Game Notes – 07/22/2025

Almost exactly 38 years ago, on July 20, 1987, the Yankees’ Don Mattingly tied the nine-inning, AL record for putouts as a first baseman, with 22.  The landmark achievement, which had been accomplished twice before in the league (both occurrences coming in 1906), gave Mattingly a line in the record book of course, but sort of should have come with a nod to the pitcher(s) who managed to induce all of the contact that led to the busier than usual workday.  In this case, there was only one name involved, one who was chugging through his 24th season of sending batters back to the dugout:  44-year-old left-hander Tommy John, who allowed one run with one strikeout and one walk while going the distance.  At the time, the effort marked the 39th example of a left-hander past his 44th birthday making a start in the big leagues, with all 39 events from the ageless arms of John and Warren Spahn.  Since then, a few other southpaws have joined those two, including the remarkable and enduring, and now, 45-year-old Rich Hill.

Rich Hill allowed three runs (one earned) in five innings as the Royals fell to the Cubs – a somewhat dispiriting outcome accompanying Hill’s first appearance in 2025, one that inspires all sorts of historic considerations.  

~With the outing, Hill (45 years and 133 days old) became the oldest starter in Royals history, moving past Gaylord Perry, who was 45 years and six days old on September 21, 1983.  

~Hill became the 18th different pitcher to make a start as a 45-year-old (or beyond) and one of four left-handers to do this, joining Jamie Moyer (87 starts), Tommy John (34) and Randy Johnson (21).

~This start gave Hill appearances in 21 seasons, tying him for the 29th most in history.  The 16 left-handers with 21+ seasons:

26    Tommy John

25    Jim Kaat, Jamie Moyer

24    Steve Carlton, Jesse Orosco

22    Herb Pennock, Jerry Reuss, Tom Glavine, Randy Johnson

21    Eppa Rixey, Warren Spahn, Frank Tanana, Rick Honeycutt, John Franco, David Wells, Rich Hill 

~Hill’s start with Kansas City gave him appearances with 14 different franchises, tying him with Edwin Jackson for the most ever.  

Cristopher Sánchez spun a four-hitter with 12 strikeouts and no walks in a 4-1 win for his Phillies.  

~The 28-year-old is the 13th Phillies hurler since 1901 to have a complete game effort yield at least a dozen strikeouts with no walks.  He’s the second – after Zack Wheeler on July 6 – to do this in 2025 (before Wheeler, Vince Velasquez, in 2016, had been the most recent).  Sánchez is one of six left-handers among this 13, joining Dennis Bennett (1962), Steve Carlton (two such efforts in 1982), Terry Mulholland (1993) and Cliff Lee (2013).  

~Earlier this season, Sánchez fanned 11 with no walks.  

1901-2025, Phillies:  Most Games With 11+ K’s, 0 Walks in a Season

3    Steve Carlton (1980), Cliff Lee (2013)

2    Steve Carlton (1982), Curt Schilling (1997), Cliff Lee (2011, 2012), Zack Wheeler (2025), Cristopher                  Sánchez (2025)

George Springer singled twice and drew two walks in Toronto’s loss to the Yankees, moving his OPS against New York in 2025 to 1.365 in nine games.  All-time, there have been 33 players with at least 30 plate appearances in a season against New York who finished that year with a better OPS against the Yankees than the one Springer is currently sporting; Darrell Evans’ 1.781 in 1985 claims the top mark.  

In the Yankees’ 5-4 win over the Blue Jays, Ben Rice broke a 4-4 tie with a solo home run in the ninth.  It’s the third time since Rice debuted in 2024 that he’s produced a go-ahead homer for the team in the seventh inning or later.  Over this stretch, only Aaron Judge (with four; two in each year) and Juan Soto (three in 2024) have more for the club.  Across the Majors, Cal Raleigh’s nine are the most, by far (the next highest tally comes in at five).

Cal Raleigh hit his 39th home run of the year – the only scoring in Seattle’s 1-0 victory over Milwaukee.  Raleigh’s 39 round-trippers through 101 team games ties the Mariners’ backstop with Mickey Mantle (1961) for the 12th most in history.  The 11 bashers ahead of them include one Mariner, Ken Griffey, Jr., who had 40 in 1998.  The full roster looks like this:

43    Mark McGwire (1998)

42    Barry Bonds (2001)

41    Babe Ruth (1921, 1928), Jimmie Foxx (1932), Reggie Jackson (1969), Luis Gonzalez (2001), Aaron                Judge (2022) 

40    Roger Maris (1961), Ken Griffey, Jr. (1998), Sammy Sosa (1999)

39    Mickey Mantle (1961), Cal Raleigh (2025)

Shohei Ohtani homered for the fourth straight game and lifted his season tally to 36 taters.  

~There are five Dodgers who share the franchise mark for the longest home run streak – five games:  Roy Campanella (1950), Shawn Green (2001), Matt Kemp (2010), Joc Pederson (2015) and Max Muncy (2019).  

~Ohtani’s 36 longballs at the 102-game mark are the most ever for a Dodger, eclipsing Duke Snider’s 35 in 1955.  

Jacob deGrom allowed a run in six innings and reached 10 wins for the year after Texas came away with a 6-2 victory.  

~deGrom and his fellow Rangers starters own a 3.17 ERA – the lowest in the Majors.  No Senators/Rangers collection of starters has ever finished a season with an ERA this low, with the existing low bar coming in at 3.21 from the ’76 club.  

