Offensive outbursts -- and 1 blazing fastball -- highlight wild week of stats

Here’s our weekly look at 10 mind-blowing notes from the last week in baseball (Aug. 30-Sept. 5).

What a duo: Aaron Judge finished August with 12 home runs and 25 walks while his teammate, Juan Soto, had 10 homers and 20 free passes. They became just the third duo with at least 10 homers and 20 walks each in a calendar month. The two joined Ted Williams and Vern Stephens in August 1949 and Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in July 1931.

Walk the walk: Jordan Walker recorded the first five-hit game of his young career on Sunday. Speaking of young, at 22 years and 102 days old, he became the third-youngest Cardinals player with a five-hit game since at least 1901. The only Cards to do so at a younger age were Rogers Hornsby on June 28, 1916 (20y, 62d) and Frank Snyder on August 21, 1915 (21y, 86d).

Forever Jung: Josh Jung crushed a walk-off home run on Sunday off of a 101.7 mph pitch. That’s the fastest pitch a Rangers player has homered off under pitch tracking (2008). It’s the third-fastest pitch hit for a walk-off home run in that span. Jeimer Candelario did so off a 102.1 mph on Sept. 7, 2018, and Bobby Witt Jr. did the same off of a 101.8 mph on July 28, 2023.

In the Nick of time: Nick Castellanos notched his fourth walk-off hit of the season on Sunday Night Baseball. His four walk-off RBIs are tied for the most by a Phillies player in a season since RBI became official in 1920, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. He’s tied with 2021 Jean Segura, 1985 Juan Samuel and 1970 Tony Taylor.

Pip Pip Chourio: Jackson Chourio hit his second career grand slam on Monday. At 20 years and 175 days, Chourio became the second-youngest player at the time of his second career grand slam, older than only Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (7/30/19: 20y, 136d), per Elias. He’s one of just eight players with multiple grand slams before turning 21, along with Tony Conigliaro (three), Alex Rodriguez (three), Ted Williams, Travis Jackson, Mickey Mantle, Faye Throneberry and Guerrero Jr.

Polar Bear: Pete Alonso hit his 223rd career home run on Tuesday. That broke a tie with Ryan Howard and Eddie Mathews for sole possession of the third-most home runs in a player’s first six career seasons. He trails only Ralph Kiner (257) and Albert Pujols (250).

The Volunteer Fireman: Ben Joyce threw a 105.5 mph pitch to strike out Tommy Edman on Tuesday. That’s the fastest strikeout pitch in the pitch-tracking era (2008), breaking a record he himself set earlier this season at 104.7 mph. It’s the third-fastest pitch overall under tracking, behind only 105.8 mph and 105.7 mph from Aroldis Chapman. The only other pitcher to even hit 105.0 is Jordan Hicks.

Schwarbs: Kyle Schwarber hit his 12th leadoff home run of the season on Tuesday. Schwarber followed that up with two more home runs, becoming the first Phillies player with two three-homer games in a season. He now has three three-homer games in his career, all out of the leadoff spot (2021 with WSH). The only other players with multiple three-homer games out of the leadoff spot are Mookie Betts (five) and Alfonso Soriano (three). He hit his 13th leadoff homer on Wednesday, tying Alfonso Soriano in 2003 for most in a season in MLB history.

Shotime: Shohei Ohtani registered the first 43-43 season in MLB history on Friday, and entering Friday, he’s on pace for 51 home runs and 53 stolen bases. 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.

Current Iron Man: Matt Olson has played 598 consecutive games entering Friday, dating to May 2, 2021. There have been only six other streaks of at least 500 since 2000, per Elias. They belong to 2000-07 Miguel Tejada (1,152 consecutive games), 2018-22 Whit Merrifield (553), 2010-14 Prince Fielder (547), 2000-03 Alex Rodriguez (546), 2003-06 Hideki Matsui (518) and 2004-07 Mark Teixeira (507).