Hollywood season continues for Dodgers
The Dodgers stifled the Brewers on Friday to clinch their 91st win of the season and move 55 games over .500. Los Angeles is the first team to sit that many games above the breakeven mark since the 2001 Mariners finished with a 116–46 record. The last National League team to reach those heights was the Dodgers themselves. The 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers moved into first place for good by the end of June and had the NL pennant locked up by mid-September. Despite finishing with a 105–49 record, Brooklyn failed to dethrone the Yankees in that year’s World Series, falling in six games.
The Dodgers are 31–4 in their last 35 home games. Over the last 60 years, only two other teams won at least 31 of 35 home games within a single season. Coincidentally, both of those teams did so in the same year. Both the Royals and Phillies registered 31 wins in a span of 35 home games in the 1977 season.
No relief quite like Jansen and company
A solo home run by Domingo Santana off Kenta Maeda was the only hit by the Brewers at Dodger Stadium. Tony Cingrani, Josh Ravin, and Kenley Jansen each pitched a scoreless inning to secure Maeda’s 12th win of the season. Friday’s game marked the 10th time this season that Dodgers relievers combined for at least three innings pitched with no hits or runs allowed. That’s the most such games for any team this season, and it ties the highest total for the Dodgers in any season since 1900. They also had 10 games with three or more innings of hitless, scoreless relief in 2009.
Stanton, Ozuna power Marlins to victory
Giancarlo Stanton’s rampage against National League pitching continued on Friday night. The Marlins slugger drove in five runs on a pair of longballs and a double to propel the Marlins to victory over the Padres. Including his five RBIs from Friday night, Stanton has driven in 40 runs over his last 30 games, which is the highest RBI total over any 30-game span of his major-league career. Stanton also tied Nolan Arenado for the most RBIs by a player in a span of 30 games this season; Arenado produced a total of 40 RBIs for the Rockies from June 15 through July 23.
After the Padres took the lead with a four-run sixth inning on Friday, Marcell Ozuna put the Marlins ahead to stay with a three-run homer, his 30th home run of the season. Miami has received a major league-high 94 home runs from its outfielders this season, which stands as the highest one-year total for the Marlins in any of their 25 seasons (their previous high was 80, done twice). It’s also tied for the highest total of outfielder home runs by any team over the last nine seasons, a remarkable accomplishment considering the Marlins still have 35 games to add to their total this season! Unsurprisingly the 1961 Yankees, led by Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle, hold the all-time record for homers by outfielders with 146, but Miami could make a run at the National League record of 125, set by Sammy Sosa and the 1998 Cubs.
Another goose egg for Indians versus Royals
Ryan Merritt and three Indians relievers combined to blank the Royals, 4–0, at Progressive Field. Cleveland has kept Kansas City off the scoreboard four times this season, which are the most shutout wins by any team in a head-to-head matchup this year. It’s also just the second time in the divisional era (which began in 1969) that the Indians recorded four shutout wins over a particular opponent in a season – the Tribe kept the Orioles from scoring in four matchups during the 1989 season. Interestingly, two of those games featured a complete-game shutout thrown by a current-day manager – Red Sox manager John Farrell (August 30) and Rockies skipper Bud Black (September 6).
Birds of a feather hit together
Defense failed to make an appearance at Fenway Park on Friday, but the offense was well represented by the visitors. The Orioles pounded Rick Porcello and the Red Sox for 20 hits and 16 runs in their blowout victory at Boston. Every player in Baltimore’s starting lineup produced at least one hit and one run, marking the first time since April 8, 2014 at Yankee Stadium that the O’s starting nine achieved that feat. Six other teams have had such a game this season (two teams did so twice), though the most recent occurrence before Friday was done in a losing effort. All nine starters for the Twins hit safely and scored at least one run on August 12, but it was not enough for Minnesota in a 12–11 loss at Detroit.
Quite the erroneous evening in Boston
The eight combined errors by the Orioles (three) and Red Sox (five) on Friday tied the highest error total for any game in the last 10 seasons. The Giants and Diamondbacks also combined for eight misplays on April 8, 2012. San Francisco committed three errors that day while Arizona was charged with five.
deGrom putting up big numbers as lone healthy Met
Jacob deGrom crossed the 200-strikeout plateau for the season after setting down 10 batters in the Mets’ 4–2 win at Nationals Park. deGrom’s nine games with a double-digit strikeout total this season are the most in a season for a Mets pitcher since David Cone, who had nine such games for New York in 1990. Prior to Cone, only two pitchers achieved that feat in a season for the Mets, and their names should be easy to surmise. Tom Seaver did so twice for New York (12 games with 10 or more strikeouts in 1970, 13 in 1971), as did Dwight Gooden (15 games of that kind in 1984, 11 in 1985).
Mike who?
A two-run homer by Rhys Hoskins gave the Phillies an early lead in their 7–1 triumph over the Cubs. The Phillies rookie has hit safely in each of his last seven games, with six home runs and 16 RBIs over that span. How impressive are those numbers? Consider that in Hall-of-Famer Mike Schmidt’s 18 seasons with the Phillies, a career in which he accumulated 1595 RBIs, he never had more than 15 RBIs over a span of seven games.
