Alternate Ending

We've said it before, but if you have the option, never leave a game early. (We have made exceptions for flat tires and, of course, having another game to get to.) There are, in theory, an infinite number of ways a game can end, and this week we saw most of them. (We are aware that "most of infinity" is an invalid concept, don't @ us.)

Like your favorite DVD, many of this week's games seemed to go along in about the same way for the first 7 or 8 innings, but then it turns out we filmed multiple endings so we could re-release it and make you buy another copy later on. We thought of trying to create a little button here that would randomly take you to one of this week's obscure endings, but then you wouldn't get the fun of perusing all of them.

Original Script
(Or, Friday I'm In Love)

We're going to jump ahead to Friday, because wouldn't we all just like to do that every week? This week it would have saved a few teams from some embarrassing losses, but don't worry, we'll get back to those. Because Friday had enough fun of its own.

When MLB adopted the international tiebreaker rule (aka the "free runner", "zombie", "ghost", take your pick) in 2020, we expected more walkoffs. We suspect that was among the reasons they did it. But even with the extra-inning rules, you never expect to see five of them on the same day. And yet that's what Friday brought us, for the first time since September 25, 2020, when large numbers of cardboard cutouts were sent home happy.

The old tried-and-true, most common, most basic way to achieve a walkoff is via your standard base hit. Friday had four of those, and we're going to keep that fifth walkoff off to the side for now. But even your "usual" walkoff hit can be interesting. Let's go to Kansas City, where it's 1-1 after 6 because, well, AL Central. Franmil Reyes of Cleveland connects for a 2-run dinger in the 7th, which Whit Merrifield matches in the 8th. Despite Kauffman Stadium's reputation for longballs, it had been 11 years since both teams hit a tying or go-ahead multi-run homer in the 7th or later. Bobby Abreu of the Angels was outdone by Matt Treanor's walkoff on April 3, 2011.

That left our score 3-3 until Sam Hentges takes the mound for the 9th. Vinnie Pasquantino greets him with a double. And then Michael Taylor drops a little blooper in front of Oscar Mercado for the Royals' second walkoff single of the year against the Guardians. Adalberto Mondesi had the other way back on April 9, just the second time the Royals have ever hit two in a season against Cleveland. The others were on back-to-back days, July 27-28, 1977, by George Brett and Joe Lahoud.

Friday's Cubs/Dodgers game followed the script as well, with a bunch of zeroes until Nico Hoerner hit the first Cubs' homer to break a scoreless tie in the 5th or later at Dodger Stadium since Geovany Soto on May 4, 2011. After another 2-run trade between the teams, Mookie Betts is up with the bases loaded in the 9th and the Dodgers down 1. He could absolutely hit a walkoff grand slam, of which we've only seen two this year. That's not what he does. But it's good enough for a sac fly to score Zach McKinstry and send us to Free Runner Land. The Dodgers hadn't hit any game-tying sac fly in the 9th or later since Juan Rivera did it on June 17, 2012, against that other Chicago team. And in the 10th, after the Cubs fail to get the ball out of the infield, all it takes is a single to left by Will Smith to score free runner Trea Turner and walk this one off. The Dodgers' last extra-inning home win against the Cubs was August 2, 2014, on Hanley Ramirez's first career walkoff homer. They hadn't hit a walkoff single against Chicago since Eric Karros off Tom Gordon on August 5, 2001.

By the way, the Dodgers aren't done with weird endings yet either.

But neither is Friday. Because nobody is quite as good at dragging out extra-inning west-coast games as the Mariners. That Dodgers game, even in 10 innings, ended at 10:11 pm. You had to wait up for another hour-plus to see how Seattle would turn out. So at least when it finally did (11:18 pm), it was worth it for that fifth walkoff of the day.

This little barnburner with the Blue Jays had a little bit of a plot twist in that both the teams scored those 2 runs early. This one had all the zeroes from the 5th inning onward, which also makes you wonder how this takes 4 hours. (A pitcher-injury delay in the 8th didn't help.) But these teams are going to limp along to extra innings as well, still stuck at 2, long after the Dodgers have already won their game on that little single to left by Will Smith. So it makes sense that when J.P. Crawford also deposits a single to left in the bottom of the 10th, well,... no. That game was Trea Turner's feet versus Ian Happ's arm. This one is Abraham Toro versus Lourdes Gurriel. On to the 11th we go. (At least that out didn't represent the winning run and result in a "walkoff" loss. Wait for it.)

The Blue Jays fail to do anything in the 11th, just as they had for several innings prior. It wasn't for lack of trying, however; they ended up stealing four bases in the game, their most in a road game since September 19, 2016, also in Seattle. But in the bottom half it is Sergio Romo who trots out to the mound. As he has done nine other times this year in Seattle. Problem: The Mariners released him in mid-June. It took all of a week before he signed as a free agent for Toronto. And now he's back to give up walkoff homers to his old team. (If he's bitter about the "release" thing, he's got a weird way of showing it.)

The Jays want nothing to do with Carlos Santana and walk him to get to Eugenio Suarez. Who does this. The Mariners had only hit one other multi-run walkoff homer against Toronto; it was by Tom Lampkin on September 8, 1999, in the Jays' second-ever game at Safeco (which opened earlier that summer). It was also Seattle's first 3- or 4-run walkoff dinger in the 11th or later since Bret Boone had a slam against Boston on July 19, 2004.

Although chronologically Smith and then Suarez had the last of our four walkoff hits on Friday, we're circling back to Baltimore. Where the Orioles trailed the Angels 3-0 before Jose Quijada allowed three straight baserunners to start the 7th. And then Ryan Tepera gave up a leadoff double in the 8th. It's back to 3-2 before Shohei Ohtani goes deep in the top of the 9th. That was his third hit of the day, and combined with Mike Trout (who provided those other 3 runs), they're the second set of Angels teammates ever to have 3 hits including a homer in the same game at Camden Yards. If you guessed Bobby Abreu and Juan Rivera, raise-- no you didn't, put your hand down. They did it on August 16, 2009, in a game that featured a 9-run 13th inning.

