Not too long ago, you would hear calls for certain reporters to "stick to sports". And we do that here at #Kernels as well. In fact, even within the baseball realm, we always try to keep it on the field. In that 90° arc from foul pole to foul pole. If you want to hear commentary on players' behavior or labor disputes or whether the Mets are doing something Mets-ian (note: they probably are), there's plenty of outlets for that. And yes, we know that what happened over the winter was not technically a "strike". But then again, that marginally-calibrated "K-Zone" box tries to tell us that a lot of things are not technically strikes. And somehow we might still get a full 162-game season despite starting it a week late. So let's get to some stuff that finally happened on the field this weekend. It's a "ball" call that even a pitcher could love.
Season's Greetings
So when deals were finally struck and it was announced that the season could start on April 7, we all looked at the schedule and either got very excited or said, oh no, not this already. First scheduled game of the season: Yankees/Red Sox. Just in case every Yanx/Sawx game doesn't already get over-hyped enough by various TV networks. And then came word on April 6 that the game was being rained out in advance. Thrusting the Cubs into the spotlight. Of course, for many years, the traditional first game of the season was played in Cincinnati, so the Cubs were frequently involved. Then came the special TV windows and the advent of the single game the night before "Opening Day". Then came the international games. So Wrigley Field actually hosted the first game of the season as recently as 2015. And the Cubs played in one back in 2018 in Miami. You might remember it, because Ian Happ did this.
That was the first of three Cubs homers in that season opener. The last one was by Kyle Schwarber. Four years hence, Schwarber now bats leadoff for the Phillies. Want to take a guess at what he did on Friday? (Though not on the first pitch.) It's just the fourth time in their entire history that the Phillies' first batter of a game has gone yard; Andrew McCutchen did it in 2019, Cesar Hernandez in 2017, and Heinie Mueller way back in 1930. Other than Hernandez, all of them were playing their first game in a Phils uniform. Schwarb's homer was the first of 5 earned runs given up by Frankie Montas, the first Oakland pitcher to do that in an opener since Dave Stewart returned to his old stomping grounds in Toronto in April 1995-- also the team's first game back from a work stoppage.
We mentioned there were three homers hit by the Cubs in that opener in 2018. We didn't mention the middle one, which was by Anthony Rizzo. He is also not with the Cubs anymore. Nope, he's at first base for the Yankees after a deadline deal last July. So when New York and Boston finally did play their opener on Friday, Rizzo came up third, already with Aaron Judge on base. He then proceeded to hit a 2-run dinger, only accomplished by three other Yankees who were either the team's second or third batter of the season. The others are Giancarlo Stanton (2018), Tommy Henrich (1948), and of course Babe Ruth (1932).
And Rizzo's homer didn't even give the Yankees the lead. That's because the Red Sox had opened with a 3-run 1st inning behind a Rafael Devers 2-run bomb. And Devers one-upped Rizzo by hitting it as the second batter of Boston's season. Although several other 1- and 2-hitters have gone yard that early in a Sox season, they were all solo shots. Devers is the first in team history to hit a 2-run homer as their second batter of an entire season. It was also the first Yanx/Sawx game where both teams homered in the 1st since Gleyber Torres and J.D. Martinez traded them on August 2, 2019.
Stanton, who was on that list of Yankees to homer very early in a season, went deep in the 4th inning to put another nail in Nate Eovaldi's early exit. And none of it mattered because this became the first contest of 2022 to invoke our old friend the Free Runner Rule. The "zombie". The "Manfred Man". Whatever other choice name you have for it. We went to the 11th before Josh Donaldson "kut" short the night of Kutter Crawford with a leadoff single to score the free runner. While it comes with an asterisk, it's still technically a walkoff win. And the Yankees hadn't won a season opener in walkoff fashion since Andy Carey beat the Senators in... 1957! The only team to go longer, ironically enough, is the Red Sox (1941). And moving into second place now are the Padres, who still have never done it since joining MLB in 1969. So after Joe Musgrove's no-hitter last year, at least there's still one thing the Padres have never done.
