Game Notes – 06/09/2025

When Arizona hosted San Diego on August 7, 2010, the visitors were clearly the superior team:  first in the NL West, a full 22 games ahead of the cellar-dwelling Diamondbacks.  But, at least for this particular day, the Padres had little shot, for they didn’t have Chris Young (at least not the outfielder version).  

Facing southpaw Clayton Richard to lead off things in the bottom of the first, Young had a ball and a strike on his ledger when he connected for a drive to right that gave his club an initial 1-0 advantage.  The D’Backs would maintain the edge for almost the entire game, until ninth inning longballs from Jerry Hairston and Adrián González knotted things at five.  And that gave Young a chance to do something pretty spectacular.  Down 1-2 in the count and facing Luke Gregerson in the bottom of the ninth, Young again reacted in perfect sync to something he liked, taking this offering to deep left and ending what he had started – leadoff homer in the first, walk-off homer in the ninth.  

Josh Naylor launched a walk-off grand slam to hand his Diamondbacks an 8-4 win in 11 innings.  Naylor’s dramatics marked the third game-ending slam in Arizona’s history, which includes Ryan Roberts’ “Ultimate Slam” (a walk-off slam when trailing by three runs) in 2011.  In 2000, Damian Miller produced the first walk-off homer with the bases loaded for the franchise.

A few hours before Naylor’s game-ending slam, Corbin Carroll led off the bottom of the first with a homer of his own.  

~Carroll has five homers to lead off the first this season, moving himself into a tie for the third most in any year for any Diamondback:

9    Chris Young (2007)

8    Jean Segura (2016)

5    Gerardo Parra (2013), Ketel Marte (2024), Corbin Carroll (2025)

~If Carroll hits four more this year to tie the single-season high mark for the franchise, that tying blast will also match him with Chris Young (13) for the most in a career for Arizona.

~The bookends for Arizona in this win – a homer by its first batter of the game and by its last batter to end the game – had been seen only once before:  on August 7, 2010, when Chris Young provided both.  

Yusei Kikuchi posted seven-and-a-third scoreless innings (allowing one hit and one walk) to pace the Angels to a 7-4 win and drop his ERA to 2.92.  The 33-year-old is one of 11 qualified left-handers currently holding an ERA below 3.00.  Looking ahead just a little, the last first half of a season to come to a close and see as many as 11 southpaws with at least 12 starts and a sub-3.00 ERA came 40 years ago, when the 1985 campaign had 11 at the break.

Andrew McCutchen (two singles and a double) was part of a 15-hit attack as the Pirates rolled to a 10-3 win.  McCutchen has three games with three-plus hits this season.  The Pirates have had their share of “old” players piling up three-hit games, with Honus Wagner’s 18 in 1912 the most in the modern era for any Bucco 38 years old or older.  McCutchen is the first Pirate since Jeff Reboulet in 2003 to have a trio (or more) of three-hit games in a season while being at least 38 years old (in ’03, the second baseman had four, all as a 39-year-old).  Wagner’s 18 in 1912 represent a top-10 tally for any player in the modern era.

1901-2025:  Most 3+ Hit Games in a Season as a 38-Year-Old (or Older)

22    Pete Rose (1979), Paul Molitor (1996)

21    Ty Cobb (1925)

20    Sam Rice (1928, 1930)

19    Ty Cobb (1927), Pete Rose (1980)

18    Honus Wagner (1912), Nelson Cruz (2019)

17    Jake Daubert (1922), Luke Appling (1946)

In the Rays’ extra-innings victory, Jake Mangum singled four times for his second four-hit game of the year.  The rookie has played 31 games in the big leagues, making him one of two players for the franchise to have multiple four-hit games this early into a career.  His forebear is Brent Abernathy, who had a pair in 2001 (the second baseman had his second in his 16th game and then a third in his 32nd game; Abernathy would go on to have only one more the rest of his career).

