Game Notes – 07/28/2025

Little time is required to recite the lineage of shortstops who’ve produced at least 50 doubles in a season.  Boston’s Joe Cronin was the first to do this, reaching 51 two-base hits in 1938.  Cronin was left all by himself for a long time, until a burst starting in the second half of the 1990s rapidly brought him some companionship:  Álex Rodríguez in 1996 (54); Mark Grudzielanek in 1997 (54); Boston’s Nomar Garciaparra in 2000 (51) and 2002 (56); Miguel Tejada in 2005 (50); Michael Young in 2006 (52).  And then, another – albeit much shorter – cold spell, until another Red Sox representative, Xander Bogaerts, struck for 52 in 2019.  Those eight seasons make up the entirety of the story, at least as things stand with about two months remaining in 2025.  Kansas City’s Bobby Witt, Jr. and Toronto’s Bo Bichette are 1-2 in all the land in doubles as things stand near the close of July, with numbers (36 and 32, respectively) that give them a bit of a shot at 50.

A game after going 5-for-5, Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette added another four hits.

~Bichette is the sixth Blue Jay to have back-to-back games with at least four hits, joining Bob Bailor (1978), Paul Molitor (1995), Aaron Hill (2006), Corey Patterson (2011) and Yunel Escobar (2011).  If he can manage another right away, Bichette would be the 14th player in the Modern Era to have at least three straight games with four-plus hits.  Milt Stock (1925, for Brooklyn) and Julio Rodríguez (2023, for Seattle) share the high mark, with four straight games.

~With this late-month flurry, Bichette is now tied – with his teammate George Springer – for the second most hits in the Majors this month (33).  Their teammate – Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. – is fairly close behind, sitting with 29.  Toronto hasn’t seen a hit-happy July like this – three players with at least 29 knocks – since 2006, when Vernon Wells (31), Lyle Overbay (34), Reed Johnson (35) and Aaron Hill (35) – all got there.  

Bobby Witt, Jr. doubled twice.  With the pair of two-base knocks, the shortstop now has 268 career extra-base hits.   

~For the Royals franchise, only George Brett had more (273) through his age-25 season.  

~Witt’s 268 also represent the 12th most for any shortstop through his age-25 campaign, with Álex Rodríguez (483), Cal Ripken, Jr. (336), Francisco Lindor (323), Robin Yount (318) and Arky Vaughan (302) making up the top five.  

Yoshinobu Yamamoto surrendered four hits over seven innings and came away with a win as the Dodgers toppled the Reds.  The second-year right hander has allowed 6.34 hits per nine this season – the third best mark in the NL.  Dodgers history has seen 11 qualifying pitchers complete a year with a H/9 no higher than 6.40, with Clayton Kershaw (four seasons) and Sandy Koufax (three) responsible for a good portion of these 11.  The others who make up the list:  Larry Cheney (1916), Don Sutton (1972), Hideo Nomo (1995) and Zack Greinke (2015).  Koufax’s 5.79 in 1965 is the lowest mark, just a stitch better than Nomo’s 5.83.  Koufax’s other two campaigns on the list came in 1963 and 1964, while Kershaw’s showcases played out in 2009, 2013, 2014 and 2015.

Shohei Ohtani scored his 100th run of the year.  Coming in the Dodgers’ 107th game, Ohtani is the second player for the franchise in the Modern Era to be in triple digits at this step of the season, after Babe Herman and his 107 runs in 1930.  Ohtani is the first player since the Cardinals’ Jim Edmonds in 2000 to be at the century mark through 107 team games.  That season, Edmonds had scored 102 runs at this point.  

Reds right-hander Chase Burns  fanned 10 for the third straight game.  

~Burns is the second pitcher for Cincinnati since 1901 to post three straight double-digit strikeout games, after Raisel Iglesias in 2015.  Burns is 0-2 during this stretch, making him the first pitcher since the Braves’ Spencer Strider in 2023 to have three straight games with 10+ K’s and anything but a win.  

~Burns now has three 10+ K games in his first six career appearances.  There are two other pitchers since 1901 who can make this claim:  Mark Prior (2002) and Masahiro Tanaka (2014).

