As if crafting the first double-complete-game in almost a calendar year wasn’t enough, Luke Hochevar and Alex Cobb enhanced the oddity by taking opposite paths to that end: no runs, 7 singles, 8 Ks for Luke; 8 runs, 13 hits, 1 K for Alex. It was the first CG since 1998-07-05 allowing that many runs, and the first with that many hits since 2010-06-30. For Hochevar, it was his 2nd shutout and 4th CG in 111 career starts, and his first-ever consecutive scoreless starts. Both hurlers used 113 pitches, and Cobb (no walks; first CG) threw one more strike than Hochevar (74-73).

• In 3 games back, Royals C Salvador Perez has 4 hits and 4 RBI.
• Alcides Escobar (3-2-3-0) now batting .307 with a .346 OBP, both figures 50+ points above his prior career marks, with 17 doubles in 78 hits.

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This one went down a lot smoother: Rick Porcello held Texas to a run over 6 innings in their own park. His previous start against them lasted all of 1 inning, with 10 hits and 9 runs. This time, his opposite number got the quick shower: In his 2nd career game, Justin Grimm didn’t get an out in the 2nd, allowing 6 runs and 8 hits.

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First 4-K game in 10 years for Scott Rolen, 4th of his career.

• Brandon Phillips is the 2nd cleanup starter this year with a sacrifice, and the first since last August with a sac and a swipe. (OK, that’s weird and all, but this guy did all that plus 2 HRs.)
• Career-high 13 Ks and 2nd career CG for Mat Latos, who came in with a 5.20 ERA.

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Third 4-K game this year for Adam Dunn, 16th of his career; the rest of the ChiSox fanned just twice. In his last 38 games, Dunn has 12 HRs, a double, 11 singles, 30 walks and 69 strikeouts, hitting .178 but with a .777 OPS. He’s fanned at least once in 68 of 73 games. Here’s the complete list of qualifying years with OPS at least 4 times the BA:

• Since returning from bullpen duty, Francisco Liriano has a 2.41 ERA in 6 starts, with 40 Ks and 14 walks in 37.1 IP. First time he’s gone 7+ since last August.
• Two doubles and two double plays for Denard Span; 19th game since 1944 with at least 2 of each, including 3 days before by Carlos Beltran (table below). It’s a star-studded list, including 3 HOFers. The other thing that grabs me: The list includes 16 ABs more than absolutely necessary to meet the search criteria, and 8 extra hits — but not one of those resulted in an extra double, nor a triple, nor a HR. No extra DPs, either.

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Is there a stat category for what Heath Bell did Monday? He blew a 4-run lead in the 9th, but not a save situation. Bell had been on a good roll, no runs in his last 9.1 IP, with 16 Ks and 2 walks. But he walked the leadoff man, and the snowball rolled downhill.

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Oakland’s 3 hits in a 1-0 win matched the 2012 MLB low for a victory; out of 11 games, only the A’s have 2. Wasted was a gem by Seattle rookie Erasmo Ramirez: 10 Ks, 1 walk, 3 hits in 8 IP, in his 3rd career start. Tommy Milone went 7 scoreless, on the heels of his first CG; he has 3 scoreless stints of 7+, but no shutout yet.

• Third 1-0 game with a HR this year; the previous 2 were on the same day, 1 of them also against Seattle. There were 15 such games last year, 16 the year before.
• The entire game featured just 2 ABs with a runner in scoring position, both for the losing Mariners, both hitless.
• More common than I thought: Ramirez allowed only 3 runners besides the HR, but got 2 GDPs. Six others have done that since 2010. (In case you have the same mental block as I do, Roberto Hernandez is the guy we used to know as Fausto Carmona. He’s also the only one of these guys to get 2 DPs in as many chances.)

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Jimmy Rollins homered for the 4th time in 5 games, but the Phils are only 2-2 in those games. Rollins has started 71 of the 75 games at SS, and has boosted his OPS+ up to 98 with a strong June (.998 OPS in 23 games). Since 1901, only 10 men age 33 or older have had a season of 150+ games at SS with OPS+ of at least 100. Check out the spread in time:

• Clint Barmes (.205 BA/.528 OPS) is on pace for the lowest OPS with 400+ PAs since 1990. His 47 OPS+ would be tied for the 7th-lowest in that span — tied with himself, among others.

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The Blue and the Red are now tied for 4th and last, both at 38-35.

• BoSox are now 30-7 when Big Papi doubles up on the taters. I had expected better. But hey, they were only 19-9 when Manny homered twice. By the way, from 1993-2006, the winning percentage when any player homered twice was .762 (4,116 games). From 2007-12, it’s .754 (1,440 games).
• Boston reliever Clayton Mortensen has 13 Ks and no walks in 14 IP. Only 5 pitchers have had more IP and no walks, and none has had more Ks with no walks. In Mortensen’s prior 3 years, he had 39 walks and 50 Ks in 95 IP.