Throw The Kitchen Sink

It might be the one pitching feat that didn't happen this week.

I'm Only One Strike Away
(or, Miles To Go Before I Sleep)

Here at Kernels, we really don't hate no-hitters. What we hate is the fact that they mess with the routine. Because as soon as those alerts start going out after 5 or 6 innings, baseball time seems to stop. Because there is "Breaking News", like that banner that TV networks throw onto the most mundane stories so they can get paid for commercials without having to actually run them. So by the 7th inning or so, we've already abandoned doing any work on any other games, and at some point we actually hope it happens, just so we didn't waste an hour.

We really thought Miles Mikolas had this one. Let's blow through Tuesday's game as quickly as he did. Hit batter in the 2nd, erased on a double play. Walk in the 3rd, erased on a double play. Juan Yepez misplays a fly ball in the 4th, Bryan Reynolds ends up on second and then scores on a pair of groundouts. Yes, it's the rare 1-on-0, but it's still only the 4th inning. Right?

Ball doesn't leave the infield for another two innings. And now the scramble is on. The Cardinals haven't thrown a no-hitter in over 20 years, since Bud Smith on September 3, 2001, and their "new" Busch Stadium is the oldest active stadium that hasn't seen one. There actually hasn't been one thrown in St Louis, by any team, since Bob Forsch on September 26, 1983.

Down go the Pirates in order in the 7th. The Cardinals do have one no-hitter in their history against Pittsburgh, by Bob Forsch on August 14, 1971. But strangely, the 10 NH's in Cardinals lore have come against 10 different opponents, the most by any franchise without a repeat.

Mikolas needs 17 pitches to record a pair of strikeouts in the 8th, but here we go. Breaking News. Those other seven games that have ended while we're watching this?, eh, they just get to wait. And there's even more intrigue in that 1-on-0 line. You might remember the Pirates doing that five weeks ago in a game that they won and which therefore didn't count as a no-hitter because they didn't bat nine times. They also have three "official" no-hitters where they scored a run, although they were all before 1900 when the defensive team didn't have, you know, gloves. That's tied for the most in MLB history, so they're on the verge of setting that mark as well, because unlike that May 15 game, the Pirates are, shall we say, not winning. Bryse Wilson got smacked around for 7 runs in the first two innings and it's 9-1. So Mikolas is only still out there for one reason-- to get a grounder to third, and a fly to right, and one more measly little out.

And that whole heaping of "last time" notes we just dumped on you? They're all still true. Because, yes, that's an automatic double bounding up the batter's eye as Harrison Bader appears to get turned around and not be able to reach it. The last no-hitter broken up by a 2-out double in the 9th was by Detroit's Matt Boyd against the White Sox on September 17, 2017. And the last to get broken on a 2-strike double was a combined effort by the Dodgers on July 9, 2011 (San Diego's Juan Uribe connected against Luke Gregerson).

Remember, Mikolas is only out there for one reason. He's thrown 129 pitches, which Old Hoss Radbourn's Twitter account would say is "a good warmup". But he's not even going to get that final measly out. The last Cardinals pitcher to throw exactly 8⅔ innings and allow 1 hit was Michael Wacha, who pulled off this exact same trick (minus the 2-strike part) agains the Nationals on September 24, 2013.

We should mention the Cardinals' offense and those 9 runs as well, because Brandon Donovan and Paul Goldschmidt each collected 4 hits and 3 runs scored. No Cards teammates had done that in a home game since Dane Iorg and Tony Scott against the Expos on August 11, 1990. Tack on leadoff hitter Tommy Edman, and you've got the first time the Cardinals' top three batters all had 3 hits and 2 runs scored since Ozzie Smith, Todd Zeile, and Ray Lankford did it at Wrigley on June 28, 1991.

