Last week we brought you an extensive series of walkoffs and strange endings to games. But along the way we also noted a couple varieties of walkoff that hadn't happened yet this year. Well, apparently the baseball gods took notice and decided to drop a few more right in our lap.
We cheated a little bit last week by sneaking a Nationals wild pitch in the 10th inning under the heading of "bounce-offs", even though it didn't actually score the winning run and wouldn't have mattered because of the home run that followed. But it was the closest we could come, given that there had not been a true bounce-off in the majors yet this season. There was a play back in June where the Rockies' Carlos Estevez uncorked one to advance Manny Machado from second to third, but then Elias Diaz's throw went into left field and the Padres technically walked off on the E2. But otherwise we made it more than half the season without a game-ending wild pitch. So of course on Wednesday we not only broke that drought, we flooded it. By having two of them within 62 minutes of each other.
As we have done an inordinate number of times this season, we begin in Miami, where the Pirates are enjoying some mid-July beach time and occasionally remembering they're supposed to be playing a baseball game or four. Pittsburgh did take the first two games by uneventful scores of 5-1 and 3-2. And they held a 1-0 lead going to the 8th inning on Wednesday as well. Except that's when Duane Underwood enters the picture. He gets the ball and, yes, does get two quick outs with it. But then he hits Joey Wendle with said ball. Then he throws enough balls to Jon Berti to put him on base also. Then Jesús Aguilar gets plunked with the ball. Suddenly the bases are loaded and Avisail Garcia does this. With 2 outs and everyone going on contact, Berti easily scores before Aguilar is thrown out at third, and Miami has a 2-1 lead. The only other lead-flipping single ever hit by the Marlins in the 8th or later against Pittsburgh was by Devon White on June 13, 1996. And Underwood is just the third Pirates pitcher to hit two batters and blow a save, joining Alberto Reyes (2002) and Rod Scurry (1982).
Not to worry, Tanner Scott is here to walk the first two batters of the 9th and then give up a game-tying double to Michael Chavis. (So, yes, he gets a blown save also.) And off we go to Free Runner Land, where the Pirates immediately pop off two infield singles to load the bases in the 10th. They end up scoring 2 runs against Zach Pop, incuding another play where the inning ends with a runner being thrown out. So the Marlins now trail 4-2 with David Bednar heading to the mound for B10. Let's see how that goes.
A single advances free runner Bryan De La Cruz to third, but then he gets tagged out when Billy Hamilton bunts one up the third-base line. That's okay, though; the next two batters-- Berti and Aguilar-- also record singles to tie things back up at 4-4. Bednar eventually faces Sanchez with 2 outs and the bases loaded in a tie game, and if you're a Marlins fan, you just hope he doesn't do this.
Yes, that is a first-pitch bounce-off, the first one in the majors for any team this season. Turns out Miami had the previous one as well, on September 20 of last year against the Nationals. The Pirates had not lost a game on a wild pitch since August 31, 2009, in Cincinnati, when Jesse Chavez chunked one.
Speaking of Cincinnati, they happen to be in New York for a little midweek action. But it's not at Citi Field like you would normally expect. No, this is the Reds' first visit to the corner of River Av and 161 St in nearly 5 years, and it had all the makings of a beatdown. The Yankees, of course, have dominated pretty much everyone this season, and while the Reds have recovered somewhat from losing 22 of their first 25 games, they started the week still neck-and-neck with Washington for the worst record in the National League. So this could just be brutal.
This is why we play the games.
In Tuesday's series opener, Gerrit Cole faced Reds rookie Graham Ashcraft, and that went as predicted-- until the 9th inning when they were both hanging out at Stan The Man's Baseball Land across the street. That's when Clay Holmes was handed a 3-0 lead and then handed it right back saying, nah, that's cool, I don't want this. Holmes faced five Reds batters and went walk, single, hit-by-pitch, single, and another plunking to make it 3-2. The only other pitcher in Yankees history to allow 2 hits and plunk 2 batters while recording 0 outs was Cesar Cabral at Tampa Bay on April 18, 2014.
Wandy Peralta gets the [insert sponsor here] Call To The Bullpen and gets two quick outs, but the bases are still loaded. And now everybody's going on contact. Which Jonathan India makes. That's the Reds' first lead-flipping hit when down to their final out since Eugenio Suarez homered in Milwaukee on July 22, 2019. And when Alexis Diaz works around a 1-out walk in the 9th, the Reds have a stunner.
But that's not really why we're here. We're here for the bounce-offs. And just as easily as the Reds stunned the Yankees in the 9th on Tuesday, the favor will be returned some 25 hours later. But not without some early consternation.
