Game Notes – 04/28/2025

A brief history of the Mets and their individual pinnacles of run production …

On August 1, 1962, left fielder Frank Thomas did a lot of lifting to try and push his club away from yet another loss:  a two-homer, six-RBI line to establish a new high mark in RBI for the first-year franchise (alas, Casey Stengel’s crew fell to 26-77 for the year).  

Less than a year after winning World Series MVP, first baseman Donn Clendenon added another flourish to his time with New York:  a two-homer, seven-RBI effort on July 28, 1970 that finally knocked Thomas (and Jerry Buchek, who had six RBI in a 1967 game) off the peak.  Clendenon’s stay lasted six years, until June 4, 1976, until Dave Kingman konged his way to kingly status with an eight-RBI (and three-homer) mashing.  

Kingman’s reign lasted more than three decades, a constant presence as regimes and success cycles came and went.  No one could unseat, let alone match the former Mets All-Star from the mid-70s until the first decade of the 2000s was creeping toward conclusion.  The transfer of power took place on a Friday afternoon in the first game of a Subway Series doubleheader on June 27, 2008, when Carlos Delgado stepped into the frame.

Brandon Nimmo climbed all the way to the best a Met has ever done with driving in runs, producing nine RBI via a grand slam, a three-run homer and a two-run double.  Nimmo matched the output generated by Carlos Delgado in the first game of a doubleheader on June 27, 2008; Delgado’s big day also featured two longballs and a double and also saw those three long hits produce runs in the exact same manner:  grand slam, three-run homer, two-run double.

~Nimmo also scaled heights to become the 16th player (and only Met) since 1901 to author a line boasting nine-plus RBI and four-plus runs.  By decade:

1930s:  Tony Lazzeri (1936), Johnny Rizzo (1939), Jim Tabor (1939)

1940s:  Phil Weintraub (1944), Walker Cooper (1949)

1950s:  Gil Hodges (1950), Norm Zauchin (1955)

1970s:  Fred Lynn (1975), Roy Howell (1977)

1990s:  Mark Whiten (1993)

2010s:  Edwin Encarnación (2015), Anthony Rendon (2017), Scooter Gennett (2017)

2020s:  Adam Duvall (2020), Shohei Ohtani (2024), Brandon Nimmo (2025)

~Nimmo entered the day tied for 56th in the NL with 12 RBI.  He’s now tied for 10th.  

Pete Alonso drove in a run to push his RBI tally to 27 – the most ever for a Met by the end of any April.  If the lens angles differently, Alonso’s 27 through 29 team games ties for the fifth most, behind Dave Kingman’s 30 in 1976, John Buck’s 29 in 2013, Yoenis Céspedes’ 29 in 2016 and Alonso’s 28 in 2023.  In 1994, Jeff Kent also had 27.

James Wood homered.  His ninth round-tripper pushes him into a tie for the second most homers for any Expo/National before May 1.  He and two others (Henry Rodríguez in 1996; Bryce Harper in 2013, 2016 and 2017) trail Ryan Zimmerman, who hit 11 in 2017.  

~Wood is one of five players in the modern era to be in an age-22 or younger campaign and have nine longballs before May 1 (no one has reached double digits).

1998    Álex Rodríguez

2004    Miguel Cabrera

2013    Bryce Harper

2018    Ozzie Albies

2025    James Wood

The Twins set a season high for hits (17) and matched its best for runs in an 11-1 win over the Guardians (they also scored 11 runs on April 25).  The day started with a notch in both columns, as Edouard Julien connected for his fourth career homer to lead off a game.  A Twins’ leadoff homer hasn’t been the spark for the team to reach double digits in runs since April 3, 2023, when Max Kepler went yard to start things in an 11-1 win over the Marlins.

Nick Martinez (6.0 IP, 1 R) and three relievers combined on a five-hitter to pace the Reds to a 3-1 win against the Cardinals.  Cincinnati’s staff owns a 3.37 ERA – sixth lowest in the Majors.  The Reds have had one March/April in the Great American Ball Park era (since 2003) where the club finished this initial section of the season with a lower ERA than the one it currently sports.  In 2013, the team posted a 3.28 through April, the fourth lowest in the Majors.

The Athletics slipped past the Rangers, 2-1, with JP Sears (5.2 IP, 1 R) picking up his fourth win of the year.  With a 2.94 ERA as a companion, the southpaw is one of six left-handers in the team’s history to enter May with four-plus victories and a sub-3.00 ERA.  Vida Blue gets this set started, with seasons in 1971 and 1975 and then Barry Zito (2003), Scott Kazmir (2014) and Sean Manaea (2018) appear.  

Tyler Soderstrom’s two-run double produced all the scoring for the Athletics’ side in their 2-1 win.  The 23-year-old owns 14 extra-base hits and 24 RBI and is one of nine players in the modern era to be in an age-23 or younger season and reach May 1 having reached those two tallies.  Tommy Davis (14 & 24 in 1962) is the outlier, the sole representative from 1901 through the rest of the century.  In the 2000s, we have:

2001    Albert Pujols               17 & 27

2006    Edwin Encarnación    14 & 24

2009    Evan Longoria            17 & 24

2016    Bryce Harper              15 & 24

2019    Cody Bellinger            21 & 37

2019    Adalberto Mondesí     14 & 24

2024    Gunnar Henderson     16 & 24

2025    Tyler Soderstrom        14 & 24

Jose Altuve clocked his 233rd career home run.  Not much is written these days about Altuve’s stature, but the 5’6” lifetime Astro is closing in on Hack Wilson for the most longballs by anyone at that height or less.  If one extends the parameters a little bit, the company remains pretty cool to review:

Most HR By a Player With a Baseball Reference Listed Height of 5’8” or Less

358    Yogi Berra         (5’7”)

268    Joe Morgan      (5’7”)

260    José Ramírez   (5’8”)

244    Hack Wilson     (5’6”)

233    Jose Altuve       (5’6”)

231    Jimmy Rollins   (5’7”)

207    Kirby Puckett    (5’8”)

Dane Myers contributed a sixth-inning, pinch-hit grand slam but it wasn’t enough to support a win as the Marlins fell to the Dodgers, 7-6.  There have been 14 pinch-hit slams in the sixth inning or later this decade, with this one only the second to come in a loss.  On May 31, 2024, Jo Adell hit one in the seventh but his Angels dropped a 5-4 decision to the Mariners.

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