Here’s our weekly look at 10 mind-blowing notes from the last week in baseball (June 13-19).
Ground Chuck: At 41 years and 213 days old on Friday, Charlie Morton became the oldest pitcher in at least the Divisional Era (1969) with eight strikeouts in the first three innings of a game. The only other 40-plus-year-old to do so in that span was Nolan Ryan at 40 years and 148 days on June 28, 1987.
Striding: Spencer Strider had 13 strikeouts on Saturday, his fifth career game with at least 13 strikeouts. That tied John Smoltz for the most games with at least 13 strikeouts by a Braves pitcher in at least the last 125 seasons. The Braves finished the day with 19 strikeouts, their most in a nine-inning game in that span.
Oh brother: On Saturday, Willson and William Contreras homered in the same game for the first time. But it wasn’t just the same game, it was the same inning. They became the second pair of brothers to homer in the same inning as opponents since 1900, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. They joined Rick (Boston) and Wes (Cleveland) Ferrell on July 19, 1933. Rick’s home run was off Wes.
The Sho goes on: Shohei Ohtani hit his 250th career home run on Saturday. He reached at least 250 homers and 150 stolen bases in 944 career games, the fewest of any player in MLB history. He surpassed Alex Rodriguez, who got there in 977 games. And Ohtani had only actually batted in 928 of his games at that point because of his early career pitching plan, when he would not hit in games he pitched.
Homer happy: The Rockies hit seven home runs in Washington on Tuesday, tying a franchise record. They also did so on May 31, 2016, at home against the Reds and April 5, 1997, at Montreal. That’s right, a franchise known for a high-offense home environment has done this twice on the road and once at home. And both times on the road were against the same franchise.
Fresh Prince of Walk-Off Magic: Wednesday was Will Smith's third career pinch-hit walk-off homer, breaking a tie with Rick Monday for most in Dodgers history. His three are tied for the second-most career pinch-hit walk-off home runs in MLB history, including playoffs, behind only Jason Giambi’s six. Smith is tied with Charlie Culberson, Larry Sheets, Gates Brown and Kirk Gibson.
PCA!: Pete Crow-Armstrong hit his 20th home run of the season on Thursday. That gave him 20 homers and 20 stolen bases in just 73 games played, tied for the fourth-fewest games to reach the mark in a season, with Ken Williams in 1922. Crow-Armstrong trails only Eric Davis (46 games in 1987), Jose Canseco (68 games in 1998) and Fernando Tatis Jr. (71 games in 2021). At 23 years old, Crow-Armstrong is the youngest Cubs player with a 20-20 season.
Woody: James Wood had himself a day on Thursday, with two home runs of at least 110 mph, including the walk-off dinger in extra innings. At 22 years and 275 days, Wood became the youngest player in Nationals/Expos franchise history with a multihomer game including a walk-off home run. He’s also the first Nationals player with multiple homers of at least 110 mph in the same game under Statcast. He’s up to 11 such home runs total this year, tied with Kyle Schwarber (2021) for most in a season by a Nationals player under Statcast. It’s also tied with Ohtani for most this season.
Jac-ked: Jac Caglianone hit his first career home run on Thursday, on a pitch up near his eyes. The pitch was 4.22 feet above the ground. That’s tied for the second-highest pitch anyone has homered off this year and the highest pitch a Royals player has homered off of under pitch tracking (2008). He went on to hit his second homer later in the game, becoming the fourth Royals player to hit his first two career home runs in the same game. He joined Mark Quinn (Sept. 14, 1999), U L Washington (Sept. 21, 1979) and Jim Rooker (July 7, 1969).
Current Ironman: Matt Olson has played 693 consecutive games entering Friday, dating back 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 Cal Ripken Jr (2,632 consecutive games, 1982-98), Steve Garvey (1,207, 1975-83), Miguel Tejada (1,152, 2000-07), Pete Rose (745, 1978-83), Dale Murphy (740, 1981-86), Rose (678, 1973-78) and Sandy Alomar Sr. (661, 1969-73).