There would be no 13th innings in this one. Because trailing 4-2 it is time for Raisel Iglesias. Who gets two quick outs to put the Angels on the cusp of victory. Rougned Odor singles and then promptly steals two bases. Not a huge deal, he's not even the tying run yet. But when Adley Rutschman doubles him home, Anaheim, we may have a problem. Cedric Mullins, game-tying RBI single. Iglesias then lets loose a wild pitch and hangs one more meatball to Trey Mancini. Just like that, the Orioles have their walkoff. Iglesias became the first Angels pitcher to give up 4 hits, throw a wild pitch, and blow a save since Scot Shields did it in the 7th against Oakland on August 10, 2005.

The Orioles' last walkoff anything against the Angels was on August 18, 2017, when Manny Machado's third homer of the game was a walkoff slam that was actually caught by Zack Britton out in the bullpen. But as for being down to their last out and then rattling off four straight hits? The O's hadn't pulled that off since June 23, 2009, against the Marlins. And, because Orioles, those 4 hits only tied the game and they still ended up losing in extras.

Alternate Ending 1: The Plunk-Off
(Or, Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops))

The reason we circled back to Baltimore is because they're now going to take us back to Monday. The baseball gods occasionally find it fitting to dole out some weirdness on Independence Day, from Dave Righetti's no-hitter to Nolan Ryan's 3000th strikeout, to The Rick Camp Game.

Monday's contest against the Rangers doesn't quite rise to that level, but it's 5-5 as we approach the late innings. The O's are content to manufacture a run here and there, including a solo homer and an RBI double by Cedric Mullins. Meanwhile, the Rangers like theirs in bunches, especially when Dean Kremer gets bitten by the old "third time through the order" bug. Four singles and a sac fly in the 5th are followed by Mitch Garver's 3-run bomb to knock Kremer out of the game. Baltimore now finds itself having to come back, which it does in the 6th when Nate Lowe boots a ground ball with two runners on. Marcus Semien homers for Texas to start the 9th, and the O's are down to their final out again. That's when Adley Rutschman comes through with an RBI double to postpone the grilling and fireworks just a little longer. It was the first tying or go-ahead double ever hit by the Orioles when down to their final out against the Rangers/Senators franchise.

Matt Moore, who has bounced around to four different teams in five years after his fairly-successful days with Tampa Bay, gets the bottom of the 10th. As has been the case since the free-runner rule started, even going back a few years earlier when the minors started it, if the visitors don't score in the top, the first order of business for the home team is bunting the free runner over to third. Which happens. Except Rougned Odor places it perfectly against his former team and Moore has no play. First and third, nobody out. So even a double play still loses the game. Thus the Instruction Book says your only choice is to set up a force at home by intentionally walking the bases loaded. That brings up Jorge Mateo, and now the only problem with having the bases loaded is that you need to throw some strikes. Not, well, this.

That's the first plunk-off in the majors this season (there were three last year), but it also has a fascinating place in Orioles history. Because since the franchise moved to Baltimore in 1954, they'd never had one! Their last walkoff hit-by-pitch was sustained by Clint Courtney against Ray Scarborough of the Yankees on September 9, 1952. And amazingly, there are at least five other teams to have gone longer than that without one.

As for the Orioles walking off on Independence Day, that had been a while also. They last did that in 1968 against the White Sox when Don Buford drew a bases-loaded walk (also known as "shrimp" in Internet circles). If you're wondering whether we're going to get a bases-loaded walk in this installment somewhere, well, alas, no we're not. But in addition to having the only game-winning hit-by-pitch of the 2022 campaign, the Orioles also have the only game-winning walk so far. It was back on April 15 courtesy of Aroldis Chapman of the Yankees.

Ending 2: Homer-Happy
(Or, I'm Like The Birds, I'll Only Fly Away)

It doesn't necessarily have to be a walkoff to be a fun, crazy ending. Sometimes you want that resolution scene, the epilogue where the characters go gently into that good night. On Monday the Rangers and Orioles traded runs in the 9th to set up that plunk-off. On Tuesday they traded runs in the 9th. And the 8th. And the 7th. And still couldn't figure out who won.

Keegan Akin got to be on the mound for Baltimore for the first 4 Texas runs. Starter Austin Voth melted down in the 5th, left the bases loaded, and although Akin got out of the inning, he did so with those bases empty again, and not via outs. All three runners scored, and then because he'd still only thrown 21 pitches, we'll ship him back out for the 7th to give up a leadoff, tying homer to Mitch Garver. Once again the O's manufacture a couple of runs to take the lead back before Nate Lowe atones for that error on Monday. In the top of the 8th he launches a 3-run shot to greet Nick Vespi and tie the game back up at 7.

Ryan McKenna leads off the 8th by saying, gimme that back. Solo shot, 8-7 Baltimore. Corey Seager shows up in the 9th and says, no, mine. Except his homer comes with Marcus Semien on first and flips the lead back to Texas. It's the first time in team history that they've hit a tying or go-ahead homer in the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings of the same game. And in the entire population of play-by-play on Baseball-Reference, we could not find another visiting team to do that and end up losing the game.

Losing the game, you say. Last thing you want, at least this week, is those Orioles down to their final out again. Rougned Odor, game-tying smash to right-center. 9-9, and marking the second game in the history of Camden Yards to have a homer in T8, B8, T9, and B9. The other was a 14-13 jamboree against the Mariners on May 17, 1996. So off we go to the 10th, and you know this drill by now. The Rangers don't score, so Robinson Chirinos-- facing Matt Moore again-- must try to bunt. He pops it up and fouls out. Eventually it's Cedric Mullins, who has been hanging around these other two walkoffs but not involved yet, who doubles home the free runner for a 10-9 win. The O's have hit just four walkoff doubles against the Rangers/Senators, and we're going so far back that there are two each against of them! Earl Williams hit one off Don Stanhouse on June 17, 1973; the others happened just down the road at RFK Stadium. Frank Robinson had one on September 29, 1970, and Cam Carreon did it on June 8, 1966.

