Here’s our weekly look at 10 mind-blowing notes from the last week in baseball (Sept. 5-11).
Shotime: Shohei Ohtani brought the velo in his start Friday. He threw a 101.5 mph pitch, the second-fastest of his MLB career. He also had a 100.9 mph strikeout, tied for the third-fastest of his MLB career and his fastest since 2022, when the other three that were faster and tied all were. In total, he threw 11 pitches at 100+ mph, two more than in any other outing of his MLB career.
Orioles Magic, feel it happen: How’s this for Orioles Magic? Jackson Holliday’s home run on Saturday was the fourth time in the expansion era (1961) that the Orioles broke up a no-hit bid of 8 2/3 innings or more, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The first of those four? June 7, 1968, on a hit by Davey Johnson, who passed away earlier that day. What a way to honor him. The Orioles became the only team to win a game after breaking up a no-hit bid when down to their final out in the expansion era.
Skuuuuub: Tarik Skubal went seven scoreless innings on Saturday, and scoreless starts have been plentiful for him this year. It was his 12th scoreless start of at least six innings this season, tying 2014 Adam Wainwright for the most by a pitcher in a season since the mound was lowered entering 1969. The only pitchers with more such starts in a season in the live-ball era (1920) are 1968 Bob Gibson and 1964 Dean Chance, with 13 each.
Triple the triples: Daylen Lile had three triples in the Nationals’ weekend series at Wrigley Field. That’s tied for the most by a player in a series of any length at Wrigley Field. The others to do so there in a three-game series are 1985 Vince Coleman (STL), 1978 Greg Gross (CHC), 1936 Gabby Hartnett (CHC) and 1915 Charlie Hanford (Chicago Whales of the Federal League). And, worth noting, two individuals did it in longer series but only played in three (or fewer) of the games: 1954 Bobby Adams (CIN) and 1937 Billy Jurges (CHC).
Birthdays are important: Victor Mesa Jr. hit his first career home run on Monday, which was his birthday. He became the seventh player in the Wild Card era to hit his first career home run on his birthday, per Elias. He joined 8/31/2016 Stephen Cardullo, 7/1/2011 Charlie Blackmon, 7/2/2006 Angel Pagan, 8/22/2002 Randy Wolf, 10/3/2001 Eric Munson and 9/20/1995 Chris Snopek.
Schwarbs: Kyle Schwarber hit his 50th home run of the season on Tuesday, becoming the second player in Phillies history with a 50-homer season. Ryan Howard hit 58 homers in 2006. It was Schwarber’s 181st home run with the Phillies, the third-most in a player’s first four seasons with a team. He trails Mark McGwire at 191 with the Cardinals and Babe Ruth at 189 with the Yankees.
Early bird gets the strikeouts: Connelly Early struck out 11 batters in his MLB debut on Tuesday. His 11 strikeouts tied Don Aase on July 26, 1977, for the most by a pitcher in his MLB debut in Red Sox history. That was the most by any pitcher in his MLB debut since Freddy Peralta with 13 for the Brewers on May 13, 2018.
More Orioles Magic: Between Friday and Wednesday, Baltimore had four walk-off wins. The Orioles became the first team to have a walk-off win in four of five games since the Nationals, who did it five times in six games from Aug. 16-21, 2014, per Elias. The Orioles/Browns franchise had done this twice before, from June 23-27, 1954, and July 2-5, 1945.
Mooooookie: Mookie Betts crushed a 3-0 pitch for a grand slam on Wednesday. It was the 22nd grand slam on a 3-0 pitch since pitch counts have been tracked (1988), including the playoffs. It’s the first in MLB since he hit one on Aug. 7, 2023. Betts is the only player with two 3-0 grand slams since pitch counts have been tracked. It was also his fifth consecutive game with multiple RBIs, tied for the second-longest such streak in Dodgers history (RBI official since 1920), behind only 1953 Roy Campanella with six straight.
Current Ironman: Matt Olson has played 766 consecutive games entering Friday, dating to May 2, 2021. There have been only five other streaks of at least 700 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) and 1981-86 Dale Murphy (740).
