Game Notes – 05/22/2025

Let’s take a trip back to 1962.

It’s July 17, we’re in Chicago to see the White Sox take on the Senators.  In the first game of a doubleheader, Washington’s Dave Stenhouse and the home team’s Juan Pizarro are trading zeroes early on, Stenhouse with a little more efficiency (five baserunners through his first six scoreless frames), Pizarro with a little more pizazz (nine strikeouts through his first six scoreless innings).  The rhythm is then jolted when Don Lock leads off the top of the seventh with one into deep left, 1-0 Senators.    And that’s how it ends:  1-0 Senators, Don Lock the offensive hero.  

“Who is Don Lock?” you may ask.  It’s a reasonable question, for Don Lock has just played in his first Major League ballgame.

Playing in his 17th career game, Yankees second baseman Jorbit Vivas generated the only run-producing moment of New York’s 1-0 win over Texas:  a fifth-inning homer that doubled as the 24-year-old’s first career jack.  Vivas is the 17th player in the modern era to be playing in his 17th career game (or an earlier one) and hit a homer in a 1-0 win.  Let’s audit some facts from this:

~Vivas is the first to do this since the Braves’ Ronald Acuña, Jr. managed the feat in his 12th game, on May 8, 2018.  That longball for Atlanta’s 20-year-old rookie was his third career round-tripper.

~Vivas is one of three Yankees within this collection of 17.  Frank Fernández did it on Opening Day in 1968, in what was his 10th career game and with what was his second career homer.  On May 21, 1938, pitcher Spud Chandler took about as much credit for a win as a pitcher can, homering in the eighth to support his third career shutout.  This all happened in the right-hander’s 16th career appearance and provided his first career longball.

~By age, Vivas (24 years, 74 days old) is the seventh youngest of the collection, between Cleveland’s Shin-Soo Choo in 2006 and the Giants’ Bill Taylor in 1954.  The youngest:  18-year-old Phil Cavarretta for the Cubs on September 25, 1934 (this was his third career game and first career home run).  The 30-year-old Chandler is the oldest of the 17.  

~Texas’ Bob Johnson actually appears twice.  He first accomplished the feat in his fifth game on October 3, 1981.  Then, in his 10th game on May 7, 1982, Ernie Banks’ nephew did it again.  Let’s play two, indeed.

~The first player among the 17 appears in 1908:  Owen Wilson for the Pirates in his eighth game on April 23.  Four seasons later, Wilson would triple his way to greater fame, amassing 36 three-base hits for a record that stands as one of those unbreakable ones.  

~Don Lock is the only one of these 17 to have done this in his Major League debut.

In Philadelphia’s 2-0 win over Colorado, Bryce Harper doubled for his 750th career extra-base hit.  For all players in history through their age-32 seasons, he’s the 10th to reach that number while drawing at least 1,000 walks. The 10, by year of debut season:

1914    Babe Ruth

1923    Lou Gehrig

1925    Jimmie Foxx

1926    Mel Ott

1939    Ted Williams

1951    Mickey Mantle

1952    Eddie Mathews

1986    Barry Bonds

2001    Albert Pujols

2012    Bryce Harper

Taylor Ward hit his second grand slam of the season to highlight a three-hit, five-RBI day that saw him lead the Angels to a win over the Athletics.  

~Ward will have the remainder of the season to chase Joe Rudi (1978, 1979) and David Eckstein (2002) as the only Angels players to hit three slams in a season.  Ward’s six career slams with the Angels tie him with Don Baylor, Brian Downing, Tim Salmon and Mike Trout for the third most in franchise history, behind Garret Anderson’s eight and Rudi’s seven.

~Ward has driven in a run in six straight contests and has at least one extra-base hit in eight consecutive games.  In the former category, he’s halfway toward the longest an Angel has ever reached – 12 games from Garret Anderson in 2007.  In the latter, he’s much nearer to the longest streak: a nine-game run by Darin Erstad in 1998.  At eight, Ward is tied with Tim Salmon (2000).  

~Ward has 14 home runs.  His teammate, Logan O’Hoppe, who also homered in Thursday’s win, is also at 14.  The two are tied for the seventh most longballs by any Angel through 49 team games.

17    Wally Joyner (1986), Mo Vaughn (2000)

16    Mike Trout (2020)

15    Troy Glaus (2000), Mike Trout (2017), Shohei Ohtani (2021)

14    Leon Wagner (1962), Don Baylor (1978), Brian Downing (1987), Mike Trout (2018), Taylor Ward (2025),          Logan O’Hoppe (2025)

~Before 2025, the Angels had enjoyed one other season in which they had teammates each have at least 14 homers through 49 team games.  In 2000, Mo Vaughn had his 17 and Troy Glaus his 15.  In honor of  Ward and O’Hoppe replacing that duo, here’s a list of the last time teammates had at least 14 home runs through 49 team games, for each of the current AL franchises.  

1934  Athletics       Bob Johnson and Jimmie Foxx

1995  Indians         Manny Ramírez and Jim Thome

2000  Mariners       Edgar Martínez and Álex Rodríguez

2003  Rangers       Juan González, Álex Rodríguez and Carl Everett

2006  White Sox     Paul Konerko and Jim Thome 

2011  Yankees        Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson

2018  Red Sox       J.D. Martinez and Mookie Betts

2019  Astros           Alex Bregman and George Springer

2025  Angels          Taylor Ward and Logan O’Hoppe

The Blue Jays, Orioles, Rays, Royals, Tigers and Twins franchises have never seen teammates do this.  

On Thursday, the Yankees’ Carlos Rodón (6.0 IP), Philadelphia’s Ranger Suárez (6.2 IP) and Cleveland’s Tanner Bibee (7.0 IP) produced scoreless efforts for their respective clubs.  An updated tally of the most starts in 2025 featuring at least six innings and no runs:

4    Kris Bubic, Yoshinobu Yamamoto

3    Hunter Brown, Nathan Eovaldi, Bailey Falter, Max Fried, Sonny Gray, Nick Pivetta, Carlos Rodón, Joe              Ryan, Tarik Skubal

Christian Yelich produced the 11th multi-homer game of his Brewers career and led Milwaukee  to an 8-5 win against Pittsburgh.  Yelich’s 11 tie him with Dave Nilsson for the 11th most in franchise history.  The top three: Ryan Braun (33), Prince Fielder (22) and Gorman Thomas (19).

Jose Altuve homered twice in Houston’s win against Seattle – his 12th career game with multiple longballs.  His 12 are the seventh most for the Astros, with the top-three tallies coming from Jeff Bagwell (31), Lance Berkman (25) and Yordan Alvarez (22).     

Washington’s Amed Rosario delivered the franchise’s first walk-off hit from a pinch-hitter since 2018 to give the Nationals an 8-7 win over the Braves.  Overall, the franchise has celebrated a pinch-hitter walking things off with a knock on 51 occasions.  Individually, Rosario has produced three in his career, which began in 2017.  Since 2017, he’s the only player with as many as three (Rosario’s first came with the Mets and his second with the Guardians).

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