Four 1-0 games in one day?!? There was one other day this year with two such games. Last June 13 had three, as did 2010-09-11, 2009-07-01, 2004-09-19 and 2004-06-08. There were six in three days starting 2005-08-12. But if I’m not mistaken, the last day with four 1-0 games was 2001-09-02. (You’ll have to poke around to find which one of those was most memorable.)
Only the early precincts were tallied when Game Notes put the issue to bed.
Rays 10, @Yankees 6 — Rain ruined the rampaging Rays’ second head-to-head crack at 1st place on Thursday, but the indirect route proved just as rewarding. A 6-run eruption off CC Sabathia, plus Boston’s meek loss in Charm City, left them alone at the top for the first time since last June, riding the long crest of a 20-3 wave (2.33 ERA).
@Nationals 9, Pirates 7 — The Nats blew a 7-3 lead in the top of the 9th, putting a 7th straight loss in play. But Bryce Harper saved the day, blasting his first walk-off homer for their first game-ending hit of the year. Kurt Suzuki got the inning to Harper with a 1-out single. They’d grown the lead from 1 to 4 with an 8th-inning rough-up of Vin Mazzaro.
Rays 5, @Red Sox 1 — David Price is making up for lost innings. With just 97 pitches, he logged his third CG in 5 starts to reach 4-1, 1.76 since missing 8 starts on the DL. He’s 5-1, 1.90 in 6 Fenway starts.
Not enough time for a full set. Some Monday notes are included at the end.
@Red Sox 6, Rays 2 — Even with Jon Lester scuffling, the matchup with Roberto Hernandez seemed a good chance to snap the Rays’ win streak. In truth, Hernandez was OK — he’s delivered a steady stream of “half-decent” starts all year — but Boston went up 2-1 in the 3rd on a double-steal led by Shane Victorino. (Note the huge lead afforded to the Hawaiian by the shift on Papi.) Lester gave homers to Wil Myers and Evan Longoria, but he left with a 3-2 lead, and the Sox opened it up with 3 two-out runs off Kyle Farnsworth, who looks to be nearing the end of a long career. Junichi Tazawa got 4 outs (3 Ks), inheriting the tying run on 2nd in the 7th.
I apologize to anyone whom I *may* have disappointed with these abbreviated notes.
Rays 3, @Red Sox 0 — A two-hitter for his first career shutout gave the opener of this four-game first-place showdown to the streaking Rays and Matt Moore, who’ve both won six in a row. James Loney drove in the first two runs, with Ben Zobrist (3 hits) in the middle of both rallies. Moore had gone 8 innings just twice before and was averaging 5-2/3 IP this year, but he mowed through 29 Boston batters on 109 pitches, and won the race to 14 wins by an hour or so. He walked just one, a far cry from his 9-inning average of 4.6.
@Brewers 1, Marlins 0 (13 inn.) — Caleb Gindl led off the home 13th with his first-ever home run, ending the longest 1-0 game in two years and sealing Milwaukee’s third straight shutout, tying a club record set in 1990. The Brewers have not allowed a run since the 5th inning of their last pre-Break game, a span of 35 innings.
Mariners 4, @Astros 2 — The line score’s no misprint: 4 runs, 1 hit, no errors for the victorious M’s. Erik Bedard allowed no hits in 6.1 IP, fanning 10, but he walked 5 and was charged with 3 runs (1 ER). There’s just one prior searchable outing of 6+ IP, no hits and 3+ runs allowed; it’s also the only prior game where a team scored 4+ runs with just 1 hit. (Yankee fans will remember those bad old days.)
Box scores are back! Games Notes hasn’t quite got its land legs back, but here’s what we’ve stumbled into so far:
@Royals 1, Tigers 0 — Detroit was held to 2 hits for the first time in over 2 years. The last, a 1-0 loss for Verlander, snapped his 7-start win streak during his Cy Young season; two weeks later, he’d begin a run of 12 straight starts won.
Or, part one of a look at the worst year in Toronto’s best decade, through the lens of one historic game. All game records noted are for the searchable era, 1916-present; season marks are since 1901.
The first team with eight home runs in a game were the 1939 Yankees. That record was equaled six times in the next four decades (with one individual 4-HR effort), but it wasn’t topped until the fluke year of 1987, when homers flew as never before. A new season mark for team HRs allowed was established that year, along with four of the top five and eight of the top 15 team totals.