By the way, on Saturday Anthony Rizzo and Giancarlo Stanton both homered again, thus becoming the first teammates in Yankees history to both go deep in the team's first two games of a season.
Someone say Joe Musgrove? The kid from (close to) San Diego who made history on April 9 of last year? Guess who's pitching on April 9 again this year. You probably already guessed this, but no pitcher has ever thrown two no-hitters on the same date. Only a handful have even thrown two in the same month; Nolan Ryan has a September 26 and a September 28 to be, by far, the closest. You probably also guessed that Musgrove did not in fact throw another no-hitter. In fact Ketel Marte smashed that dream two batters into the game, the Diamondbacks' first base hit this season in the 6th inning or earlier. Did we mention it was their third game?
Yes, after our record-setting no-hitter spree in 2021, the vigil is back. On Thursday Madison Bumgarner got the Opening Day start, and you know it's just a matter of time until he throws one-- wait, hang on. That note is from about 10 years ago. MadBum is still pretty good, but he doesn't scare us as much as he once did. Plus he pitches for the other team. No, today's culprit was actually Yu Darvish, who walked four but didn't allow a hit until the 6th inning. Only two balls were even described by MLB as "deep". So in the 6th, there's that "classic" (not really) battle of no-hitter versus "pitch count". Do you let him keep going, especially after a shortened spring-training session, or do you just hope someone hits the ball so you don't have to make this decision?
Nobody hit the ball. Darvish sits on 92 pitches after 6 hitless innings and it soon becomes apparent that he's not coming out for the 7th. So at least there will not be another Marwin Gonzalez moment. Tim Hill takes the, well, hill for the 7th and suddenly the Diamondbacks realize it's April and time to play baseball again. Pavin Smith greets Hill with a leadoff single because nobody likes combined no-hitters anyway. Bob Feller certainly wouldn't like one occurring on Opening Day. And yet this is only the first drama to be had in the game.
With the Padres holding a 2-0 lead, they turn things over to Robert Suarez for the 9th. He immediately issues a 4-pitch walk, a 5-pitch walk, a wild pitch, and then hits Carson Kelly to load the bases. Buh-bye now. He's the first pitcher in San Diego history to do all that while recording no outs. He's also just the fourth in the live-ball era to do it in his major-league debut, after Austin Adams (2017), Gino Minutelli (1990), and Doc Hamann (1922). Enter Craig Stammen. Who bounces his first pitch of the season to score Christian Walker from third. And also deprive Seth Beer of hitting a walkoff grand slam on the next pitch. It's okay, though; he'll take the 3-run shot. Arizona had never hit a walkoff homer when trailing in a season opener; the last time any team did it was 2011 when Cincinnati's Ramon Hernandez beat the Brewers. And because they didn't have a hit in the first 6 innings, it became just the second home game in Chase Field history where the D'backs scored 4 runs on 3 or fewer hits. The other was August 29, 2014, when the Rockies gifted them 8 walks.
On Friday the D'backs got to face Sean Manaea, relocated after six serviceable seasons in Oakland and yes, including a no-hitter against the Red Sox in 2018. He issues a walk to Daulton Varsho in the 2nd... and nothing else. Down go the Diamondbacks in order, 13 in a row, and stop us if you've heard this one. Maybe it's something to do with the time change and Arizona being an hour off from the rest of the country, but once again we have no hits through 6. It's the first time in the modern era (1901) that a team has been held hitless that long in both of its first two games of a season. One little wrinkle this time: Manaea is only at 76 pitches because he didn't issue a bunch of walks. Out he goes for the 7th. "Out" go Marte, Kelly, and Walker. Through 7 on 88 pitches. Decision time again, and Bob Melvin has got to be thinking, I didn't sign up for this every night. Especially against one of his former teams.
