Here’s our weekly look at 10 mind-blowing notes from the last week in baseball (July 4-10).
What an arm: Oneil Cruz had an impressive outfield assist on Sunday, with a 102.9 mph throw. That’s the fifth-fastest-tracked outfield assist in the regular season under Statcast (2015). The only ones faster were on April 20, 2016: Aaron Hicks (105.5 mph); Sept. 13, 2017: Brett Phillips (104 mph); June 19, 2018: Jackie Bradley Jr. (103.4 mph); and Sept. 4, 2015: Carlos Gómez (103.1 mph).
Walk this way: With another homer Sunday, Christian Walker has 21 career home runs at Dodger Stadium, all since 2018. That’s nine more than anyone else as a visitor there in that span. It’s also the most home runs by any player in his first 45 career games at Dodger Stadium, ahead of Cody Bellinger’s 17.
Zeros: The Pirates played six straight shutouts — either throwing one or being shut out — through Sunday. That’s tied for the longest such streak in MLB history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. They tied the 1953 Senators, 1949 White Sox, 1919 Cubs and 1903 Pirates.
Birthday buddies: Yu Darvish made his season debut on Monday. He and Martín Maldonado were both born on Aug. 16, 1986. They’re the 13th starting pitcher/catcher duo with the exact same birth date since 1900, per Elias. They join 2020 Josh A. Smith/Ryan Lavarnway, 2018 Jacob deGrom/Devin Mesoraco, 1998 Jeff Juden/Phil Nevin, 1995-98 Bobby Jones/Alberto Castillo, 1997 Scott Sanders/Dan Wilson, 1996 Paul Menhart/Dan Wilson, 1995 Mark Petkovsek/Scott Hemond, 1957 Dave Hillman/Jim Fanning, 1942 Ed Hanyzewski/Paul Gillespie, 1941 Johnny Gee/Vinnie Smith, 1926 Charlie Robertson/Pinky Hargrave and 1919-22 Eric Erickson/Patsy Gharrity.
Leadoff inside-the-park: Lawrence Butler hit the A’s first inside-the-park homer since Game 2 of the 2006 ALDS by Mark Kotsay on Tuesday. That was the longest active drought of any team entering the day. But it wasn’t just any inside-the-parker — it was a leadoff homer. It was the A’s first leadoff inside-the-park home run since Elmer Valo on June 25, 1943.
Walk-off inside-the-park: Later on Tuesday, Patrick Bailey hit the first walk-off inside-the-park home run since Tyler Naquin on Aug. 19, 2016. The last before that? Ángel Pagán on May 25, 2013, for the Giants. That’s the Giants’ only other one since the start of 1932. Bailey became the third catcher with a walk-off inside-the-park home run, joining Bennie Tate on Aug. 11, 1926, and Pat Moran on Aug. 4, 1907.
Inside-the-park bonanza: Let’s recap — Butler leadoff and Bailey walk-off, both of the inside-the-park variety. With those two, Tuesday was the first day since at least 1900 with both a leadoff inside-the-park home run and a walk-off inside-the-park home run, per Elias.
Wood work: With a 115.9 mph home run on Wednesday, James Wood now has 13 homers of at least 110 mph this season. That ties 2019 Ronald Acuña Jr. for the third-most homers of at least 110 mph in a player’s age-22 season or younger under Statcast. With plenty of season left, he trails only 2021 Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (21) and 2021 Fernando Tatis Jr. (16). Wood’s 13 are tied with Shohei Ohtani for most in MLB this season.
PCA!: Pete Crow-Armstrong hit two homers on Thursday to give him 25 on the year. His 92 games are the fourth-fewest games played to reach at least 25 homers and 25 stolen bases in a season. Only 1989 Eric Davis (69 games), 2002 Alfonso Soriano (91) and 1973 Bobby Bonds (91) got there faster. With Seiya Suzuki and Crow-Armstrong, this is the first time the Cubs have had two players reach 25 home runs before the team’s 95th game.
Current Ironman: Matt Olson has played 712 consecutive games entering Friday, dating to May 2, 2021. There have been only seven other streaks of at least 600 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).