~Aside from his top-five marks in ERA (he’s third with a 2.28) and wins (he’s tied for fourth with those 10), the right-hander also places second in WHIP (0.896).  Entering 2025, deGrom owned four seasons in which he qualified for the ERA title and finished the year with a sub-1.000 WHIP; a fifth in 2025 would place him in this exalted company:

1893-2024:  Most Sub-One WHIP Seasons for a Qualifying Pitcher in the NL/AL

9    Walter Johnson

6    Cy Young, Addie Joss, Max Scherzer

5    Mordecai Brown, Pedro Martínez, Clayton Kershaw

4    Christy Mathewson, Ed Walsh, Juan Marichal, Sandy Koufax, Greg Maddux, Justin Verlander, Jacob                deGrom

Framber Valdez (7.0 IP, 1 R) picked up his 11th win of the year as the Astros edged the Diamondbacks, 3-1.  

~On May 2, Valdez dropped to 1-4 on the season.  Since then, he’s 10-0 in 13 starts.  The unbeaten streak ties for the eighth longest in Astros history, matching Valdez with Darryl Kile in 1997.  Gerrit Cole’s 22-start streak in 2019 looms as the longest.  Looking at the specific 13-start streaks for Kile and Valdez:

Kile        10-0, 2.48 ERA with 94 K’s in 101.2 innings

Valdez   10-0, 1.86 ERA with 92 K’s in 87.0 innings

~Valdez is tied for the AL lead in wins (11), ranks eighth in ERA (2.67) and owns the seventh most strikeouts (129).  There are two previous Astros who claimed numbers as good or better than Valdez’s in these three Triple Crown categories at this point in a season (101 games):  Larry Dierker in 1969 (12, 2.58, 130) and Dallas Keuchel in 2015 (12, 2.32, 132).

Cubs left-hander Matthew Boyd worked seven scoreless frames to record his 11th win and lower his ERA to 2.20 (both figures rank second in the NL).  Looking at all Cubs hurlers in the Liveball Era, there are four others who had at least 11 wins and an ERA no higher than 2.20 through 101 team games – the lefties are starred.

1920    Pete Alexander has 18 wins and a 2.16 ERA

1933    Lon Warneke has 12 wins and a 1.69 ERA

1963    Larry Jackson has 11 wins and a 2.11 ERA

1963    Dick Ellsworth* has 15 wins and a 1.86 ERA

2025    Matthew Boyd* has 11 wins and a 2.20 ERA

Corbin Carroll added another step in a quest to become the eighth player in history to post a 20-double, 20-triple, 20-homer season, as he collected his 17th two-base hit of the year.  Here’s how Carroll stacks up at this stage of the year against the last two players to do the 20-20-20 thing, Jimmy Rollins and Curtis Granderson (both in 2007).

Through 102 Team Games

Rollins             23 doubles, 12 triples, 20 home runs

Granderson     29 doubles, 16 triples, 16 home runs

Carroll             17 doubles, 13 triples, 21 home Runs

José Ramírez homered and walked three times and, most crucially for this space today, stole his 30th base of the year.  The 30 steals make him the 11th third baseman (at least half of his games at third) in the Modern Era to have three or more seasons with 30-plus stolen bases.  The collection really can be divided into two groups – the deadballers and the post-expansion ballplayers.   From the former category, there is Hans Lobert (6 such seasons), Art Devlin (4), Harry Lord (4), George Moriarty (3), Sammy Strang (3) and Home Run Baker (3).  From 1961 and on:  Enos Cabell (4), Howard Johnson (4), Chone Figgins (4), Paul Molitor (3) and now Ramírez and his three. 

With three thefts, Tampa Bay’s Chandler Simpson reached the 30-steal marker for the season.  The 24-year-old is the first player in the franchise’s history to get to 30 in a debut season, and the 41st player in the Modern Era to do this.  Seven of the 41 have managed the feat this century, with Simpson following the following:

2000     Rafael Furcal with 40

2001     Ichiro Suzuki with 56

2009     Elvis Andrus with 33

2012     Nori Aoki with 30

2022     Bobby Witt, Jr. with 30

2023     Elly De La Cruz with 35

Ryan McMahon’s 16th home run of the season – a three-run shot in the third inning – was the big blow in Colorado’s 8-4 win over St. Louis.  The 30-year old is in pursuit of a sixth 20-homer season in his nine years with the franchise.  Getting to six would place him among Rockies royalty.

Rockies Franchise – Most Seasons With 20+ HR

8    Todd Helton

7    Dante Bichette

6    Larry Walker, Vinny Castilla, Troy Tulowitzki, Carlos González

~McMahon’s five seasons with 20+ homers have seen him top out at 24.  Brian McCann posted the most seasons hitting between 20 and 24 home runs, with nine (he did get above 24 once in his career, hitting 26).  Harold Baines and Fred Lynn (who had four straight seasons of hitting exactly 23) are tied for the second most, with eight apiece.  

The Pirates collected eight doubles in their 8-5 win over the Tigers – the most two-base hits for the franchise since having nine in a win on August 24, 2002.  In this contest, three players – Oneil Cruz, Tommy Pham and Spencer Horwitz – had a pair of two-base hits, matching for the most players with a multi-double line the Pirates have had in one contest since 1901 (this had last happened in that game in 2002). 

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