Like Darvish before him, Manaea gets pulled. Like Tim Hill before him, Tim Hill comes trotting in from the bullpen to start the 8th. And incredibly, like Tim Hill before him, Tim Hill hangs a spicy meatball that David Peralta lashes into center for a base hit. We have been unable to verify, but it feels like a pretty good bet that Hill is the first pitcher ever to inherit a combined no-hitter on consecutive nights and lose both of them to the first batter. At least it made for an easy copy/paste in our new list of the deepest no-hit bids of 2022, which continues a tradition started by Dirk Lammers' NoNoHitters site in 2015. (The formatting will get spruced up a little once it gets more entries.)
At least, unlike Thursday, there was no end-of-game walkoff drama. Geraldo Perdomo also singled off Hill and those would be the only 2 hits Arizona got. The Padres had only shut them out on 2 hits at Chase once before in their history-- May 26, 2005, behind Jake Peavy. And remember they only had 3 hits in the opener. Only four teams in the live-ball era have collected 3 or fewer hits in both of their first two games of a season; the others are the 2013 A's (manager, Bob Melvin), the 1960 Cardinals, and the White Sox of 1953.
We're Number 1
Fifty years from now, someone will randomly remember the answer to the trivia question, "who got the first hit in Cleveland Guardians history?". Myles Straw will be 77 by then, and hopefully he'll still be around for someone to ask him about it. Not only did he get the renamed team's first hit, he was their first-ever batter. So no matter what you call them, it's the first time Cleveland's first batter of a season connected for a base knock since Michael Brantley did it in 2011. Straw went on to also have the first stolen base in "Guardians" history, and is the team's first player with 2 hits and a steal on Opening Day since Travis Hafner in 2003.
We started this by flashing back to Ian Happ's first-pitch-of-season homer in 2018. Happ is the only player mentioned in that paragraph who's still with the Cubs. And when they finally did play that first game of 2022, guess what he did. Spoiler alert, it's not a homer. But he did draw a walk as the team's first batter of the season. And if you're into such things, Happ did the exact same thing last season. No Cubs batter had pulled that off since Eric Young Jr in 2000 and 2001. But Happ also went on to have 3 hits and 2 RBI, good enough to be the first Cubs batter to do that in an opener since Kosuke Fukudome in 2008. The 5-4 final, while not a walkoff situation, was the first time the Cubs had won their opener by 1 run since beating the Padres in 1996.
The Rangers did not need to be told that it's April and it's time to play ball. Brad Miller opened their season with a home run, joining Ian Kinsler (2011) and Oddibe McDowell (1987) as the only players in team history to do that. And for Jose Berrios it went even further downhill from there. Walk. Single. Wild pitch. Walk. Single. 2-0 with two on, both of whom would also later score. But not off Berrios, he's done after facing seven batters and getting one of them out. Only one other Opening Day starter in Jays history had given up 4 runs while lasting ⅓ of an inning, Mark Bomback against Milwaukee in 1982. And it's okay if you forgot that 4-run 1st inning, because this turned into a classic Rogers Centre slugfest which the Jays eventually won 10-8. Last year Texas lost its opener as well, to the Royals. Score? Nope, not 10-8. But 14-10. That's two seasons in a row that the Rangers scored 8+ runs in their first game and lost. No team had pulled that off since the Red Sox of 1925-26.
And finally, Mookie Betts always seems to put his own spin on things. He was the Dodgers' first batter of the 2022 season and he also reached first base. But not by doing something silly like getting a hit. Nope, Betts struck out on a wild pitch from Kyle Freeland, and the ball got far enough away that he scampered to first in time. No Dodgers batter had done that to start a game since Mark Ellis, also at Coors Field, on August 28, 2012. And in the available play-by-play on Baseball Reference, which includes every season opener back to 1948, Betts is the first player ever to do it as his team's first batter of a season.