Ending 3: Bounce-Off
(Or, Driving In The Rush Hour)

Speaking of just down the road in Washington, the Nationals spent their first three seasons at RFK before finally finishing their new place on South Capitol Street. (Just in time, too, since RFK notably caught on fire this week.) Ask any DC local about July 4 in downtown Washington, and you'll get the same answer that New Yorkers give about New Year's Eve in Times Square: Why on earth would anyone do that? So after a couple of major snarls of the transportation system (the 2010 game was at 1:30 and lasted 4 hours, by which time everything north and west of the stadium was shut down for the festivities on the Mall), MLB moved the traditional Nationals home game to 11 am beginning in 2012.

Monday's edition of Marlins/Nats was a snoozefest because, well, it's still morning. Luke Williams found his way on base to start the 3rd and eventually scored when Jesús Aguilar dumped one down the left-field line. But that was all until around 1:00, when Ehire Adrianza's energy drink kicked in and he stole second base. Then Luis Garcia punched a single down the opposite line, and here we are at 1-1. Gulp. Somewhere in the bowels of the Metro Operations Center and the Park Police, someone is grateful for the free-runner rule. Because otherwise this might never have ended. We did have some bouncing going on when Tanner Rainey's third pitch sends Miguel Rojas to third. But ultimately that doesn't matter because Bryan De La Cruz says, here, have some fireworks. The only other Marlins batters with an extra-inning homer at Nationals Park are Donnie Murphy on September 17, 2011, and Jeremy hermida on April 18, 2009. And Luis Garcia is up in the 10th with two on and a chance to walk this off, but the energy drink seems to have worn off and he ends up grounding into a double play. The Nats leave their tying run at first and have lost three of the last four Independence Day games.

The reason we threw this under the "bounce-off" header is because, one, that's one of the few walkoffs that we still haven't had yet in 2022*. And two, the last July 4 afternoon game (1:00) in Washington was also the last one to go to extra innings such as Monday's did. In 2011 they beat the Cubs when (who else?) Carlos Marmol uncorked a wild pitch to score Jayson Werth.

(* - There is one walkoff win that began with a wild pitch, by the Padres on June 11. But free runner Manny Machado was still on second when it was thrown. Elias Diaz tried to get Machado advancing at third and, well, didn't. Technically he scores on the E2 and this gets filed under an "error-off", not a bounce-off.)

Ending 4: Error-Off!
(Or, Slippery When Met)

No worries, we've got a new error-off to add to that Rockies fiasco from a month ago. Does it surprise you that the Mets are involved? Usually that calls to mind two famous Mets error-offs, The Bill Buckner Play, and/or Michael Kay yelling "he dropped the ball!". And there will be a Mets error involved. But it's the alternate ending that you're not expecting.

Of course Saturday's game with the Marlins begins with a Mets error as well, in the form of a catcher's interference call on James McCann. Jesús Aguilar might be turning into the new Jacoby Ellsbury or Paul Goldschmidt whose stance and swing are such that he gets this call without even "trying". Because of the 36 CI calls in Marlins history, he now has eight of them. Nobody else has more than two. Other than a few extra pitches, that doesn't cost them, though, and the Mets actually take a 1-0 lead on a Pete Alonso homer in the 4th. Which Carlos Carrasco gives back on his way off the mound by allowing 3 hits and a walk in the 6th. Then, in one of those "life is unfair" moments, Seth Lugo comes in and bounces a pitch to Bryan De La Cruz to score the go-ahead run and put Carrasco on the hook for a loss.

Francisco Lindor will take care of that by hitting the first lead-flipping homer in the 6th or later for the Mets against the Marlins since Wilmer Flores off Chris Narveson on September 6, 2015. Aguilar is up again to start the 8th, and maybe McCann should have just tackled him and gotten another CI call. He launches a game-tying homer off Adam Ottavino, becoming (the Mets TV broadcast actually called us out to look this up) the first player in Marlins history with a homer, a double, a single, and a CI call in the same game. No player for any team had done it since J.D. Martinez in one of those score-a-paloozas the Sawx and Yankees put on in London in 2019.

Problem: Game now tied. Jon Berti leads off the 10th with a roller to deep short that Lindor knocks down, but rather than seeing there's no one at third and conceding the single, he does this. That gives the Marlins the lead and becomes unearned when Berti gets picked off second and Miami fails to do anything else. Tanner Scott will pitch the bottom half, get two quick strikeouts, and another Mets Classic is about to be written. Well, yes. Because Tomas Nido sends Scott's first pitch into left field to score the free runner and tie the game. In our new world of position players batting 9th in the NL, Nido also had 2 hits and a sac bunt back on June 6 in San Diego, and joins pitcher Rick Aguilera (1985) as the only Mets #9 batters to have that line twice in a season.

Except now we're tied again. With 2 outs and Nido on second. Cue the error-off. As it turns out, the Mets' last error-off win was also against the Marlins, but it took them 4½ months to get it. Remember that weird game from last April that, under MLB's bizarre series of rule changes, got suspended in the 1st inning and sat out there for 142 days? When that finally resumed on the last day of August, the Mets won it on a game-ending error after rallying for 5 runs in the 9th. On Saturday the Mets somehow pieced together just 5 hits in an extra-inning game but scored 5 runs and won. That had only happened once before in their history, on May 4, 1995 at Montreal when Todd Hundley hit a grand slam in the 10th.

Ending 5: Coming Home

We told you the Dodgers would be making another appearance. They played a most unusual game with Colorado on Wednesday which pretty much followed our usual script of being ho-hum, nothing happening, occasionally it's good pitching, but you're not looking for fireballs out of Mitch White and Jose Ureña (no offense meant). Sometimes it's just weak hitting that leads to all those zeroes. White actually made it into the 6th and notched our longest no-hit bid of the week before Brendan Rodgers blooped a little flare off the end of the bat in front of Cody Bellinger. Kris Bryant, who had walked in front of him, took off on the pitch and ends up at third despite Bellinger's attempt to get him. But hang on, what's this? It's hard to see from that clip, but after Justin Turner deflects the errant throw, the ball ends up bouncing off a TV camera that is out of play next to the Dodgers' dugout. On the replay you see both umpires call it at exactly the same time, and Bud Black's challenge was denied. That means Bryant gets one more free base and is, well, coming home. 1-0 Rockies.

