Here’s our weekly look at 10 mind-blowing notes from the last week in baseball (June 6-12).
Spinning a Web(b): With another masterful outing on Saturday, Logan Webb now has three outings with at least 10+ strikeouts and no walks this season. That’s tied for most by a Giants pitcher in a season in at least the last 125 seasons, with 2022 Carlos Rodón, 2021 Kevin Gausman, 2016 Madison Bumgarner and 2012 Bumgarner. It’s June. Webb now has five career outings with at least 10 strikeouts and no walks. The only other Giants with at least five in at least the last 125 seasons are Bumgarner (12) and Tim Lincecum (five).
Crochet-ing: Through his start Saturday, Garrett Crochet has 32 strikeouts in his last three starts. He’s the youngest Red Sox pitcher with at least 30 strikeouts in a three-outing span since Jon Lester in 2009. He’s the first Red Sox pitcher of any age with at least 30 strikeouts in a three-outing span since Chris Sale and Eduardo Rodriguez in 2019.
Big Dumper: With two home runs on Saturday, Cal Raleigh is up to 26 on the season. That’s already tied with 2000 Ivan Rodriguez for the second-most homers by a primary catcher before the All-Star break, behind only 1970 Johnny Bench’s 28. Again, it is June.
Jac-ked: Jac Caglianone recorded his first career four-hit game on Sunday in just his sixth game. He joined a particularly notable list by doing so. The only other Royals player with a four-hit game within his first six career games was Bo Jackson on Sep. 11, 1986. Good company.
Polar Bear: Pete Alonso hit two homers on Sunday, tying and then passing David Wright’s 242 homers for second-most in Mets history. Alonso has 243, trailing only Darryl Strawberry’s 252 home runs for most in a Mets uniform. It was his 23rd multi-homer game, breaking a tie with Strawberry for the most in Mets history.
By George: George Kirby reached 500 strikeouts in his career on Sunday, with just 68 walks to his ledger. The only pitcher with fewer walks at the time of his 500th strikeout was Koji Uehara (63). He ended the day with 14 strikeouts and no walks in the game. That’s the fourth-most strikeouts with no walks in a game in Mariners history, behind only 6/24/97 Randy Johnson (19), 5/10/88 Mark Langston (16) and 6/14/93 Randy Johnson (15).
Soto homer: Juan Soto homered to left field on Tuesday, a classic location for him. Soto has 62 career opposite-field home runs. That’s the second-most in MLB since the start of 2018, behind only Aaron Judge (89). The next-most by a lefty in that span is 50 by Bryce Harper.
Zeroes: Andrew Abbott threw a shutout on Tuesday in a game that the Reds won, 1-0. He was the third Reds pitcher to throw a shutout in a 1-0 game since 2000, joining 9/28/12 Homer Bailey (who threw a no-hitter) and 8/26/04 Aaron Harang.
Keep your friends close and your games closer: The Giants finally played a game decided by more than one run on Wednesday. They had played eight straight one-run games, the longest streak in MLB since the 2014 Giants also played eight straight, per Elias. They won each of the final six of those, tied for the second-longest streak of one-run wins in MLB history, behind only the 1927 Cubs’ seven straight. The only other teams to win six straight game all by one run were the 1989 Angels, 1916 Browns and 1897 Boston Beaneaters.
Current Ironman: Matt Olson has played 687 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).