And there's one more fun Paul Goldschmidt note, because this Mikolas gem was just the back end of a long day of baseballing. You see, Tuesday was one of those doubleheaders caused by rescheduling the original first week of the season. And the final score in the day game was Goldschmidt 3, Pirates 1. He knocked a 2-run homer in the 3rd and got credit for the last RBI when Edmundo Sosa got caught in a rundown long enough to allow Yadier Molina to score ahead of him. Goldy is therefore the first Cardinals batter with 3 RBI in both games of a doubleheader since Joe Torre did it in Montreal on July 24, 1971.

That day game also had an interesting pitching performance from the Pirates' side. Tyler Beede got the final 8 outs and did not allow a hit, but it was far from perfect. He walked the first batter, Brendan Donovan. He hit Albert Pujols in the 8th. He threw a wild pitch with Donovan up again in the 9th. All that combines to make Beede the first Pirates pitcher to throw 2+ hitless innings, but also issue a walk, a wild pitch, and a hit batter, since Deacon Phillippe did it in a 5-5 tie against the Giants on August 5, 1905.

Down On The Farm

By the way, one final Cardinals note that came across our feeds. If you thought being one strike away from a 1-on-0 no-hitter was neat, well, Andy Hawkins would like a word.

What we used to call the GCL (Gulf Coast League) is now the FCL ("Florida Complex League", it just rolls off, doesn't it?). It's the rookie league, "extended spring training", "instructional league", whatever term you use, that plays at 11 am or noon before the old Florida State League teams take over the same fields at night. And there's a reason it's sometimes called an "instructional league". On Friday the "FCL Cardinals" (these levels are so low they don't even have mascots) scored 4 runs in their game against the Nationals' farm team-- which made 5 errors, issued 5 walks, hit a batter, allowed 4 steals (including one of home)... but didn't allow a hit. To make matters more confusing, the Nationals didn't even have a no-hitter after 9 innings... because the game was tied. The Cardinals finally won in the 10th when their free runner scored on (what else?) a throwing error.

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

Friend Of Kernels (and one of the Twins' official scorers) Stew Thornley maintains a website devoted to no-hitters lost in the 9th inning. We've linked to it over on the right side of this page (►►►) for years now. Turns out Stew hadn't even gotten a chance to add Tuesday's entry before Wednesday happened.

Tyler Anderson is at least going to do us the favor of taking the "perfect game" out of the mix right away. Actually Cody Bellinger is going to do that by booting a fly ball from Angels leadoff man Taylor Ward, although he recovers in time to get Ward trying to stretch his one-base error into a two-base error. Anderson plunks Jared Walsh in the 2nd. But then oh boy, here we go again. Seventeen straight before Walsh comes up again in the 7th, and weren't we just here last night? Walsh hits a comebacker to Anderson who botches the throw, but that's clearly an error and we still have a big fat zero up there. Breaking News. The Dodgers have a lot more history with no-hitters (they've thrown 26 of them, the most of any franchise) with their last one being a mere 4 years ago. Also, have we mentioned that Tyler Anderson shares a birthday (December 30) with Sandy Koufax? Because of course he does.

Kurt Suzuki walks to start the 8th, but still no Angels batter, not even backup catcher Max Stassi as pinch hitter, can get the ball out of the infield. It's an easy note to say that there's never been a no-hitter in a Freeway Series game, but of those 26 Dodgers no-hitters, none has ever been thrown in an interleague game. And the Angels have a couple fun connections here. Just yesterday the Pirates were on the verge of getting "officially" no-hit but still scoring a run. The last team to throw such a no-no was the Angels, when Ervin Santana did it on July 27, 2011. And even though the Cardinals still haven't thrown a no-hitter in over 20 years, the Angels haven't been no-hit in that same time. The last one against them was by Eric Milton of the Twins on September 11, 1999; they rank third on that list behind the Nats/Expos (July 1999) and the Athletics (1991).

