Game Notes – 05/13/2025

When the day got started at Briggs Stadium in Detroit on July 19, 1955, rookie Babe Birrer was just a witness, two days removed from his last appearance.  But when Frank Lary opened the sixth by surrendering a walk and a run-scoring double, Birrer made his entrance.  Inheriting the tying run on second with no outs, the right-hander retired the next three batters to maintain his team’s 5-4 lead:  whatever drama had touched this tense moment would soon give way to outlandish interpretations of the theatrical.  In the bottom half of the inning, Birrer came to the plate with two on and two outs:  pitch, swing, three-run homer, 8-4 lead.  Birrer worked another couple of scoreless innings and then in the bottom of the eighth, again stepped to the plate with two men on:  pitch, swing, three-run homer, 12-4 lead.  

Since 1901, there have been 1,445 player lines to strut and dance to the tune of a pair (or more) of homers and six (or more) RBI.  Three of these big, big days came from men who began their days as a spectator:  Roy Sievers, who came on to play first in a contest in 1961; John Mayberry, whose insertion into an affair in 1978 had him manning that same position; and our man on the marquee, a 26-year-old relief pitcher in just his 19th career game hitting the only two longballs and driving in the only six runs of his career.  

Down 9-7 in the bottom of the 11th, Javier Báez cracked a three-run homer – his second three-run jack of the game – to give the Tigers a 10-9 win over the Red Sox.  

~Báez is the only Tiger in the divisional era to produce an extra-inning walk-off homer with the team down multiple runs.  In all, this marks the 21st time since 1969 a player has swung the bat and swung the outcome so dramatically, with the most recent before Báez being Pete Alonso for the Mets almost exactly two years ago, on May 17, 2023.  

~Báez is the first Tiger since Eric Haase on July 3, 2021 to produce multiple homers with multiple runners on in a game.  

~Báez did all of this damage batting ninth, with his six RBI from that bottom spot in the order tying for the most ever for a Tiger.  Along with Babe Birrer’s day in 1955, third baseman Tom Brookens had a grand slam and a two-run single in 1988.  This is the third game this season* that’s seen a ninth-place hitter come up with a six (or more) RBI line, which ties for the most in any season since 1901.  The 2021 and 2024 campaigns also had three.  

*the other two:  Austin Wynns on April 20; Jake Meyers on May 3

Elly De La Cruz hit a game-tying homer in the bottom of the ninth only to have his Reds lose in 10 innings.  It had been almost 13 full years – June 7, 2012 – since a Red hit a game-tying homer in the bottom of the ninth only to see his dramatics get lost in the noise of a defeat.   In between these two disappointments, seven Reds game-tying homers in the bottom of the ninth had led to a win.

~More late-game, homer-hitting dramatics took place in Toronto, where Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero launched a go-ahead grand slam in the ninth.  The blow represents the third game-tying/go-ahead homer in the ninth inning or later this season for a Rays player, tying this club with the Dodgers for the most this season (Shohei Ohtani is responsible for two of the Dodgers’ three).  

Fernando Tatis, Jr. hit a two-run homer to give the Padres a 6-4 walk-off win.  In Houston, Isaac Paredes delivered a game-ending solo jack in the ninth to push his Astros to a victory.  With these two adding to Javier Báez’s theatrics on Tuesday, there have been 15 walk-off home runs this season.  Since 1998 – the year the Majors expanded to the current 30-team configuration – the most game-ending homers in any season came in 2018, where there were an anomalous 102 (no other season since ’98 has seen more than 80; that occurred in 2004).

J.P. Crawford delivered a walk-off single in the 11th to give the Mariners a win over the Yankees.  In Chicago, Justin Turner produced a game-ending, two-run double to push his Cubs to a 5-4 win.  In all, Tuesday’s games saw five conclude with a walk-off hit, giving this season 51 such outcomes.  The most since 1998 came in 2013, when there were 208.

Kodai Senga allowed a run in five-and-two-thirds innings in a no-decision as the Mets slipped past the Pirates, 2-1.

~Senga’s ERA now rests at 1.22 – best in the NL and second in the Majors.  New York has had 208 pitchers in its history accumulate at least eight starts through the club’s first 43 games of a season – none of the other 207 can boast of an ERA as low as Senga’s.  The low-five, as it now stands:

1.22     Kodai Senga in 2025

1.50     Johan Santana in 2009

1.55     Matt Harvey in 2013

1.59     Jerry Koosman in 1968

1.69     Jacob deGrom in 2020

~The Mets’ staff owns a Major League-best 2.81 ERA.  It’s the fourth lowest for the franchise at this 43-game stage in a season, behind the 2.05 from the 1968 team, a 2.49 in 1971 and the 2.75 in 1989.

~This 2-1 win came at home.  Since 1964 (the year the Mets moved into Shea Stadium), the franchise owns a 3.48 ERA when playing at home.  Over this stretch, only the Dodgers (3.10) and Astros (3.45) can claim a lower collective ERA in home games.

CJ Abrams hit a leadoff homer for the Nationals in the club’s loss to the Braves – the third time this season the 24-year-old has gone deep to open a game.  The single-season franchise record stands at nine, shared by Brad Wilkerson (2004) and Alfonso Soriano (2006).  Abrams now has 10 such homers in his Nationals career, making him the third player in the franchise’s history to have at least 10.  Wilkerson had 15 and Trea Turner sits at 14.

José Ramírez delivered a solo homer and scored two runs in Cleveland’s 2-0 win over Milwaukee.  It was, fittingly, a central role in what marked the 809th time Ramírez started in a Cleveland win.  He and Hall of Famer Lou Boudreau are tied for the second most in franchise history, six behind Hall of Famer Nap Lajoie.  In this milestone game, starting first baseman Carlos Santana drew a pair of walks and came away with his 729th win as a Cleveland starter – that figure is 12th most, 20 behind Hall of Famer Joe Sewell. 

Jacob Wilson went 4-for-5 with a pair of home runs to pace the Athletics to an 11-1 win.  The shortstop is batting .363 and has 58 hits for the year.  

~For all Athletics through 42 team games, Wilson’s 58 hits tie for the 23rd most and represent the most since Jason Giambi had 58 in 1996.  The high mark arrived in 1925 when Al Simmons had 76 at this stage, on his way to 253 (fifth most in baseball history).

~For all Athletics through 42 team games with at least 125 plate appearances, Wilson’s .363 average is the 20th highest and the best since Giambi was batting .367 in 1996.  The high mark arrived in the first year of the franchise (1901), when Nap Lajoie was at .441.  

~Wilson’s notable profile includes just nine strikeouts and just seven walks.  He’s one of 14 players in the divisional era to have 50+ hits and single digits in walks and strikeouts through his team’s first 42 games.  Matty Alou appears three times in this small collection, for his outputs in 1969, 1971 and 1972.  His brother Felipe shows up in 1969 as well.  The other nine since 1969:  

1971   Tony Oliva, Glenn Beckert

1975   Larry Bowa

1976   Thurman Munson, Bill Buckner

1977   Warren Cromartie

1985   Mickey Hatcher

1990   Ozzie Guillén

2008   José López

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