SHO-IN OFF
Two-way All-Star Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels earned his seventh win of the season last night after tossing 5.2 shutout innings with 11 strikeouts, while permitting five hits and just one walk. In his preceding outing, the 27-yearold posted one of the best starts of his career, delivering 8.0 shutout innings of two-hit ball with a career-best 13 punchouts. Ohtani’s 24 punchouts were tied with Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan (1972) for the fourth-most in a two-start span with zero runs allowed in franchise history, trailing only Dean Chance in 1964 (27), and Ryan in 1978 (25) and 1976 (25). The hard-throwing right-hander will go into his next start on a 21.2-inning scoreless streak, the longest of his Major League career.
In addition, last year’s AL MVP became just the third pitcher in franchise history to fan 30 batters without permitting a run scored across a three-start span, joining Ryan and John Lackey. He is the fourth Major League hurler to accomplish the feat over the last 10 seasons, previously done by Jacob deGrom, Chris Sale and Clayton Kershaw. Lastly, the 2018 AL Rookie of the Year has gone 4-0 with 14 hits, six walks, 36 strikeouts and a 0.34 ERA over his last four outings dating back to June 9th. Ohtani became the eighth pitcher (ninth span) in Baseball history to post a span of four appearances in which he went a perfect 4-0 with 36-or-more strikeouts while not allowing more than six walks, 14 hits and one run.
Pitcher, Club Four Outing Span W-L ERA SO BB H IP
Shohei Ohtani, LAA June 9-29, 2022 4-0 0.34 36 6 14 26.2
Jacob deGrom, NYM September 21, 2018 – April 3, 2019 4-0 0.32 42 3 13 28.0
Chris Sale, BOS June 30 – July 22, 2018 4-0 0.35 44 3 14 26.0
Robbie Ray, ARI May 25 – June 11, 2017 4-0 0.31 42 6 12 29.1
Robbie Ray, ARI May 20 – June 6, 2017 4-0 0.30 36 5 11 30.1
Clayton Kershaw, LAD June 18 – July 4, 2014 4-0 0.00 44 4 13 32.0
R.A. Dickey, NYM June 2-18, 2012 4-0 0.00 42 4 13 34.1
Chris Carpenter, STL June 14 – July 1, 2005 4-0 0.27 38 5 14 33.2
Pedro Martínez, BOS July 25 – August 10, 2002 4-0 0.00 38 3 11 31.0
Ohtani’s outstanding month of June has not just been limited to pitching. The left-handed-swinging slugger has posted a slash line of .298/.398/.575 with 12 runs scored, 28 hits, six doubles, a triple, six home runs and 17 RBI across 26 games played. On June 21st against the Royals, Ohtani clubbed a pair of home runs while tallying eight RBI. He became the first player in MLB history to record eight-or-more RBI as a hitter and notch 13-or-more strikeouts as a pitcher at any point of his career. The Japanese superstar accomplished both feats in consecutive games.
UPON FURTHER REVIEW
Through Wednesday night’s games, Major League Baseball has had 657 replay reviews, which have taken an average of one minute and thirty-seven seconds.
*657 Replay Reviews
*146 Confirmed (22.2%)
*203 Stands (30.9%)
*303 Overturned (46.1%)
*5 Rules Check (0.8%)
*9 Record Keeping (1.4%)
*1:37 Average Time
ELITE COMPANY
Juan Soto of the Washington Nationals enters play today in the midst of a sixgame hitting streak dating back to June 24th. During this hot stretch, the 23-yearold is batting .350 with five runs scored, seven hits, three doubles and six walks to lead Washington to a 4-2 record. On Sunday, the Dominican Republic native reached base safely five times, the 56th game of his career in which he reached base four-or-more times. Soto’s 56 such game are second-most in MLB history by a player before his 24th birthday, trailing only Hall of Famer Ted Williams’ 76 outings.