That lead would only last a couple innings, though. Ureña gives up two singles before leaving in the 7th, and then Jake Bird is letting them fly. Hits the first batter, Austin Barnes, to load 'em up. Then uncorks a wild pitch to score Bellinger from third. Tie game. And on to the bottom of the 9th, which Daniel Bard will get to pitch for the Rockies. Bellinger and Gavin Lux lead off with singles. Will Smith draws a walk. Bases loaded, no outs, tie game. Only way to avoid losing is to, well, come home. Hence the famous five-man infield. And in a possible case of "too many cooks", Mookie Betts bounces one over the pitcher's mound like a wet bar of soap, Bard screens Jose Iglesias who almost collides with Rodgers before grabbing the ball. Meanwhile Bellinger has come sprinting down the line for the win.

Initially this was scored a walkoff infield single since Iglesias never made a play on anyone. However, the standard for that is whether the batter-runner could have been retired at first. Our vote is that, had Iglesias not been trying to figure out what to do about Bellinger, he did have time to get Betts, even though it would have been pointless. So after the game the call got changed to an FCX (fielder's choice, no out), which also isn't a perfect solution. The rule about that defines an FC in a way that involves "an attempt to put out a preceding runner", which there wasn't. So there's no good answer. But since it serves our purposes for the moment, we'll roll with it.

The Dodgers' last walkoff FCX was on August 5, 2014, in a Freeway Series game against the Angels. Andre Ethier hit it, and Juan Uribe beat the play at the plate. They'd never had a walkoff FC (with or without an out) against Colorado. As for Bellinger, who was in some way responsible for all 3 runs in the game, he was the first Dodgers batter with 3 hits, a steal, and both runs scored in a 2-0 or 2-1 win since Steve Sax did that against Houston on September 21, 1983.

And remember that bloop single by Rodgers in the 6th? Guess how many other hits the Rockies got after that. It was the sixth time in Colorado history that they'd been 1-hit in a game but still scored a run; the previous was June 17, 2016, at Miami. And the Dodgers hadn't held the Rockies to 1 hit in a game since Clayton Kershaw didn't even allow the 1 on June 18, 2014.

And as fun as Friday was, we narrowly escaped a sixth walkoff when the Brewers held on for a win over the Pirates. Daniel Vogelbach is Pittsburgh's last hope, but there are runners at the corners in a 4-2 game. Vogey drops a single to right to easily score the lead run. Kevin Newman heads for third and inexplicably just keeps chugging. It's unclear whether he ran a stop sign or not, but relay man Willy Adames already has the ball by this point. Newman is a sitting duck at the plate by about five steps. Third out. Ballgame over. Brewers win 4-3.

We found about a half-dozen other instances of the Pirates having a tying run thrown out at the plate to end a game, the most recent being Jung Ho Kang against the Giants on April 21, 2019. But he was trying to score from first on a double. We could find no other occurrences in Pirates history of a runner being thrown out at the plate who was trying to score from first on a single, and only two others in the majors in the past five seasons. Kyle Lewis of the Mariners was the last such unlucky duck against the Rangers on May 8, 2021.

Ending 6: A-Bohm-Ination
(Or, It's No Sacrifice)

If it seems like the Cardinals and Phillies just played each other, you're not wrong. Seems to be a lot of weirdness in the MLB schedule this year, such that these two met for a series in Philadelphia just last weekend before turning around and doing it again in St Louis this weekend. So they've met.

On Friday the Phillies get the fun of facing Adam Wainwright, still doing his thing as he approaches his 41st birthday next month. And it appeared that, at least one for day, the only Phillies batter who could solve him was Alec Bohm, also a 1st-round draft pick... some 18 years after Wainwright. This thing is all zeroes for 5 innings, although both teams got a single in the 1st, so at least we don't have that to worry about. Zack Wheeler is flirting with a few more baserunners on the other side, but this one really is landing on the side of "pitchers' duel". Finally Bohm leads off the top of the 6th with a towering homer to straightaway center. Waino then retires eight more Phillies in a row on only 28 pitches before Bohm is up again. And all he does is hit another, um, Bohm. (It's really a long "o", as in \boam\, but the other way is fun too.)

Annnnnd that would be all that happens. Wheeler gets replaced but Waino retires four of the last five Phillies batters to "preserve" a 2-0 loss? Yes, a 9-inning CG loss because the game is at home. And it's neat how the baseball gods sometimes throw neat coincidences at us. You see, Alec Bohm is the first batter in Phillies history (1882) to have two solo homers in a game the team won 2-0. They have had a handful of players do it in a 2-1 win, most recently Rhys Hoskins on April 26 of last season. That Hoskins game was... in St Louis. Against Adam Wainwright. Who threw a 9-inning complete-game loss in it. You can't make this up (unless there's an alternate ending to the alternate ending). In the past 50 years only two other Cardinals pitchers have recorded multiple CG losses against the Phillies, Joaquin Andujar and Bob Forsch. And in that game last year, Waino gave up a total of 6 hits. On Friday it was only 5. Which gets him the distinction of throwing the Cardinals' first 9-inning CG loss while allowing 5 hits and 0 walks since Tex Carleton did it against the Cubs on April 21, 1934.

At least on Saturday the Phillies don't have to deal with Waino. They do have to solve Dakota Hudson, but that feels like it should be at least a little easier. Unfortunately, the rotation was set up such that Hudson didn't pitch in last week's series. In fact the Phillies haven't faced him since May 2019, and only got 1 run off him then.

Hudson matches wits with Kyle Gibson, with everyone snoozing along on a Saturday afternoon to a 0-0 deadlock. By the 7th inning, both starters have allowed just 2 hits and depart with neither one getting a decision. The Cards almost break through in the 8th but Albert Pujols gets intentionally walked (because Albert Pujols) and the Phillies escape. Finally in the 9th Darick Hall greets new pitcher Giovanny Gallegos with a leadoff double. Pinch runner Mickey Moniak gets bunted to third and then scores on a sac fly... by Alec Bohm. Corey Knebel quickly gets himself in a second-and-third jam in the bottom of the 9th but gets a key grounder to first where the runners have to hold. Corey Dickerson flies to right and the Phillies have held on for a 1-0 win, their first against any team since beating the Red Sox on June 15, 2017. Since Colorado dropped off this list last month, the Phillies had gone the longest of any club without a 1-0 win, and this time it's not close. The "honor" now passes to Arizona, but the jump is over 2 years, to the final week of the 2019 season.

