, he gives up 4 hits and 3 runs, then gets chased after a leadoff homer by Hunter Dozier in the 4th. So the Royals are back to 7-4 when Yusmeiro Petit gets the ball in the 6th. And he probably got several new balls after giving up three straight singles. He did not get a new ball when Sal Perez hit a 3-run lead-flipping homer, because he didn't throw any more pitches after that. Petit is the first Oakland pitcher to allow 4 runs and get 1 out against the Royals since Chad Bradford on September 4, 2002, and the first ever to do that while blowing a save to Kansas City. For Perez it was the 13th lead-flipping homer of his career (any situation), creating a logjam on the Royals' all-time leaderboard. Perez, Eric Hosmer, Mike Sweeney, and Frank White all have 13 of those; the only player in team history with more is George Brett (23).
And wrapping up Jackson Kowar's day, the eventual 10-7 Royals win is going to mean that he's their first starter to give up 5 runs, 4 walks, not get out of the 2nd inning, yet not get hit with a loss, since Miguel Asencio against the Padres on June 28, 2002.
Sometimes we hit a game that's hard to write about because it's a group effort. Where everybody has 2 hits and a double instead of one person blowing up for 5 hits and 3 homers or whatnot. Such would be the next game of our A's/Royals series, although we must give the Royals credit for their consistency in scoring 10 runs again. And also at having a rookie starter give up a bunch.
Today's contestant is Carlos Hernandez, who made 5 appearances in last year's shortened season, but not enough innings to officially be a "veteran" yet. This year he's thrown 80 innings over 23 games while gradually being converted from bullpen to starter. On Wednesday he only made it through 4 of those innings, and it took 87 pitches to get that far. The A's got to him for a 2-run single in the 2nd, a leadoff walk in the 3rd who later scored, a 2-run homer in the 4th, then back-to-back singles in the 5th to knock him out. Both those runs later scored as well, making Hernandez the first Royals pitcher to allow 9 hits, 4 walks, and 7 runs in a game since James Shields did it in St Louis on June 3, 2014.
Ah, but all is not lost, because the Royals are busy knocking Sean Manaea around as well. Andrew Benintendi singles home a run in the 1st and then gets himself thrown out to end the inning. Three straight singles, including another by Benintendi, lead off the 4th and all score. With 2 outs in the 5th, guess who homers again. Why, it's Sal Perez with his 44th of the year. So it's 8-5 when Oakland collects three more RBI singles in the 7th to put this one out of reach. That doesn't stop the Royals-- especially Benintendi-- from reaching, however. He singles in Nicky Lopez in the 7th and again in the 8th, eventually becoming the first Royals batter with 5 hits and 4 RBI in a game since Eric Hosmer in Detroit on July 26, 2017. He's also the sixth in team history to have 5 hits in a loss, joining Whit Merrfield (2018), Tony Graffanino (2005), Joe Randa (1999), Wally Joyner (1994), and Amos Otis (1970).
The Royals had not scored 10 runs and lost sicne August 23, 2013, against Washington, the fourth-longest "drought" of doing that by any team (Dodgers, Cardinals, Rays). Only twice before have the Royals scored 10 runs in consecutive games and not won both of them, and those streaks happened within a few weeks of each other. On July 3-4, 2000, they traded a 10-14 and a 10-7 with the White Sox, followed on August 12-13 by an 11-12 and a 10-5 against Baltimore.
Did we mention Benintendi was on deck when the game ended?
And we won't dwell on Thursday's series finale-- a 7-2 Oakland win-- except to mention that Sal Perez wasted no time grabbing the attention. After Merrifield struck out to start the game and Lopez walked, Perez generated both of those Royals runs with another dinger. It's not the "third game in a row" part that made news; he's done that several other times this season. But all those homer streaks meant that Thursday's tater was his 45th of the season. He's still three short of Jorge Soler, who two years ago famously made the Royals the last team to finally have someone hit 40 homers. (There are still nine teams who haven't had a 50-HR hitter.) But at 45 he has tied the record for a player who was primarily a catcher. That's held by none other than Johnny Bench in his (first) MVP season in 1970.
One And Done
It's no secret that no-hitters aren't our thing. It's easy to churn out notes on a 17-8 game. It's a lot harder to write about a game where nothing happens. Plus, time basically freezes for an hour or more while we wait to see if this pitcher's gonna finish it, when we could be off working on other games. So one hit, one run, one something. Plus, when one thing happens and it's the only thing that happens, you've got an entirely different series of notes.