Luis Severino gets the start for the Yankees on Wednesday, and by the 2nd inning he's already down 4-0. Kyle Farmer goes deep to left. Mike Moustakas takes advantage of that infamous "short porch" down the right-field line. And then on the very next pitch, Stuart Fairchild, in his first at-bat with Cincinnati, unleashes the Reds' third straight homer. Cincinnati hadn't done that since May 5, 2019, when Eugenio Suarez was followed by Jesse Winker and Derek Dietrich against Giants starter Jeff Samardzija. The Reds were the first visiting team to hit three straight homers at Yankee Stadium since the Twins (Brian Dozier, Trevor Plouffe, and Max Kepler) did it on June 26, 2016. And the only other time the Reds played at Yankee Stadium and had three different batters homer-- consecutive or not-- was on June 4, 2003, with one of those hit by none other than Aaron Boone.
Boone, now managing from the other dugout, watches his charges bat around in the 3rd, culminating with a bases-loaded double by Isiah Kiner-Falefa to give the Yankees the lead at 5-4. They had not had a 3-run lead-flipping double since Didi Gregorius connected against Brian Flynn of the Royals on May 30, 2016. And now things calm down a little, save for the Reds scoring 2 in the 5th to take the lead back. That would be where Giancarlo Stanton comes in. He homers into that porch in right to lead off the bottom of the 8th and tie things back up at 6-6. in their history, the Yankees have only hit two other tying or go-ahead homers in the 8th or later against Cincinnati-- and both of them came in the same game. That game was only in the 1961 World Series at Crosley Field, and the taters were by Johnny Blanchard (to tie in the 8th) and Roger Maris (to go ahead in the 9th).
But some 61 years later, here we find ourselves back in Free Runner Land. Kyle Farmer grounds into a double play to erase the Reds' threat in the 10th, and pitcher Alexis Diaz must keep the Yankees off the board to keep this thing alive. He strikes out Aaron Judge, which is some kind of accomplishment. But with Stanton up, Diaz uncorks a wild pitch to advance free runner DJ LeMahieu to third. Probably shouldn't do that again. But before we can tell him that,...
Diaz just became the second pitcher in Reds history to give up 0 hits and 0 earned runs, but throw 2 wild pitches and get a loss. Manny Aybar pulled it off in the 14th inning against the Dodgers on May 22, 2000. And the last time the Yankees won an extra-inning game on a bounce-off? Why, that's a mere eighty years ago. Jack Wilson of the Senators uncorked a wild pitch to score Frankie Crosetti on May 10, 1942.
Carp-e Diem
The Yankees weren't done with their Adventures In Endings, however. They would finish off their series with the Reds on Thursday night by not getting a hit against Luis Castillo until the 6th inning. So we were knotted at 1-1 when Castillo and Yankees starter Nestor Cortes both departed in favor of... um... Jeff Hoffman and Jonathan Loaisiga. The latter only gave up 4 singles, leading to 3 runs, in the top of the 8th, but that only unleashes the Yankees Comeback Machine. Aaron Judge leads off the bottom half with a solo shot against Hoffman, and Gleyber Torres later ties it with a 2-out, 2-run dinger. Remember Giancarlo Stanton's tying homer in the 8th from the night before? And how it was the third such longball ever hit by the Yankees against the Reds? Well, Torres suddenly has the fourth. Two in 120 years (admittedly, the Yankees and Reds could only have played in the World Series for most of that time), and now two in 2 days. But once again we are knotted at 6-6 when the zombies arrive.
Lucas Luetge is given the ball for the Yankees and told to keep the zombies under control. As we know from every horror movie, that is just futile. Joey Votto and Tyler Stephenson hit back-to-back doubles, the first time the Reds have done that in extra innings of a road game since September 6, 2011, at Wrigley. By the time Luetge finally defeats the zombies and gets out of the inning, Cincinnati has notched 3 runs and leads 7-4.
Reiver Sanmartin got the last two outs of the 9th for the Reds and is suddenly in line for the win as he trots back out for the bottom of the 10th. Except Matt Carpenter greets him with something that we used to find strange as recently as two seasons ago-- the leadoff 2-run homer. Thanks to that free runner, Carp has made it 7-6, but he's also become the first batter in Yankees history to hit a multi-run homer in the bottom half of an extra inning, and not at least tie the game. (If you follow this logically, it requires the visiting team to score at least 3 runs in its half of the extra inning, which is pretty rare.) Dauri Moreta would be called upon to get the final 2 outs and secure the series win for Cincinnati, their first in the Bronx since 2012.
There's more Yankees mayhem to come, but we're still on this extended "walkoff" kick. So even though the Marlins posted the first bounce-off of the season on Wednesday, they weren't done being trailblazers.
Thursday was (supposed to be) "getaway day" for the Marlins and Pirates. Not even a 1 pm start, we're going to fire this baby off at noon, because the Pirates have important places to be, like getting blown out by Colorado over the weekend. The idea behind "getaway day" is to, well, get away. Not to have it take 4+ hours and end up in a 1-1 extra-inning slog.
