Game Notes – 06/02/2025

The 2025 Tigers have scored 309 runs – an impressive output at this stage of the season but not really anything exceptional to trace through history.  The worthiness of any exploration lies along a convergent path, one that places that runs scored tally alongside the team’s runs allowed (Detroit has surrendered 211 runs, tied for the ninth lowest figure through 61 games in the franchise’s 125-year-history).  The two figures together produce a run differential of 98, and that’s where the wild thing is.  The Tigers have only generated one better difference through 61 games ever:  a 109 during their everlasting 1984 campaign.

Kerry Carpenter clocked three homers to highlight a 13-1 Tigers victory.  

~Carpenter tied the team record for longballs in a game, a feat now accomplished 25 times.  In 1925, Ty Cobb was the first to get there and until Carpenter, Victor Martinez (2016) had been the most recent.  

~Curiously, Carpenter is the fourth straight Tiger to produce a three-homer game and have it come on the road.  The home fans haven’t been able to celebrate one in person since Miguel Cabrera provided the entertainment in 2010.  With Carpenter added to the math, 15 of the Tigers’ 25 three-homer games have come on the road.  

~Also curiously, even though the clubs played their first game against one another in April of 1901, Carpenter’s assembly marked the first time a Tiger has punished White Sox pitching for a three-homer game.  In the reverse, White Sox batters have been less bashful, having clipped a pair of three-homer games against the Tigers:  Claudell Washington in 1979 and Harold Baines in 1982.

With their 13-1 win, the Tigers improved to 40-21.  Before this campaign, Detroit had last needed so few games to reach 40 wins in 1984, when that club opened 40-13.  Before that World Series-winning team, the previous quickest to 40 wins came from the World Champs in 1968, who began 40-20 (there was one tie in there).

Batting leadoff, Byron Buxton drove in five runs to lead the Twins to a 10-4 victory.  Rarer than a Tiger going deep three times in a game, Buxton’s effort marked the 19th time a Senators/ Twins leadoff hitter has driven in five or more runs.  Buxton is responsible for the last two, making him one of three representatives to appear multiple times, along with Denard Span (3) and Jacque Jones (2).  For all players from all teams since 1901, Mookie Betts has the most such lines:  10.  Marcus Semien has six, followed by Eddie Joost and Alfonso Soriano, each with five.  

Batting leadoff, the Athletics’ Lawrence Butler doubled and homered and walked three times in a flawless day at the plate.  The particulars of Butler’s line – a pair of extra-base hits coupled with a trio of walks while occupying the top spot in the order – had been produced by an Athletic twice before:  by Max Bishop on April 27, 1925 and then by Bishop on May 30, 1930.  For all players on all teams since 1901, Bishop’s two match for the most, along with two from Eddie Yost, Lou Brock, Dick McAuliffe and Willie Randolph.  

Zach Neto clubbed his fifth game-opening homer of the 2025 campaign to strike the first note in a 7-6 win for his Angels.  The shortstop is tied for the fourth most in any Angels season, just a pair behind the leader Brian Downing.  

Most HRs to Lead off a Game – Angels 

7    Brian Downing (1987)

6    Brian Downing (1982), Tony Phillips (1995)

5    Ruppert Jones (1986), Mike Trout (2012), Taylor Ward (2024), Zach Neto (2025)

In addition to Neto posting his 10th overall home run, Mike Trout hit his 10th and Jo Adell hit his eighth and ninth.  With Taylor Ward (16) and Logan O’Hoppe (14) ahead of them in the category, the club has five players with nine-or-more round-trippers through 59 games for the first time since 2000.  That year, Darin Erstad, Tim Salmon, Garret Anderson, Troy Glaus and Mo Vaughn made up the quintet.  The club also had five in 1995 (J.T. Snow, Chili Davis, Tony Phillips, Jim Edmonds, Salmon).

Mike Trout’s line included a pair of singles in addition to his homer; with the three-hit performance, the franchise icon tied and then moved past another – Tim Salmon – for second on the Angels career list for hits.  With 1,675, Trout now trails just Garret Anderson and his 2,368.

In a no-decision, Mets starter Paul Blackburn (making his 2025 debut) gave the club five scoreless innings.  New York’s starting staff has posted a 2.86 ERA this season (second best in the Majors, behind only the Rangers’ 2.80).  That 2.86 would rank as the fourth lowest for any Mets starting staff for a full season, behind marks from the collections in 1968 (2.67), 1969 (2.82) and 1985 (2.84).

For the sixth time this season, Francisco Lindor opened a Mets first inning with a home run.  

~Lindor needs one more leadoff homer this season to match Curtis Granderson (2015 and 2016) for the most in any season for a Met.  

~Lindor’s 26 career leadoff homers tie him with José Reyes, Rickie Weeks and Dexter Fowler for the 30th most ever.  

~Lindor has 602 career extra-base hits.  For all shortstops (min. 67% of games at the position) through their age-31 seasons, Lindor’s 602 right now place him in the fifth slot.  For all switch-hitters through their age-31 seasons, his 602 are ninth most.

Most XBH By SS Through Age-31 Seasons

676     Cal Ripken, Jr.

670     Robin Yount

630     Ernie Banks

618     Jimmy Rollins

602     Francisco Lindor

Most XBH By Switch-Hitters Through Age-31 Seasons

750     Mickey Mantle

659     Mark Teixeira

659     José Ramírez

652     Eddie Murray

644     Carlos Beltrán

627     Rubén Sierra

618     Jimmy Rollins

611     Chipper Jones

602     Francisco Lindor

Shohei Ohtani cracked his 23rd home run of the year. 

~All 23 of Ohtani’s longballs have come as the Dodgers’ leadoff hitter.  Ronald Acuña, Jr.’s 41 for the Braves in 2023 are the most for any player ever out of that spot in the order.  

~Players to have at least 23 homers and 64 runs scored through their clubs’ first 60 games:  Babe Ruth in 1927 (24 & 65); Babe Ruth in 1928 (27 & 67); Babe Ruth in 1930 (24 & 76); Shohei Ohtani in 2025 (23 & 64).

The Padres topped the Giants, 1-0, in 10 innings.  The two clubs have faced one another 948 times since San Diego joined the NL in 1969.  This outcome marked the second time the Padres got to celebrate an extra-inning, 1-0 win.  The other came on September 29, 2005 and needed 11 frames.  The Giants have three extra-inning, 1-0 wins over the Padres, with the most recent coming in 2015.

In this contest, Logan Webb came away with a no-decision and a line featuring eight innings of walk-less, scoreless ball.  He’s one of three Giants starters in the modern era to post at least eight innings of no-run, no-walk ball and get a no-decision for his efforts.  Tim Lincecum had his unsatisfactory result in 2009 and then Jeff Samardzija provided commiseration in 2017.  Jose Quintana might scoff at these one-offs; in 2012, pitching for the White Sox, Quintana had three such outcomes.  

Hunter Goodman homered twice and drove in three runs to pace Colorado to a win.  The 25-year-old has produced three career multi-homer games for the Rockies, the most by any catcher with the franchise.  This latest one lifted him past Jayhawk Owens, Jeff Reed, Ben Petrick and Bobby Estalella.  

Christian Yelich’s solo homer in the third inning proved to be the difference as the Brewers defeated the Reds, 3-2.  Milwaukee has won eight straight and during this stretch, Yelich has gone yard four times in 31 plate appearances (or once every 7.75 appearances).  Before this surge for player and team, Yelich had nine homers in 216 trips to the dish (one for every 24 trips). 

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