103.3 mph heat, 118.7 mph HR among stats of the week

Here’s our weekly look at 10 mind-blowing notes from the last week in baseball (April 19-25).

Can’t touch this: A’s closer Mason Miller’s overwhelming velocity was on full display on Monday afternoon in the Bronx. He sealed the save with strikeouts at 103.3 mph, 102.5 mph and 102.5 mph. He became the third different pitcher with three strikeouts at 102.0+ mph in a game in the pitch-tracking era (2008, including playoffs), joining Aroldis Chapman (six times) and Henry Alberto Rodriguez (8/25/10). The 103.3 mph was the fastest strikeout pitch by an A’s pitcher in that span, and he now owns each of the top six spots on that Oakland list.

Keeping up with Jared Jones: After his latest start Monday, Jared Jones now has 98 swings and misses this season. That’s the most by a pitcher in his first five career starts in the pitch-tracking era (2008), surpassing Masahiro Tanaka’s 84, per MLB’s Jason Bernard. In fact, 98 is already more than any other pitcher has had in his first six career starts in that span, ahead of Tanaka’s 96 – and Jones has yet to take the mound a sixth time. Jones has struck out at least seven batters in each of his first five starts. He joins Tanaka, Stephen Strasburg and Jose DeLeon as the only pitchers since the mound was moved in 1893 to do so in each of their first five career starts.

Travis d’Homer: Travis d'Arnaud notched his second career three-homer game on Friday (also: 7/15/19), becoming the third catcher with two such games, joining Johnny Bench and Gary Carter. But he didn’t stop there, homering on Saturday and Monday to put together an eight at-bat span with five home runs. d'Arnaud became the first Braves player with at least five homers in an eight at-bat span since at least when the Braves moved to Milwaukee in 1953, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Powerful Shohei: Shohei Ohtani’s sixth homer of the season on Tuesday had an exit velocity of 118.7 mph. That marked the hardest-hit batted ball by a Dodgers player under Statcast (2015). It was also the hardest-hit home run of his career and tied for the 12th-hardest-hit homer in MLB under Statcast, including the postseason. Ohtani now has six career batted balls of at least 118 mph, third-most under Statcast (including playoffs), behind only Giancarlo Stanton (55) and Aaron Judge (14).

Electric Elly: The exciting Elly De La Cruz did what he does on Tuesday, homering and stealing a base. It was his sixth career game with at least one of each, in career game No. 121. That’s tied for the most games with at least one homer and stolen base in a player’s first 125 career games (since at least 1901), with Ellis Burks and Duke Kenworthy (who each also had six through 121 games).

Winning big: The D-backs’ 14-1 win on Tuesday was already their third win by at least 13 runs this season, in just their 25th game. Three wins by at least 13 runs tied for the most by a team in the first 25 games of a season since 1900, joining the 1993 Tigers and 1921 Cleveland. The only team with more such wins through 25 games pre-1900? Our old friends the 1884 Maroons, with five.

Spinning a Web(b): With his eight scoreless on Tuesday, Logan Webb now has had a scoreless outing of at least seven innings in back-to-back outings. The only longer streaks of scoreless outings of at least seven innings by Giants pitchers since 1901 were by 1970 Gaylord Perry (four straight), 1933 Carl Hubbell (four), 1967 Perry (three), 1950 Sal Maglie (three), 1950 Larry Jansen (three), 1904 Joe McGinnity (three) and 1901 Christy Mathewson (three). Webb has gone at least seven innings and allowed one or no runs in each of his last three outings. He’s the first Giants pitcher to do that in three straight outings since Dereck Rodríguez in 2018. The last Giant with a longer such streak was Tim Lincecum, with four straight in 2011.

Leadoff Trout: In his first game at leadoff since 2020, Mike Trout hit his sixth career leadoff home run on Tuesday. The other five all came in 2012, most recently on Sept. 28 that year. Tuesday’s homer came 11 years and 208 days later. That’s the second-longest span between consecutive leadoff home runs in MLB history, per Elias. Only Omar Vizquel had a longer span, at 12 years and 286 days (7/10/93 w/SEA, 4/22/06 w/SF).

Doing more Mike Trout things: Trout homered again on Wednesday, becoming the first player with 10 home runs this season. It’s the second time Trout has had at least 10 homers and five stolen bases in his team’s first 25 games of a season, also done in 2018. He joins Reggie Jackson (1969, 1974) as the only players since 1900 to do so twice. It’s the third time he’s had at least 10 home runs in his team’s first 25 games of a season, also done in 2018 and 2020. That’s tied for the most seasons doing so since 1900, with Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds and Gary Sheffield.

And still unswept: Teams enter each series trying to win the series, but even just avoiding being swept is worth noting. To that end, the Orioles have now gone 99 straight series without being swept, entering the weekend. That’s the third-most consecutive series of multiple games without being swept, per Elias. They trail only the 1942-44 Cardinals (125) and 1903-05 Giants (106).