José Caballero stole a pair of bags in the Rays’ win to tie Oneil Cruz for the Major League lead in thefts, with 23.  Few (Devil) Rays have reached or surpassed this tally at this marker of a season (66 team games):  Carl Crawford had 36 in 2009, 30 in 2004 and 23 in 2010; B.J. Upton had 24 in 2009.

Tampa Bay’s Ian Seymour became the fourth relief pitcher for the franchise to record a win in his Major League debut.  The 26-year-old joins a club populated by Seth McClung (2003), Doug Waechter (also 2003) and Andrew Bellatti (2015).

Atlanta’s Chris Sale fanned 11 while allowing a run over seven innings and claimed his fourth win of the year.

~Sale has reached double-digits in strikeouts in back-to-back games.  There are 28 instances since 1901 of a left-hander being 36 years old (or older) and stringing together consecutive 10+ K games, including Sale earlier this season.  The 28 examples feature only five different names, led by Randy Johnson, who is responsible for both the longest such streak (seven games in 2001) and the most appearances (18) among the 28.  Steve Carlton shows up six times, Sale twice and Eddie Plank and Chuck Finley once each.

~After this outing, Sale carries a 3.03 ERA in his 386 career games (306 starts).  The southpaw now has 2,521 K’s.

1920-2025:  Lowest Career ERA Through Age-36 Seasons, LH’ers (min. 300 GS)

2.50    Clayton Kershaw

2.76    Sandy Koufax

2.77    Whitey Ford

2.80    Carl Hubbell

2.94    Warren Spahn

2.99    Lefty Grove

2.99    Tommy John

2.99    Steve Carlton

3.03    Chris Sale

3.06    Hal Newhouser

All-Time, Most Strikeouts Through Age-36 Season, LH’ers

3,148    Steve Carlton

3,040    Randy Johnson

2,968    Clayton Kershaw

2,846    CC Sabathia

2,799    Mickey Lolich

2,560    Cole Hamels

2,521    Chris Sale

2,459    Frank Tanana

2,453    Sam McDowell

2,397    Jon Lester

José Ramírez singled and walked and has reached safely in 35 straight games.  The streak ties for the 22nd longest in Cleveland franchise history and for the 14th longest by any switch-hitter this century.  In this latter lens, Luis Castillo’s 46-game run in 2002 reigns over the rest.

Playing in his third career game, Phillies third baseman Otto Kemp had three hits.  He’s one of 20 Phillies in the modern era to produce a three-hit (or more hit) game within his first three big league outings and one of three at the hot corner to have this trifecta, after Joe Ward in 1906 and Scott Rolen 90 years later.  

Toronto’s Alejandro Kirk doubled in the go-ahead run in the 10th inning and finished his day with four hits and two RBI:  the fifth straight game the backstop has driven in a run.  Six Blue Jays share the mantle for the longest RBI streak in franchise history at eight games:  Willie Upshaw (1983), John Olerud (1991), Carlos Delgado (2000 and 2003), Matt Stairs (2007) and Edwin Encarnación (2015).

Dodgers backstop Will Smith homered in a 1-for-4 day to shift his slash line to .320/.423/.503.  From 1893 through 2024, there are 24 examples of a player finishing a season with at least 100 games at catcher,  at least 400 plate appearances and a .300/.400/.500 slash line.  The most recent turn came from Buster Posey in 2012 and there are only three other representatives from the 21st century:  Joe Mauer in 2006 and 2009 and Jorge Posada in 2007.  There is one Dodger on the list – Mike Piazza, who did this in 1995, 1996 and 1997.  

Jackson Merrill doubled for his 77th career extra-base hit.  Merrill’s latest came at the age of 22 years and 51 days old.  Since 1901, Merrill is one of 64 players to have at least 77 at this exact age, with the 2024 NL Rookie of the Year runner up matched with Édgar Rentería and one behind Juan González.  Merrill’s fellow Jackson – Brewers outfielder Jackson Chourio – is up this list a little ways, with 83 (and Chourio is still only 21 years and 91 days old).

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