In his following contest on Monday, Soto, who signed with the Nationals in July 2015, recorded his 1,000th career total base. Playing in his 538th career game, the Dominican Republic native became the fourth-fastest in Nationals/Expos history to reach the milestone, trailing only Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero (455), Trea Turner (517) and Bryce Harper (528). According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Soto is the 19th player in Major League history to post at least 1,000 total bases and 100 home runs (112) before turning 24 years old.
Additionally, Soto, who has also swiped 37 bases over his five-year career, is one of nine players in history to reach the aforementioned totals in addition to 35-or-more stolen bases. The 2021 All-Star is joined by Harper and Mike Trout as the lone active players to accomplish the feat. See the full list in the chart below, which includes Hall of Famers Orlando Cepeda, Ken Griffey Jr., Mel Ott and Frank Robinson.
Player R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB TB
Mel Ott 582 895 159 30 153 608 37 1,573
Ken Griffey Jr. 424 832 170 15 132 453 77 1,428
Alex Rodriguez 493 791 160 11 148 463 118 1,417
Mike Trout 477 744 143 32 139 397 113 1,368
Orlando Cepeda 366 732 137 15 122 439 65 1,264
Frank Robinson 415 680 112 21 134 366 46 1,236
Bryce Harper 412 651 122 17 121 334 58 1,170
Andruw Jones 379 635 129 21 116 361 95 1,154
Juan Soto 380 545 106 8 112 344 37 1,003
REFUSE TO LOSE
In Sunday’s road tilt against the Atlanta Braves, Tony Gonsolin of the Los Angeles Dodgers received a no-decision despite firing 5.2 innings of onerun ball. The right-hander permitted five hits and tallied five strikeouts and kept his 2022 ERA at 1.58, which still paces all qualified Major League starters.
Gonsolin is set to become the first starting pitcher since ERA first became an official statistic in the NL in 1912 to enter the month of July with a 9-0-orbetter record and an ERA below 1.60. His ERA is tied with Clayton Kershaw (2016) for the fifth-lowest by a Dodgers starter through 14 appearances of a season, trailing Hyun Jin Ryu in 2019 (1.26), and Hall of Famers Don Drysdale in 1968 (1.31), Sandy Koufax in 1966 (1.40) and Don Sutton in 1972 (1.55).
Additionally, the California native’s 14-start streak without suffering a losing decision is tied for the third-longest in Club history. Rick Rhoden holds the franchise record with 19 consecutive starts to begin his 1976
All-Star campaign.
Pitcher #GS Streak Range W-L ERA
Rick Rhoden 19 April 20 – August 1, 1976 9-0 3.12
Preacher Roe 17 April 15 – July 27, 1952 7-0 3.16
Walker Buehler 14 April 3 – June 19, 2021 7-0 2.38
Alex Wood 14 April 10 – July 15, 2017 10-0 1.66
Kirby Higbe 14 April 20 – July 14, 1946 6-0 3.30
Tony Gonsolin 14 April 9, 2022 – Present 9-0 1.58
Taken a step further, Gonsolin, who was drafted by the Dodgers in the ninth round of the 2016 MLB Draft, has not permitted more than two earned runs in any of his 14 outings to begin the 2022 campaign. He is the first pitcher since 1912 to start a season with 14 non-losing starts in which he did not permit more than two earned runs. See below for hurlers (excluding “openers”) to post a streak of at least 10 such starts to begin a campaign, which includes Joe Musgrove of the San Diego Padres, who suffered his first loss of the season in
his most recent outing on June 23rd against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Pitcher, Club #GS Streak Range W-L ERA
Tony Gonsolin, LAD 14 April 9, 2022 – Present 9-0 1.58
Joe Musgrove, SD 12 April 9 – June 16, 2022 8-0 1.59
Eddie Cicotte, CWS 11 April 24 – June 10, 1919 11-0 0.95
Kris Medlen, ATL 10 July 31 – September 19, 2012 8-0 0.76
Juan Marichal, SF 10 April 12 – May 26, 1966 9-0 0.59
Hoyt Wilhelm, BAL 10 April 15 – June 7, 1959 9-0 0.83
INTERLEAGUE TRACKER
League 2022 Record Batting Average ERA
American League 79-71 .240 (1,206-for-5,027) 3.73
National League 71-79 .229 (1,131-for-4,939) 3.95
LINE DRIVES (Compiled from Club Game Notes)
WALKING INTO HISTORY: Mike Trout of the Angels now has 902 career walks. He is the only player in MLB history with at least 900 walks, 300 home runs and 200 stolen bases by his age-30 season.