In the first 20 years of this century, a total of 28 teams won their season openers in walkoff fashion. Some years don't have any, and the most in the Expansion Era (1961) had been three. Then last year happened and four teams did it, almost certainly an all-time record because prior to 1961 there were only eight openers. Then this year happened and four more teams did it. (Oddly, the eight participants-- four winners and four losers-- are all different from 2021.) We already covered the Yankees and D'backs. So let's head off to the Motor City.
Lucas Giolito of the White Sox lasted only 4 innings in the opener on Friday, so wouldn't have qualified for a win anyway (the rule we love to hate), but he gave up only 1 hit and struck out 6. No Sox pitcher had ever done that on Opening Day, regardless of how many innings he threw. And the win wouldn't have mattered anyway, because Miguel Cabrera took care of that with a bases-loaded 2-run single in the bottom of the 8th. Friday was Miggy's 318th multi-RBI game with the Tigers, leaving him one behind Hank Greenberg. (Al Kaline had 380, and Ty Cobb's numbers are disputed.)
Andrew Vaughn gave Chicago the lead back with a solo homer in the 9th. The Sox hadn't hit such a round-tripper in a season opener since Ron Blomberg walked off against Boston in 1978. It was also the first one they'd hit in the 9th or later at Comerica since Melky Cabrera did it on April 29, 2017. But the Tigers still have one more chance against Liam Hendriks. Eric Haase belts his own home run to re-tie the score at 4. And just when it looks like our free runners are going to show up again, Austin Meadows gaps a triple to right-center. That was after drawing 3 walks earlier in the game, becoming the first Detroit batter to do both in the same game since Carlos Guillen on August 7, 2008. Meadows also became the first batter in the modern era to record the weird combo of 3 walks and a triple in his first game with a new team (any team, not just the Tigers).
Two pitches later, Javier Baez sends everybody home with a blooper to right to score Meadows. The White Sox hadn't lost a season opener via walkoff since 2004 when Carlos Beltran of the Royals homered. And the Tigers had only won five others in their history-- 2014, 2012, and 1921 were on singles, while 1914 against the Browns looked eerily similar to 2022. Ty Cobb tripled in the 9th and scored on a ball to the outfield by Bobby Veach that would today be counted as a sac fly. The one remaining walkoff opener for Detroit was in their very first game as a franchise. On April 25, 1901, one day after the founding of the American League, they amazingly scored 10 runs in the bottom of the 9th to beat Milwaukee 14-13. It's a game that's been written about extensively.
Elsewhere on Friday, you can ride Joey Bart to either baseball stadium in the Bay Area. (How he hasn't done commercials for BART the transit agency yet, we're not sure.) This time we'll get off at Embarcadero station and take a leisurely walk to Whatever The Giants Stadium Is Called This Year. That's where we find Joey Bart becoming the fourth #9 batter in team history to homer on Opening Day. The others, naturally, are pitchers: MadBum in 2017, Johnny Antonelli in 1956, and Larry Benton in 1929.
Bart's homer wasn't of much consequence, other than it gave the Marlins one more run of deficit to come back from. It thus caused Jazz Chisholm's homer in the 9th to flip the lead instead of just take it. Oh by the way, thanks to the universal DH and pitchers not batting anymore, Jazz was also in the 9-hole. The only other lead-flipping homer in Marlins history hit by a number-9 batter in the 9th inning was a Ross Gload walkoff against the Braves on July 28, 2009.
That left things to Thairo Estrada in the bottom of the 9th, which he led off with another home run to tie the game back up at 5. So it's off to Free Runner Land, which is rendered moot when Maurice Dubon gets himself thrown out trying to get back to second on a ball he thought would drop for the game-winner. That left Darin Ruf in the position of being the game-winner; he walked and then scored when Austin Slater doubled. The only other walkoff double that the Giants hit in extra innings against the Marlins was by Yorvit Torrealba on May 2, 2004, scoring Barry Bonds (no doubt hustling all the way). And we mentioned the Yankees' drought of winning a season opener via walkoff. The Giants were fairly high on that list as well. Their last one came in 1987 when Chili Davis singled off the Padres' Dave Dravecky.