No rookie has compiled more RBIs over a seven-game span this season than has Hoskins in his current stretch; Cody Bellinger’s 15 RBIs from May 2–10 was tops among rookies entering Friday. And prior to Hoskins, no player this season – rookie or veteran – totaled six or more homers and at least 16 RBIs over a span of seven games either.
No K’s, no problem for Colon
Bartolo Colon is rewarding the Twins’ faith in him. The hefty veteran wielded an ugly 2–9 record with an equally hideous 7.70 ERA at the end of July, but Colon has won four of five starts since the start of August including Friday night’s victory over the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. Colon’s win against Toronto was unlike any of his major-league career, and when you’re talking about a pitcher with 239 wins, that’s saying something. Friday’s game marked the first time in Colon’s 20 major-league seasons that he registered a win without striking a batter out. He struck out one batter in six of his wins, including one earlier this season for the Braves, which coincidentally also took place at Rogers Centre.
Goldschmidt stating MVP case
Paul Goldschmidt’s 30th home run of the season was a go-ahead three-run shot for the Diamondbacks, giving them the lead for good in their 4–3 win over the Giants. The game-winning blast also increased Goldschmidt’s RBI total for the season to 101, making 2017 the third season in which he’s reached 30 homers and 100 RBIs for Arizona. Goldschmidt also did that in 2013 (36 home runs, 125 RBIs) and 2015 (33 homers, 110 RBIs). The only other player with multiple seasons of that kind for the D-Backs was Luis Gonzalez, who reached those totals in 2000 (31/114) and 2001 (57/142).
Rockies reined in by Teheran
Julio Teheran held the Rockies to two runs over 7â…“ innings to earn his first win since the All-Star break. Teheran has dominated Colorado in his career, posting a 5–1 record in nine starts while compiling a 2.21 ERA. (And his record could be even better, considering he didn’t allow a run in any of his three no-decisions!) More than 150 pitchers have made at least eight starts against the Rockies, but only two produced a lower ERA than Teheran in those starts. Adam Wainwright currently sports a 1.64 ERA as a starter versus Colorado, and Roy Oswalt finished his career with a 1.89 ERA against the Rockies.
Chapman looking more mortal than ever
Yonder Alonso homered off Aroldis Chapman in the top of the 11th inning to give the Mariners a 2–1 win at Yankee Stadium. Alonso is the second left-handed hitter in the last two weeks to homer off Chapman; Rafael Devers went deep off the Yankees fireballer on August 13. Entering this season, Chapman had allowed just one home run to a lefty batter in the majors, a period of time spanning 328 at-bats by lefty swingers, 184 of which ended with strike three. That lucky lefty was Luke Scott, who homered off Chapman in Baltimore on June 26, 2011. That was the first longball allowed by Chapman in his major-league career – he entered that day with no homers allowed in his first 27â…“ innings with the Reds.
Missed opportunities for Yankee hitters
It was a struggle for the Yankees’ hitters on Friday as well. The Bronx Bombers apparently declared a ceasefire, going 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position, marking the second day in a row that one of the Big Apple’s baseball teams posted a RISP “0-fer” with at least 12 at-bats in that scenario (the Mets went 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position on Thursday afternoon versus the Diamondbacks). Only two other teams this season finished a game with no RISP hits after 12 or more at-bats with a runner at second or third. The Mariners had two such games (0-for-13 on April 5, 0-for-12 on May 5), and the Cardinals did so once (0-for-14 on April 22).
This all seems familiar…
Yolmer Sanchez singled home the game-winning run for the White Sox in the bottom of the ninth inning against the Tigers, clinching Chicago’s eighth walkoff victory of the season. This is the second year in a row that the White Sox produced a walkoff victory on August 25; Todd Frazier’s ninth-inning single ended a victory against the Mariners on that date last season. Two other teams celebrated the one-year anniversary of a walkoff win by repeating the feat this season. The Pirates did so on July 19 against the Brewers, as did the Blue Jays on July 26 versus the A’s.
A pinch of good luck for Kivlehan
Patrick Kivlehan brought home two insurance runs with a pinch-hit double in the seventh inning, helping the Reds hold off the Pirates in Cincinnati. The clutch hit must have been some relief to Kivlehan, who has not fared well in a pinch-hitting role. He entered the day batting .143 as a pinch-hitter in his tenure with the Reds, with six hits in 42 at-bats and none in his previous 15 at-bats in that situation. Kivlehan’s three-run pinch-hit homer on June 7 versus the Cardinals was Kivlehan’s only extra-base hit as a pinch-hitter prior to Friday, as well as the only one of his 47 pinch-hit plate appearances in which he drove in a run.
Two-homer night for Davis
Khris Davis followed a game-tying homer in the fourth inning with a go-ahead solo shot his next time up, helping the A’s defeat the Rangers, 3–1. Since joining Oakland last season, Davis has homered 14 times against Texas, hitting 10 round-trippers last season and four so far this year. No other player has totaled that many home runs against a particular opponent since the start of last season. Davis’s four games with multiple four-base hits versus the Rangers, including a three-homer game in Oakland on May 17 of last season, are also the most for any player versus a team since the start of last year.
