Game Notes – 08/13/2025

From the time the 20th century got rolling through the year before Franklin D. Roosevelt captured his first presidential election, big offensive seasons from NL or AL second basemen weren’t all that rare.  This is in thanks, just about exclusively, to the immortal trio of Nap Lajoie, Rogers Hornsby and Eddie Collins, who contributed 21 campaigns during this stretch in which they played at least two-thirds of their games at second, qualified for the batting title and scripted an OPS+ of at least 160.  Throw one season from Tony Lazzeri into the pot and that’s a hearty serving from those early decades.  Since then, the offerings have been slim.  Bobby Doerr posted a 165 in 1944 and then the 1950s and 1960s went without, a breaking of the fast arriving in the ‘70s thanks to a pair of out-of-this-world campaigns from Joe Morgan in his back-to-back MVP years, 1975 and 1976.  Bobby Grich surpassed the mark in 1981 and then the 90s got skipped over, with the 21st century supplying us with Jeff Kent in 2000, Jose Altuve in 2017 and 2022 and DJ LeMahieu in the truncated 2020 campaign.  All told, that’s 30 individual campaigns across 125 seasons of American and National League ball.  And that’s where Ketel Marte comes in.

Down a run with two outs in the top of the ninth, the Diamondbacks received salvation in the form of a Ketel Marte three-run homer and went on to claim a 6-4 win over the Rangers.  

~Marte’s heroics brought about a rare event for his franchise.  His home run marked the ninth in the franchise’s 28-year history to see a batter launch a two-out, go-ahead home run in the ninth inning or later with the team trailing.  Ryan Roberts is responsible for two of the eight others (the only guy with more than one), including an ultimate grand slam (slam with the team down by three) in 2011.  

~Marte is slashing .297/.398/.558 and is working on a 160 OPS+.  A year ago, he finished with a 153.  No Diamondback has ever authored consecutive seasons with an OPS+ of at least 150, and Marte is also threatening to join a half-dozen different second basemen in NL/AL history who have done this:  

NL/AL:  Consecutive Seasons of 150 (or better) OPS+ With at Least 67% of Games at Second

7    Eddie Collins (1909-1915)

6    Rogers Hornsby (1920-1925)

4    Nap Lajoie (1901-1904)

4    Joe Morgan (1973-1976)

3    Rogers Hornsby (1927-1929)

2    Nap Lajoie (1909-1910)

2    Rod Carew (1974-1975)

2    Jose Altuve (2016-2017)

~As a visiting player this season, Marte owns a 1.056 OPS.  There are nearly 140 players this year with at least 200+ plate appearances on the road, with only one – Aaron Judge – holding a better mark than Marte (Judge is at 1.142).  There are three players in Diamondbacks history to finish a season with at least 250 plate appearances on the road and an OPS north of 1.000:  Luis Gonzalez in 2001 and 2003 (1.125 and 1.048, respectively), and Paul Goldschmidt in 2018 (1.053).

Hunter Goodman delivered a pinch-hit, two-run home run for the Rockies in the top of the ninth to transform a 5-4 deficit into a 6-5 lead and eventual win over the Cardinals.

~Goodman’s turnabout made for the first pinch-hit longball this season that came in the ninth inning or later and flipped the score in favor of one team to the other, and just the fourth ever for a member of the Rockies.  Details on the others:

May 18, 1996:  John Vander Wal hits a three-run, walk-off homer in the 9th, Rockies win 9-8 

May 3, 2014:  Charlie Culberson hits a two-run, walk-off homer in the 9th, Rockies win 11-10

Sept. 9, 2021:  Ryan McMahon hits a two-run homer in the 9th, Rockies take a 3-2 lead

~Goodman has 24 home runs this season, the second highest tally ever for the franchise by a player with at least two-thirds of his games behind the plate.  In 2012, Wilin Rosario hit 28.  

Nick Pivetta allowed four hits in six-and-two-thirds innings on the way to his 12th win of the year.  The Padres right-hander leads the NL with his 6.24 hits per nine, a mark that would also rest nicely within a view of the best rates any Padres qualifying pitcher has produced.  

Lowest H/9, Padres History (qualified for the ERA title)

5.09    Dinelson Lamet in 2020 (in 69.0 IP)

5.75    Blake Snell in 2023

6.14    Chris Young in 2007 

6.24    Nick Pivetta in 2025

6.51    Dylan Cease in 2024

In a Twins 4-1 victory over the Yankees, Joe Ryan (6.2 IP, 4 H, 2 BB) saw his WHIP shift to 0.921.  Like Nick Pivetta (above), Ryan’s mark fits within the best work ever in the category for his franchise, and like that perspective, this one starts with an outlier performance in the 60-game 2020 campaign.

Lowest WHIP, Senators/Twins History (qualified for the ERA title)

0.750    Kenta Maeda in 2020 (in 66.2 IP)

0.780    Walter Johnson (1913)

0.908    Walter Johnson (1912)

0.914    Walter Johnson (1910)

0.921    Johan Santana (2004)

0.921    Joe Ryan (2025)

Jakob Marsee drove in seven runs to highlight a four-hit (with two homers and a double) night as his Marlins defeated the Guardians, 13-4.  The first-year player tied the Marlins’ record for RBI in a game, a feat accomplished six previous times (most recently by Adam Duvall in 2021); Marsee also became the third player since 1901 to have a 7-RBI effort so quickly in a career (13 games).  Houston’s J.R. Towles had eight in game #6 in 2007 and San Diego’s Hunter Renfroe drove in seven runs in his sixth game in 2016.

