In Play, Run(s): 12 Teams Scored Ten Or More Runs This Past Tuesday

Over the next eight days, the Red Sox will play five games and have three off-days. They are idle today, will host the Mets for three games over the weekend, have a day off on Monday, play Altanta twice, and then have another day off next Thursday, before heading out to San Francisco and Seattle.

The 38-year-old Justin Turner has a current hitting streak of 15 games. It's the second-longest hit streak by a Red Sox batter age 38+, second only to Ted Williams's 17-game hitting streak in 1957. . . . However, hitting streaks at 38+ are not really a Thing.

TSW hit .533 (32-for-60) from July 23 to August 9, 1957. He had an OBP of .608 and he slugged .783 for an OPS of 1.391. He finished that season with a .388 batting average. The MVP voting that year was, umm, interesting, from a WAR perspective.

Turner has also hit safely in 29 of his last 33 games (since June 9), batting .349, with a 1.008 OPS. Not bad for an old man.

Speaking of elderly gentlemen, Nomar Garciaparra will turn 50 years old this weekend (Sunday, July 23).

MLB teams scored a shitload of runs this past Tuesday (July 18). In fact, it was the first time in major league history that 12 different teams scored 10 or more runs in a game. (OptaSTATS pointed out that 12 teams (in three leagues) did that on May 30, 1884 and 13 teams did it on July 4, 1894, but "each of those involved team(s) doing so in both ends of a doubleheader (so fewer than 12 distinct teams were involved)".)

Diamondbacks 16, Atlanta 13
Mets 11, White Sox 10
Royals 11, Tigers 10
Giants, 11, Reds 10
Twins 10, Mariners 3
Cubs 17, Nationals 3
Dodgers 10, Orioles 3
Guardians 10, Pirates 1

(The Padres just missed the cut, with nine runs. Boston was shutout by Oakland 3-0.)

There were four games in which both teams scored in double digits, tying a record with two dates during the same week of 1894 (July 4 and July 9). That season was the second year in which the pitching mound was 60 feet, six inches, from the plate. Also, an average team in 1894 scored 7.38 runs per game as opposed to only 4.6 runs in 2023.

The 16-13 slugfest between the Diamondbacks and Atlanta was the first game in which both teams scored 13+ runs through the first eight innings since the Yankees beat the Red Sox 17-13 in London on June 29, 2019, a nutty affair in which both teams scored six runs in the first inning.

OptaSTATS tweeted that last Tuesday, for the first time in major league history, five players had 2+ home runs and 5+ RBI in a game: Wilmer Flores (Giants), Josh Naylor (Guardians), Austin Riley (Atlanta), Spencer Torkelson (Tigers), and Christian Walker (Diamondbacks). 

Other Fun Stuff In July From OptaSTATS

July 1-2

Mookie Betts' 4th-inning groundout for the Dodgers tonight snapped his streak of 15 consecutive plate appearances without having a hitless at-bat (he went 7-for-7 with 6 BB & 2 SF during that stretch). That's tied for the longest streak by any MLB player in the last 50 years.

MLB, Most Consecutive PA without a Hitless AB - Last 50 Seasons
15 - Pedro Guerrero, Dodgers, July 23-27, 1985
15 - Frank Thomas, White Sox, May 16-20, 1997
15 - Barry Bonds, Giants, August 31-September 4, 1998
15 - John Olerud, Mets, September 16-22, 1998
15 - Mookie Betts, Dodgers, June 28-July 1, 2023

A string of 15 plate appearances by Mookie Betts:
home run 
walk
walk
double
double
sacrifice fly
walk
home run

home run
single
walk
double

walk

walk
sacrifice fly

July 3

Homers for [Atlanta]:
56 in their last 21 games
54 in their last 20
53 in their last 19
52 in their last 18
50 in their last 17
47 in their last 16
46 in their last 15
43 in their last 14
All of those are the most or tied for the most over a span of that length in MLB history

July 4

The Tigers are the only MLB team to strike out 12+ batters while allowing 2 or fewer hits and 0 earned runs and yet lose the game (since earned runs became an official stat in 1913). MLB teams had been a combined 319-0-1 when putting up those numbers over that time (reg & post).

Today marks the 13th consecutive game that Ronald Acuña Jr. of [Atlanta] has either hit a home run or stolen a base. That's the longest streak by any MLB player in the modern era, surpassing the 12 straight by Oakland's Bert Campaneris in 1969 (entirely on stolen bases).

July 5

The Cincinnati Reds completed their 31st comeback win in their 87th game this year. In the last 50 seasons, only two MLB teams have had more comeback wins in their first 87 games of a season, the 2004 New York Yankees and the 1999 Cleveland[s], both with 34. [JoS: So many comebacks for the 2004 Yankees, yet when they really needed one, they choked.]