Once again, everybody stop what you're doing and see if he gets it. Mike Trout-- yeah, that Mike Trout-- takes a called third strike to start the 9th. So this is pretty much going to come down to Anderson against Shohei Ohtani, who actually took a perfect game into the 6th himself back in April. And all those notes we just listed off-- still true. Again. Remember how the last NH broken up with a 2-out triple was in a Tigers/White Sox game? Well, turns out the last one broken up with a triple was also. That would be a five-pitcher slog on September 22, 2015, where Tyler Saladino had the breakup hit.

Anderson, like Mikolas before him, was only still out there for one reason after throwing 123 pitches. So Craig Kimbrel comes in, gives up a leadoff single to Matt Duffy, scores the run, at the end of the day this doesn't look like anything amazing. It's worth pointing out that the Angels had 0 runs on 3 hits on Tuesday, and they hadn't done 1-on-3 or less against the same opponent in consecutive games since May of 2008 at Tampa Bay. And now it comes down to how you slice up the throwback jerseys. MLB's official definition of a no-hitter says the team has to finish the game, not just 9 innings. It famously happened to the Rays earlier this year when they lost one in the 10th. It also famously happened to the Dodgers in The Rich Hill Game in 2017. So they have lost one in the 10th. But the Dodgers have not lost a no-hitter in the 9th since Houston's Johnny Temple led off with a single against Johnny Podres on August 4, 1963! That is easily the longest drought of being denied in such fashion by any team. The "honor" now passes to the Mets, who haven't lost one in the 9th since Tom Seaver against the Cubs on September 24, 1975.

Although we know people who would argue that the Mets "lost" one to some chalk and the lack of replay back in 2012.

Recycle Your K-Cups

Meet Jared Koenig. No, he's not the mastermind behind that single-use coffee maker on your counter. He'd be a lot richer if he was. Nope, he's a 28-year-old pitcher who was drafted in the 35th round out of high school in 2014 but didn't sign. He then bounced around some low-level independent leagues, including a winter in New Zealand, trying to get a look-see, which the A's finally gave him in early 2020. He made his major-league debut a couple weeks ago by giving up 4 runs to the Braves. He made his second big-league appearance on Tuesday. And he's already making his first appearance in the #Kernels.

As you know, making an appearance here can be good, or it can be bad, or sometimes it's just because it's odd. Under your standard formatted MLB boxscores with their neat rows and columns, there's a section of just running text where they list out other less-common stats that don't have a column. Things like stolen bases and errors and double plays and sacrifice flies. And when your name starts popping up in multiple categories down there, well, it piques our interest. There are usually three pitching "feats" that appear down at the bottom-- wild pitches, hit batters, and balks. If you manage to show up in all of those in the same game, well, you have pulled off what we lovingly call the "Kernels trifecta".

Welcome Jared Koenig. Because he's not here for the 9 hits and 6 runs he gave up to the Red Sox on Tuesday. He's here because he balked Rafael Devers to third in the 1st inning. And then he hit Franchy Cordero with a pitch in the 2nd. And then he threw a wild pitch to Trevor Story in the 4th. We went nearly a year without having any pitcher pull off a trifecta; Travis Lakins of the Orioles did it on June 29 of last season. Oakland has had only three others in the past 30 years: Jesús Luzardo in 2020, Gio Gonzalez in 2011, and Barry Zito in 2004. In fact, Koenig took it one step further by hitting another batter later in the game, thus becoming just the second A's pitcher ever to hit two batters while also throwing a wild pitch and committing a balk. The other was Mike Norris in Baltimore on May 19, 1981.

Heaven Must Be Missing A Strikeout

There are many "trifectas" in baseball, a game that-- like celebrity deaths-- likes to come in threes. Three strikes and you're out. Three outs in an inning. So what's the fewest number of pitches you should* need to strike out the side? Subtract 2, carry the 1, yep, it's nine.

(* With the coming of pitch clocks and the automatic strike that can be called on a batter who's not in position, this is technically about to become zero. In similar fashion, the no-pitch intentional walk destroyed the old trivia question about the minimum number of pitches needed for a complete game. Also now zero. We'll explain later.)