Each year we get to conjure up a new song about starting over or grand openings or something fanfare-ish to amuse you with. Happily there's no shortage of them. Strike up the '22 season, it's Intermission time!
New Rules
Back to that universal DH thing: Since it's been adopted for at least this season as part of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, MLB has tweaked the rules a bit. Just as we have The Buster Posey rule about collisions at home plate, or The Pat Venditte Rule about switch-pitchers, we now have The Shohei Ohtani Rule. Although really it's been the college rule for years.
Since the pitcher no longer occupies a spot in the batting order, the Designated Hitter is technically no longer batting for the pitcher. Thus, just like in college, they are treated as two independent positions. A superhuman who can throw the ball and also hit the ball can occupy both of those positions at the same time, but can also leave one of them without affecting the other. So a pitcher who also hits (see: Ohtani, MadBum, Ken Brett a few times in the '70s) can now leave the mound but keep his place in the batting order.
For Ohtani that place was the leadoff spot. On Thursday. In the Angels' season opener. Care to guess how many pitchers (or, pitcher-as-DH's) have ever been their team's first batter of an entire season? Yeppers, in the modern era that would be one, Shohei Ohtani in 2022. He grounded to short and spared us any further notes on the offensive side. But on the mound, Ohtani struck out 9 and allowed only 1 run. The only other Angels pitchers to do that in an opener are Jered Weaver (2012), Frank Tanana (1977), and Andy Messersmith (twice).
Did we mention he also lost the game? That one run, plus back-to-back homers in the 8th after Ohtani The Pitcher was long gone, was enough to propel Houston to a 3-1 victory. No Angels pitcher had struck out 9, allowed 1 run, and taken a loss in any home game since Jered Weaver also turned that trick against the Orioles on August 29, 2010.
It could be a nostaglic year in St Louis with Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina on the verge of retirement, and Albert Pujols added back on a special 1-year deal for just that same purpose. As he has for quite a while now, Waino threw the Cards' first pitch of the 2022 season and eventually blanked the Pirates while issuing 0 walks and striking out 6. He also had a 6-K, 0-BB, 0-run outing in 2015, as part of that previous "first game of season" at Wrigley Field. No other pitcher in the live-ball era has posted that line on two different Opening Days.
Wainwright wasn't even really the big story of that game on Thursday. Tyler O'Neill connected for 5 RBI, just the third player in Cardinals history to do that in an opener. And all of them did it against the Pirates; the others are Wally Roettger in 1928 and Del Gainer in 1922. The 9-0 final score was the Cardinals' largest-ever shutout in a season opener, topping an 8-0 against Louisville (Colonels!) in, appropriately enough, 1888.
Less of a household name is Tylor Megill of the Mets, who got their Opening Day nod. He posted the same line as Wainwright, with 6 strikeouts, 0 walks, and 0 runs allowed against the Nationals. With a few guesses you'd probably get the other two Mets to do that in an opener: Noah Syndergaard in 2017 and (of course) Tom Seaver in 1972.
Earlier we detailed the Giants winning their opener via walkoff. Their second game had some fun nuggets too, this time from the pitching side. Carlos Rodon got the call for this one, and he got plenty of calls from umpire Lance Barrett as well. In five innings, Rodon threw 89 pitches, which feels like a lot until you notice that he racked up a dozen strikeouts against only 3 hits. Turns out he did 9-and-3 in his first game last year, and is just the seventh pitcher in the live-ball era to do it in consecutive season debuts. Trevor Bauer also has an active streak; the others are Brandon Finnegan, Matt Harvey, Rich Harden, Curt Schilling, and Sam McDowell. Most notably for Rodon, that first start in 2021... was for the White Sox, where he had spent his entire career before being granted free agency on the day of the lockout (and signing with the Giants on the day it ended). He is thus the first pitcher to record 12 strikeouts in his first game with San Francisco since Juan Marichal's MLB debut on July 19, 1960.
