Stellar Skenes, Sho-stopping HR highlight stats of the week

Here’s our weekly look at 10 mind-blowing notes from the last week in baseball (Sept. 6-12).

Skenes Day: Through his 20th career start on Monday, Paul Skenes has 151 strikeouts. That’s the fifth-most by any player in his first 20 career appearances since at least 1901, trailing only 1998 Kerry Wood (179), 1995 Hideo Nomo (175), 1984 Dwight Gooden (162) and 2002-03 Mark Prior (154). Skenes has a 0.99 WHIP, making him one of three pitchers with at least 135 strikeouts and a sub-1.00 WHIP in his first 20 appearances in that span, along with 2012-13 Matt Harvey and 2010-12 Stephen Strasburg.

Clutch Cutch: Andrew McCutchen hit his 20th home run of the season on Tuesday, giving him 10 seasons with at least 20 home runs. Eight of those have come with the Pirates, passing Ralph Kiner at seven for the second-most in franchise history. Only Willie Stargell, 15, has more 20-homer seasons for the Buccos.

Tiger cub: Keider Montero threw a 96-pitch shutout for the Tigers on Tuesday. At 24 years and 66 days old, Montero is the third-youngest Tigers pitcher with a shutout in the last 20 seasons. He was older than only Justin Verlander (5/22/06: 23 years, 91 days) and Michael Fulmer (8/14/16: 23 years, 152 days).

Big Dumper: Cal Raleigh homered on Tuesday, the 89th of his career. That passed Rudy York for the second-most by a primary catcher through his first four career seasons. Raleigh only trails Hall of Famer Mike Piazza, who hit 92 home runs in his first four career seasons.

Who’s your Padre: Manny Machado hit his 164th home run with the Padres on Tuesday. That passed Nate Colbert for the most in franchise history. Machado is now one of three active players who are a franchise’s all-time home run leader, along with Mike Trout (Angels) and Giancarlo Stanton (Marlins).

So close: Bowden Francis took a no-hit bid into the ninth inning for the second time in four starts on Wednesday. He is the fourth pitcher on record to lose two no-hit bids in the ninth inning in a season, joining 1989 Nolan Ryan, 1988 Dave Stieb and 1906 Ed Walsh. Francis is the only pitcher with multiple no-hit bids of at least eight innings within his first 11 career starts in the Majors in at least the expansion era (since 1961), per the Elias Sports Bureau.

Amazin’ ninth inning: The Mets scored six runs in the ninth inning after Francis’ bid ended, the most by a team in a ninth inning after having no hits through eight, in at least the expansion era. Wednesday was the fifth time in franchise history the Mets won after being no-hit through eight innings, the most such wins for any team in the expansion era, per Elias.

Shotime: Shohei Ohtani is on pace for 52 home runs and 53 stolen bases, entering Friday. Ohtani is second in the Majors in both home runs and stolen bases. The only players to finish a season top-two in both are 1909 Ty Cobb and 1908 Honus Wagner. Ohtani’s 47th homer was 118.1 mph off the bat on Wednesday. It was his third 118+ mph home run this season, second-most in a season under Statcast (2015), behind only Aaron Judge’s five in 2017.

K him if you can: Luis Arraez has now gone 124 plate appearances since his last strikeout, entering Friday. That’s the fourth-longest streak of consecutive PA without striking out since 2000, per Elias. He trails only 2004 Juan Pierre (147), 2001 Pierre (143) and 2016-17 Mookie Betts (129). If you’re curious, the record in the expansion era (1961) is 223, by 1976 Dave Cash.

Current Ironman: Matt Olson has played 604 consecutive games entering Friday, dating to May 2, 2021. There have been only seven other streaks of at least 600 to begin in the divisional era (1969), per Elias. They belong to 1982-98 Cal Ripken Jr (2,632 consecutive games), 1975-83 Steve Garvey (1,207), 2000-07 Miguel Tejada (1,152), 1978-83 Pete Rose (745), 1981-86 Dale Murphy (740), 1973-78 Rose (678) and 1969-73 Sandy Alomar Sr. (661).