The Phillies hadn't won a 1-0 game via sac fly since April 5, 2012, at Pittsburgh (Carlos Ruiz), and hadn't done it in the 9th inning since David Bell walked off against the Nationals 17 years earlier to the day. As for the Cardinals, they just got shut out by the Phillies in back-to-back games, something which hadn't happened since July of 1951.

Then there's Alec Bohm. Obviously it's not hard to drive in every run for your team in a 1-0 or even a 2-0 game. But the only other Phillies batter this century to pull that off in back-to-back contests and have the Phils win both of them was Jimmy Rollins against the Reds on July 10 and 11, 2010.

Ending 7: The One Where The Yankees Lose
(Or, In The Aarons Tonight)

No, really, in some parallel universe this is actually possible. Hidden around baseball there are portals to the other side. The Coke bottle in San Francisco may be one. If you jump on the Mets' apple as it descends it may take you there. Definitely that Marlins home-run sculpture which was so bad that The Other Side sent it here and then decommissioned it. At Fenway Park there are several choices, from the Ted Williams red seat to those strange garage doors in the outfield to the Morse code on the scoreboard.

Whatever it is, Alex Verdugo finally found it on Saturday. Stop us if this sounds familiar, but it's 1-1 after 5 innings. Kutter Crawford is, however, done on the mound after 88 pitches, and that lets Anthony Rizzo and Josh Donaldson team up to take the lead in the 6th. Rob Refsnyder, who spent four seasons in Scranton waiting for a bus to New York that never really showed up, has bounced around, landed with the Sawx (it's a much shorter bus ride to Worcester), and answers his old mates with a solo shot in the bottom. That still means Boston needs another run to tie this up, and they have to hope the Yankees don't pull their usual stunt of blowing up for 6 runs in the 8th.

The alternate ending known as John Schreiber and Tanner Houck keep them from doing just that. Like Crawford before him, the Yankees have probably never seen much of either one, and every so often the tactic of confusion works. And it provides the opening for J.D. Martinez to double in the 8th. Clay Holmes is then brought in to give up the tying single to Verdugo. Neither team gets the ball out of the infield in the 9th, and away we go.

In the 10th the Yankees have no problem with Jake Diekman. Thanks to the free runner, Aaron Judge hits the rare (but we're kinda getting used to it) leadoff go-ahead double to score Jose Trevino. Then Anthony Rizzo doubles home Judge to make it 5-3. The Yankees had not hit multiple RBI doubles in the same extra inning since Joe Pepitone and Elston Howard did it in Kansas City on July 15, 1963. And it turns out they got walked off in that game too.

Jeter Downs, who pinch-ran in the 8th, is back up to single in the free runner. Refsynder has also reached base in the meantime, so there's two on but the Sawx are down to their final out, and this will probably end not with a bang but a wh-- aaaaat was that Alex Verdugo? That's a walkoff single when down to their last out, a thing the Red Sox had not hit since Julio Lugo connected against Baltimore on May 13, 2007. Their last one in extras, and their last one against the Yankees, was by Manny Ramirez off Mariano Rivera on April 13, 2001.

That also gave Verdugo a game-tying hit in the 8th and a walkoff hit later in the same game, which no Boston batter had done since David Ortiz on May 14, 2016. And while the Internet got a kick out of "Jeter" Downs scoring the walkoff run against the Yankees, he's the first Sawx player to have 2 runs including a walkoff in a game he didn't start since Bernard Gilkey on August 17, 2000.

On Friday the portal was apparently closed, because that turned into your typical Yankees outburst. Just not with the usual cast. Josh Donaldson, of the .402 slugging percentage, hit the first 3- or 4-run homer for the Bombers at Fenway since Didi Gregorius on August 2, 2018. Matt Carpenter, who went 0-for-5 on Thursday, added a run in the 2nd. Joey Gallo, who had 5 total bases in his last 15 games and would probably be parked in the 10th spot in the order if there was one, took his slash line of .165/.286/.335 all the way to third base and then got greedy. He did get the honor of being the first Yankees batter to be out stretching a triple into an inside-the-parker since Brett Gardner tried to do it to lead off a game with the Mets on August 1, 2016. It also gave Gallo the second multi-run triple ever hit by the Yankees at Fenway Park, after Al Downing on June 3, 1966.

That play was enough to knock Connor Seabold out of the game, but the damage is done. It's 7-2, Carpenter homers again, there's a double steal with a throw gone bad, a failed attempt to get the lead runner on a sac bunt, and even though Boston connects for a couple more homers off Nestor Cortes, it's 11-5 by the time we hit the 8th. And since the Sawx have to save all those strange unknown pitchers for tomorrow, how about an otherwise-known player where nobody has any clue whether he can pitch. Enter Jackie Bradley Jr. Trevino gets him for a single. Joey Gallo has returned from his out-of-body experience and pops up to the infield against a position player. But JBJ then actually gets DJ LeMahieu to strike out before issuing walks to Aaron Judge and Isiah Kiner-Falefa to score the 12th and final Yankees run. He's the first Boston position player to pitch against the Yankees since Mike Carp on April 24, 2014, and he walked five batters!

Overall the 12-5 final was the Yankees' highest score at Fenway since a 13-8 on September 2, 2015, that included back-to-back homers from the great Greg Bird and John Ryan Murphy. Friday's conspicuous absense belonged to Judge, who went 0-for-5 with 3 strikeouts. Only 11 batters in Yankees history have done that in a game where the team notched a dozen runs; Luke Voit (September 17, 2019) was the previous one. And Lucas Luetge was handed a 4-run lead in the 6th, which the Yankees just kept on extending. So the leash actually got longer; he became the first Yankees pitcher to get a 3-inning save against Boston since Dwight Gooden on September 10, 2000.

Ah, but if that leash was long, we must turn back the time machine two more days. Yes, we finally got to The Game We Had To Write About. The one where the Yankees set up shop in Springfield, Va. We'll explain.