Because Rule 26-4(b)(7)(ii)(A) requires every "feat" in baseball to have a cute name of some type, we have one for the achievement of retiring three batters, all via strikeout, on nine pitches. It's called an "immaculate inning" and there are 104 of them that are known to have occurred throughout baseball history. (There are undoubtedly more that weren't reported in early newspapers because, as Old Hoss Radbourn would say, who's counting pitches?) But 104 is the list we have, so we're going with it.

Oops, make that 105. We take you to Wednesday in Arlington, where Astros starter Luis Garcia gives up an unearned run in the 2nd but then gets to face 7-8-9 in the 3rd. Nate Lowe, whiff. Ezequiel Duran, whiff. Brad Miller, immaculence. (Immaculation? Immaculity? We choose to make up words.)

The Astros just had one of these three seasons ago when Will Harris blew through some Angels batters on September 27, 2019. But the only other one thrown against the Rangers/Senators franchise was by Jeff Montgomery of the Royals did it on April 29, 1990. Only four teams have gone longer without being on the hitting side of this oddity-- the Cubs, Nats/Expos, Blue Jays, and Yankees (the latter two have never done it).

And we probably wouldn't even be mentioning this except that Luis Garcia gets through the 6th before giving way to Phil Maton with the Astros ahead 7-2. Maton will be facing Nate Lowe to start the 7th. 3-pitch strikeout. Ezequel Duran, 3-pitch strikeout. Care to guess what Brad Miller does?

Yep, not only is that two immaculate innings in the same game-- which had never happened before-- it's against the same three batters! Come out to the old ballpark, you just might see something divine.

By the way, the Astros now have eight of these on the unofficial list of 106. They've been around a lot fewer years than the Yankees and Dodgers, who lead the pack with nine each.

(How to throw a zero-pitch complete game, although you would probably get ejected long before doing it: Be visiting starter. Issue intentional walk to first batter in B1. Pick him off. Repeat 12 times. In bottom of 5th, issue four straight intentional walks to score a run. Have game called by rain or darkness or just for its sheer absurdity and lose 1-0. These are things we think about.)

They'll Let Anybody In Here These Days

The "unwritten rules" say that you're not supposed to cross over the mound when returning after a foul ball or an out. Pitchers are a special kind of baseballer and they tend to get a little agitated when you disturb "their" space. But what if that position player isn't planning on returning? What if he's going to claim that space for himself?

The "universal DH" was supposed to spare us from the agony of pitchers batting. (With the required asterisk for Bartolo Colón.) And it has indeed kept pitchers from batting. But the side effect is to have a ridiculous number of batters pitching. We're already over 40 of them this season, not even counting the games where Shohei Ohtani does both. And MLB even added a rule that this is only allowed to happen in games with a margin of 6 runs or more-- which Dave Roberts learned the hard way a couple weeks back. So if no-hitters aren't your thing, or you remember that the last similarly-broken-up NHs to this week were both in Tigers/White Sox games, well, let's take you to the Tigers and White Sox.

It's Wednesday afternoon, in the lull between our two 9th-inning breakups, and it's a mere 94° at first pitch in Detroit. And while most of your big cats like heat, it's clear these Tigers do not. Vince Velasquez, whom you may not have realized had even left Philadelphia, allows just 1 hit in 3 innings in his return from an injury. That leaves rookie Davis Martin with the "long relief" role, and of course the Tigers have never seen him before and will be stymied for only 3 hits in 5 innings. Meanwhile, Chicago is pounding Alex Faedo for 7 runs and running the score up to 11-0 by the 7th. So here's a novel idea. It's hot, we're not going to win this game, hey, who wants to pitch?

Shortstop Harold Castro, who actually pitched in 3 games for the Tigers last year, says, sure I'll do it. He gives up a leadoff single to A.J. Pollock but then Andrew Vaughn grounds a double-play ball right to where Castro would have been standing an inning earlier. So he gets 3 outs without any more damage. Next!

