Check out six of the strangest box score lines from this season
For all of the technological marvels that have pushed baseball forward -- from radio to TV to internet streaming -- there is still one thing that unites baseball fans across all eras: the box score. Originally created by Henry Chadwick in 1859, the simple grid of names and numbers can somehow tell the story of an entire game despite its simplicity. It's why as everything else changes, the box score remains the home for a quick catchup among baseball fans.
Most of the time when you open the boxes, nothing out of the ordinary jumps out. 1-for-4s, 2-for-3s with a walk, etc. etc. etc. ad infinitum. These are not those cases. These are the six strangest batting lines players had this season:
July 30 vs. Athletics
The day started well for Dozier. He homered to lead off the game for the Twins:
But by the end of the game in the 12th inning, he would not be so happy.
While Dozier is one of five players to strike out five times in a game in 2017, he's just the third player to hit a home run in the same game. The others: Sammy Sosa in 2000 and Ray Lankford in 1998.
April 9 vs. Baltimore and Aug. 27 vs. Pirates
Despite Holliday and Votto sharing the same batting line -- with both being pulled for pinch-runners at the end and never scoring a run -- they accomplished the feat in very different ways.
Shockingly, Holliday needed only 28 pitches to pull it off -- eight more than the minimum -- and only swung his bat twice on the day:
Votto had to work a fair bit more to pick up his free passes.
Just look at all these fouls:
How did he manage it? Jeff Sullivan at Fangraphs had an idea. Nobody outside of a Little Leaguer with his older brother's bat chokes up this much:
May 16 vs. Athletics
Dyson may have tied the record for most times being hit in a single game, but I'm sure it's a record that he wouldn't want.
While the "feat" has been pulled off 26 times, most recently by
Aug. 16 vs. Yankees
The Mets were in a bind before facing the Yankees this night. With
It worked out: d'Arnaud didn't field a ball until the ninth inning.
If you're wondering what that looks like in the box, wonder no more:
Athletics: 13 walks
Sept. 9 vs. Astros
A true team effort in every sense of the word. The Athletics were the first team since the D-backs in 2011 to draw 13 bases on balls in a nine inning game. Every player in the starting lineup but one drew at least one walk, with
Perhaps even stranger was the fact that five of the walks came with the bases loaded.