Wednesday's finale in Pittsburgh was delayed by rain for over an hour. The Pirates probably wish it hadn't started at all, although it's the Yankees' only trip in, so it wasn't up to them. Things are fine for 4 innings until Mitch Keller gives up 2 runs in the 5th. And then back-to-back homers from the "blind squirrel finds a nut" duo of Josh Donaldson and Joey Gallo in the 6th. (Remember those 5 total bases Gallo had in 15 games? Here's 4 of them.) Tyler Beede will get to pitch the 7th and surrender a leadoff dinger to Kyle Higashioka. So it's 5-0 when Manny Bañuelos finally gets another chance to pitch in a Yankee game. There's only one problem-- he's pitching against them.

Bañuelos, signed as an international free agent by the Yankees just after his 17th birthday in 2008, floated around the middle levels of their minor-league system for seven seasons. He was finally traded on New Year's Day 2015 to the Braves for Chasen Shreve. After bouncing around triple-A for a few more years, he signed another free-agent deal with the Yankees in March. But a couple weeks ago, when the Yankkes needed to call up J.P. Sears for a spot start, they couldn't send Bañuelos back down because he's long been out of minor-league options. The Pirates scooped him up in exchange for the bebulous "cash considerations". So, like Sergio Romo returning to Seattle earlier, who's to say what he's thinking when Aaron Judge and friends come up to the plate against him? And if you're going to give up a grand slam to Judge, you might as well do it when you're already down 5-0. After five straight hits, including that one, Bañuelos doesn't get out of the inning, and it's up to Chris Stratton to give up another run before escaping. It's now 10-0 and if we're not going to have Free Runner Land, we're probably going to end up in Position Player Pitching Land instead. (That needs a catchier title. We're working on it.)

Second baseman Josh VanMeter had already pitched in two other blowouts for the Pirates this season, but that seems to be his only other professional pitching experience. So it's no surprise that on four consecutive pitches, he gives up four hard-hit liners, one of which happens to be caught. But that still loads up the bases for Aaron Hicks, who blasts another grand slam to make it 14-0. Two pitches later, Giancarlo Stanton has emerged from his slumber and gone back-to-back. But nope, VanMeter is out there until his arm falls off, as they say. Two more singles and a walk follow before Higashioka wraps up the scoring with a single up the middle. DJ LeMahieu finally says, that's enough and grounds out to end the game. 16-0 with the Yankees' line score ending 2-2-1-5-6 (that's the Springfield, Va., ZIP code, hence the earlier reference). It's the Yankees' largest road shutout since April 30, 1960, in Baltimore, and tied for the third-largest shutout in any interleague game. The only other time the Yankees hit 6 homers in a road interleague game was July 10, 1999, at Shea (and they still lost).

We didn't mention it, but Judge, LeMahieu, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa each collected 3 hits and got plunked by a pitch in this mess. Only one other trio in MLB's modern era has done that in the same game-- Ryan Braun, Mike Moustakas, and Christian Yelich for the Brewers on May 16, 2019. As for VanMeter, he became just the second true position player in Pirates history to get hung out there long enough to give up 6 runs on the mound. Wilmer Difo took one for the team in the 20-1 game against Atlanta last May. And that grand slam by Aaron Hicks, well, Hicks didn't even start the game. He entered in the 7th when Matt Carpenter was given the rest of the night off. Only Curtis Granderson (2012) and Dan Pasqua (1987) had collected a homer, a double, and 4 RBI for the Yankees in a game they didn't start.

Yes, about those grand slams. The last time the Yankees had two of them in a game, was still that famous time they hit three, against Oakland on August 25, 2011. The only other games in Yankees history with multiple slams were on September 14, 1999 (Bernie Williams & Paul O'Neill); June 29, 1987 (Don Mattingly & Dave Winfield); and May 24, 1936 (Tony Lazzeri by himself, this is his 11-RBI game where he became the first player ever to hit two slams). No team had hit multiple slams in the 8th or later of the same game since Nolan Reimold and Steve Clevinger of the Orioles did it on September 11, 2015.

You may notice one other thing about those slams by Judge and Hicks. Not only are they the first Aarons to hit grand slams in the first game, but our friends at Baseball Reference report they are the first teammates with any shared first name to do it. (Disclaimer: We didn't independently check this, so no clue how they treated nicknames or initialisms like "D.J." LeMahieu for this purpose.) Perhaps Aaron's, the rent-to-own place, should consider buying a billboard or something.

Ending 8: We're Just Not Gonna Keep Score
(Or, Count Your Blessings Instead Of Runs)

One way to change the ending is to not really know what it is. Sometimes when a team is on the wrong end of a blowout, you'll see them avoid it entirely, with social-media posts of cute kittens or a conveniently-placed censor box where the score would otherwise be. In addition to the Pirates, at least two other teams probably considered it this weekend.

Lest we run out of games to talk about on Friday, the Braves unloaded for a 12-2 win over the Nationals after Erick Fedde got tagged for 8 runs in 3 innings. Matt Olson started things with a solo shot in the 1st, but the 2nd then featured walking the bases loaded, a 2-run double from Michael Harris, and then a 3-run bomb out of Ronald Acuña. Juan Soto answered by plating the Nationals' 2 runs in the top of the 3rd, but Atlanta added more in the 3rd when William Contreras went yard. It was the first time the Braves had homered in each of the first 3 innings at their "new" stadium, and the first time they'd done it in any home game since Gary Sheffield joined Chipper and Andruw Jones against the Pirates on June 7, 2003. Fedde joined Patrick Corbin (2021), Livan Hernandez (2005), and Tomo Ohka (2003) as the only pitchers in franchise history to give up 8 runs and 3 homers without making it to the 4th inning.