~Burns has 45 strikeouts in his first six career games, a tally that is surpassed by one player for the Reds in the Modern Era – Gary Nolan and his 48 K’s in 1967.

Brooks Lee singled in two runs in the bottom of the ninth to turn an impending defeat into a 5-4 win for the Twins.  Lee has three walk-off singles this season – the first Twin to have three in one year since Danny Valencia in 2011.  Before this event, the last 16 times a Twin delivered a walk-off single, the game had been tied.  Before Monday, the last time one came with Minnesota trailing, it arrived off the bat of Miguel Sanó on April 26, 2022.

Andre Pallante allowed a hit in seven scoreless frames and came away with a win as the Cardinals defeated the Marlins, 7-1.  This effort marked the second time this month the right-hander has given up only one hit and no runs in seven innings (in between the two gems, he surrendered 18 runs and 25 hits in 15.2 innings over three starts).  Before Pallante, the last Redbird hurler to have multiple outings in a season featuring no runs, no more than one hit and seven-plus innings:  Jack Flaherty, with three in 2019.

Andrew McCutchen hit a two-run home run in the seventh inning to break a 4-4 tie:  the decisive swing in a Pirates win over the Giants.  In his career with Pittsburgh, McCutchen has delivered 14 longballs of this kind – one giving the team the lead in the seventh inning or later.  Dating back to 1969, those 14 are tied for the second most for the franchise, with McCutchen and Dave Parker (14) and everyone else looking up at Willie Stargell and his 31.  Using this starting point of 1969 to address all of the Majors, Eddie Murray is king, with 45.  The top-10 is made up almost entirely of 500-home run club members, with two outsiders – Darrell Evans and Graig Nettles. 

1969-2025:  Most Go-Ahead Home Runs in the 7th Inning or Later

45     Eddie Murray

41     Albert Pujols

40     Mike Schmidt, Álex Rodríguez

39     Reggie Jackson, David Ortiz

37     Graig Nettles, Darrell Evans, Rafael Palmeiro, Ken Griffey, Jr.

Framber Valdez fanned a dozen batters to match a season high and reach 1,000 punchouts for his career.  Valdez is the 10th Astros hurler to fan at least 1,000 and the second lefty among the 10, joining Wandy Rodríguez.  So, 10 pitchers in the franchise’s history, which began in 1962 – is that a lot?  It is.  It’s more over this span of seasons than all but the Dodgers’ total.  In honor of the Astros and their eminence, the whole 10 for Houston:

1,866    Nolan Ryan

1,593    Roy Oswalt

1,493    J.R. Richard

1,487    Larry Dierker

1,318    Mike Scott

1,309    Shane Reynolds

1,283    Don Wilson

1,178    Joe Niekro

1,093    Wandy Rodríguez

1,007    Framber Valdez

1962-2025:  Most Pitchers with 1,000+ K’s for a Franchise

14    Dodgers

10    Astros

9      Mets

8      Angels, Reds, Yankees

Luis Castillo allowed a run over seven innings to help the Mariners to a 3-1 victory.  The right-hander was making his 96th career start for Seattle, and now owns a 3.38 ERA in his work with the franchise.  Obviously, the number will be subject to change every time Castillo takes the hill repping the Mariners, but for now, the 3.38 is interesting as a snapshot, for that mark is lower than any other for the franchise (minimum 96 games started) … Castillo’s 3.38 is just below what is, for this franchise, a magic number.  Rounded to two decimal places, Randy Johnson, Félix Hernández, Hisashi Iwakuma and James Paxton are all tied for the second lowest, at 3.42.

Braves third baseman Austin Riley doubled and homered in the team’s win, moving his career tallies in the respective categories to 168 in each.  There are three players in history who reached at least 300 extra-base hits in their career and finished with exactly the same number of doubles and home runs:

196 2B & HR     Justin Smoak

179 2B & HR     Del Crandall

172 2B & HR     Eddie Robinson

Making his second career appearance, Troy Melton worked seven scoreless innings with five K’s and no walks to record his first career win.  By Game Score (Melton posted a 72), the Tigers’ righty authored the most effective start in a debut or second career game for the franchise since Randy O’Neal put up a 74 in his second career outing, on September 18, 1984. 

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