Grand slams, two-homer inning highlight stats of the week

Here’s our weekly look at 10 mind-blowing notes from the last week in baseball (May 2-8).

Eye of the Tiger: Riley Greene hit two home runs in the ninth inning on Friday, becoming the first player in MLB history to hit two home runs in the ninth inning of a game. He became the third Tigers player to do so in any inning, joining Magglio Ordóñez on Aug. 12, 2007 (second inning) and Al Kaline on April 17, 1955 (sixth inning).

Stowers power: Kyle Stowers crushed a walk-off grand slam on Saturday off a 101.7 mph pitch from A's closer Mason Miller. That is the fastest pitch a Marlins player has homered off under pitch tracking (since 2008). It’s also tied for the third-fastest pitch hit for a walk-off home run in that span with Josh Jung on Sept. 1, 2024. Stowers only trails Jeimer Candelario on Sept. 7, 2018 (102.1 mph) and Bobby Witt Jr. on July 28, 2023 (101.8 mph).

A grand old time: Stowers wasn’t the only player to hit a go-ahead grand slam in the ninth inning on Saturday. Daniel Schneemann did so as well while also hitting two home runs that day, just as Stowers did. Saturday was the first day in MLB history in which multiple players had multi-homer games, each including a go-ahead grand slam in the ninth or later, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Century mark, times two: Fernando Tatis Jr. reached 100 career stolen bases on Saturday, to go along with his 135 home runs. He reached at least 100 career stolen bases and 100 career home runs in 547 games, the seventh-fewest games to reach those marks among players to debut since 1900. Tatis only trails Eric Davis (459), Ronald Acuña Jr. (460), Mike Trout (503), Darryl Strawberry (516), Alfonso Soriano (525) and Alex Rodriguez (532), per Elias.

One is the loneliest number: The Orioles and Royals combined to hit 10 solo home runs on Sunday. That is tied for the most combined solo home runs in a game in MLB history. It also happened on May 20, 2022, between the D-backs and Cubs, as well as May 28, 1995, between the White Sox and Tigers, per Elias. If not for Michael Massey’s two-run home run for the 11th in the game, it would have been the most home runs in a game in which every one was a solo shot. That record still stands at eight.

Shotime: Shohei Ohtani hit a 117.9 mph home run on Monday. That is the Dodgers’ fifth-hardest batted ball under Statcast (2015, including playoffs). Ohtani now has the Dodgers’ 13 hardest-hit batted balls during that span. It was his ninth career home run of at least 117 mph, third-most under Statcast, behind only Giancarlo Stanton (22) and Aaron Judge (10).

Walk-off Wilson: Jacob Wilson recorded his third career walk-off hit for the A’s on Monday night in his 62nd career game. That is the second-fewest career games to reach three walk-off hits in at least the Divisional Era (1969), behind only Gomer Hodge at 30 games in 1971.

Soto among greats: Juan Soto tallied his second multi-homer game of the season on Wednesday. It was the 25th multi-homer performance of his career, tying Mel Ott, Eddie Mathews and Alex Rodriguez for the second-most such games before turning 27. The only player with more is Jimmie Foxx, with 26. Speaking of age-related records, on Tuesday Soto drew his 798th career walk, passing Mickey Mantle for the most before turning 27. His birthday is Oct. 25, so he has plenty of time to add on.

Plant the trident: The Mariners won on Wednesday to secure another series win and improve to 22-14. They have won nine straight series, their longest such streak since winning 15 in a row during the 2001 season. Their 22-14 start is their best start to a season through 36 games since 2003, when they also started the year 22-14.

Current Ironman: Matt Olson has played 657 consecutive games entering Friday, dating to May 2, 2021. There have been only seven other streaks of at least 600 to begin in the divisional era (1969), per Elias. They belong to 1982-98 Cal Ripken Jr (2,632 consecutive games), 1975-83 Steve Garvey (1,207), 2000-07 Miguel Tejada (1,152), 1978-83 Pete Rose (745), 1981-86 Dale Murphy (740), 1973-78 Rose (678) and 1969-73 Sandy Alomar Sr. (661).