July 2020: Linescores & Factoids

A few cool linescores from the past week.

July 24

SFG - 001 000 000   - 1  4  4
LAD - 110 111 22x   - 9 13  1

July 28

CHC - 001 111 112   - 8 12  1
CIN - 000 200 012   - 5  6  0

July 29

CWS - 000 000 004   - 4  5  0
CLE - 000 000 000   - 0  6  2
  
WAS - 000 000 000 4 - 4  5  1
TOR - 000 000 000 0 - 0  3  0

Since 1900 (modern era), no player in the 9th slot in the batting order had accounted for all of his team's hits (minimum 3 hits), coming into tonight. Orlando Arcia had all 3 hits for the #Brewers tonight [July 24, Opening Day], batting 9th.

For the first time since 1893 when the pitcher's mound was moved to its current distance from home plate, Reds pitchers have begun the season with at least 10 strikeouts in each of the first three games (13, 17, 10 so far today).

The Astros have had 7 pitchers make their MLB debut this season, the most by any team through 5 games in modern MLB history (since 1900). The previous record, according to Elias Sports, was 5 pitchers by the 1962 Cubs and 1998 Marlins.

According to research by MLB.com's Sarah Langs, first baseman Anthony Rizzo is only the third player in recorded history (since 1901) to be hit by a pitch at least four times in a team's first four games. In addition to Rizzo (who was also plunked four times in four games in 2015), the others are José Guillén (four in 2006) and Jake Stahl (five in 1904).

Since 1893 (when the mound moved to its current distance from home plate), Shane Bieber is the first pitcher with 13+ strikeouts in each of his first two starts of a season [July 24 and July 30].

Christian Vázquez has hit 4 HR and played in only 5 games this season. He has tied the Red Sox record for most HR in a player's first 5 games of a season, matching Jackie Jensen (1954 & 1958) and Bobby Doerr (1941). [Doerr hit 4 HR in the first 4 games]

Jayson Stark:

When [Yoenis] Céspedes homered off [Atlanta's] Chris Martin on Opening Day, it provided one of the strangest tidbits of this or any season: It was his third consecutive game with a home run. That seems good. But those games took place on May 13, 2018 ... then (68 days later) July 20, 2018 ... then (735 more days later) July 24, 2020! So that's three straight games worth of Céspedes home run trots — over a period spanning 804 days! It's the longest streak of that many "consecutive" games, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, since the legendary Calvin Pickering took 1,053 days to homer in three in a row (for the Red Sox and Royals) between Oct. 5, 2001 and Aug. 23, 2004. In between, Pickering did some homering in Mexico, but that's not important now. ...

[The Nationals were scheduled to play in Toronto on July 29, but the game was played in Washington, with the Blue Jays as the home team. What does that mean?] It means the Nationals have now won more road games in Washington this year (two) than they've won home games in Washington (one). They also managed to win an extra-inning game in their own park (Wednesday) but have it not be via a walk-off. ... And on an even brighter side, they dodged the weirdness of losing that extra-inning game via a walk-off — in their home park. ... [see linescore above]

Wednesday night in Houston, the Dodgers' Edwin Ríos led off the 13th inning with a home run. Now that's been done before. But thanks to the miracle of the runner-on-second rule, our friend Boog Sciambi got to fulfill his lifetime dream, right there on ESPN, of saying: "And that's a leadoff two-run homer."

The strangest but truest extra inning of the year: The #Royals managed to score a run in the 10th today [July 25] - despite zero official at-bats! Ghost runner on 2nd. Sac bunt. Sac fly. Walk. Runner thrown out stealing. ... If this feels like the most Royals thing ever, you won't be shocked to learn that the last four times somebody scored a run in any extra inning without working in an official at-bat, that somebody was (yep), the Royals ... But here's what's especially cool: STATS' play-by-play files go back nearly half a century, to 1974. And you know how many other teams have done this in the last 47 seasons but not done it via a walk-off (meaning they had zero at-bats in a *full* inning)? Of course, that would be none! ...

In case you missed Craig Kimbrel's outing Monday, please fasten your seat belt firmly across your lap and put your seat back in the full upright and locked position. All right, here it comes: Walk, Wild Pitch, Out, Walk, Stolen Base, Walk, Hit By Pitch, Walk, Google Map directions to the clubhouse. ... [T]here has been only one other game, since the invention of the modern save rule, in which a reliever entered a game with a ninth-inning save opportunity, then spewed out four walks and a hit batter, and didn't make it through the inning. That involved [Cleveland's] Danys Baez, on Sept. 8, 2002 – a 2/3-1-4-4-4-0 classic in which he hit Paul Konerko, walked José Valentín, Willie Harris, Magglio Ordóñez, and Carlos Lee, and served up a three-run homer to Frank Thomas.

Jayson told that story out of order. Baez's inning went like this: He walked Valentín and walked Harris. Got two outs: D'Angelo Jimenez popped to short and Aaron Rowand hit into an FC. Gave up Thomas's three-run homer. Walked Ordóñez, hit Konerko, walked Lee. David Riske took over and allowed a game-losing single to Joe Crede.