Kyle Gibson was the up-and-coming star for the Twins when he was drafted in the first round in 2009. He did okay but never ended up as the next Johan Santana, found himself in Texas, then found himself in Philadelphia as the other half of a trade for Ian Kennedy last year. Ironically, the Phils had drafted him way back in 2006 at age 18 but he didn't sign. He did get some signs from catcher J.T. Realmuto on Saturday, which led to Gibson striking out 10 A's batters and walking zero. Only three other Phillies pitchers in the modern era have done that in their first appearance of a season: Zack Wheeler last year, Cliff Lee in 2011, and Chris Short in "the year of the pitcher" 1968. Meanwhile Cole Irvin got the start for Oakland and would probably like to forget it. He made it to the 6th but gave up 3 homers along the way. The last time an A's pitcher gave up three dingers in a game in Philadelphia... yep (we love these)... they were the home team. Dutch Romberger pulled it off against the Red Sox in their final season at Shibe/Connie Mack, July 11, 1954.
And while it might have taken a couple guesses to get to Noah Syndergaard in that Mets list above, remember he's no longer a Met. After 6 years of shooting lightning bolts at planes over LaGuardia, "Thor" is now unleashing thunder on Orange County. (Or maybe that's an earthquake.) He and some friends shut out the Astros on 2 hits on Saturday, the first time that's ever happened to Houston against the Angels. And Syndergaard is only the fourth pitcher ever to allow 0 runs, 2 hits, and get a win in his first appearance for the Halos. The others on that list are Billy Buckner (no relation) in 2013, Mark Langston in 1980, and Don Sutton in 1985.
Sundays Are For Football
We respectfully disagree, but we get it. And when your scoreboard alerted you that Cleveland defeated Kansas City 17-3 on Sunday, you might have said, okay, this seems normal. Then you remembered it's April.
Myles Straw, memorialized as the first batter in "Guardians" history, walked to start the game. But when three more singles followed around two lucky pop-ups, Kris Bubic's season debut was over. Cleveland blew up for 6 runs total and made Bubic the second pitcher in Royals history to give up 5+ and not escape the 1st inning, in his first start of a season. Aaron Brooks did it in Toronto on May 31, 2014, and that gets an asterisk because Brooks made a relief appearance as his MLB debut a few weeks earlier.
Ah, but how did those runs end up scoring? Yes, that would be a grand slam by Oscar Mercado off Bubic's replacement, Taylor Clarke. The only other 1st-inning slam that Cleveland has hit at Kauffman Stadium was by Jason Kipnis on July 27, 2019. And while Clarke eventually gets out of the inning, he's not a long reliever. He pitched 43#&8531 innings in 43 appearances for Arizona last year. So let's let Jackson Kowar take his chances with the 2nd inning and hope our offense can climb back into this.
Mmm, nope. Your 2nd goes single, single, walk, lineout, single, double, single, double play to finally end things after another four runs. And now Kowar is taking one for the team. He ends up staying out there until the 5th, surrendering 11 hits and 7 runs to turn this into a Cleveland blowout. Only two other relievers in Royals history have been left in the game long enough to give up 11 hits, and you might already be having flashbacks to one of them. Bill Castro did it against Boston on April 13, 1983. The other is The Vin Mazzaro Game from May 16, 2011, where he gave up fourteen runs to solidify his place in baseball lore.
By the time this drubbing is over, Steven Kwan has 5 hits for Cleveland, in only his third game in the majors. In the live-ball era only two other players have done that so quickly in their careers: Yermin Mercedes of the White Sox last year, and Cecil Travis for the Senators in 1933. Kwan was the eighth player in the modern era with 5 hits, a hit-by-pitch, and 4 runs scored in a single game; the previous entry on that list was from the Royals-- Angel Berroa on September 13, 2004. And in the last five seasons Cleveland has seen a player get 5 hits in a game four times. All of those are against the Royals (Amed Rosario in 2021, Franmil Reyes in 2020, and Oscar Mercado in 2019).
