Game Notes – 04/04/2025

Joe Carter is probably best remembered for a certain three-run home run to end the 1993 World Series and likely fosters many remembrances for his knack of assembling 100-RBI seasons and his significant disinterest in accepting four balls in a plate appearance (of the 162 players with at least 300 homers in their careers, only three produced a lower career walk percentage than our man of this intro).  

Aside from all of this, Carter has a place on the top floor when it comes to mashing three homers in a game.  As a member of the Indians in 1989, he tied a Major League record with a pair of them in a season.  The two that year also pushed Carter into a tie with Lou Gehrig for the most career three-homer games in AL history, as both he and the Iron Horse had four.  Carter had one more in him and it would come in that magical ’93 campaign with the Blue Jays.  On August 23 of that season, he – against the club who had enjoyed his first four three-homer efforts, those Indians – lifted three out of the park to set a new standard in the Junior Circuit, one that remains unsurpassed.  

José Ramírez connected for three home runs in Cleveland’s 8-6 win over the Angels.  

~The third baseman authored the 35th three (or four) homer game in franchise history and the second bearing his name (his other came in 2023).  Ramírez is one of six players on the long list to have multiple appearances, joining Joe Carter (4) and these guys with two:  Hal Trosky, Albert Belle, Jim Thome and Manny Ramírez.

~There have been 42 examples of a switch-hitter hitting three round-trippers in a game.  Ramírez is the sixth switch-hitter with multiple three-homer games, joining Eddie Murray and Mark Teixeira (three apiece), as well as José Valentín, Victor Martinez and Kendrys Morales (all with two).

~ Ramírez now has 26 multi-homer games, tied with Belle and Thome for the most in Cleveland franchise history.  All-time, among switch-hitters, his position is less lofty:

Most Career Multi-HR Games, Switch-Hitters

46    Mickey Mantle

42    Mark Teixeira

40    Chipper Jones

38    Carlos Beltrán

31    Eddie Murray

29    Lance Berkman

28    Chili Davis

26    José Ramírez

Riley Greene singled, doubled and homered in the Tigers’ win over the White Sox.  What he didn’t do – and hasn’t done all season – is draw a walk.   For the year, the outfielder has seven extra-base hits; Greene is one of 17 players since 1901 to have at least seven of those and no walks through seven team games.  There are a couple of Tigers predecessors on the list and for some reason, they did it the same year.  In 1916, Harry Heilmann and Bobby Veach each had exactly seven extra-base hits to pair with the zero bases on balls.  The high mark in extra-base hits on the list is nine, shared by St. Louis’ Emmet Heidrick in 1901 and Chicago’s Billy Herman in 1936.

Boston’s Wilyer Abreu was one of seven Boston starters with a multi-hit game in a 13-9 win over St. Louis.  The outfielder – who hit his third home run of the season – is tied for the AL lead in hits* (11) and tied for second in walks (seven).  He’s one of six Bostonians this century to have reached safely as many as 18 times through the team’s first eight games, following Manny Ramírez in 2001 and 2004, David Ortiz in 2006, Kevin Youkilis in 2009 and Adam Duvall in 2023.  

*Abreu is tied with teammates Alex Bregman and Kristian Campbell.  Boston has had at least three batters with 11+ hits through eight games on 16 previous occasions, most recently in 2023 (Rafael Devers, Duvall and Alex Verdugo).

With a 2-for-5 effort, Cardinals leadoff hitter Lars Nootbaar continued his early season penchant for collecting a couple of knocks.  The 27-year-old has six multi-hit lines, making him one of 15 leadoff hitters in the modern era to have at least six through seven team games (no one has done it in all seven).  There are no other Cardinals on this list, which, until Nootbaar, most recently had an inductee in 2009 (Emilio Bonifácio).  A few other notable names to have done this, going backwards:  Ichiro Suzuki in 2005, Alfonso Soriano in 2003, Pete Rose in 1976 and Jo-Jo Moore, who is the only two-time attendee (1934 and 1936).

Southpaw Shota Imanaga cooled off the Padres as he limited San Diego to a run and four hits over seven-and-a-third innings.  In his 32 career appearances, the left-hander has eight in which he’s gone at least seven innings and allowed no more than one run (including each of the past two times he’s taken the hill).  There’s a collection of 37 lefties since 1901 to have at least eight through their first 32 games, with the most recent being Hyun Jin Ryu in 2013-2014.  

