Game Notes – 08/06/2025

The 1950 Red Sox scored 1,027 runs – the 12th highest buildup in history and one that hasn’t been matched or surpassed since it rose so high.  That club had some doozies when it came to single-game pinnacles, tallying at least 20 runs on three separate occasions, with a high of 29 on June 8.  The massacre at Fenway Park that Thursday afternoon saw Boston set a (still-standing) Major League record with 17 extra-base hits; and it was almost a full team effort, with the first eight batters in the starting lineup contributing at least one double, triple or homer.  “Sure,” you’re thinking, “Of course the pitcher fell short.”  Well, yes, he – Chuck Stobbs – did, but he can’t be blamed too much.  For somehow, on this day when the eight position players in the Red Sox lineup went a combined 26-for-50 with all those extra-base hits, somehow, it was the pitcher who the opposing pitching staff avoided the most, as Dobbs led the club with four walks. The poor guy hardly had a chance to lash one into the deep right center gap or against the Green Monster.  Anyway, 17 extra-base hits.  The Blue Jays couldn’t climb quite that high yesterday, but the box score from their contest, like that one from Boston on June 8, 1950, is full of fun.

Toronto tallied 24 hits in a 20-1 drubbing of Colorado – a thrumming conclusion to a complete destruction of a series.  In the three-game sweep, the Blue Jays outscored the Rockies 45-6, scored at least 10 runs in all three contests, and tallied 63 hits with 28 of them going for extra bases.  

~In this game, Toronto’s 13 extra-base hits tied the franchise record, set on August 12, 2019 against the Rangers.  

~In this game, the +19 run differential tied for the second best in franchise history, with only a 28-5 win over Boston in 2022 offering a larger disparity.

~In this game, Ernie Clement, Ty France and Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. each had four hits with at least two going for extra bases.  This marked the first time in franchise history the Blue Jays had three players do this.  Since 1901, this assault marked the 22nd time a team had at least three players do it*.

*With this game part of the mix, it’s now happened three times since the start of this August, with the Rockies having three players do this against the Pirates on August 1 and three Athletics replicating the feat against the Nationals on August 5.*

~In this game, three players – Davis Schneider, Bo Bichette, and Nathan Lukes – had four RBI.  The three fell one shy of the high mark for the franchise, set by the club during the aforementioned 28-5 win over the Red Sox in 2022.

~This series marked the sixth time in franchise history the Blue Jays scored 10+ runs in three straight games.  The run tallies and team OPS for each of the six runs:

2000  34 runs and a 1.191 OPS

2001  35 runs and a 1.072 OPS

2003  34 runs and a 1.108 OPS

2013  33 runs and a 1.068 OPS

2021  44 runs and a 1.319 OPS

2025  45 runs and a 1.346 OPS

Gavin Williams’ bid for a no-hitter came to a thunderous end when Juan Soto homered with one out in the ninth, but the right-hander did record a win as Cleveland downed New York, 4-1.  The oh-so-close performance would have been the franchise’s 16th no-hitter and the first since Len Barker twirled his perfect game on May 15, 1981.  There have been 101 individual (meaning, not combined) no-hitters since Cleveland’s last, with every other franchise contributing at least one of the 101 except for Pittsburgh.

Junior Caminero hit his 29th and 30th homers of the year to reach a milestone not many others have touched when so young – the Rays’ third baseman is one of 20 players to hit at least 30 in an age-21 or younger campaign.  By age-season (with third basemen in italics):

20    Mel Ott (1929), Ted Williams (1939), Frank Robinson (1956), Tony Conigliaro (1965), Álex Rodríguez                (1996), Mike Trout (2012), Juan Soto (2019).

21    Jimmie Foxx (1929), Hal Trosky (1934), Eddie Mathews (1953), Bob Horner (1979), José Canseco                  (1986), Rubén Sierra (1987), Andruw Jones (1998), Albert Pujols (2001), Miguel Cabrera (2004),                      Giancarlo Stanton (2011), Cody Bellinger (2017), Ronald Acuña, Jr. (2019), Junior Caminero (2025).

Tyler Soderstrom connected on his 20th longball of the year, giving the Athletics two players in age-23 or younger seasons with at least 20 (Nick Kurtz has 23).  The pair make up the 38th duo in AL/NL history to be so young and get to the milestone in the same season, and the first since the tandem of Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. did this with the 2021 Blue Jays.  There’s one additional Athletics pairing on this list – José Canseco and Mark McGwire for the 1987 club.

Bobby Witt, Jr. stole his 30th base of the year – the fourth time in as many seasons the Royals’ shortstop has reached the number.  Witt is the seventh player to have debuted after 1901 to have at least 30 in each of his first four seasons, joining Art Devlin (debuted in 1904), Jerry Remy (1975), Rickey Henderson (1979), Vince Coleman (1985), Delino DeShields (1990) and Ichiro Suzuki (2001).  

