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).
Caleb Gindl‘s heroics for Milwaukee in Sunday’s 13-inning 1-0 win over Miami inspired this post. For those who may not be aware, Gindl’s homer was the deciding run in the hometown Brewers walk-off win. It was also the first home run of Gindl’s career.
Gindl is a rookie this season and I have no idea how many home runs he may hit in his career. But, if he never hits another one he will join the group of players featured in this post. They are all retired players with two things in common: they hit exactly one home run in their careers; and it was a walk-off shot.
After the jump, a look at those players who had just one long fly, but made it count big time.
@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.
In a competitive round of voting, with holdovers from previous rounds receiving almost all the support, Alan Trammell edged out John Smoltz, Bobby Grich, Lou Whitaker and others to become the 25th player inducted into the High Heat Stats Circle of Greats. The COG voting will be on a two-week hiatus as your host drifts out of fair territory but will be back in play mid-August to start the 1947 round. More on Alan Trammell, and on the latest voting results, after the jump. Continue reading
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.)
After a flurry of 300 game winners in the first decade of this century, attention is focused again on who might be the next pitcher to reach this most celebrated of pitching milestones. As well, there has been as much or more speculation as to whether there will be another 300 game winner, what with the ever-increasing “care” with which pitchers are handled and the decline of the complete game to almost negligible levels.
Lost in the speculation about 300 wins is the fact that to reach that level a pitcher must obviously first pass 200 wins, a not insignificant accomplishment in itself. As there has been the unusual occurrence of 3 pitchers reaching 200 wins this season, it seems an opportune time to look a bit closer at that milestone.
After the jump, more on the 200 win club.