But naturally, that's where we are after Diego Castillo smokes one to third and it goes right through Brian Anderson to tie the game in the 8th. And this is the one situation where we welcome the zombies. If we didn't have those free runners hanging around, who knows how long this thing might have gone on. It's already 3½ hours old when the 10th inning begins. Naturally nothing happens in that 10th inning; both teams go in order and neither one gets a ball out of the infield. But in the 11th Ben Gamel says, hey, we got places to be, maybe I should hit a double and put the Pirates up 2-1. That was only the second go-ahead hit for the Pirates in the 11th or later at Marlins Park; Gregory Polanco hit his first career homer in the top of the 13th there on June 13, 2014.
But now it's the Marlins' turn. Avisail Garcia leads off the 11th with a single to left-center, and Miami holds free runner Jesús Aguilar at third with nobody out. Two pitches later, Brian Anderson has done this.
Aguilar scores easily to tie the game. Garcia started on first and motors all the way around to score the walkoff run without a throw. The Marlins walk off in extra innings for the second straight day, their first time doing that against the same opponent since defeating the Dodgers on August 12 & 13, 2003. Then there is the question of how to score Anderson's walkoff hit.
Walkoff triples are always suspect. The rules relating to walkoffs require the batter to "run out his hit" for three bases, and as we've discussed before, on many occasions the batter gets mobbed by teammates or is content to pull up at second and watch the play at the plate. We have seen instances of walkoff "triples" awarded solely because the dugout is on the third-base side, so of course the hero is going to run toward third to get his Gatorade shower. But after originally being entered by MLB as a double, Anderson's hit was changed to a three-bagger a few minutes later, and on this one we have to agree. After the celebration there is a "low-home" replay where you see that Anderson never stops running and is only about 30 feet from third when Garcia crosses the plate with the winning run. So we're onboard with the walkoff triple-- because it's also the first one of those in the majors this season. A mere 19 hours after the Marlins recorded the first walkoff wild pitch of the 2022 campaign, they also gave us the first walkoff triple.
Oddly enough, the last walkoff triple in the 11th inning or later was hit by the Pirates; that was Pedro Florimon against Arizona on August 18, 2015. And the Marlins have only had two other walkoff triples in their history; they belong to Derek Dietrich (July 31, 2016, vs Cardinals) and Bob Natal (August 10, 1993, vs Cubs).
So after all our walkoffs last week, plus two wild pitches and a triple this week, what's left to round out this little miniseries but a walkoff grand slam.
If You're Going To Slam Francisco
So yeah, about that. There actually have been two walkoff grand slams this season, by Franchy Cordero of the Red Sox and Paul Goldschmidt of the Cardinals. But they were on back-to-back days in May, a Sunday afternoon and a Monday night when not many teams were playing, so there's a chance you didn't even notice.
We have to rewind a little bit because the Giants absolutely destroyed their visitors from Arizona on Tuesday by a count of 13-0. Dallas Keuchel got the "honor" of being the second starter in D'backs history to give up 8 runs, 3 homers, and throw a wild pitch without finishing the 3rd inning; Zack Godley did it in another 13-0 shutout against the Reds on August 27, 2016.
While Tuesday's game was tied for the second-worst shutout loss in Diamondbacks history (0-14 against Atlanta on June 29, 2007), it was the second such beatdown by the Giants in three days. We write most of these posts on Saturday and Sunday morning, and so don't usually get a chance to elaborate a whole lot on Sunday's games. But last week the Giants dropped a 12-0 shutout in their series finale at Petco Park. And that meant the combination of Sunday in San Diego and Tuesday in San Francisco was the first time in Giants franchise history (1883) that they had posted a pair of 12-0 (or higher) shutouts in a 3-day span. We will give an honorable mention to a week in May 1885 when they had a 24-0 sandwiched between two 11-0's.
Wednesday's "getaway day" (although the Diamondbacks were only going down the coast to San Diego and had an off-day on top of it) was a little more competitive than 13-0. Arizona held a 3-0 lead before Brandon Belt and David Villar knocked out starter Zac Gallen in the 7th with a solo homer and a sac fly respectively. When Wilmer Flores took Joe Mantiply deep to start the 8th, the Giants had tied the game back up and we were just waiting to see who would be the hero. After Mark Melançon gives up 2 hits and a walk to load the bases in the 9th, the hero turns out to be Brandon Crawford, whose walkoff single gave San Francisco a 4-3 win after trailing 3-0 just a few innings earlier. The law of averages would say that most of your walkoff hits are going to be singles, but amazingly, the Giants' last twelve walkoffs against Arizona have all been singles. No wild pitches, no homers, no balk-offs, none of that weird stuff we've seen lately. Their last NON-single walkoff against Arizona was a triple by Eugenio Velez on September 10, 2008.