Johnny Bench led the majors in homers with those 45 dingers in 1970, and also had an MLB-best 148 RBI. Two years later he again led the majors in HR (40) and RBI (125). And while he was never anywhere close to a batting title and thus a triple crown, there is one other category in which Bench led the majors both times-- sacrifice flies. He finished his career with 90, which was good for 14th on the list at the time (it's now on about the third page). Asdrubal Cabrera sits another couple pages lower with 60 of them.
Uhhh, make that 61. Bench's old team, the Reds, took a flyer on Cabrera at the end of August when Arizona waived him, citing a desire to get their younger players more time. So far he's made 12 pinch-hitting appearances for Cincinnati, but someone might want to pinch him, because he hasn't actually gotten a hit yet. At least on Thursday he didn't really need to.
In what can best be described as a "slog", Tyler Mahle "battled" a parade of Pirates relievers in a 12:30 start for which no one was awake. Ben Gamel got himself thrown out at the plate in the 3rd; other than that the teams combined to go a whopping 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position, and four of those ABs came with 2 outs. Snore. Finally in the 7th the coffee has kicked in and Tyler Stephenson greets Cody Ponce with a leadoff double. He gets pinch-run for and then sacrificed over to third. Enter Asdrubal Cabrera as pinch hitter for Mahle. That 61st career sac fly ends up on the warning track in left-center, but it's enough to give the Reds the lead. In the 9th, the Pirates manage to get Ben Gamel to third again after a pair of walks, but rather than get thrown out to end the game, he's going to let Hoy Park strike out to end the game instead. Final score, 1-0. On Cabrera's pinch-hit sac fly.
Cody Ponce, the "hard-luck loser" in this one, threw 3 innings and gave up only 1 hit (the double to Stephenson). He's the first Pirates reliever to do that and lose since Jonah Bayliss in an extra-inning affair against Houston on September 27, 2006. As for the 1-0 score, the Reds had not won a 1-0 game in Pittsburgh since September 28, 2012, and that was also on a sac fly, by Todd Frazier. That one, however, happened in the 1st inning and Frazier started the game. In the past six years there's only been one other 1-0 game decided by a pinch-hit sac fly, Michael Perez of the Rays last August. And since sac flies were split into their own category in 1954, the Reds had never had a 1-0 win via PH SF. Not even by Johnny Bench.
This post already has a whole bunch of video clips embedded in it, so we're not positive it needs a long break in the middle. You're already entertained. (Are you not?) And actually none of them is a Rick-roll either. (Except maybe this one.) But if you would like a little interlude, our "best of" compilation can't help but remind us of this little classic. Intermission!
Make Mine A Double
Meanwhile, last Sunday, the Tigers gave up 4 runs to the Rays in the 8th, got them back, then traded runs in the 10th before finally walking off in the 11th. So a day off probably wasn't the worst thing. Let's meet again on Tuesday for the first-ever Battle Of The Peraltas. (Or is it Peraltae?) That would be Wily of the Tigers and Freddy of the Brewers, who, along with Wandy and Joel, are the four pitchers in MLB history with the Peralta surname. And this was the first time any of the four had started against another.
And at least the TV graphics had it really easy. Not only did they not have to change names, they didn't even have to change pitching lines! Both Peraltas went 6 scoreless innings and allowed exactly 2 hits. Wily walked 2 while Freddy hit 2. Different numbers of strikeouts, but still, this one ends in a draw after the 6th round, er, inning, and we play on with no end in sight. Brad Boxberger throws a perfect 7th. Derek Holland gives up a single in his half but a double play erases it. Devin Williams strikes out the side in the 8th. And this becomes one of those games where you're grateful for the free runner because at least somebody might finally score and get this over with. It was the first game at Comerica to be run-less after 9 innings since May 28, 2013, against the Pirates.
Two strikeouts in the Brewers 10th. Which means Niko Goodrum's only job is to bunt the free runner to third in the bottom half. Fail. Strikes out bunting foul. No runs for you. Bryan Garcia escapes the 11th on a bases-loaded double play. Now Derek Hill is going to try and bunt. And he will also fail, but the silver lining is that with two strikes he finally has to actually swing the bat. Which (who knew?) may occasionally result in a walkoff double. The last time the Tigers won a 1-0 game via an 11th-inning walkoff was on July 16, 1976, when Willie Horton singled home Ron LeFlore. Losing pitcher for Oakland that day? Rollie Fingers. With only 2 hits against Peralta, and a bunch of perfect innings in between, Hill's double was just the third hit of the game for Detroit. First off, it's the 49th time in the last four seasons that the Tigers have been held to 3 hits, nine more than any other team. But Tuesday was also their first time collecting only 3 hits in an extra-inning game and winning it since July 26, 1974. That was another 11-inning 1-0 affair, with Boston, won by Jim Northrup's single off Reggie Cleveland.