BYE BYE BYRON: Minnesota’s Byron Buxton hit his 20th home run of the season on Tuesday night, setting a single-season career high, passing his previous high of 19 last season. He entered action today tied with Anthony Rizzo for fourth in the AL in home runs, trailing only Aaron Judge (29), Yordan Alvarez (23) and Mike Trout (23).
KUHL CUSTOMER: On Monday, Colorado’s Chad Kuhl became the 26th pitcher (27th time) to toss a complete-game shutout at Coors Field. He became the 17th Rockies pitcher to throw a complete-game shutout in Denver, the 16th at Coors Field and the first since Germán Márquez on June 29th of last season.
MILESTONE WATCH: Paul Goldschmidt of the Cardinals is one home run away from becoming the sixth player to hit home run #300 in a Cardinals uniform, joining Hall of Famer Stan Musial, Gary Gaetti, Jim Edmonds, Albert Pujols and Troy Glaus. Goldy would be the 153rd player with 300-or-more homers, but just the 40th Major Leaguer with at least 300 homers and 140 stolen bases.
HAVE A GAME, MARCUS: Marcus Semien of the Rangers went 3-for-4 with a home run, double, four RBI, and three runs scored on Tuesday night. It was just the third such offensive performance by a Ranger since the start of 2018, previously done by Adolis García in August 2021 and Hunter Pence in April 2019. It was just the third such game of Semien’s career, last accomplished with Oakland in June 2019.
KEEGAN’S KS: Keegan Thompson of the Cubs recorded eight strikeouts in a career-high 6.1 innings pitched on Tuesday. Thompson became the first Cub to tally seven-plus strikeouts in three straight starts since Yu Darvish went eight-in-a-row from August 13 – September 20, 2020.
YOUNG, WILD & FREE: On Tuesday night, 24-year-old Camilo Doval registered his 15th career save (12th this season) by getting the final four outs in the 4-3 win over the Tigers. Prior to Doval, the last Giants pitcher to accumulate more than 15 saves before his 25th birthday was Rod Beck, who amassed 91 saves from 1991-1994.
MAMA, I MADE IT: Last night, Philadelphia’s Mark Appel made his Major League debut at the age of 30 years and 349 days. He pitched a scoreless ninth inning and recorded his first career strikeout. Drafted first overall in 2013 by the Houston Astros, Appel was later traded to the Phillies as part of a seven-player deal on December 12, 2015. He took a leave from Baseball and did not pitch from 2018-20.
JOIN THE CLUB: Milwaukee’s Christian Yelich needs just one stolen base for 150 in his career. With 167 home runs, he would become the seventh active player with at least 150 homers and 150 stolen bases, joining Mike Trout, Justin Upton, Andrew McCutchen, Mookie Betts, Jose Altuve and José Ramírez.
RAKIN’ RALEIGH: Seattle’s Cal Raleigh hit his 10th home run of the season on Monday night. He became the 10th catcher in Club history to hit 10-or-more homers in a single campaign.
WALK IT OFF: Last night marked Cleveland’s third walk-off win of the season, and their 46th such win since the start of 2016. That is tied with the Pirates and Phillies for third-most since 2016, which trails only the Athletics and Yankees.
NICE TO SEE YOU: Through 35 Marlins home games this season, attendance (402,232) is up 23.6% at Loan Depot park compared to the 2019 season through the same number of games – the last time the season started with full open seating.
