Stats of the week showcase J-Rod, Gallen and (of course) Shohei
Here’s our weekly look at 10 mind-blowing notes from the last week in baseball (April 20-26).
JULIOOO for 30 and 30: Talk about an elite power-speed combo. On Friday, the Mariners’ Julio Rodríguez stole his 30th career base. He already had 32 career home runs. His 152 career games to reach at least 30 each in homers and stolen bases are the second fewest in MLB history, behind only Mike Trout, who got there in 146 games.
Super Shane: On Saturday, Shane McClanahan racked up 32 swings and misses, tied for sixth most in a game in the pitch-tracking era (since 2008, including postseason). He did it on just 88 pitches, by far the most swings and misses induced in an outing of 90 or fewer pitches in that span – the prior most on that few pitches was 25, by Kyle Gibson, Jacob deGrom, Lance Lynn and Kevin Gausman once each. McClanahan induced a 65.3% whiff rate, with 32 misses on 49 swings, the highest whiff rate by a pitcher in a game in that span since ‘08 (min. 25 swings).
Adolis’ sparkling Saturday: Adolis García put together quite the day on Saturday, with three homers and two doubles. There have been 18 four-homer games in MLB history, with 16 of those coming since 1901. What García did is actually a rarer feat in that span – granted, it requires one more hit than a four-homer game does. García became the 14th player since at least 1901 with five extra-base hits in a game.
Quite the inning: Masataka Yoshida hit two homers for the Red Sox in the eighth inning on Sunday – on the anniversary of Fernando Tatis Sr.’s two grand slams in an inning. Yoshida became the fifth Red Sox player with two long balls in an inning, joining David Ortiz (8/12/08, 1st inning), Nomar Garciaparra (7/23/02, 3rd), Ellis Burks (8/27/90, 4th) and Bill Regan (6/16/28, 4th). He’s also just the fourth MLB rookie to accomplish the feat, along with Joe Pepitone (5/23/62, 8th), Joe DiMaggio (6/24/36, 5th) and Ed Cartwright (9/23/1890, 3rd).
Cobb’s shutout: On Monday, the Giants’ Alex Cobb threw his second career shutout. The other was on August 23, 2012, for the Rays. He went 10 years and 244 days between shutouts, the fourth-longest span since the mound moved to its current distance in 1893, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The only longer spans between shutouts: Bill F. Bailey’s 12 years and seven days (8/30/1909-9/6/1921), Socks Seibold’s 11 years and 296 days (8/27/1917-6/19/1929) and Carmen Hill’s 10 years and 356 days (9/17/1915-9/8/1926).
Back-to-back, twice: On Monday, the A’s Brent Rooker and Jesús Aguilar hit back-to-back homers in the first inning. Then, in the third, they did the same. It was the first time in A’s franchise history they had the same players hit back-to-back home runs twice in a game and the fifth time they’ve hit back-to-back homers twice in a game at all.
The streaks that were: The Rays finally lost a home game on Tuesday, but their 14-0 start at Tropicana Field is worth a revisit. The Rays' 14-0 home record to start 2023 tied for the fourth-longest home win streak to start a season with the 1885 White Stockings, trailing only the 1880 White Stockings (21), 1886 Wolverines (18) and 1884 Maroons (16). The Rays also homered in each of their first 22 games, a streak that ended Monday in game 23, setting a record for the longest streak by a team to begin a season.
Sabol’s moment: Blake Sabol sent Giants fans home happy on Tuesday, hitting a two-run walk-off home run in the ninth to cap off a three-run inning as the Giants won, 5-4. He became the fifth Giants rookie with a walk-off home run in the Wild Card era, joining Jaylin Davis (9/25/19), Mike Yastrzemski (7/21/19), Dan Ortmeier (9/7/07) and J.R. Phillips (7/16/95).
Racking up zeroes again: After a 44 1/3-inning scoreless streak last season, the seventh longest in a single season in the live-ball era (since 1920), Zac Gallen currently has an active 28-inning scoreless streak. If this streak reaches 30 scoreless innings, Gallen will be just the seventh pitcher with two single-season streaks of 30-plus scoreless innings since 1970, per Elias. He would join Clayton Kershaw, Cliff Lee, Brandon Webb, Kenny Rogers, Roger Clemens and Orel Hershiser.
Shotime: Shohei Ohtani has allowed just a .102 opponents' batting average in his first six starts. That’s the lowest in a pitcher’s first six starts of a season since at least 1916 (min. 30 IP). With his start Thursday, Ohtani has now allowed three hits or fewer in each of his last 10 starts dating to last season. That’s tied for the longest such streak among traditional starters since the mound was moved to its current distance (1893), with Jacob deGrom in 2021, per Elias.