Here’s our weekly look at 10 mind-blowing notes from the last week in baseball (July 18-24).
Skubs: Sunday was Tarik Skubal’s seventh career game with at least 10 strikeouts and no walks. That broke a tie with Justin Verlander for the most in Tigers history. It was his fifth outing this season with at least 10 strikeouts, one or no runs allowed and no walks. That’s tied for the most such outings in a season in at least the last 125 seasons, with 2021 Corbin Burnes, 2021 Gerrit Cole and 2015 Clayton Kershaw.
Wheelz up: Monday was Zack Wheeler’s fifth start with at least 10 strikeouts and no walks this season, the most by a Phillies pitcher in at least the last 125 seasons. His 12 such outings overall with the Phillies are two more than any other Phillies pitcher in that same span.
Age is just a number: On Tuesday, Rich Hill became the 18th pitcher to start a game at age 45 or older and the sixth in the 21st century, joining Jamie Moyer, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Tim Wakefield and Bartolo Colon. At 45 years and 133 days, Hill became the oldest player in Royals history, eclipsing Gaylord Perry for that distinction. He was the oldest pitcher to appear in an MLB game since Jamie Moyer made his final appearance at age 49 years and 191 days on May 27, 2012. The Royals are Hill’s 14th MLB team, tying Edwin Jackson for the most in history.
deGrom dealing: Jacob deGrom induced 28 swings and misses on Tuesday, and he’s no stranger to racking up the whiffs. It was his 17th outing with at least 25 swings and misses in his career. That’s the second most of anyone under pitch tracking (2008), behind Max Scherzer’s 20, per MLB’s Jason Bernard. If we look since deGrom’s debut year of 2014, it’s 18 for Scherzer.
Went down and got it: Rafael Devers’ first of two homers on Wednesday was on a pitch just 0.90 feet above the ground. He now has two career homers on pitches 0.90 feet above the ground or lower. That’s tied for the most under pitch tracking, with Javier Báez and Pete Crow-Armstrong.
Shotime: Shohei Ohtani homered in his fifth consecutive game on Wednesday, tying for the longest streak in Dodgers history. He joined 2019 Max Muncy, 2015 Joc Pederson, 2014-15 Adrián González, 2010 Matt Kemp, 2001 Shawn Green and 1950 Roy Campanella. It was Ohtani’s 12th home run of at least 440 feet at Dodger Stadium. Nobody else has more than four such homers there under Statcast (2015).
Geno: Eugenio Suárez had hit each of the Diamondbacks’ last seven home runs before a Ketel Marte leadoff homer on Wednesday. Suárez tied 2000 Sammy Sosa and 1979 Mike Schmidt for the longest streak of a team’s homers by one player in at least the expansion era (1961), according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Rocky Mountain shutout: The Rockies shut out the Cardinals on Wednesday. That snapped a streak of 220 games without a team shutout, the third-longest streak all-time, per Elias. Their streak trailed only the 1893-96 Washington Senators (383) and 1897-99 St. Louis Browns/Perfectos (298).
The Greatest Showman: Bryce Harper hit his 350th career home run on Wednesday against the Red Sox. He became the 12th player with at least 350 home runs and 1,000 walks before turning 33, joining Jimmie Foxx, Albert Pujols, Mickey Mantle, Eddie Mathews, Babe Ruth, Mel Ott, Adam Dunn, Lou Gehrig, Jim Thome, Ralph Kiner and Barry Bonds. The home run was hit 110.8 mph and traveled 439 feet, his hardest-hit home run and longest of the season.
Current Ironman: Matt Olson has played 721 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).