So then the Brewers come to San Francisco for the weekend and take a 10-inning decision on Thursday. On Friday the Giants hold a 2-0 lead before Alex Wood runs into trouble in the 5th. He retires the first two batters via strikeout, but then gives up a pair of singles and an E3. Tyler Rogers is handed the baseball, and well, that could have gone better. Walk, double, hit batter, infield single, bases-loaded walk, finally a popup to get out of the inning. It is quickly 5-2 the other way and it stays that way until the bottom of the 9th.
If you've followed baseball the last few years, you've probably come across Josh Hader. He's been a lights-out strikeout machine for the Brewers since his arrival on the scene 5 years ago. He's long since shattered the career record for strikeouts by a Brewers reliever. But here's how his Thursday went.
Leadoff homer to Joey Bart. Not great, but it was 5-2 before so that only makes it 5-3. Still some breathing room. Solo homer to Darin Ruf. 5-4. Single by Austin Slater. Hits Yermin Mercedes with a pitch. Thairo Estrada bloops one to right that might have scored the tying run, but why chance it, we'll hold Slater at third with 1 out. And on the very next pitch, Mike Yastrzemski does this.
If you're wondering, no, Grandpa Carl never hit a walkoff grand slam. But there is an interesting family relationship in the previous walkoff slam by the Giants; it was hit by Bobby (father of Barry) Bonds on September 3, 1973, against the Dodgers. In franchise history (1883) there have been just four others-- Jack Hiatt in 1969, Leon Wagner in 1959, Bobby Thomson (of "shot heard 'round the world" fame) in 1952, and Billy Southworth in 1925.
Hader, meanwhile, got dinged for 3 homers while getting only 1 out, joining David Weathers (June 6, 1999) and Mark Lee (May 18, 1991) in that little club. And since earned runs were first recognized by the National League in 1912, Hader is the first pitcher ever to give up 6 of them, surrender 3 homers, and also hit a batter while recording only 1 out.
Try as we might, we seem to not be able to escape the gravitational pull of the gas giant that is the 2022 Yankees. And the MLB schedulers will absolutely not let us escape a Yankees/Red Sox series on the weekend before the All-Star break. So we'll just sip the Kool-Aid on this one, because at least it proved interesting for reasons other than "the TV people say it's interesting".
On Friday Rafael Devers wasted no time, hitting a 2-run homer after Rob Refsnyder drew a walk to start the game. It so happens that Devers did that once before, hitting another 2-run blast against the Yankees as Boston's second batter of the season back on April 8. For all the times the Yanx and Sawx have played each other and we've been force-fed that It's An Important Series, no Boston batter has ever hit two such homers, be they in the same season or different. But of course, as we've learned by now, scoring first only angers the Yankees and ensures that they are going to come back. Giancarlo Stanton just does it earlier than usual, with a 3-run dinger in the 3rd inning. That's his third lead-flipping homer against the Red Sox, trailing only Joe DiMaggio and Yogi Berra for the most in the last 90 seasons (we start to lose play-by-play before that).
Bobby Dalbec-- whose previous claim to fame might be breaking up a Rays no-hitter in the 10th inning earlier this season-- puts the Red Sox back on top 4-3 with a solo shot to begin the 7th. Dalbec had another go-ahead homer in Boston's previous game at Yankee Stadium back on April 10, and is the first Red Sox batter to hit two of them in the 6th or later at the current Yankee Stadium. But just when you need Tanner Houck to get the last three outs and seal that win, the Yankees turn very un-Yankee-like. Instead of Stanton or Aaron Judge or Pick Whoever You Want just mashing a walkoff homer, the Bronx Bombers turn small-ball. Gleyber Torres leads off the 9th with an infield single. Matt Carpenter gets hit with a pitch. And then the wheels come off. Houck finally gets a double play, but that tying run has scored on the error and we are off to extras again.
But two can play the small-ball game. Free runner Xander Bogaerts is able to scoot from second to third on a flyout to left. So he's only 90 feet away and, as the TV likes to tell us, that means anything can happen. After defeating the Reds on a wild pitch just two days ago, the Yankees essentially lose Friday's game on a wild pitch, the first time they have wild-pitched in a run in extra innings since Bob Wickman did it against the White Sox on August 7, 1996.
Saturday's contest looked very similar-- at least for two batters. Jarren Duran was in the leadoff spot for the Sawx, and he flied out, which means Devers could only hit a solo shot this time. But still he became the first Red Sox batter to hit a 1st-inning homer in consecutive games against the Yankees since none other than Carl Yastrzemski in April 1967. And if you're a Red Sox fan you should probably just skip ahead now.
