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Baseball is nothing if not a numbers game. In that vein, a few of our favorites that popped up this week. Many thanks to our friends at Baseball Reference and the Elias Sports Bureau for research assistance. 1: Julio Teheran pitched a one-hit shutout against the Mets on Sunday. Teheran's performance was the first one-hit shutout by the Braves since Jair Jurrjens stymied the Orioles in 2011, and their first on the road since Kent Mercker threw the team's last no-hitter on Apr. 8, 1994, at Dodger Stadium. The last Braves pitcher to throw a one-hitter with no walks was Kevin Millwood against the Pirates on Apr. 14, 1998. Teheran threw seven innings of one-hit ball against the Mets on Father's Day last season, and Sunday's game nearly duplicated another famous game in several respects: Jim Bunning of the Phillies threw his perfect game on Father's Day 1964 at Shea Stadium against the Mets. And from here, let's go in reverse-sequence: 22: Runs allowed by James Shields in his first three starts with the White Sox. That's two shy of the live ball era mark for such a thing; Sam Page, whose major league career spanned only four games for the Athletics in 1939, allowed six, nine, nine, and three in those outings. Including his last game with the Padres, Shields is the first pitcher to give up seven-plus in four straight starts since Albie Lopez of the Rays in 2001. 21: Hits by the Royals in their 16-5 blowout of the Tigers Saturday. Their last game with 21 hits was also their last with 16 runs, at Coors Field in 2011. It was the fourth time in Royals history they'd had 21 hits without a home run among them, the last being July 4, 1991, in Anaheim. 17: As of Thursday, leadoff home runs hit by Curtis Granderson as a member of the Mets, breaking team record of Jose Reyes. Since Granderson's debut season in 2004, he is now tied with Jimmy Rollins for the most leadoff homers in the majors (41). 13: Runs scored by the Blue Jays in each of their back-to-back wins over the Phillies and Orioles. It was the third time in team history Toronto scored 13 or more in back-to-back contests (most recently in September 2000), and thanks to Michael Saunders, it was also the Jays' first time ever hitting five homers in consecutive games. 10: Total bases by Freddie Freeman Wednesday in recording the season's first cycle. He is the first player to hit for the cycle in an extra-inning game since Mark Ellis in 2007, and the first to strike out twice since Carlos Gomez in 2008. The Braves have had just three players hit for the cycle in the live ball era (Mark Kotsay and Albert Hall are the others), tied with the Reds for the fewest by a non-expansion team. 11: On Tuesday, David Price became the first Red Sox pitcher to record 11 strikeouts, zero walks, and lose (he gave up two home runs) since Pedro Martinez against the Athletics on Aug. 19, 1999. 8: RBIs for Michael Saunders in his three-homer game Friday. It was only the second three-homer, eight-RBI game in Jays history; Edwin Encarnacion had the other last year. They are just the second team ever to have such a game in consecutive seasons; Nomar Garciaparra and Bill Mueller did it for the Red Sox in 2002 and 2003. 6: Home runs hit by the Diamondbacks in Friday's win in Philadelphia, tying their franchise record. Since the start of last season, the Phillies have allowed six homers in a game four times; all other National League teams combined have done it three times. 4: Balls in the bases-loaded walk to Logan Morrison in the 13th inning Wednesday. It was the fourth game-ending walk of the season, and the fifth in Rays history. It was also the first extra-inning "walk"-off issued by the Mariners since May 2, 1993, when Norm Charlton gave a free pass to Bernie Williams to force home Paul O'Neill for a 3-2 Yankees win. And a minor-league bonus:
30 Innings required for the Staten Island Yankees and Brooklyn Cyclones to finish their first two games in the short-season New York-Penn League. Friday's season opener required 20 innings and three position players pitching; on Saturday the Yankees scored in the first on a hit batter, a walk, a groundout, and a wild pitch. Sure enough, the Cyclones eventually walked off in the 10th after throwing a combined no-hitter in which they gave up a run. The two teams play eight more times before the season ends on Labor Day.
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