~Among all players to have debuted in the Modern Era and have had at least half of their games at shortstop through their first four years, Witt is the sixth to have at least 140 total steals.  Here, he joins …

Maury Wills (196 SB)

Bert Campaneris (168)

José Reyes (156)

Ozzie Smith (147)

Donie Bush (144)

As part of Milwaukee’s sixth straight win, Andrew Vaughn singled and homered and drove in two runs.  The first baseman is slashing .377/.444/.701 in his 22 games with the Brewers – this after posting a .189/.218/.314 line in 48 games with the White Sox before being dealt.  Since teams returned from the All-Star break, Vaughn’s 1.067 OPS ranks as the seventh best in the Majors (min. 50 PA).  The two highest marks belong to Athletics teammates Nick Kurtz and Shea Langeliers, with that dynamic duo followed by the Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber, Blue Jays Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. and George Springer and Boston’s Jarren Duran.  

Jose Quintana (6.0 IP, 3 R) improved to 9-4 on the year in Milwaukee’s win.  The left-hander, who entered this season owning a career 102-103 career record, has never posted a winning percentage above .591 in any of his 13 start-to-finish seasons, with this year’s current mark of .692 really standing out.

~Quintana is one of three Brewers pitchers with at least nine wins, joining NL leader Freddy Peralta (13) and Quinn Priester (11).  The last season to see a trio of Milwaukee hurlers all have at least nine victories through 114 Brewers games was 2011, when the firm of Yovani Gallardo (13), Shaun Marcum (10) and Zack Greinke (9) did this.

Paul Goldschmidt delivered a pinch-hit homer in the seventh inning to break a 2-2 tie and ultimately lift the Yankees to a 3-2 win over the Rangers.  Since 1969, the Yankees have witnessed a pinch-hitter of theirs crackle with a go-ahead home run in the seventh inning or later on 49 occasions.  Jorge Posada has the biggest imprint here, with four of them.  

In the Yankees’ win, Jasson Domínguez stole his 19th base and Anthony Volpe claimed his 15th steal.  One has to flip past many Yankees team rosters to find one that featured a pair of players so young (in an age-24 or younger season) each with 15-or-more thefts.  The page-turning finally ends in 1916, when Wally Pipp and Frank Gilhooley each had 16.  

Philadelphia’s Trea Turner singled, doubled and tripled but fell a home run shy of the cycle – the third time in his career he’s done exactly this.  Andrew McCutchen and Amed Rosario are the active leaders for this type of oh-so-close performance, each with six such games.  

Luke Keaschall doubled twice and drove in three runs to pace the Twins to a 9-4 win against the Tigers.  The 22-year-old had made a splash when he debuted in mid-April, but his start then came to an abrupt pause when he was hit by a pitch and went on the IL with a right forearm fracture.  Anyway, now that he’s back, he’s still making waves.

~Keaschall has reached safely in all nine games he’s played in the Majors – the ninth Senator/Twin to make this claim.  

Senators/Twins:  Longest On-Base Streak to Open a Career

15    Joe Judge (1915-1916)

13    Babe Ganzel (1927), Glenn Williams* (2005)

10    Champ Osteen (1903)

9      Lew Drill (1902), Tony Smith (1907), Eddie Kenna (1928), Ellis Clary (1942), Luke Keaschall (2025)

*Williams reached safely in all 13 games he ever played in the Major Leagues.  His career numbers:  a .425/.452/.450 slash line with 17 hits (one double) and two walks across 43 plate appearances.

~Keaschall has 11 hits with six going for extra bases in his nine-game start.   He’s the second Senator/Twin to reach these numbers through his first nine Major League games, joining Josmil Pinto, who had 14 hits with six of them going for extra bases in 2013.

~Keaschall has put together back-to-back three RBI games.  He’s one of four Senators/Twins to have multiple three-RBI games so soon into a career, joining Joe Kuhel (1930), Bob Boken (1933) and Oswaldo Arcia (2013).

Cade Horton (5.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R) improved to 6-3 on the year as he and his Cubs mates downed the Reds.  The 23-year-old right-hander has not surrendered a run in any of his last four starts, a stretch that adds up to 22.2 innings.  He’s the only Cub in the Modern Era to be shy of his 24th birthday and produce a four-game streak featuring outings of at least five innings and no runs allowed.  There are three Cubs younger than 24 who had three-game runs:  Ed Reulbach in 1905 and Ken Holtzman, who gets double credit for one three-game streak in 1968 and another the following season.

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