Matt Carpenter, 3-run bomb. It's calm for a while, but Boston may have tried to extend Nick Pivetta just a little too far, because Aaron Judge leads off the 5th with a solo shot that makes it 5-1. Pivetta gives up two more hits and departs, giving Darwinzon Hernandez the "honor" of facing Carpenter again. Blam, another 3-run homer. He's the first Yankees batter to hit a pair of 3- or 4-run shots in the same game against the Red Sox since Hideki Matsui on August 21, 2009. And Carp would finish the game with 7 RBI, joining Joe Pepitone (1964), Yogi Berra (1957), and Joe DiMaggio (1940) as the only Yankees to do that against Boston. Turns out Carp also had a 7-RBI game against the Cubs back on June 12, and only three other Yankees have ever done that twice in a season. They're just some guys named DiMaggio (1940), Ruth (1929), and Gehrig (twice).
Judge homers again to create the fourth set of Yankees teammates with multiple homers in a game against Boston. Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson did it on the final weekend of the 2012 season; the other pairs are A-Rod and Mark Teixeira in 2010, and Mel Hall with Jesse Barfield in 1991. And Austin Davis gets mop-up duty for the Sawx and proceeds to give up 3 hits, 2 walks, and another 4 runs to create the final "beatdown" score of 14-1. Four different Yankees batters scored 3 runs each, the first time that had happened since a 21-3 romp at Texas on August 23, 1999. And it was the largest home win for the Yankees over the Red Sox since an 18-3 win on May 10, 1952.
Then, just when you thought the Yankees had taken out all their Reds-related anger and would have a nice boring 4-2 game to finish the series on Sunday, they insist on getting still more attention. DJ LeMahieu starts things with his 19th leadoff double in a Yankees uniform, matching the total of both Johnny Damon and Phil Rizzuto (Derek Jeter has 50, so there's a ways to go yet). Before long there are 2 outs and 2 runs already in, and then Chris Sale, making just his second appearance of the season after returning from a fractured rib, now gets to deal with a fractured finger when Aaron Hicks shoots one up the middle off of Sale's hand. That forces him to leave the game and, well, now it's on.
Jeter Downs homers in the 3rd to give the Bostonians some hope; he will later become the second Red Sox batter with a homer and a double in the same game at the current Yankee Stadium, after Xander Bogaerts did it on September 7, 2013. But in Sale's absence, and with the All-Star break looming at the end of the game, we might as well just throw the entire Sawx bullpen out there and see what happens. Pitcher number 4 is Ryan Brasier, who got two quick outs to end the 3rd, so sure, he's good to go back out for the 4th. Yeah, about that.
Tim Locastro, leadoff single. Kyle Higashioka singles. LeMahieu singles again. Aaron Judge, yet another single. Okay, next. Jake Diekman, see if you can get out of this. Spoiler alert, he can't. Walk, strikeout (yay?!), 2-run double, single, sac fly, and now Locastro is up once again as the Yankees bat around. What could happen.
That's an 8-run 4th inning and an 11-2 lead, the Yankees' biggest frame in a home game against the Red Sox since August 4, 2015. Brasier and Diekman "teamed up" to be the first pair of Boston pitchers to give up 4 runs while getting 3 or fewer outs in the same game since Craig Breslow and Mark Melançon did it against Oakland on August 31, 2012.
Meanwhile, Gerrit Cole is mowing down Red Sox hitters because this was supposed to be The Big Pitching Matchup of the day. Nobody (except the baseball gods) planned on Sale leaving in the 1st inning. But Old King Cole is his usual mighty old soul and blows away 12 Boston batters via strikeout. In the past 20 years only two other Yankees pitchers have fanned 12 Red Soxes in a game; they are James Paxton in 2019 and Joba Chamberlain in 2009.
The Red Sox will run four more pitchers out there, none of whom turns out to be a position player, but it's 11-2 and the damage is done. The final nail comes on a 2-run blast by Joey Gallo (yeah, that Joey Gallo) in the bottom of the 7th, and after Saturday's 14-1 beatdown, the Yankees have followed up with a 13-2 exactly 18 hours later. Only once before have the Yanks defeated Boston by 11+ runs in consecutive games; that was September 7-8, 1978, at Fenway, when they won by counts of 15-3 and 13-2.
Sometimes after a rough week you've just gotta unload.
And finally we'll turn to the AL West, the division we like to make fun of because all their games are 3-1 and still manage to take 3½ hours. But score-wise, they've done fairly well this year (it's now the AL Central where we have to scrape the barrel for anything interesting), which makes those 3½-hour games a little more understandable.
The Oakland A's put up a pair of 8's early this week, in what will probably be their closest encounters with "snowmen" for quite a while. (The last time there was measureable real snow in the Bay Area was February 1976. We do actual research for these posts sometimes.) The A's were in Texas and posted 8 runs in the series opener on Monday, with Rangers reliever Kolby Allard responsible for much of that damage. He joined Tom Wilhelmsen (2016) as the only pitchers in Rangers/Senators history to give up 5 runs, 2 homers, and hit a batter while getting only 1 out.