And the only other time the Brewers lost a 1-0 game in Detroit also involved Jim Northrup. His 6th-inning double was the lone run on August 23, 1970, as Mickey Lolich held the first-year Milwaukee Brewers to 2 hits.
Wide World Of Walkoffs
The Bryan Garcia giveth, the Bryan Garcia taketh away. (It needs work, we know.) He got that extra-inning win against the Brewers on Tuesday, but by Friday the Tigers have moved on to St Petersburg so there are no walkoffs to be had. Or should we say, none to be had by Detroit.
The Tigers go ahead immediately on a leadoff homer by Akil Baddoo, the first one they've hit at The Trop since Ian Kinsler on April 20, 2017. They have gotten to 4-1 by the time Gregory Soto is entrusted with the ball in the 9th. And he does trustily return the baseball... as he leaves the mound after two singles and a walk. And he's actually not going to get a blown save because those runs haven't scored yet. ("I just put 'em on, the other guy let 'em score.") Instead Michael Fulmer will take care of that with another single, a wild pitch, and a sac fly. So it's off to free runner land again, where the Tigers again do nothing in their half of the 10th. The Rays are now facing Garcia in a tie game, and may have considered bunting their free runner over, but Taylor Wells never sees a pitch in the strike zone. Brett Phillips does, and proceeds to do this. The only other walkoff homer in Rays history against the Tigers was a 2-run shot by Jonny Gomes off Troy Percival on July 9, 2005. Friday also marked the first game in Rays history where they scored 3+ runs in the 9th and then scored at least 3 more in extra innings.
As for Garcia, he got an extra-inning loss in the appearance right after getting an extra-inning win. He's the first Tigers pitcher to do that, in either order, since Angel Nesbitt on May 10 and 12, 2015. And count up his line as well. Counting the free runner, Garcia officially gave up 3 runs (despite facing only 2 batters) while getting 0 outs. If that sounds familiar, it's because Gregory Soto did it in the previous inning. In their history only two other sets of Tigers teammates have done that in the same game: Fernando Rodney and Todd Jones in Toronto on June 9, 2006; and Virgil Trucks and Hal White against the Yankees on May 23, 1946.
Pitchers are a special breed. Every now and then you have to call on them to do something a little strange, a little out of their comfort zone. But when it happens, isn't it fun?
The Giants took a 4-2 lead into the 9th inning on Friday against the Braves. Tyler Rogers was charged with protecting this lead and promptly gave up a pair of leadoff singles to start the inning. This is closely followed by Travis d'Arnaud hitting a lead-flipping homer, the Braves' first in the 9th inning of any road game since Ender Inciarte at Arizona on September 9, 2018, and their first in San Francisco since Clete Boyer went deep against Lindy McDaniel on April 22, 1967. So then Will Smith blows the save on the other side by allowing a 2-out homer to Donovan Solano, the Giants' first tying or go-ahead dinger when down to their final out since Hector Santiago hit one in Washington on August 15, 2013.
So now we're off to find more free runners. Neither team scores in the 10th. In the bottom of the 11th, free runner Brandon Crawford actually gets picked off second, but the throw goes astray and Crawford scampers to third. In a tie game, that naturally leads to two intentional walks so we have a force at every base. But it also means the pitcher's spot is up again. Camilo Doval, the pitcher who is due up, has never had a plate appearance in his professional career. He's a reliever, why would he. Probably not the guy you want up with the bases loaded in extras. But of course the Giants are also quickly running out of bench players due to the close nature of this game. They've already expended 19 of their 26 players, and basically what's left are your emergency catcher and a bunch of off-day starters. Kevin Gausman, come on down. Despite spending most of his career with Baltimore, Gausman has had nearly 50 at-bats, and 9 hits, so why the heck not? Worst case, you play another inning. Best case... walkoff sac fly. By a pitcher. The first one in the majors since Dennis Martinez did it for the Expos against the Cardinals on August 13, 1993. To steal a line from the New York Lottery, hey, you never know.
Must Be The Chili...