Xavier Edwards collected his fourth triple and his second home run of the year in the Marlins’ win.  The 26-year-old is batting .305 – second in the NL.  Since 1993, when the Marlins franchise played its first season, there are 48 qualifying players (this takes a leap and includes Edwards) with a line including a .300+ batting average and more triples than homers, and the Marlins have made this kind of their specialty, with eight reps among the 48 – more than any other franchise.  There are three seasons from Luis Castillo and a pair from both Juan Pierre and Dee Strange-Gordon awaiting Edwards’ possible inclusion.

Brandon Lowe hit his 150th career home run to join Evan Longoria (261) and  Carlos Peña (163) as Tampa Bay players with at least 150 longballs for the franchise.  Lowe is one of a dozen in history who can claim at least two-thirds of his games at second through his age-30 season along with 150-or-more round-trippers.  The list tilts quite heavily toward 21st century ballplayers.

Through Age-30 Season, 67% of Games at Second & 150+ HR, By Debut Season

1930s    Bobby Doerr (1937)

1980s    Ryne Sandberg (1981)

1990s    Alfonso Soriano (1999)

2000s    Chase Utley (2003), Robinson Canó (2005), Dan Uggla (2006)

2010s    Brian Dozier (2012), Jonathan Schoop (2013), Rougned Odor (2014), Ozzie Albies (2017), Gleyber                  Torres (2018), Brandon Lowe (2018)

Tampa Bay’s Jose Caminero clocked his 34th home run of the year.  The longball ties Caminero with Giancarlo Stanton (2011) and Juan Soto (2019) for the ninth most in history for a player in an age-21 or younger season.  

Trevor Rogers allowed a run in seven innings for Baltimore, squashing his ERA to 1.43 in his 11 starts this season.  The extended stretch is a pretty special one in Orioles annals.  Since 1954, seven different Orioles hurlers – including Rogers – have navigated an 11-game stretch that saw them throw at least 60.0 innings and own an ERA no higher than 1.45 (a few of these stretches overlap).  The names that are responsible:

Hoyt Wilhelm (owns three distinct 11-game stretches in 1959)

Milt Pappas (two in 1964, one in 1965)

Tom Phoebus (one in 1968)

Mike Cuellar (one in 1969)

Jim Palmer (one in 1969, three in 1972, one in 1975)

Pat Dobson (one in 1972)

Trevor Rogers (one in 2025)

Troy Melton allowed a hit with six strikeouts and no walks and recorded a win as the Tigers nosed by the White Sox, 1-0.  The right-hander’s work gave him a Game Score of 71, the second time in five career appearances (three starts) he’s topped 70.  Six pitchers for the franchise have managed this kind of effort – multiple Game Scores of 70+ through their first handful of appearances, with Melton joining Berne Boland (three in 1915), Stubby Overmire (two in 1943), Bill Gilbreth (two in 1971), Kip Young (three in 1978) and Pat Underwood (two in 1979).  

Kansas City’s Vinnie Pasquantino doubled and homered and drove in four runs, this a day after doubling and homering and collecting five RBI.  

~The first baseman/DH is the eighth player for KC to post back-to-back games with at least one homer and four-plus RBI.  In 1980, George Brett became the first to do this, and then the 1990s brought Bo Jackson (1990) and Dean Palmer (1998) into the fold.  The next decade saw Joe Randa (2003) and Ryan Shealy (2006) turn the trick before Wilson Betemit (2010) and Salvador Perez (2021) got the job done.  

~Pasquantino is the only Royal to have back-to-back lines featuring at least one double, one homer and four RBI.  He’s the first to do this since Minnesota’s Max Kepler in 2019.

Cubs right-hander Cade Horton allowed a run in five-and-two-thirds innings to see his scoreless innings streak come to a close at 28.1 frames.  Via the Cubs’ press notes, the streak is the longest for any pitcher with the franchise younger than 24 since Vern Olsen enjoyed a run encompassing 30.0 innings in 1941.  

Michael Harris II singled and hit a grand slam in the Braves’ win over the Mets and now owns a 1.078 OPS in 25 games since the All-Star break. This exceptional mark* is to be contrasted with his woeful first half, in which Harris posted a .551 OPS**.  This dramatic shift is kind of par for this outfielder’s course, whose career first half/second half numbers show a jump from .662 to .891.  

*Harris’ 1.078 is the fifth best in the Majors (min. 100 PA)

**Harris’ .551 ranked 205th out of 205 players (min. 250 PA)

William Contreras had two hits and four RBI and his Brewers won their 12th in a row – this one a 12-5 defeat at the expense of the Pirates.  

~Contreras has produced at least one hit and one RBI in five straight games, a streak that remains a bit behind the best any Brewer has ever done:  nine games, courtesy of Carlos Lee in 2005.

~This 12-game winning streak is the second longest in team history, after the 1987 Brewers opened their year with 13 straight wins. 

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