The problem for Oakland on Monday is that their pitching staff didn't do much better. They gave up 10 runs and lost the game, including 3 hits and 3 RBI by Leody Taveras out of the #9 hole. The last Rangers #9 batter to do that against Oakland was a young whippersnapper named Nelson Cruz, playing just his 27th career game, on September 4, 2006. And we like to joke that a sac fly is just "a multi-run homer that didn't make it". But what about an actual home run that didn't make it? That's Josh Smith hitting the first inside-the-parker for the Rangers at their 3-year-old ballpark, which would also see Sam Haggerty of the Mariners hit one on Thursday. Smith is the first player in franchise history to hit an IHR and a sac fly in the same game.
The A's are going to come right back with another 8 runs on Tuesday, but you've gotta look a little harder to find them. First the Rangers are going to grab an early lead when Marcus Semien hits a 2-run homer as the team's second batter of the game (yes, this is kind of a theme this week). That was also a first for the Rangers in their new stadium; Danny Santana, on August 17, 2019, was the last to do it at the old place across the street. The teams then do the usual trading of runs until it is 5-3 going to the 9th. Corey Seager leads off with a solo shot. And then Kole Calhoun comes through with a game-tying pinch-hit single, the first one the Rangers have hit when down to their final out since Mickey Rivers against Seattle on September 4, 1984.
Sean Murphy's fourth hit of the day scores Oakland's free runner in the 10th; Murph would finish Tuesday's game as the first A's batter with 4 hits including 2 doubles in a game in Arlington since Reggie Jackson did it on Opening Day 1974. But Marcus Semien gets that run back and we plod along to the 12th, now tied 6-6. Now Oakland finally gets its snowman. Chad Pinder is the free runner, and after 2 walks, 2 hits, and a sac fly, it has quickly become 9-6 in favor of the A's. Dennis Santana issues one more walk to load the bases before giving way to Kolby Allard. Yes, Kolby Allard of the 5-runs-on-1-out from yesterday. He immediately walks in another run. And then with 2 out we've come all the way around and Pinder is now at the plate. About 30 seconds later, Pinder would be at the plate again. And so would all three of those baserunners. He just hit the first grand slam by an Oakland batter in the 12th or later since Mark Ellis walked off against the Angels on June 8, 2008. And if that date doesn't have enough 8's for you, the only other time Oakland scored 8 runs in an extra inning was August 28, 1998, when they beat Cleveland 14-6. That is also the score of this game until the Rangers score their free runner in B12, but do nothing else and limp away with a 14-7 loss.
And since we got asked by the Twitterverse, we still had a little ways to go to reach the record for runs in any extra inning. Strangely enough, that's held by the Rangers against the Athletics; they dropped a 12-spot in the top of the 15th on July 3, 1983.
Elsewhere in the great AL West, the Angels are staring at this from a couple time zones away and wondering if Texas and Oakland can send them some hits. Because try as they might, the rest of the team was unable to channel their inner Brandon Marsh this week. We'll explain.
While Oakland was busy blowing up the extra innings on Tuesday, the Angels managed just 1 hit off Astros starter Luis Garcia. That was a 2nd-inning single by Marsh, so at least (for today) we're not on no-hitter alert. But Garcia then sets down 13 in a row before leaving the game after the 6th with a 5-1 lead. That one Angels run scored in the 1st inning after Garcia walked the bases loaded. So Anaheim was looking at a rare 1-on-0 for a little while until that Marsh single.
Phil Maton gets tapped to pitch the 7th, and he doesn't give up a hit either. That's the good news. The bad news: He walked Luis Rengifo, then chucked the ball into center trying to retire him at second. There's another error on Jonathan Villar's ground ball. Now Brandon Marsh is up again with the bases loaded, and... plunk. Angels now have 2 runs, still just on the 1 hit. David MacKinnon will remedy that with a 2-run single off Rafael Montero, making the Angels' line 4-on-2. Marsh is now at third, which means we only need something like, oh, say, a passed ball to make it 5-on-2. And while there are two more walks coming, the Angels basically go quietly into the night, finishing the game with that 5-on-2 line and losing 6-5 when Kyle Tucker hits an RBI double in the top of the 9th.
If 5-on-2 seems rare, it is. It's prohibited in hockey, and while it's techincally possible in basketball (if enough people foul out), it would be so ridiculous that it's probably better to just forfeit at that point. But if you've been paying attention to the Yankees this year (and really, how can you avoid it?), you might remember they also did a 5-on-2 back on May 15 against the White Sox. That makes 2022 the first season in the modern era where it's happened twice. But it's also not the first time the Angels have posted a 5-on-2. The other was the back end of a Bicentennial doubleheader against the Twins. And those two Angels games (July 4, 1976, and Tuesday) are the only times the team posting a 5-on-2 has ended up losing the game.