Kody Clemens: "Hey, my dad used to be a pretty good pitcher, can I try?" [We've paraphrased that a little bit.] Castro heads back out to short, and if you've never written "6/1/6" on a scorecard before, you're not alone. We couldn't find another shortstop in the live-ball era to become the pitcher and then go back to being a shortstop after his mound excursion.

It should be noted here that Roger Clemens' first outing at Comerica Park didn't go well either. He gave up 10 hits, 5 walks, 6 runs, and an OPS of 1.231 in a 9-7 loss on May 12, 2000. Kody's first outing at Comerica Park: Double, single, single, foulout, single, flyout, walk, fielder's choice. That's 4 bases in 6 at-bats (.667), plus five batters who reached out of seven total (.714) for an on-base-plus-slugging of... 1.381. So to that extent, apple not far from tree. Next!

Everyday catcher Tucker Barnhart is over in the dugout because day game after night game, but can he resist? Nope. His entire pitching-mound experience has been measured in "visits" until now. But it's largely his job to know what the White Sox can and can't hit, and what the Tigers should throw, so he's obviously qualified to throw it. (Meanwhile, Kody Clemens has moved to left field, becoming the first "5/1/7" player in at least the live-ball era.) That only results in 3 hits and a 13th run for the White Sox, with damage mitigated by a double-play ball. And mercifully it's over. Giving us much to unpack.

That 13th run made it the largest shutout ever by the White Sox IN Detroit, topping a 12-0 that they posted on June 30, 1968. (The Tigers did okay that year, so we're guessing they don't mind.) Their largest previous shutout at Comerica had been 10, though they have a pair of 14's back in Chicago.

That last run came off the bat of Yoan Moncada, which gave him 5 hits and 5 RBI on the day. He's the ninth player in White Sox history to do that-- but six of them, including the last four, have come against the Tigers. The others in that "last four" list are Avisail Garcia (2017), Chris Singleton (2000), and Albert Belle (1998). Tack on Jose Abreu, and they're the first White Sox teammates with 4 hits in the same game since Abreu teamed with Tim Anderson to do it on September 12, 2020-- yep, against Detroit again (that's one of the 14-0 shutouts mentioned above). All nine White Sox starters had at least 1 hit and 1 run scored for the first time since May 20, 2017, in a 16-1 thumping of Seattle.

But back to Castro, Clemens, and Barnhart. That's three position players who pitched in the same game and each got at least 3 outs. That's only happened twice before in the live-ball era, once by the Cubs (Victor Caratini, Ian Happ, Tommy La Stella) on July 20, 2018, and originally by the Brewers on August 29, 1979, when third baseman Sal Bando had to take over in the 4th inning (and got 9 outs!!) in an 18-8 beatdown by the Royals.

Frankie Goes To Hollywood

So what's "better" than three position players pitching in the same game? Why, one position player pitching three times in a season.

If you saw that our theme was pitching and thought, oh no, maybe we're not going to cover that wacky 19-5 game from earlier in the week, well guess what, here it is. This would be another Wednesday special, at Wrigley Field, which went largely unnoticed because, oh yeah, Breaking News there's another no-hitter. And Wednesday was not Caleb Killian's MLB debut. That was back on June 4 when he made a spot start in a doubleheader against the Cardinals. On Wednesday, however, he gets the nod against the Padres with the wind blowing out to left. Ruh-roh.

The 1st inning includes a double, a single, a wild pitch, and 2 walks before Killian settles down a bit. It's not until the 4th that he hits another bump, and also Ha-Seong Kim with a pitch, to start a 2-out rally. Three straight hits follow that and the Padres go up 5-4. Killian then leaves the game in favor of Daniel Norris, thus becoming the first Cubs pitcher to give up 5 runs and issue 5 walks, without recording a single strikeout, since Jose Guzman did it in a loss to the Mets on April 5, 1994.

