Game Notes – 05/05/2025

In 1988, Kirby Puckett was the most Kirby Puckett of all:  more hits in a season (234) than any other in his career before or after; a higher batting average (.356) than in any other campaign across his 12-year career; a 3.33 walk rate that was (okay, fine) the second lowest in his dozen years of big league ball.  For those of us who revel in the quirkiness of profiles and stats, Puckett’s 1988 is a lighthouse kind of season, but in this version it beckons us away from the familiar and toward something more exotic.  In the expansion era, Puckett’s 1988 stands as one of only three campaigns to see a batter qualify for the batting title, hit at least .340 and do it while converting no more than 3.60% of his plate appearances into a free pass.  After the Hall of Famer in Minnesota, there’s the free-swinging Dante Bichette out of Colorado in 1995 (.340 and 3.59%) and Robinson Canó (.342 and 3.54%) in 2006.  There’s a 23-year-old shortstop repping the Athletics these days who is 20% of a season toward joining Puckett and the two others:  far out in the distance with still a ways to travel, but at least coming into sight.  

Jacob Wilson singled in the game-tying run in the bottom of the 10th and then singled in the game-ending run an inning later:  a dramatic finish for the Athletics as they got by the Mariners, 7-6.

~Wilson’s starring role marked the second time in as many years an Athletic produced a game-tying and game-ending hit with both coming in extra innings.  On September 6, 2024, Seth Brown hit a game-tying, two-run homer in the 11th and then ended the affair with a single in the 13th.  Before Brown, no Athletic had done this since the franchise had moved to Oakland for the 1968 season.

~Wilson had three hits in the game and is now 46-for-135 (.341) for the year.  The 46 hits through 36 team games are the most for any player with the franchise since Jed Lowrie had 48 in 2018.  Before him, it was Jason Giambi (49) in 1996.  

~Wilson has drawn five walks (for a BB% of 3.55).  The last season to witness a player get through his club’s first 36 games and have a line featuring 46-plus hits and no more than five walks was 2018, when Dee Strange-Gordon put up 49 and two for the Mariners.  To come across an Athletic to have done this, one has to travel back to 1922, when Bing Miller had 55 hits and five walks.   

~A couple of years after that ’22 campaign, Miller finished his season with a .342 average and a 2.72 walk percentage.  He’s one of nine AL or NL players since 1901 to qualify for the batting title, hit at least .340 and post a walk percentage no higher than 3.60.  The others:  Charlie Hickman (1902), Bill Lamar (1925 – also, like Miller, for the Athletics), Pie Traynor (1927), Carl Reynolds (1930), Don Mueller (1954) and the three mentioned in the lede (Puckett, Bichette, Canó).

AJ Smith-Shawver worked eight innings of one-hit ball and paced the Braves to a 4-0 win over the Reds.   At 22 years and 166 days old for this exceptional display, Atlanta’s righty is the youngest to post a scoreless effort featuring no more than one hit and at least eight innings since the Cardinals’ Michael Wacha put up eight-and-two-thirds innings of one-hit, no-run ball on September 24, 2013.  Before Wacha, it was another Brave – Julio Teheran – who did this, on June 5, 2013.  In all, since 1901, there are 74 pitchers (including Smith-Shawver) to hit these statistical marks at Smith-Shawver’s age or younger.  Bob Feller and Vida Blue make the most appearances, with five and three respectively.  

Shohei Ohtani hit his ninth homer and nabbed his 10th steal of the year and the Dodgers took care of the Marlins, 7-4.  Ohtani has 36 career games with at least one longball and one stolen base.  Those 36 tie him with Frank Robinson, Paul Molitor and Mike Cameron for the 23rd most for any player since 1901 and are the very most for any player since Ohtani’s debut season in 2018.  Over this eight-year stretch, Ronald Acuña Jr. has 26, José Ramírez has 23 and then Francisco Lindor and Christian Yelich* round out the top five, with 22 each.

*Yelich had his 22nd line on Monday

Cole Ragans struck out 11 in five innings and came away with a win as the Royals blanked the White Sox, 3-0.  Ragans has nine double-digit strikeout games with the Royals, tying Zack Greinke for the second most in franchise history.  Only Kevin Appier (21) had more.  This season, Ragans has four games with 10-or-more K’s – most in the Majors and tied for the fifth most for any Royal in one year.

Royals Franchise:  Most 10+ K Games in One Season

6    Dennis Leonard (1977)

5    Bob Johnson (1970), Kevin Appier (1996), Zack Greinke (2009)

4    Kevin Appier (1995), Seth Lugo (2024), Cole Ragans (2025)

Kansas City’ Bobby Witt, Jr. connected on his Major League-leading 14th double and also stole a pair of bags to increase his tally in that category to 11 – tied for second in the AL.  The last five players to lead the AL or NL in both doubles and steals in the same season appear as this:

2021    Whit Merrifield (Royals)

1994    Craig Biggio (Astros)

1984    Tim Raines (Expos)

1968    Lou Brock (Cardinals)

1929    Charlie Gehringer (Tigers)

Cubs catcher Carson Kelly hit his eighth homer of the year as Chicago took down San Francisco, 9-2.  The 30-year-old has played 20 games this season and is slashing .361/.500/.820 with 17 walks against seven strikeouts.  In one point of view, when he’s played this season, Kelly has been a decent approximation of Barry Bonds in 2003.