Dig into the 10 most interesting stats of the week
Sarah Langs
Here’s our weekly look at 10 mind-blowing notes from the last week in baseball (July 26-Aug. 1).
Snellzilla: Blake Snell had 15 strikeouts on Saturday in just six innings of work, marking the most by a pitcher in an outing of six innings or fewer since at least 1901. His 15 strikeouts tied for third-most by a Giants pitcher in that span, behind only Jason Schmidt on June 6, 2006, and Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson on October 3, 1904, with 16 each. Snell racked up 30 swings and misses, the second-most by a Giants pitcher in a game under pitch-tracking (2008, including playoffs), behind only Tim Lincecum’s 31 in 2010 NLDS Game 1.
Rare form of a cycle: Xavier Edwards hit for the cycle on Sunday, and the home run was the first of his career. He became the eighth player to hit his first career home run in a game in which he recorded a cycle, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Edwards joined Fred Lewis (5/13/2007), Luke Scott (7/28/2006), Gary Ward (9/18/1980), Cliff Heathcote (6/13/1918), Bill Hassamaer (6/13/1894), Bill Van Dyke (7/5/1890) and Chippy McGarr (9/23/1886).
Moving on up: After hitting two homers Monday, José Ramírez socked another on Tuesday for his 243rd career dinger, breaking a tie with Albert Belle for second-most in Cleveland history. He trails only Jim Thome, who hit 337 for the club.
And all that Jazz: With multi-homer games on Monday and Tuesday, Jazz Chisholm Jr. made a strong first impression in his first three games with the Yankees. He became the first player with two multi-homer games in his first three games with a franchise. Chisholm also joined 2016 Trevor Story with the Rockies as the only players with four total home runs in their first three games with a team.
Snakes alive: The D-backs won, 17-0, against the Nationals on Tuesday, marking the largest win in franchise history. The D-backs have now won three games by at least 15 runs this season. The only teams with more such wins in a season since 1900 were the 1939 Yankees, 1935 Tigers and 1931 Yankees, with four each.
Hard-hitting: Giancarlo Stanton had four batted balls at 110+ mph on Wednesday, tied for the second-most in a game under Statcast (2015). He tied Bryce Harper (August 23, 2023) and himself (May 7, 2015). The only player with more in a game was his teammate, Aaron Judge, who had five on Sept. 18, 2022. One of Stanton’s hits on Wednesday was a 120 mph single. Stanton now has 16 batted balls at 120+ mph under Statcast. The only other player with multiple is Oneil Cruz, with four.
Happy Hollidays: Jackson Holliday crushed a grand slam for his first career home run on Wednesday. At 20 years and 240 days, Holliday became the youngest player in Orioles/Browns franchise history with a grand slam. He is also the eighth-youngest player with a grand slam for his first career home run and the youngest since Stanton in 2010, according to the Elias.
Back-to-back: Matt Olson and Travis d’Arnaud hit back-to-back home runs twice in the same game on Wednesday. They became the third pair of Braves teammates to do so in franchise history, joining Javy Lopez and Andruw Jones on June 13, 1998, and Fred McGriff and David Justice on August 25, 1993, per Elias.
The Swingin’ A’s: Brent Rooker hit 11 home runs in July and Lawrence Butler hit 10 of his own. The duo became the third set of A’s teammates with at least 10 home runs each in the same calendar month. They joined Mark McGwire and Terry Steinbach in July 1996 and Jimmie Foxx and Bob Johnson in June 1934.
Current Ironman: Olson has played 566 consecutive games entering Friday, dating to May 2, 2021. There have been only six other streaks of at least 500 since 2000, per Elias. They belong to 2000-07 Miguel Tejada (1,152 consecutive games), 2018-22 Whit Merrifield (553), 2010-14 Prince Fielder (547), 2000-03 Alex Rodriguez (546), 2003-06 Hideki Matsui (518) and 2004-07 Mark Teixeira (507).
