Among the many (some may say myriad?) remarkable pulls from Barry Bonds’ career is his ability to step inside the left side of the batter’s box, take his stance against a southpaw and, in that traditionally unbalanced equation in favor of the pitcher, do some serious damage. Since 1969, there are 29 single-season examples of a lefty-swinging batter having an OPS of at least 1.000 when facing portsiders (with a minimum of 150 plate appearances). Bonds is responsible for seven of these, in 1992, 1993, 1997 and all four seasons from 2001-2004. This latter stretch is a level (or many tiers) above remarkable, with four of the eight highest marks, including the best three:
In 2002, Bonds had a 1.532 OPS;
In 2003, he posted a 1.300;
In 2001, a 1.239.
(The monopoly finally gets broken with Larry Walker’s 1.193 in 2001).
Right now, with 79 plate appearances against left-handers on his 2025 résumé, Kyle Schwarber is posting a Bonds-ian 1.249 OPS.
Kyle Schwarber connected for his 17th homer – a solo shot against lefty reliever Ryan Rolison – as Philadelphia handed Colorado a 7-4 loss.
~Schwarber is tied for the Major League lead with the 17 longballs, matched with Shohei Ohtani. The NL last had multiple players reach 17 homers before the 50-game mark in 2019, when Dodger Cody Bellinger had 17 and Brewer Christian Yelich had 19.
~Schwarber is the fifth Phillies player to get to 17 homers through 48 team games:
20 Cy Williams (1923)
18 Chuck Klein (1930), Mike Schmidt (1980)
17 Raúl Ibañez (2009), Kyle Schwarber (2025)
~Batting from the left side, Schwarber has hit nine of his homers against southpaws. This is a pretty notable thing. Let’s break it down in a few different ways.
*Schwarber’s nine this season are more than any other player (righty-swinging batters Aaron Judge and Spencer Torkelson are tied for the second most, with six).
*Schwarber’s nine easily reside in the top spot for the most by a left-handed batter against southpaws (Kyle Tucker has the second most, with five). In fact, his nine are more than 28 other teams have collectively:
Most HRs From Left-Handed Hitters v. LH Pitchers in 2025
14 Phillies
11 Yankees
9 Kyle Schwarber
8 Cubs
7 Nationals
*There are five lefty-swinging players in the divisional era who can claim at least 20 homers in a season against left-handed throwers:
22 Matt Olson (2021)
21 Ken Griffey, Jr. (1996, 1998), Barry Bonds (2002)
20 Darryl Strawberry (1988)
Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivered seven innings of one-hit, no-run ball but came away with a no-decision as the Dodgers prevailed over the Diamondbacks in 10 innings. The outcome marked the fourth time since 1901 a Dodgers starter put up a line like this without enjoying a win.
1972 Don Sutton (10.0 IP, 1 H) on May 7
1998 Darren Dreifort (7.0 IP, 1 H) on August 16
2018 Alex Wood (8.0 IP, 1 H) on March 30
2025 Yoshinobu Yamamoto (7.0 IP, 1 H) on May 20
Adrian Houser allowed two hits in six scoreless innings and recorded a win as the White Sox blanked the Mariners, 1-0. With the effort, Houser became the first Pale Hose starter to get a win in a 1-0 game since Dylan Cease in 2021.
In Pittsburgh, Bailey Falter worked seven scoreless innings and got a win as the Pirates took care of the Reds, 1-0. The lefty has made quite a run-suppression impression this month, now carrying a 0.38 ERA over four starts since the start of May. No Pirates pitcher in the liveball era has ever completed any monthly split with at least four starts and an ERA as low as Falter’s current number. The existing low effort comes from Zane Smith in September/October of 1990, when the southpaw completed his work with a 0.59. Dock Ellis’ 0.63 in September of 1972 provides the second lowest mark.