Much like Interstate 275, we keep circling back to Cincinnati. When Johnny Bench and Asdrubal Cabrera aren't hitting sac flies, then either Joey Votto is walking a bunch of times, or they're in a rain delay. (Even odds of either of those on any given night.) But in the game before that 1-0 pinch-hit sac fly, they were on the wrong end of another strange walkoff.
Vladimir Gutierrez gave up a double, a triple, and a sac fly in the span of nine pitches to put the Pirates ahead in the 3rd. Yoshi Tsutsugo (who had the double) added another run on the first pitch Justin Wilson threw in the 4th. Jonathan India, who would join Jose Peraza (2016), Jerome Walton (1995), and Pete Rose (1972) with the strange combo of a sac fly, a hit-by-pitch, and a stolen base in the same game, hit the SF in the 7th to get the Reds back within 1. Kyle Farmer then ties it with a homer in the 8th. And just when it looks like more free runners are coming, Wilmer Difo comes up with a 1-out double in the 9th. Naturally that calls for an intentional walk to set up a double play. Colin Moran hits a dribbler behind first, too slow to get the DP, but it's still in the infield, so the Reds play it at average speed figuring Difo will hold up at third because the ball's still in the infield. Don't assume that. Difo sees that Votto's throw has the pitcher-- and his momentum-- facing the wrong direction and never stops, scoring the winning run from second base on, yes, an infield groundout.
The last time the Pirates won any game on a "clean" walkoff groundout (with no errors, no other shenanigans) was June 5, 1990, and it wasn't even a double-play situation. R.J. Reynolds smacked one to second with Wally Backman on third base, and the Cubs apparently decided they had no play at home and just took Reynolds' walkoff hit away from him. And the last instance we found of any team scoring a walkoff run from second on a groundout was June 16, 1990, when... well...
...With A Dash Of McCormick
If you like circling back, then Houston and its many beltways are just your speed. We had an earlier dream sequence where they dropped a pair of 10-run wins in Arlington, which at some point might be reachable if Houston keeps building outer-outer-outside beltways. But the Astros were back home for a weekend series with the Diamondbacks, who found a particularly interesting way to get their 100th loss of the year. Madison Bumgarner, of the "no-hitter that doesn't count" back in April, is getting dangerously close to throwing one that does count before giving up a 2-run homer to Jose Altuve in the 6th. That would be the only hit MadBum allowed, but it was enough to give Houston the lead until Josh VanMeter tied things up against Kendall Graveman in the 8th. Houston starts the 9th with a double and a walk off Noe Ramirez but can't score. And it's off to the land of free runners.
In case this post didn't have enough Peralta sightings, David is Arizona's left fielder. So it's his single that gives the D'backs a lead in the 10th; he joins Welington Castillo on July 31, 2015, as the only D'backs batters to have a go-ahead extra-inning base knock in Houston. Jake Meyers answers that with his own single in the bottom of the 10th. That's only the 13th time in Astros history they've gotten a game-tying single in an extra inning, and three of those have come in the past two seasons under The New Rules. This is the first season in which they've done it twice.
Aledmys Diaz draws a walk that loads the bases, and then with Chas McCormick at the dish... doink. That would be the third plunk-off in Astros history and the second one ever committed by Arizona. Richard Hidalgo (1998 by Mark Leiter) and Luis Gonzalez (1997 by Greg McMichael) are the Astros' other recipients. Meanwhile Erik Sabel hit Eric Karros of the Dodgres on June 20, 2001, to score one of the great names in recent memory, Hiram Bocachica.
Friday ended up being the first extra-inning game where the Astros had only 4 hits and won since defeating the Cubs 2-1 on August 6, 2007.
Passed Your Bedtime
And to bring our show to an end, we may as well tie it all together by going all the way back to the Phillies. Their 17-8 game on Thursday was the blowup of the week. But maybe the reason they decided they needed 17 runs was because of the way they were forced to win Wednesday's game.
The Phils lead 4-2 as Ranger Suarez "outduels" Alec Mills (if that can be called a duel). Ranger has actually helped his own cause with a double, a sac bunt, and a run scored, the first Phillies pitcher to do that since J.D. Durbin in San Diego on July 22, 2007. But he can only do so much before Jose Alvarado has to save things in the 8th. If by "save" you mean, hit Ian Happ with a pitch and then give up a tying homer to Robinson Chirinos. He then plunks the next batter, Alfonso Rivas, before getting removed, which makes him the second Phillies pitcher to hit two batters, give up a homer, and blow a save in the process. The other was Ryan Karp in his final MLB appearance on September 27, 1997.