Yesterday, Reds Elly De La Cruz and Spencer Steer became the first pair of rookie teammates in MLB history to both go 4-for-4 or better and drive in a run in the same game.

July 7

MLB players with at least a dozen XBH, a dozen walks, a dozen runs & a dozen RBI in a 10-game span (since RBI became official in 1920):
Babe Ruth (1921)
Rogers Hornsby (1928)
Mel Ott (1929)
Lou Gehrig (1935)
Vic Wertz (1950)
Ted Williams (1950, 1951)
Mookie Betts (2023)

Francisco Lindor of the Mets is the only MLB player in the modern era to have 8+ hits, multiple triples, multiple homers and multiple steals over a 2-game span.

July 8

The Tigers are the second team in MLB history to allow at least a dozen runs in one game and then no-hit that same team in their very next game. The other was the 1893 Baltimore Orioles, who allowed 14 runs to Washington on August 15 before Bill Hawke no-hit them the next day.

Lowest ERA over an MLB pitcher's first 8 career starts with a specific starting catcher (since ERA became official in 1913):
0.47 - Nolan Ryan with Mark Bailey (1984 Astros)
0.47 - Ervin Santana with Jason Castro (2017 Twins)
0.56 - Blake Snell with Gary Sánchez (2023 Padres)

Elly De La Cruz of the Reds is the only MLB player in the last 50 years to steal second, third and home all with the same batter at the plate.

July 9

Prior to Elly De La Cruz, the last time an MLB player stole 2nd/3rd/home with the same batter at the plate was on July 14, 1915, when the A's allowed White Sox pitcher Red Faber to steal his way home uninhibited as a stall tactic with the game not yet official & a storm brewing. [Is "uninhibited" supposed to be unimpeded?]

Tarik Skubal of the Tigers is the second pitcher in the modern era to throw 5+ strikeouts and allow zero runs in each of his first two starts of the season while also having his team lose both starts. He joins Derek Lowe, who did so in 2001 with the Red Sox.

July 14

Bo and Josh Naylor of the Guardians are the first pair of brothers in MLB history to hit multi-run homers for the same team in the same inning.

Over the last 2 games, Brewers pitchers have struck out 32 Reds batters [14-18] while allowing 0 runs. That's the most strikeouts without allowing a run by any MLB team over a 2-game span in the modern era.

July 15

The Brewers are the first team in MLB history to record 3 straight shutouts while striking out at least a dozen batters in each. [K: 14-18-12]

The Angels are the first MLB team to face a 6+ run deficit in the 7th inning or later, erase that deficit, then fall behind again by 3+ runs and yet still win the game since the Phillies did so against the Pirates on September 16, 1930.

Today marks the only time in the modern era that 4 different MLB pitchers struck out 10+ batters but had their team lose the game on the same day (Alec Marsh, Johan Oviedo, Spencer Strider, Framber Valdez).

July 17

Nick Pivetta of the Red Sox is the only MLB pitcher in the modern era (starter or reliever) to strike out at least 65% of the batters he faced in a game while allowing no hits (min. 20 batters faced).

The Guardians are the only MLB team in the live-ball era (since 1920) to go 9-up, 9-down without getting the ball out of the infield through 3 innings but then score a run in every inning after that.

July 18

Tyler Wells has allowed exactly two earned runs in each of his last seven starts. The last pitcher to allow the exact same amount of earned runs in 8 consecutive starts (min. 5.0 innings each start) was Cleveland's Jim Bagby with zero from June 16-July 16, 1917.

July 20

Since the beginning of the 2018 season, the Rays are 32-9 (.780) at home against the Orioles. That is the best home record for any club against a single divisional opponent over the last six seasons.

Special Shohei Ohtani Edition

July 3

Shohei Ohtani is the second MLB player to have 30+ home runs and 5+ triples prior to the All-Star break. The other player to do so was Willie Mays in 1954. [JoS: The date on which each season begins is not the same; that affects how many games players can play before the ASG.]

July 8

Tonight marks the sixth time this season Shohei Ohtani has finished one hit shy of the cycle. That's tied for the most such games before the All-Star break in MLB history, along with Hall of Famers Duke Snider (1954), Willie Stargell (1975) and Rod Carew (1977). [Ibid.]

July 17

Shohei Ohtani has hit as many HR in the 7th inning or later over his last 28 games (12) as any other MLB player has hit total during that time (since June 12). That's the most HR in the 7th inning or later over a span of 28 games in MLB history.

July 19

Shohei Ohtani has now scored at least one run in eight straight games (min. 1 PA), his third such streak of at least eight games this season. The only player with more eight-game streaks with at least a run scored in the same season in the Modern Era is Babe Ruth (4 in 1921).