Game Notes – 04/27/2025

Stan Musial is famous for a lot of things when it comes to feats on the diamond.  Considering the abundance his 22-year saga provided, the very beginnings of that journey are perhaps a bit overshadowed by what followed.  But like so much of his career symphony, the overture was pretty spectacular.  His debut season in 1941 consisted of just 12 games in September, but what a first month, highlighted by a .426 average and the first five of his 1,377 extra-base hits.  Within that September surge, Musial opened with 10 hits and a walk in his first five games, 18 plate appearances producing four doubles and a .588/.611/.824 slash line.  

Agustín Ramírez hit second and third career homers in a Marlins loss.  The 23-year-old now has played five games and in addition to the three longballs, has four doubles and two singles and has drawn a pair of walks (he’s slashing .474/.524/1.158; not a bad Musial impression).  In terms of those hits tallies, he’s on a short list of those to climb to those levels so soon.  

1901-2025:  7+ XBH, 9+ Hits Through First Five Games

2008    Chris Dickerson (7 & 9)

2012    Will Middlebrooks (7 & 9)

2014    Jorge Soler (7 & 10)

2024    Rece Hinds (7 & 9)

2025    Agustín Ramírez (7 & 9)

Cal Raleigh hit his 10th homer of the season to become the eighth Mariner to reach double digits through 28 team games.  

14    Ken Griffey, Jr. (1997), Nelson Cruz (2015)

11    Ken Griffey, Jr. (1994, 1998)

10    Álex Rodríguez (1998), Ken Griffey, Jr. (1999), Mitch Haniger (2018), Cal Raleigh (2025)

Tarik Skubal fanned 11 with no walks in six scoreless innings and improved to 3-2 with a 2.34 ERA for the season.

~In Tigers history, only Max Scherzer (12 K’s in 2012) and Aníbal Sánchez (12 in 2014) rang up more batters in a scoreless, walk-less outing than Skubal on Sunday.  

~Skubal is coming off a Triple Crown season in 2024.  Through the end of April last year, he was 4-0 with 41 strikeouts and a 1.72 ERA:  tied for first in the AL in wins, tied for fifth in strikeouts, sixth in ERA.  Right now, he’s tied for fifth in wins, his 40 strikeouts are tied for fifth and he’s eighth in ERA.

Hunter Brown gave up a run (his first in four starts) and picked up a win as Houston rolled to a 7-3 victory.  The right-hander owns a 1.22 ERA in his six starts this season, sports a 0.838 WHIP and has held hitters to a .189 average.  For all Houston pitchers with at least six starts before May 1 (there’s 56 of them), Brown ranks:

~Second in ERA, behind Dallas Keuchel and his 1.21 in 2017*

~Fourth in WHIP, with Justin Verlander (0.731 in 2018) owning the lowest mark

~Sixth in BAA, with Justin Verlander (.153 in 2018) owning the lowest mark

*Brown in 2024 is also eligible and his 9.78 ERA by the end of April last year is the worst of the 56 pitchers

In Boston’s 13-3 win over Cleveland, Kristian Campbell was 2-for-2 with three walks and four runs scored.  He’s one of six different Red Sox younger than 23 to post a line with at least four runs and five times reaching safely.  Ted Wiliams did it twice, while Bobby Doerr, Tony Conigliaro, Ellis Burks and Andrew Benintendi each did it once.  

Ceddanne Rafaela drove in five runs in Boston’s victory – the third time in his career he’s had at least five RBI from the ninth spot in the order.  For the franchise, only Jackie Bradley, Jr. had as many as three games like this and across the Majors, those three tie these two Red Sox with Omar Vizquel for the most since 1901.  

Tylor Megill saw his ERA jump to 1.74 in a no-decision on Sunday, but the Mets’ right-hander still has a notable mark for the franchise.  That 1.74 stands as the third lowest for any New York hurler (min. 6 GS) at the end of April.  In 2002, Al Leiter had a 0.92 and in 2013, Matt Harvey posted a 1.56.

In the Cardinals’ loss, Lars Nootbaar singled twice and drew a walk.  For the season, the 27-year-old has reached safely 52 times (third in the NL).  Since 1901, those 52 tie for the fifth most for any Cardinal through the end of April.  Albert Pujols – with 67 in 2008 – is the leader in his clubhouse.