Harris tacked on a second homer in the 8th, giving the Braves' #1 and #9 batters (he and Acuña) a homer and 3 RBI in the same game. That had only happened twice before in team history; Acuña teamed with Ehire Adrianza to do it last year against the Pirates, and the other was back in the long-ago time when pitchers actually batted. Red Schoendienst and Lew Burdette did it for Milwaukee on August 13, 1957.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, the Guardians apparently heard us writing about the AL Central's lack of offense. They erupted for 4 doubles, 2 singles, and a home run just in the first 2 innings to go up 6-0 on Kansas City. That knocked Jonathan Heasley out of the game, which means we're going to squeeze as much out of Jackson Kowar as we can. If by that, you mean Cleveland is going to hammer him for 5 more hits, 2 walks, and a 3-run homer by Nolan Jones in the 4th inning alone before he has to go as well. It's the second time this century that the Royals' first two pitchers of a game each gave up 5 earned runs in under 3 IP; Brad Keller and Jorge Lopez did it on August 26, 2019, against Oakland. And if you've never heard of Nolan Jones, that's fine too. His MLB debut was Friday. He had a pair of hits in that one as well. By the time this is over, he's going to join Roy Weatherly (1936) and Riggs Stephenson (1921) as the only ones to play their first two MLB games with Cleveland and have 2 hits and at least 1 RBI in both of them.

By the time this is over, the Royals have managed only an unearned run in the 7th after Micahel Taylor reaches on an error. And heck, he did so well at that, let's let him pitch. Not even in the 9th with an 11-1 deficit, but the 8th. He's going to end up "throwing" (we use the term loosely) 37 pitches and giving up 4 more hits, including a homer to Amed Rosario, before limping over the finish line with a score of 13-1. The only other Royals position players to have a 2-IP outing on the mound are David Howard (1994), Bill Pecota (1991), and Joe Simpson (1983).

And while the 13 runs are impressive enough for Cleveland, they do have moments where the stars align. In fact they seem to do it a lot at Kauffman Stadium, where they also hung a 17-3 win back in April. (Maybe the fountains are one of those portals. Note to self.) No, the big number on Saturday was the "23" in the Guardians' hits column, just the fifth time in the past 35 years they've reached that number. Oddly, though, those other four were two home games in Cleveland and two road games at the current Yankee Stadium, one of those being their famous 14-run inning on April 18, 2009. That game was the last time before Saturday that Cleveland had five players with 3 hits each. The last time they had 23 hits in a game other than those two parks was at County Stadium in Milwaukee on September 6, 1986. But looking back at that 17-3 game from April, they sure did come close. That one featured a more-efficient 17-on-22, making the Guardians the first team since 1939 to have multiple 22-hit road games against the same opponent in the same season. Who else but the Yankees did it that year at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.

Ending 9: Whatever The Reds Just Did
(Or, Walk Off This Way)

You might have heard a little something earlier in the season about the Reds being, well, not good. Most of their division is also, well, not good. So it never shocks us when we see a low-scoring 2-1 game come out of the Upper Midwest and somebody takes a no-hitter into the 6th or 7th. It's sort of the new AL West. The Mets, however, have been pretty good. They've been trading the best record in the NL with the Dodgers lately. On Tuesday they had Max Scherzer on the mound. And they're locked in a scoreless tie with the Reds because they can't figure out... *checks notes*... Nick Lodolo?

Lodolo was the Reds' 1st-round pick in 2019 out of TCU, and he made his MLB debut in April. So the Mets have no idea what to do with him because they've never seen him before. By the 6th inning they have managed 3 hits but also 8 strikeouts against him, and one of the hits got picked off. On the other side, Max is being Max, and so after a succession of relievers throw an inning apiece, we end up in the 9th still as a scoreless tie. It will finally be Tommy Pham who leads off B9 for the Reds with a double, the only extra-base hit in the game for either team. Three batters later, Mike Moustakas is hitting another of those "dramatic" walkoff sac flies for the 1-0 Reds win. Since the SF stat became official in 1954, the Reds had never had a walkoff one to win 1-0. Their last walkoff of any kind against the Mets was an Adam Duvall homer on May 9, 2018. Moose also got hit with a pitch earlier in the game and is the third Reds batter in team history with a plunking and a sac fly. The others both did it in the same game!-- Mike Lum and Cesar Geronimo on May 16, 1976.

Fast-forward to Saturday. A few weeks ago we mentioned how strange it was to have the Cardinals visiting Tropicana Field. This week it was strange to see the Rays in Cincinnati. It was not strange to have another 1-0 game go into the 8th inning before Harold Ramirez added a 2-run double and Tampa Bay needed just six more outs. Which they got. But not before Brooks Raley gave up a pair of singles and hit a batter, and then Colin Poche allowed all three inherited runners to score. That sends us away to Free Runner Land where Harold Ramirez comes up again in the 10th. And he connects for his third double of the game to trade places with Josh Lowe and become the second batter in Rays history with 3 doubles and 3 RBI in a game. Gerald Williams did it at Shea on June 4, 2000. He's also just the second Rays batter with any 3-hit game in Cincinnati, after Julio Lugo on June 8, 2005.

Alas, that would not be enough against this strange new breed of Reds. Rookie Calvin Faucher is entrusted with the 1-run lead and "protects" it by giving up three straight singles to score not just the free run, but lead runner Matt Reynolds for the walkoff. Faucher is the first Rays pitcher to give up 3 hits, record 0 outs, and get both a blown save and a loss, since-- look at how this works out-- Sergio Romo on August 8, 2018. But he's also the first in Rays history to do so while also uncorking a wild pitch (even though that did not affect the ultimate result).

Now, we didn't have time to mention it with everything else that was happening, but the Reds also walked off last Sunday's game against Atlanta on an Albert Almora single. Then the 1-0 Mets game on Tuesday. After having no walkoff wins in their first 77 games, the Reds somehow exploded for four walkoffs in the span of seven days, the first time any team had done that since the Giants in July 2019, and the first time Cincinnati had done it since August 1984.

Wait a minute, four? Mm-hmm. Remember way at the beginning when we said there were five walkoffs on Friday but we were keeping you in suspense about one of them? Here it is.

True to form, that Friday game was also 1-1 with the Reds managing just 4 hits, 3 of them off Shane McClanahan in the first 3 innings before he settled down and ended by retiring 10 straight. Their only baserunners were a walk against Colin Poche and a hit batter in the 9th who then got erased on a double play. So this one went to the 10th without the Rays scoring in their half, and we know this script by now. Bunt the free runner to third because you never know what might happen.