After splitting the last two games with Houston, the Angels then get another West Division challenger as they head into the All-Star break. Thanks to MLB's schedulers setting up the "rivalries" as two games at each site, the Freeway Series heads down the 5 (or the 57 if you prefer) for a Friday/Saturday mini-clash with the Dodgers. And Brandon Marsh might have been the only one who got the memo.
Back in April, Clayton Kershaw threw 7 perfect innings against the Twins. It was his first start of the year, and after a shortened spring training, Dave Roberts made the controversial decision to yank him after only 80 pitches. Alex Vesia then lost the PG in the 8th. So let's see what difference 3 months makes. Because Kershaw blows through the first 12 Angels batters on 42 pitches. Tack on a 7-pitch 5th and a 10-pitch 6th. That's 59 through 6. To say nothing of 18 up and 18 down. Gulp. Shohei Ohtani and Taylor Ward both strike out swinging to end the 7th. And according to Elias, Kershaw has just become the first pitcher in the "expansion era" (1961) to have multiple starts where he retired the first 21 in a row. And this time it only took 71 pitches.
Finally on pitch number 75, Luis Rengifo smacks a double out of the reach of Trayce Thompson who has just moved over to left field. That brings an end to the only drama remaining in the game; the Dodgers have already piled up a 9-0 lead thanks largely to Will Smith and Justin Turner. The former missed the cycle by a home run, becoming the fourth Dodgers batter to do that in an interleague game, after Adrian Beltre (2000), Mark Grudzielanek (2000), and Mike Piazza (1997). Meanwhile Turner had 3 hits and 4 RBI, joining Scott Van Slyke (2015) and Gary Sheffield (2000) as the only Dodgers batters to have that line in Anaheim.
Rengifo gets stranded at second to take the "faced minimum" off the table, and Roberts can now pull Clayton Kershaw with less controversy (although still a little bit since he's only at 89 pitches and why not let him have the complete game?). Reyes Moronta appears for the 9th, and the 27th batter of the game, Brandon Marsh, destroys the shutout with a solo homer. That was the first time the Angels had homered to break up a 9-0 shutout in the 9th since Adam Kennedy did it against Oakland on July 27, 2003. And because there were no walks in the game, it meant the Angels finished with only those 2 baserunners. They hadn't done that in a home game since Freddy Garcia of the White Sox also took a perfect game into the 8th against them on September 13, 2006.
On Saturday Rengifo was kind enough to not wait until the 8th inning. He broke up the no-hitter (if you can do such a thing, and we say yes, you can) on the fourth pitch of the game from Julio Urias. But Urias worked around an error in the 3rd and a pair of leadoff singles in the 6th to keep the Angels at bay and allow the Dodgers to rack up another 7-0 lead. Trea Turner became the seventh Dodgers batter with a multi-homer game in Anaheim; the rest of that list is Cody Bellinger, Max Muncy, Jayson Werth, Adrian Beltre, Gary Sheffield, and Eric Karros.
But once again, someone from the Angels needs to be in charge of breaking up this shutout. Let's go, Brandon. This time Marsh connects with 1 out in the 7th for the team's only run and a 7-1 defeat. Only two other batters in Angels history have recorded a solo homer in back-to-back games, and had that be the team's only run of the game. They were Vic Power in August 1964 (at two different sites with a travel day in between) and Bobby Bonds against Cleveland in June 1977.
Bottom Of The Bag
Longtime readers may remember that during All-Star week, we like to take a page out of MLB's book and "honor" one player from all 30 teams so nobody feels left out. It's a $700,000 version of a participation trophy. But here we go. A chicken in every pot and a Kernel for every team.
⚾ Carson Kelly, Saturday: Second catcher in D'backs history to bat leadoff and record both a homer and a double. Daulton Varsho did it on May 24 against the Royals.
⚾ Matt Olson, Sunday: Sixth consecutive game with at least 1 hit, at least 1 run scored, and at least 1 RBI. Only other Braves batter in past 25 years with such a streak was Brian McCann in July 2006.
⚾ Bryan Baker, Sunday: First pitcher in Orioles/Browns history to face 5+ batters in a game and strike out all of them.
⚾ Bobby Dalbec, Tuesday: Second triple of the year at Tropicana Field (also had one April 23 off Matt Wisler). Only other Red Sox batter to hit two in a season there is Johnny Damon in 2002.
⚾ Rafael Ortega & Willson Contreras, Saturday: First time Cubs' #1 and #2 batters each had 0 hits and 3 strikeouts in a loss since Brian McRae & Rey Sanchez at Houston, September 20, 1995.
⚾ Luis Robert & Seby Zapata, Thursday: First time White Sox have hit a grand slam and a 3-run homer in the same game against the Twins since Carlos Lee & Brook Fordyce did it on October 1, 1999.
