Doug Kern 10y

Kernels: The swing of things

Try as we might, summer is ending. Football season has started. Leaves are at the brink of changing color. And with the passing of Labor Day, school is back in nationwide. Kids and parents are getting back into the swing of thiings. That prompted our weekly look at the interesting and unusual in MLB to look at a different kind of swing.

• This season has seen 150 hitters record four strikeouts in a game, including eight this week. That leaves us four shy of the all-time record for such a thing, set way back in... well, last year. The last eight seasons have been the most prolific in history; only one prior season (1997) even saw 100 such games, and for comparison's sake, there were 82 in the entire decade of the 1940s (albeit with only 16 teams).

• Arizona Diamondbacks teammates Jake Lamb and Nolan Reimold each had four strikeouts in Monday's loss to the San Diego Padres. They're the fourth pair of teammates this season to do it in the same game, but the first in franchise history.

Will Middlebrooks and Allen Craig each had a four-strikeout game for the Boston Red Sox in last week's series at Yankee Stadium. That makes ten 4-K games this season for Boston, most in the American League (the Marlins have 12).

It's the first time in their history that the Red Sox have had two players whiff four times in the same series against their New York rivals; in fact, only once before (2012) had two Bostonians done it against the Yankees in a season.

• Chicago Cubs rookie Javier Baez collected four strikeouts against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Friday's suspended game, already his fifth career four-strikeout game (out of 32 total). The only player in the live-ball era to even have three 4-K games within his first 32 was a pitcher, Johnny Broaca of the Yankees, in 1934; Baez had three more strikeouts on both Saturday and Sunday, becoming the first Cubs hitter with three straight "hat tricks" since Adolfo Phillips in 1966.

The five 4-K games are tied for the major-league "lead" with George Springer and Giancarlo Stanton, and it matches the Cubs "record" (Corey Patterson in 2004). Baez and Springer are the first to have five in their rookie season since Bo Jackson in 1987.

With three weeks remaining, it seems likely that at least one of them will do it again; no player has had six 4-K games in a season since Phillies All-Star Dick Allen did it seven times in the "Year of the Pitcher", 1968.

• In Tuesday's tilt between the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians, starting pitchers Kyle Lobstein and Carlos Carrasco each went 5⅓ innings and needed around 100 pitches just to get that far. Both pitchers rung up 10 opponents, the fourth game this season where both starters hit double digits, but according to Elias, it's the first game since 1900 where both starting pitchers recorded at least 10 strikeouts without either pitching at least six innings.

Because of those strikeouts, Carrasco surrendered just one run despite allowing 10 hits. The last Cleveland pitcher to allow 10 hits but only one run was CC Sabathia in 2006.

However, their last pitcher to contain the damage that well and not get rewarded with a victory was Hall of Famer Hoyt Wilhelm, who pitched the first 11 innings of a game with the Red Sox on May 4, 1958, before Steve Ridzik came on and gave up a walk-off in the 12th.

• David Price, acquired by the Tigers at the deadline, currently leads the majors with 243 strikeouts. Although teammate Max Scherzer and Cleveland's Corey Kluber are still in the running, Price could be the first player since Bert Blyleven in 1985 to lead a league in strikeouts while playing for two different teams. Blyleven, however, only led the AL; Dwight Gooden dwarfed his total that year.

The last multi-team pitcher to lead the majors was Hugh Daily in 1884. Playing in the short-lived Union Association, Daily fanned 469 opponents for the Chicago Browns, who moved at mid-season and became the Pittsburgh Stogies before disbanding. Daily was then picked up for two games (14 strikeouts) by the Washington franchise (also called the Nationals).

• Strikeouts weren't for everyone, however. Madison Bumgarner of the San Francisco Giants technically threw a "quality start" on Saturday with six innings and three runs, but he also allowed 10 hits and struck out zero. It was the first of his 148 career pitching appearances (starter or reliever) where he failed to record a single strikeout.

• In non-strikeout news, the Tampa Bay Rays recorded the first "passed-ball-off" in franchise history on Saturday to beat the Baltimore Orioles 3-2. It was also the first known loss via passed-ball-off in Orioles history. Andrew Miller, who threw only two pitches, became the first Orioles (or Browns) pitcher to end the game on the mound, without recording an out or officially facing a batter, since June 4, 1929. Chad Kimsey, in his third career appearance, entered a tie game in the bottom of the ninth against the Senators, and runner Ossie Bluege promptly stole home with the winning run.

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