Not to worry, J.T. Realmuto homers to lead off the 8th and get the lead back. That means Ian Kennedy just has to not give up a matching homer in the 9th and... oh. Welcome Matt Duffy. Duffy and Frank Schwindel both homered and doubled in this game, the first time Cubs teammates have done that in Philadelphia since Billy Williams and Adolfo Phillips on July 2, 1966. That also gave the Phillies two blown saves in the game, which is actually a thing they've done six times this year. They'd done it six times in the previous decade combined.
So if pitching's not doing it for you, might as well try the catching. Andrew Knapp (who happens to be the Phils' catcher) leads off the 9th with a single, ends up at third after a couple of groundouts, and then Robinson Chirinos-- he of the tying homer from last inning-- commits his fourth passed ball of the year and Knapp scampers home for the win. The last time either of these teams was involved in a "passed-ball-off" (we don't have a cute name for this yet) was also against each other. That was August 3, 2005, when Pat Burrell struck out but Michael Barrett let strike 3 get away and Jimmy Rollins scored.
Bottom Of The Bag
⚾ Indians, Sat-Sun: First team to score 11+ runs in consecutive games against the Yankees since the Phillies did it on June 22-23, 2015.
⚾ Spenser Watkins, Tuesday: Became first pitcher in Orioles/Browns history to appear in back-to-back team games and give up multiple homers in each outing.
⚾ Jordan Montgomery & Clay Holmes, Thursday: Second Yankees teammates ever to uncork multiple wild pitches in the same game. Terry Mulholland and Donn Pall did it in Cleveland on June 24, 1994.
⚾ Giancarlo Stanton, Saturday: First Yankees homer to break up a shutout of 10 or more in the 7th or later since Nick Swisher on August 22, 2009.
⚾ Nestor Cortes, Wednesday: First Yankees pitcher to allow only 3 hits, strike out 11, and not get a win in a road game since Lindy McDaniel at Comiskey on July 10, 1973.
⚾ Yadier Molina, Friday: First Cardinals catcher to be hit by a pitch (as a batter) twice in the same game since Jason LaRue against the Reds on September 28, 2008.
⚾ Blue Jays, Sunday: Second game in SkyDome/Rogers history where they scored 5+ runs with all of them coming in the 1st inning. Other was May 22, 2018, against the Angels.
⚾ Josh Rojas, Monday: First in Diamondbacks history to play shortstop, third base, and right field all in the same game.
⚾ Jake Brentz, Thursday: First pitcher in live-ball era to throw 3 wild pitches and hit a batter while recording 0 outs. Miguel Castro (2018 Orioles) and Sergio Santos (2014 Jays) did it without the hit batter.
⚾ Lewin Diaz, Sunday: First walkoff homer in Marlins history to be hit with the team trailing in extra innings.
⚾ Thairo Estrada, Wednesday: First Giants batter to have a pinch-hit homer in the 3rd inning or earlier (you don't usually use PH's so soon) since Jim Marshall against the Cubs on June 16, 1961.
⚾ Indians, Friday: First time being shut out on 4 hits in the Bronx since Jim Abbott's no-hitter on September 4, 1993.
⚾ Andrew Knizner, Tuesday: Second Cardinals batter to have a multi-run pinch hit against the Mets in the 11th or later. Other was Matty Alou on September 27, 1971.
⚾ Sandy Alcantara, Monday: Second pitcher in Marlins history to throw 8 innings and allow no more than 2 baserunners in a road game. Kevin Brown did it in his no-hitter at Candlestick on June 10, 1997.
⚾ Yu Darvish, Saturday: Second Padres pitcher to allow 0 runs and strike out 9+ at (either) Busch Stadium. Andy Benes did it in a 1-0 win on August 29, 1991.
⚾ Brett Gardner, Wednesday: Yankees' first lead-flipping single in the 9th or later since Melky Cabrera walked off against the Twins on May 15, 2009.
⚾ Gavin Sheets, Tuesday: First White Sox #8 or #9 batter with a homer, double, single, and 4 RBI in a game since Juan Uribe against Baltimore on July 4, 2006.
⚾ Eddie Rosario, Sunday: Second cycle ever at Giants' current park. Other was by Eric Byrnes of Oakland on June 29, 2003.
⚾ Eddie Rosario (Sun), with Freddie Freeman (Aug 18): First time Braves players have ever recorded two cycles in the same season.
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