⚾ Nick Senzel, Saturday: Became sixth known player in MLB history to receive 7 catcher's interference awards in same season. Others are Dale Berra (1983), Roberto Kelly (1992), Jacoby Ellsbury (2016), Josh Reddick (2017), and Jorge Soler (2021).
⚾ Nolan Jones, Monday: Became second batter to play his first 4 MLB games with Cleveland and collect 8 RBI in them. Roy Weatherly did it in 1936.
⚾ Elias Diaz, Sunday: First #9 batter in Rockies history to have a triple and a double in the same game. First for any team to also be hit by a pitch since Mike Defelice of the Royals on May 15, 2003.
⚾ Riley Greene, Friday: First Tigers leadoff batter to have a homer, a double, and 3 RBI in a game against Cleveland since Lou Whitaker on May 15, 1987.
⚾ Justin Verlander, Saturday: First Astros pitcher with 12 wins before the All-Star break since Roy Oswalt in 2005. Others in team history: Jose Lima (1999), Mike Scot (1989), Joe Niekro (1979), Larry Dierker (1969 and 1971).
⚾ Bobby Witt, Monday: First Royals player with 2 hits and a stolen base in both games of a doubleheader since Tom Goodwin against Minnesota on September 18, 1995.
⚾ Shohei Ohtani, Wednesday: First player to strike out 12+ as a pitcher and hit a triple as a batter since Cliff Lee of the Phillies on September 16, 2013.
⚾ Max Muncy, Wednesday: Second batter in Dodgers history with 4 walks and a sac fly in a game. Jose Valentin did it on April 7, 2005. Last Dodgers batter with a complete-game 0-for-0 was Adrian Gonzalez on May 4, 2015.
⚾ Braxton Garrett, Thursday: Third pitcher in Marlins history to allow 2 hits, strike out 11, and not get a win. Jes�s Luzardo did it in April. Before this season the only one had been Al Leiter against the Reds on July 28, 1997.
⚾ Andrew McCutchen, Tuesday: First Brewers batter to hit a multi-run homer in the 1st inning at Target Field. Last at the Metrodome was Carlos Lee off Brad Radke on May 21, 2005.
⚾ Jose Miranda, Wednesday: Second 3- or 4-run walkoff homer for Twins this season, after Byron Buxton on April 24. First season where they hit two since 2004.
⚾ Trevor Williams, Thursday: First Mets pitcher to get a 3-inning save against the Cubs since Wally Whitehurst on September 12, 1991.
⚾ Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Wednesday: Second Yankees batter with 2 doubles and 3 RBI in a game against Cincinnati. Hideki Matsui did it in their first-ever win at GABP, June 5, 2003.
⚾ Skye Bolt & Ramon Laureano, Wednesday: Second time the A's hit multiple 9th-inning homers in a game in Arlington. Don Baylor & Gene Tenace did it on June 28, 1976.
⚾ Kyle Schwarber, Thursday: First Phillies leadoff batter to go 0-for-4 with 4 strikeouts since Lee Tinsley at San Diego, May 22, 1996.
⚾ Yerry De Los Santos, Monday: Third pitcher in Pirates history to get a 4-out save where all the outs were K's. Jason Christensen did it in 1998, and the first was by Goose Gossage in 1977.
⚾ Trent Grisham, Thursday: First #9 batter in Padres history to have a home run and a stolen base in the same game.
⚾ Julio Rodriguez, Friday: First Mariners leadoff batter with 5 RBI in a game since Brad Miller against Oakland on September 29, 2013.
⚾ David Villar, Saturday: First Giants batter to record a complete-game 0-for-0 since Buster Posey drew 4 walks against the Cubs on June 4, 2012.
⚾ Andrew Knizner, Tuesday: First Cardinals #9 batter with 3 hits and 3 RBI in a home game (where pitchers used to bat) since Scott Terry against the Giants on April 27, 1989.
⚾ Shane McClanahan, Wednesday: Seventh straight game with 6+ IP, 4 or fewer hits, and no more than 1 earned run. Longest such streak by any pitcher in MLB history (since earned runs became a thing in 1912).
⚾ Jon Gray, Wednesday: First Rangers pitcher to allow 1 hit, 0 walks, and strike out 9+, since Yu Darvish at Houston, April 2, 2013. Yes, that's The Marwin Gonzalez Game.
⚾ Jose Berrios, Tuesday: Fourth pitcher in Jays history to strike out 13 while issuing 0 walks and 0 hit batters. Robbie Ray did it twice last year; the other is Roger Clemens in 1998.
⚾ Juan Soto, Wednesday: First player in Nats/Expos history to hit a 9th-inning homer in both games of a doubleheader. Last for any team was Rob Mackowiak for Pittsburgh on May 28, 2004.
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