Speaking of Mercado, he wasn't done after that 1st-inning slam. He tacked on an RBI triple in the 4th off Kowar, giving him 5 RBI out of the 8-hole. No other hitter in team history had posted a homer, a triple, and 5 RBI from that low in the order, and their last to do it from anywhere in the lineup was Roberto Alomar on May 7, 1999.
As for that 17-3 final, not only is it the highest score in the majors in our few short days of the 2022 season, but it's the first time Cleveland's won a game by that exact score since April 28, 1996, in Toronto. And if you flip over to football, you'll find that neither incarnation of the Cleveland Browns (one of which is now the Baltimore Ravens) has ever won a game by a 17-3 count. So now we're making history in two sports.
And into the 2022 season we plunge. Join us here every Sunday night.
Bottom Of The Bag
⚾ Byron Buxton, Sunday: Second player in Twins/Senators history to lead off both the 1st and 2nd innings of a game with homers. Brian Dozier did it against Texas on August 4, 2017.
⚾ Cubs, Saturday: Largest home shutout ever (9-0) against Milwaukee. Any franchise. Including the original Brewers of the 1870s.
⚾ Robbie Ray, Friday: First Opening Day starter in Mariners history NOT named Randy or Felix to go 7+ innings and allow no more than 3 hits.
⚾ Nolan Arenado, Saturday: First Cardinals batter with 3 doubles and 3 RBI in a game since Pete Kozma at Dodger Stadium, May 26, 2013.
⚾ Nolan Arenado, Fri-Sun: Second player in Cardinals history to have multiple RBI in each of the team's first three games of a season. Other is Mark McGwire in 1998 and, well, you may have an opinion on that.
⚾ James McCann, Thursday: Second Mets batter to get hit by multiple pitches in a season opener. Gary Carter did it against the Cardinals in 1985.
⚾ Spencer Howard, Sunday: Second pitcher in Rangers/Senators history to give up 4 homers in his first outing of a season. R.A. Dickey did it against Detroit on April 6, 2006.
⚾ Royals, Saturday: Second 1-0 walkoff win in extra innings in team history. Willie Wilson scored Danny Garcia in the 15th to beat Minnesota on May 23, 1981.
⚾ Orlando Arcia, Friday: Second DH in Braves history to bat 9th and have 2+ RBI in a game. Keith Lockhart did it at Fenway Park on June 6, 1999.
⚾ Seiya Suzuki, Sat-Sun: First player ever to make his first three MLB appearances in a Cubs uniform and have at least 3 RBI in two of them.
⚾ Tyler Mahle, Thursday: Second Opening Day starter in Reds history to strike out 7+ and allow 0 earned runs. Johnny Cueto did it against the Pirates in 2015.
⚾ Jurickson Profar, Sunday: Second Padres batter ever to hit a grand slam in Phoenix. Other was Phil Nevin against Steve Randolph on August 27, 2003.
⚾ Pete Alonso, Saturday: Third grand slam ever by a Mets designated hitter, joining Wilmer Flores (September 2, 2017, at Houston) and Carlos Delgado (June 27, 2008, at Yankees).
⚾ Max Scherzer, Friday: First pitcher with 6+ strikeouts and no more than 3 hits allowed in his Mets debut since Collin McHugh on August 23, 2012.
⚾ Ty Blach, Sunday: Third pitcher in Rockies history to record a 4-inning save while allowing only 1 hit. He joins Kevin Ritz (September 12, 1995, against Atlanta) and Keith Shepherd (June 8, 1993, at Pittsburgh).
⚾ Byron Buxton, Saturday: First lead-flipping homer for Twins in 8th or later against the Mariners since Kirby Puckett hit a walkoff on August 15, 1995.
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