Logan Henderson made it three games and three wins as he spun five scoreless innings in Milwaukee’s 5-2 win against Baltimore. The 23-year-old right-hander is one of 28 pitchers in the liveball era to open his career with three wins in as many starts and have a sub-2.00 ERA to show for it (he’s the only Brewers representative here). Henderson’s 1.69 ERA slides in between Joe Coleman’s 1.67 in 1965-66 and Randy Wolf’s 1.74 in 1999.
In the Tigers’ 5-4 win over the Cardinals, Riley Greene produced most of the runs for the winning team, coming up with a run-scoring single, a two-run homer and an RBI double. The 24-year-old is tied for fourth in the AL with 12 homers and is fifth in the league with 34 RBI; among those matched or ahead of him in both categories is teammate Spencer Torkelson, who has 12 and 38. Detroit last had a pair of players with at least 12 homers and 34 RBI through 49 team games in 1961, when Rocky Colavito had 14 and 36 while Norm Cash was at 12 and 44.
Seven Boston pitchers combined on a four-hitter and the Red Sox blanked the Mets, 2-0. The seven tie for the second most in any Red Sox team shutout. On the final day of the 1999 regular season, the club used eight in a 1-0 win over the Orioles. In September of 2015, the club twice used seven. And that was it until Tuesday, May 20, 2025.
Rafael Devers hit his 10th homer and drew his 38th walk of the year, making him the 16th Red Sox batter to have those numbers (or better ones) 50 games into a season. There’s a couple of Jimmie Foxx campaigns in the 1930s in there, as well as eight appearances by Ted Williams (five in the 1940s and three more the next decade). More recently, Carl Yastrzemski in 1969 and 1970 shows up, along with Dwight Evans (1981), Manny Ramírez (2006) and Kevin Youkilis (2010).
Aaron Judge hit his 16th homer in a 2-for-4 night. Players to have 16+ homers and to have reached base safely at least as many times as Judge (105), through 47 games:
1921 Babe Ruth (16 and 106)
1926 Babe Ruth (19 and 106)
1930 Babe Ruth (19 and 106)
1954 Stan Musial (18 and 105)
1994 Frank Thomas (20 and 115)
2025 Aaron Judge (16 and 105)
Seiya Suzuki, Kyle Tucker and Pete Crow-Amstrong combined for eight hits (three for extra bases) and six RBI as the Cubs routed the Marlins, 14-1.
~The trio all appear in the NL top-10 in both RBI and extra-base hits:
RBI: Suzuki (1st with 43); Crow-Armstrong (3rd with 39); Tucker (tied for 9th with 34)
XBH: Crow-Armstrong (3rd with 27); Suzuki (5th with 25); Tucker (6th with 24)
~Since 1901, there are half a dozen NL teams that can present three players each with at least 24 extra-base hits and at least 34 RBI through 49 team games.
1958 Giants Orlando Cepeda, Willie Mays, Daryl Spencer
1970 Braves Henry Aaron, Rico Carty, Orlando Cepeda
1996 Rockies Ellis Burks, Andrés Galarraga, Larry Walker
2000 Expos Vladimir Guerrero, José Vidro, Rondell White
2020 Padres Manny Machado, Wil Myers, Fernando Tatis, Jr.
2025 Cubs Pete Crow-Armstrong, Seiya Suzuki, Kyle Tucker
Thanks to Baseball Reference and its extraordinary research database, Stathead, for help in assembling this piece.
Roger Schlueter
As Sr. Editorial Director for Major League Baseball Productions from 2004-2015, Roger served as a hub for hundreds of hours of films, series, documentaries and features: as researcher, fact-checker, script doctor, and developer of ideas. The years at MLB Production gave him the ideal platform to pursue what galvanized him the most – the idea that so much of what takes place on the field during the MLB regular and postseason (and is forever beautifully condensed into a box score) has connections to what has come before. Unearthing and celebrating these webs allows baseball to thrive, for the present can come alive and also reignite the past.