In the Cardinals’ loss, Brendan Donovan doubled, his 37th hit of the year (tied for the most in the NL).  Those 37 knocks also tie for the second most for any Cardinal through any April in the modern era.  In 2019, Paul DeJong amassed 40, while Édgar Rentería had 37 in 2003.  

In the Yankees’ doubleheader sweep on Sunday, Aaron Judge added another three hits, including his eighth homer of the year.  Over his last 365 days, Judge has played 159 games and assembled the following numbers:

205 Hits

62 HR

158 RBI

101 XBH

432 TB

131 BB

.364/.490/.766*

*There are five player seasons in NL/AL history to see a batter qualify for the batting title and post a slash line featuring a .360 or better average, a .490 or better on-base average, and a .760 or higher slugging mark:  Babe Ruth in 1920, 1921 and 1923; Barry Bonds in 2002 and 2004.  

Max Fried improved to 5-0 with six innings of one-run ball.  In the liveball era, there are eight southpaws who – before making a pitch in May – could match (or improve upon) Fried’s spotless win-loss claim while also going lower in the ERA department. 

1920-2025:  Through April 30, 5+ Wins, 0 Losses, 1.43 or Lower ERA

1981     Fernando Valenzuela (5-0, 0.20 ERA)

2000     Randy Johnson (6-0, 0.91 ERA)

2008     Cliff Lee (5-0, 0.96 ERA)

2013     Matt Moore (5-0, 1.13 ERA)

2017     Dallas Keuchel (5-0, 1.21 ERA)

2005     Dontrelle Willis (5-0, 1.29 ERA)

2024     Ranger Suárez (5-0, 1.32 ERA)

2002     Randy Johnson (6-0, 1.37 ERA)

2025     Max Fried (5-0, 1.43 ERA)

Nick Lodolo  worked seven scoreless innings while surrendering only two hits and a walk.  The southpaw is one of only a dozen Reds lefties in the modern era to make at least six starts by the end of any April – in that small set, his:

~2.25 ERA is third lowest, following Don Gullett’s 1.90 in 1973 and Jim Merritt’s 1.97 in 1970

~0.861 WHIP is second lowest, behind Merritt’s 0.795 in 1970

~6.50 hits/9 is the lowest, undercutting Merritt’s 6.62 in 1970

Luis Urías connected for a game-ending two-run homer in the bottom of the 10th to launch the Athletics to a 3-2 win over the White Sox.  This dramatic turn of events saw Urías become only the second Athletic this century to produce an extra-winning walk-off home run with his team facing a deficit.  Brent Rooker is the other, doing it just two years ago.  

Andy Pages had four hits and drove in four runs in a Dodgers victory, his third straight game with at least three hits.  No Dodger has built a streak longer than three games since Ted Sizemore had five straight with three-or-more hits in 1970.

On Sunday, Teoscar Hernández hit his 200th career homer.  The 32-year-old also has 199 doubles.  There are 381 players who can claim at least 200 longballs in the big leagues, none can say that they finished with exactly the same number in the two categories.  

38-year-old Andrew McCutchen had a nice ride through the time machine on Sunday, posting his first line featuring at least four hits with a home run for the Bucs since he was a 30-year-old in 2017 (he has had a few such games for other teams since).  In the modern era, there are just a few Pirates who could also claim a four-hit, one-homer day while being older:  

41 years, 193 days old:  Honus Wagner on September 5, 1915

40 years, 99 days old:    Willie Stargell on June 13, 1980

39 years, 173 days old:  Honus Wagner on August 16, 1913

39 years, 56 days old:    Jeff Reboulet on June 25, 2003

38 years, 199 days old:  Andrew McCutchen on April 27, 2025

Rays center fielder Chandler Simpson singled three times and has hit safely in all eight of his Major League ballgames – it’s the fifth longest streak to begin a career by anyone starting that journey while representing Tampa Bay.  Rocco Baldelli began with a 13-game streak in 2003, while Brent Abernathy started with hits in 10 in a row in 2001.  Antonio Pérez (2003) and Akinori Iwamura (2007) had nine-game streaks.

Kyle Schwarber drew a walk to extend his on-base streak to 28 games.  For all Phillies seasons since 1901, only Odúbel Herrera authored a longer streak to open his season, reaching safely in his first 40 in 2018.   

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