Let's see how Norris's day goes. The good news is, it only involves 11 pitches. The bad news is, four of them get smacked for base hits, including a triple by Kim to make it 8-4 San Diego. Norris leaves the game as the first Cubs pitcher to face 4+ batters, have all of them get hits, and (later) have all of them score, since Andrew Cashner did that at Coors Field on July 30, 2010.

It's 11-5 when Alec Mills-- who really did throw a no-hitter a couple seasons ago-- comes out for the 7th. And all he does is give up four more straight hits to start the inning, then a 1-out homer to Jorge Alfaro. 16-5 and Position Player Fun Time.

Frank Schwindel is quickly becoming more notable as a Cubs pitcher than as their first baseman. Last Sunday at Yankee Stadium he rainbowed a 35-mph eephus pitch which Kyle Higashioka promptly smacked for a home run. On Wednesday he's back, this time nearly doubling the velocity with a 69-mph "slider" to Luke Voit. Which Voit promptly slid into the second level of the batter's eye. Schwindel has now pitched in three games this season and allowed a homer in all of them; Victor Caratini will be sad to know that his Cubs record for such a thing has now been broken.

Although there were no more homers, Schwindel gives up three more singles and a walk to lead to our final score of 19-5. Five different Padres hitters had 3 hits and 2 runs scored in the game, a first in franchise history. It was also their first game with 11 extra-base hits since a 12-9 win over Cincinnati on May 25, 2008.

And we've commented previously on how those number placards are ending up in strange places on the scoreboard at Wrigley the past few weeks. Wednesday was the first time a visiting team has reached 19 at the Friendly Confines since the Brewers took a 19-12 decision on July 1, 1999.

Wednesday's 19-5 naturally followed a 12-5 outburst by the Padres on Tuesday. (Guess the wind didn't shift much.) And those ended up being 12 unanswered runs after the Padres knocked Kyle Hendricks out of the game in the 6th. Mychal Givens, who entered with a 5-4 lead but then gave up a 3-run double to Luke Voit to flip things, became the first Cubs pitcher to face four batters, retire none of them, and get a blown save, since Hector Rondon on July 21, 2017. As for that 3-run double, the Padres had only ever hit one of those at Wrigley Field, by Phil Nevin off Tim Worrell on August 28, 2000. And even though Nevin's double did not flip the lead on that day, it did give him 5 RBI in an 8-2 win, the last Padres batter with a 5-RBI game at Wrigley until... Luke Voit did it Tuesday.

And if you wanted a duel, you could wait for the Braves to arrive at Wrigley on Friday. Obviously the wind has shifted. Because Charlie Morton and Keegan Thompson-- who would not be among your first 100 choices to be throwing a classic-- are throwing a classic. After Ronald Acuña singles to start the game, Thompson retires 14 out of the next 15 around a walk to Marcell Ozuna. Morton, meanwhile, gives up just 2 singles but erases one of them on a double play. They will both leave in the 7th inning of a scoreless tie, the first opposing starters to give up 0 runs on 3 hits, strike out 9 each, and have neither of them get a win, since Yu Darvish and Masahiro Tanaka squared off in the Bronx on June 23, 2017. Morton made even more history by becoming the first Braves pitcher since at least 1900 to churn out that line (0 R, 3 H, 9 K, no win) while also not walking a batter.

Friday's game would ultimately be decided on a Chris Morel sac fly in the 8th. Since those became an official stat in 1954, the Cubs have won only four home games by a 1-0 score where the sac fly was the 1. Chris Denorfia hit one against the Dodgers in 2015; the others are by Billy Williams against the Pirates in 1974 and Ron Santo versus the Reds in 1962.

(Could a major-league pitcher throw a kitchen sink? Probably. Might even reach 35 mph. But it would be hard to get a good grip, so it probably wouldn't cross a baseline and thus result in a balk. We'll stick to sink-ERS.)