Jackson Merrill’s hit streak continued, with the 21-year-old singling and doubling in the Padres’ first defeat of the year.  He’s the 30th player in the modern era to be 21-or-younger and open his year with hits in at least his first eight contests.  At eight, he’s currently tied with 10 others, including some notables named Stan Musial (1942), Nellie Foxx (1949), Henry Aaron (1955) and Frank Robinson (1957).  More recently, Jesse Barfield (1981), Johnny Damon (1995) and Corey Seager (2016) hit safely in exactly eight straight. 

Jesús Luzardo fanned eight Dodgers over seven scoreless frames and picked up the win as Philadelphia continued two early trends:  win and rack up a lot of K’s.  The Phillies, now 6-1, are off to their best seven-game start since the 2010 club also began with six victories.  Led by Luzardo, who is tied for the Major League lead with 19 punchouts, Philadelphia’s pitching staff has tallied 87 strikeouts, the most through seven games in the franchise’s history.  The 87 are actually the second most for any team in the modern era through seven team games, with only the 2020 Reds and their 93 ahead.

Tommy Edman homered for the fifth time this season.  The Dodgers franchise in the modern era has seen eight others amass at least five through nine team games.

Dodgers from 1901-2025:  Most HRs Through Nine Team Games

6:  Wally Moon (1961), Cody Bellinger (2019)

5:  Andy Pafko (1952), Carl Furillo (1955), Mark Grudzielanek (2001), Matt Kemp (2012), Adrián González (2015), Mookie Betts (2024), Tommy Edman (2025)

Atlanta’s Spencer Schwellenbach spun a gem, allowing two hits and no runs or walks with 10 strikeouts to pick up the win.  In the modern era, the Braves franchise has seen five outings where a pitcher has put up this kind of stat line:  no runs or walks, double-digits in strikeouts, no more than two hits allowed.  Schwellenbach now has two of them, as does Spencer Strider.  Breaking out of the “double-S in the name” paradigm, Kevin Millwood posted the first of these lines, with a one-hit shutout and 13 strikeouts in 1998.  There are 167 examples of this line since 1901, with Schwellenbach and Strider two of 29 pitchers to have ownership of more than one.  Those with more than two can be summarized easily and quickly:

5     Max Scherzer, Jacob deGrom

4     Chris Sale, Carlos Rodón

3     Walter Johnson, Randy Johnson, Justin Verlander, Clayton Kershaw

Brice Turang homered to extend his season-long hitting streak to eight games.  The Brewers’ second baseman is one of 18 players in franchise history to hit safely in each of his first eight (or more) contests in a year.  Dickie Thon posted the longest streak, a 13-gamer in 1993.  

Playing in his 1,000th game, Aaron Judge went deep for the 321st time (and sixth time in 2025).  

~His 321 longballs through his first 1,000 contests are far and away the most, with Ryan Howard’s 279 representing the second-highest tally.  10 others reached 250:  

277    Ralph Kiner

272    Harmon Killebrew

270    Giancarlo Stanton

269    Juan González

266    Albert Pujols

260    Albert Belle

255    Babe Ruth

255    Álex Rodríguez

254    Ernie Banks

251    Kyle Schwarber

~Judge also drew his 697th career walk in this game.  With three more free passes this season, he’ll become the 14th player ever to amass at least 700 bases on balls and at least 300 homers in his first 10 seasons.  

~Judge’s six longballs through seven team games tie for the third most.  Mike Schmidt had seven in 1976 and Trevor Story matched that tally in 2016.  The others with six:  Gabby Hartnett (1925), Dolph Camilli (1935), Willie Mays (1964), Lou Brock (1967), Larry Walker (1997), Ken Griffey, Jr. (1997), Luis Gonzalez (2001), fellow Yankee Álex Rodríguez (2007) and Justin Upton (2013).  

~Judge’s 17 RBI through seven team games tie for the most for any player since 1901.  In 2005, Pat Burrell drove in 17 through Philadelphia’s first seven contests and then Baltimore’s Chris Davis matched that output in 2013.

Thanks to Baseball Reference and its extraordinary research database, Stathead, for help in assembling this piece.