The Reds' only other walkoff win against Tampa Bay was on June 8, 2005, when Wily Mo Peña hit a 2-run jack. Then, adding Saturday's game back in, they did it twice in a row. That's also just the third time the Rays have been walked off in back-to-back games by a National League opponent; the others were in May 2008 at St Louis and June 2002 at Colorado.

As for collecting only 4 hits in a game and winning, the Reds hadn't done that since... well... Tuesday, in that previous walkoff win against the Mets. The last time they had two such games in a season and had both wins come in walkoff fashion... was in 1904!

And of course you want to know about the balk-off. Okay, it's not the rarest play (a walkoff CI hasn't happened since 1971), but Yahoo Sports identified only 23 balk-offs known to have occurred in MLB history. The last one in the majors was on August 18, 2018, when Dylan Floro of the Dodgers attempted to step off the rubber after already coming set. The last time the Reds won a game via balk-off... April 28, 1965, when one was called against Ernie Broglio of the Cubs.

Balks make everything funner.

Bottom Of The Bag

⚾ Yordan Alvarez, Monday: First walkoff homer in Astros history against the Royals. Leaves three opponents (BAL, CHW, MIN) against whom they've never hit one.

⚾ Nick Martinez, Friday: First Padres pitcher to collect three 3-inning saves in the same season since Mike Maddux in 1992.

⚾ J.P. Crawford, Tuesday: Second multi-run triple ever hit by Mariners against the Padres. Bret Boone off Tim Redding, June 24, 2005.

⚾ Giants, Sunday: Largest road shutout of any team since a 15-0 in St Louis on August 8, 2012. First one ever by double digits in San Diego.

⚾ Mookie Betts, Thursday: First leadoff homer for Dodgers in a home game against the Cubs since Dave Roberts on August 9, 2003.

⚾ Marcus Semien, Saturday: First leadoff batter in Rangers history NOT named Ian Kinsler to have a homer, a triple, and 4 RBI in a game. (Kinsler did it twice.)

⚾ Kyle Schwarber, Tuesday: First Phillies batter to hit a leadoff homer against the Nats/Expos at Citizens Bank Park. Last at The Vet was by Doug Glanville on August 27, 2002.

⚾ Kyle Schwarber, Tue-Wed: First Phillies batter to have back-to-back multi-homer games at home since Dolph Camilli at Baker Bowl in July 1936.

⚾ Mets, Sunday: First extra-inning game where they scored 0 runs and had 0 extra-base hits since a 1-0 loss on September 11, 1985, to the Cardinals and pitcher John Tudor.

⚾ Rafael Devers, Thursday: Second batter in Red Sox history to have 5 RBI accounting for all the team's runs in a loss. Adrian Beltre did it against Cleveland on August 2, 2010.

⚾ Carlos Rodon, Saturday: First complete game with 12 strikeouts for a Giants pitcher since Jake Lamb broke up Madison Bumgarner's no-hitter in the 8th on July 10, 2016.

⚾ Tigers, Monday: First time sweeping a home doubleheader from Cleveland since August 7, 1986.

⚾ Tigers, Tue-Wed: First time defeating Cleveland by 6+ runs on consecutive days since May 10-11, 1997.

⚾ Mariners, Saturday: First time having 3 or fewer hits in a game against Toronto and winning. Had been only remaining AL opponent (including Milwaukee) against whom they'd never done it.

⚾ Joan Adon, Thursday: Third pitcher in live-ball era to collect 12 losses in his first 14 appearances of a season. Others are Bobo Newsom of the A's in 1945 and Boston's Red Ruffing in 1929.

⚾ Orioles, Mon-Wed: First time sweeping a 3-game series with all the wins by 1 run since June 25-27, 2010, against Washington.

⚾ Carlos Santana, Sat-Sun: First player in Mariners history to hit a lead-flipping homer in the 7th inning or later of back-to-back team games.

⚾ Josh Rojas, Friday: Third player ever to have a homer, a double, a walk, a sac bunt, a stolen base, and 3 RBI in the same game. Others: Kenny Lofton (1992) and Reggie Jackson (1968).

⚾ Dansby Swanson, Monday: First Braves batter with 2 doubles and 3 RBI against the Cardinals since Rafael Belliard on May 8, 1991.

⚾ Gavin Lux, Tuesday: Second triple of the season as Dodgers' #9 batter (also April 15 vs Cincinnati). Last Dodgers #9 to have two was Steve Garvey in 1973.

⚾ Gavin Lux, Sunday: First Dodgers #9 batter with 2 hits and 2 walks in a game since pitcher Tom Zachary on July 6, 1935.

⚾ Austin Slater, Wednesday: Second Giants batter to hit a multi-run, go-ahead double in the 9th inning at Chase Field. Buster Posey had the other on May 14, 2016.

⚾ Victor Caratini, Monday: Second 3- or 4-run walkoff homer in Brewers history against Chicago. The other came when they were in the AL, Scott Fletcher against the White Sox on July 25, 1992.

⚾ Mets, Friday: Third time in team history that they had 5+ hits in a game and all of them were for extra bases. The previous was a mere two weeks ago (June 26) against the Marlins.

⚾ Orioles, Saturday: First 1-0 win over the Angels at home since July 23, 1999, on a Cal Ripken sac fly.

⚾ Rafael Ortega, Tuesday: Second Cubs leadoff batter ever to have a triple and a stolen base in the same game in Milwaukee. Frank Baumholtz did it against the Braves on July 8, 1953.

⚾ Athletics, Wed-Sat: Third time in team history being held to 4 or fewer hits in 4 straight games. Others were in June 1980 and August 1915.

⚾ Reds, Sunday: First time hitting 3 multi-run homers in an inning since August 9, 2002, when they batted around in the 1st against San Diego and won 22-10.

⚾ J.D. Davis & James McCann, Thursday: First game in Mets history where their #8 and #9 batters both recorded 3 RBI.

⚾ Shohei Ohtani, Wednesday: Third straight game with 10+ strikeouts and 0 earned runs allowed. Joins John Lackey (July 2016) and Nolan Ryan (August 1972) as the only Angels pitchers with such a streak.