Throwing It All Away

A few of our favorite leftover pitching nuggets to shove down the kitchen sink before we go.

Alek Manoah dominated the Orioles on Monday on his way to an 8-1 record so far this season. (That 7-run 5th inning by the offense certainly helped also.) He's the first Jays pitcher to have 8 wins in his first 12 appearances of a season since Mark Buehrle in 2014, even though he then lost on Saturday against the Yankees.

Meanwhile, Joan Adon of the Nationals has also made 13 appearances so far in 2022. That is... not exactly the same story. Adon has gotten a decision in 12 of those 13 outings, which is sort of unusual in itself. But of those 12 decisions, let's just say that only one has been a win. He's the first pitcher to start a season with a record of 1-11 or worse since Charlie Morton with the Pirates in 2010.

Zac Gallen of the Diamondbacks has discovered the secret to pitching efficiency. If you're gonna let the batter go to first base anyway, why waste five or six or seven pitches by walking him? Just plunk him. Much less effort. At least, we think that was Gallen's approach on Wednesday when he plunked four Reds batters in a 7-4 win. He's the first pitcher in Arizona history to issue 4 HBPs in a game, and the first for any team to do it without also surrendering a walk since Scott Schoeneweis of the Angels on June 7, 2001.

Jake Reed of the Mets ran into the middle of the Brewers lineup in Wednesday's game, and that also did not go well. With Milwaukee already ahead 4-2, Reed issued 2 walks, a hit batter, an infield single, and a 2-run double to chase him off the mound. He's the second pitcher in Mets history to give up 5 runs while getting no more than 2 outs in a game against Milwaukee. And we do mean "Milwaukee". The other pitcher to do it was Darrell Sutherland against the Braves on June 28, 1964. While we're at it, Reed's inning would also blow up to be the Brewers' first 7-run frame in New York since April 21, 1978-- when they were in the American League and played at Yankee Stadium.

It all starts with a 2-out error. (Somewhere somebody must say that, right?) Patrick Corbin of the Nationals had that happen on Thursday in their series opener with the Phillies. Now, it's easy to say that after the error Corbin should not also have allowed a homer, 2 doubles, 3 singles, and a walk, but still, all 7 runs in the top of the 3rd end up being unearned. The last "Washington" pitcher to give up 9 total runs in a game with no more than 2 of them being earned was Joe Cascarella for the Senators on June 7, 1937.

Carlos Rodon only took his no-hitter into the 5th on Friday (still good enough to make our list), but he left after the 8th having allowed only one other single. We will accept that the Pirates' offense is not good. Still, though, Rodon is just the second Giants pitcher ever to throw 8+ scoreless innings and strike out 8+ batters in a game at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. Jason Schmidt did it on August 12, 2004. And the only Giants pitcher to do it in the 30-year history of Three Rivers Stadium was Bob Knepper on July 13, 1978.

Bottom Of The Bag

⚾ Braves, Monday: First game where their #6, #7, #8, and #9 batters all homered since Vinny Castilla, Matt Franco, Javy Lopez, and Keith Lockhart did it at the Metrodome on June 11, 2002.

⚾ Eric Lauer, Friday: Second Brewers pitcher to give up 3 homers at Great American Ball Park and still get a win. Zach Jackson did it and escaped by a 6-5 score on June 12, 2006.

⚾ Jose Ramirez, Wednesday: Second Cleveland batter to have a 4-hit game against the Rockies. The other was not at Coors Field, but at home: Ronnie Belliard on June 26, 2004.

⚾ Matt Olson, Sunday: First Braves batter to have 3 doubles in a game at Wrigley since Glenn Hubbard on May 6, 1979.

⚾ Joe Musgrove, Thursday: Second starter in Padres history to begin a season 8-0 or better. Andy Hawkins, long before his 4-run no-hitter, got to 11-0 in 1985.

