Another HR moment for Scooter
Scooter Gennett, who had a four-homer game earlier this season and has slugged three grand slams had another home run moment on Thursday afternoon. Gennett’s two-run home run off Jacob deGrom was the major leagues’ 1102nd long ball in August, the most in any calendar month in major league history. The previous record was set just two months ago when 1101 home runs were hit in June. Prior to this season, the most home runs in a calendar month was 1069 in May 2000.
Scooter knocks in three runs
Scooter Gennett drove in three runs in the Reds’ matinee win over the Mets on Thursday, a two-run homer in the second inning and an RBI-double in fifth inning. It was the eighth game this season in which Gennett knocked in three or more runs, seventh as a second baseman. That’s the second-most games of three or more RBIs as a second baseman this season among National League players, behind Daniel Murphy, who has nine such games.
Morales hits three long balls
Kendrys Morales hit three home runs and drove in seven runs as the Blue Jays snapped the Orioles’ seven-game winning streak. It was the second three-home run game of Morales’ career, his other coming for the Royals at Detroit in 2015. Morales is the 37th player in major league history to have a three-homer game for two or more different teams, only one of the previous 36 is still active. Victor Martinez has a three-homer game for the Indians and Tigers.
Beckham breaks record set by Joe D.
Tim Beckham went 3-for-5 in the Orioles’ loss to Toronto on Thursday. Beckham, who made his debut for Baltimore on August 1, finished the month with 50 hits in 127 at-bats (.394). That is the highest hit total that any player has attained in the month of his debut for an American League team. Beckham broke a record set by Joe DiMaggio, with 48 hits for the Yankees in May 1936. DiMaggio’s mark was matched by Stan Sperry for the Athletics in August 1938. The last NL player with as many as 50 hits in the month of his debut for one team was Bob Fisher of the Cardinals, with 53 hits in July 1918.
Upton shipped to the Angels
The Angels acquired Justin Upton, who entered Thursday’s action ranked ninth in the major leagues with 94 RBIs this season, from the Tigers today. Only one other player in major league history switched teams in mid-season having already produced 94 or more RBIs. The other was Greg Vaughn in 1996, who was traded from the Brewers to the Padres on July 31, 1996. Vaughn had 95 RBIs at the time of the trade.
Upton entered Thursday’s action leading the Tigers in batting average (.279), home runs (28) and RBIs (94). Four others players lead their teams in each of the triple-crown categories. The others are Paul Goldschmidt, Jonathan Schoop, Joey Votto and Justin Smoak.
CC likes his sox red
CC Sabathia pitched six solid innings in the Yankees’ win over the Red Sox on Thursday night. Sabathia improved his record to 4-0 with a 1.04 ERA in four starts against the Red Sox this season. The last Yankees pitcher to finish a season 4-0 or better with an ERA under 1.50 against Boston was Whitey Ford in 1956. Ford went 4-0 with a 1.13 ERA in five starts against Boston that season.
Kepler trades bruise for win
The Twins beat the White Sox on Thursday afternoon when Juan Minaya hit Max Kepler with a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning. It was the second time since the Twins franchise moved to Minnesota in 1961 that they won a game on a walk-off hit-by-pitch. The other walk-off hit-by-pitch for the Twins was when their current manger, Paul Molitor, was hit by Jeff Montgomery of the Royals in the bottom of the tenth inning on May 1, 1996.
It was the first walk-off hit-by-pitch in the major leagues this season.
Diamondbacks strike early again
The Diamondbacks completed a three-game sweep of the Dodgers on Thursday afternoon and the secret to their success was scoring early. The DBacks scored five first-inning runs on Tuesday night, three runs in the opening frame on Wednesday night and two runs in the first inning on Thursday afternoon. That matches the franchise record for consecutive games scoring two or more first-inning runs, done five times previously. They did it once, in 1998, twice in 2003, once in 2008 and once in 2016.
D-Backs sweep mighty Dodgers
The Diamondbacks swept the Dodgers, who entered the series with a 91-38 record. It’s the fourth time in the expansion era (since 1961) that a team swept a series of at least three games from a team that was 50 or more games over .500 at the start of the series. The other three, all three-game series, were the Yankees over the Orioles (108-48 record when the series started) in 1969, A’s over the Mariners (106-41) in 2001 and Astros over the Cardinals (103-52) in 2004.
Hoskins extends hitting streak to 13 games
Rhys Hoskins, who played in the 22nd game of his career Thursday night, extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a fifth-inning single. Hoskins is the first Phillies player to fashion a hitting streak of at least 13 games within his first 30 career games in the major leagues since Richie Ashburn in 1948. Ashburn had a 23-game hitting streak with game #13 of the streak coming in the 30th game of his career.
Bryant is a bear
Kris Bryant hit his 25th home run of the season in the Cubs’ win over the Braves on Thursday night, giving him at least 25 home runs in each of his three major league seasons. Bryant hit 26 homers in his rookie season and 39 as a sophomore. Bryant is one of six active players to hit 25 or more home runs in each of their first three seasons in the major leagues beginning with their final rookie campaign. The others are Albert Pujols (first 12 seasons), Ryan Braun (six), Mike Trout (six), Jose Abreu (four) and Mark Trumbo (three).
Sweet 16 for Davies
Zach Davies pitched seven strong innings in the Brewers’ win over the Nationals on Thursday night improving his record to 16-7. Davies is the fourth pitcher in Brewers history to earn 16 wins before September 1. The others were Jim Colborn in 1973 (18-8 entering September), Mike Caldwell in 1978 (17-8) and Teddy Higuera in 1986 (17-8).