More Rare Things Happening in Baseball

Think real hard. Have you ever seen a triple play and back-to-back home runs in the same inning of a Major League baseball game? If you answered yes, you are lying!

1. 2. 3.

Don’t believe me? Just watch. 👀#MNTwins pic.twitter.com/xZRl9hq6fx

— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) July 23, 2019

That was the triple play. Shortly after, Jorge Polanco and Nelson Cruz each went yard off C.C. Sabathia – becoming the first team in history to record 3 outs in one play and hit 2-straight bombs in the same inning.

Interestingly enough, Statcast reported that Edwin Encarnacion – the batter during the triple play – ran his fastest home-to-first time of the season in an attempt to beat the throw and was still tripled up.

Back in June, I wrote a “last time x happened” article after the Dodgers won 3-straight games on walk-off taters by rookies. It’s time for another. I love these!

Blowing a 4-Run Lead in Extra Innings

On Monday, Paul Goldschmidt blasted a grand slam in the top of the 10th inning in Pittsburgh to give his Cards a 6-2 lead.

Game over, right? Well … yes, but it was not easy. The Pirates answered with 3 in the bottom half of the 10th and had 2 men on base when a game-ending flyout was induced – narrowly losing 6-5.

This got me thinking – what if the Cardinals did blow that lead? How demoralizing would that of been? Have any teams in recent history scored at least 4 runs in the top half of an extra inning only to lose the game in the bottom half?

Why yes … they have. And it was awesome!

Flashback to September 27, 2011. The Dodgers were visiting the Diamondbacks. No playoff spots were on the line, but Arizona looked to remain hot heading into the playoffs while the Dodgers were fighting to keep their record above .500.

Neither team could score all game and the contest headed to extras tied 1-1. Then the flood gates opened. A 5-run top of the 10th inning highlighted by an A.J. Ellis 2-run triple gave the Dodgers a 6-1 lead. Once again … game over, right?

Arizona put together a little rally in the bottom half to narrow the deficit to 6-3, but quickly recorded 2 outs. The DBacks had the bases loaded – which meant the tying run was at the dish – but the Dodgers still felt they had the game won. LA’s Win Expectancy at this point was a comfortable 91%.

This is because Ryan Roberts was up for Arizona – a man who finished his career with a .243 batting average and just 46 home runs. And then … well, I bet you can guess what’s coming. Watch this!

 

Winning a Series in Style

This past weekend, the last-place Orioles won 2 of 3 against the defending champion Red Sox. What most fans do not know is that we have not seen a series like this since 2006. I’ll explain.

Here are the scores from the 3-game set. The heavy underdog, Baltimore, took the first and the third game.

Notice these scores: 11-2, 17-6, 5-0. A lot of back and forth blowouts. A very strange succession of games.

Baltimore is the first underdog since 2006 to win a 3-game series in which each of these 3 things happened:

1. The underdog scored at least 10 runs in a game
2. The underdog allowed at least 15 runs in a game
3. The underdog pitched at least 1 shutout

There are so many fascinating occurrences in Major League baseball everywhere you look. As Tim Kurkjian is famous for saying, something you’ve never seen before happens every night.

Killersports was crucial in helping me dig up this data. Enjoy your baseball betting!