⚾ Kyle Tucker, Tuesday: Second lead-flipping homer ever hit by Astros in the 8th or later in Arlington. Orlando Merced went deep off Jeff Zimmerman on June 10, 2001.

⚾ Jerar Encarnacion, Sunday: First player to hit a grand slam in his MLB debut since Brandon Crawford for the Giants on May 27, 2011.

⚾ Cardinals, Friday: First time hitting for a team cycle in Boston since August 28, 1949. Yes, that would be at Braves Field, and they actually did it in both games of a doubleheader that day.

⚾ Angels, Tuesday: Second time ever scoring 0 runs, recording 4 or fewer total bases, and striking out 10 times at Dodger Stadium. In the other game... yep, they were the home team. May 2, 1963, against the Yankees.

⚾ James Kaprielian, Wednesday: First A's pitcher to give up 7 hits and 6 walks in a game since Dallas Braden on July 26, 2009.

⚾ Willson Contreras, Saturday: First Cubs catcher with 3 hits and a stolen base in one game since Joe Girardi at Houston, April 26, 2000.

⚾ Ezequiel Duran, Thursday: First lead-flipping, bases-loaded triple in the 9th inning or later in Rangers/Senators franchise history.

⚾ Austin Slater, Monday: First Giants batter with 0 at-bats, but 2 walks and 2 runs scored, in a game he didn't start since Ernie Riles at Philadelphia on May 11, 1990.

⚾ Jack Suwinski, Sunday: First batter in Pirates history to have 3 homers in a game with the final one being a walkoff.

⚾ Cleveland, Friday: First time winning a game 2-0 or 2-1, where both runs came on sacrifice flies, since April 29, 2000, against Boston.

⚾ Reds, Tuesday: First team to have three go-ahead hits in the 10th or later of the same game since the Marlins did it in Philadelphia on July 24, 1998.

⚾ Angels, Saturday: Second time ever sweeping a doubleheader in Seattle. Other was July 24, 1977, back when they actually scheduled such things.

⚾ Byron Buxton, Monday: Second multi-run homer hit by Twins in the 1st inning of a game in Seattle. Roy Smalley took Paul Mitchell deep at the Kingdome on August 1, 1978.

⚾ Yankees, Wed-Thu: First time having 4 or fewer hits in consecutive games and winning both of them since July 12-13, 1991, in Anaheim.

⚾ Athletics, Saturday: First game in team history where they had an extra-base hit from their #8 batter, and an extra-base hit from their #9 batter, and no other hits in the game.

⚾ Josh Naylor, Tuesday: Second Cleveland batter to have a multi-double game at Coors Field. Casey Blake is the other, in a 6-3 loss on June 19, 2008.

⚾ Yu Darvish, Monday: First Padres pitcher to throw 8+ innings and allow 1 run at Wrigley Field since Tim Worrell on June 15, 1996.

⚾ Blue Jays, Sunday: First game in franchise history where they scored 10+ runs on 7 or fewer hits. Also first time ever allowing 5 homers to the Yankees but still pulling out a win.

⚾ Rhys Hoskins, Tuesday: First Phillies batter with 4 hits and 6 RBI in a game since David Bell against Montreal, June 28, 2004.

⚾ Connor Joe & Brian Serven, Thursday: First time Rockies' #1 and #9 batters have each collected 4 hits in the same game.

⚾ Astros, Friday: First-ever 10-run inning at their current home of Minute Maid Park. Last at the Astrodome was July 18, 1994, against the Cardinals.

⚾ Austin Slater & Wilmer Flores, Saturday: First time Giants' #1 and #2 batters both homered in the same game at PNC Park. Only time they had it happen at Three Rivers was by Brett Butler & Robby Thompson on July 6, 1989.

⚾ Royals, Wednesday: First 1-run win by a Kansas City team (the Cowboys, who would go bankrupt and fold the following year) against the Giants since August 6, 1886. New York fans blamed the umpire even then.