[Update: CJ Nitkowski corrected my correction. He did in fact get Alou correct with 17 (I misheard it as my program was just spitting out 16 with the missing homer) and he corrected the Gonzalez claim in the 9th, which I missed. I’m still sticking with the Granderson claim, though, which was not pointed out. And I still do this for free. Thanks to CJ for replying on Twitter]

Brandon Gaudin and CJ Nitkowski were remarking last night that Marcell Ozuna has hit 11 straight solo homers and asked for research into records for consecutive solo homers. CJ Nitkowski apparently has some sort of source at Sportradar to give him answers while he’s on the air. I find that interesting, because I wonder what they charge — I am a one-man shop who performs the same service for you guys for free.

I produced the same result they did, though it took me an extra 10 minutes. To be fair, I was also watching the game at the time and I was programming with the aid of two Bourbons. But their answers require a couple of clarifications.

They report, correctly, that the record for consecutive solo homers is 25 by Marwin Gonzalez. They reported that the year was 2016. Since Marwin Gonzalez never hit 25 homers in a season, it should be pointed out that this streak covered multiple seasons. In fact, it covers Gonzalez’ first 25 homers, stretching from 5/14/2012-4/24/2016, a remarkable stretch of almost 4 years of solo homers.

The record for consecutive solo homers in a single season is only 18, by Curtis Granderson in 2007. If you are talking about a particular season, this is probably the better record to use, though it doesn’t take away from Gonzalez’ amazing streak.

Secondly, Nitkowski reported that the Braves record was 16, by Felipe Alou, in 1966. This is wrong, though it is wrong for an interesting reason. In fact, Alou hit 17 consecutive solo homers in 1966. My program also came up with 16, because we are both using the Retrosheet database. But there are a handful of games missing from the Retrosheet database. One of those, on June 16, 1966, in the midst of the Alou streak, had Felipe hit another solo homer off Pete Mikklesen that isn’t in the Retrosheet database. I only found it because I went to Baseball Reference, where it is listed. So the Braves record is actually 17. That is only one homer from Granderson’s single season record, tied with Rickey Henderson (1993) and Rafael Palmeiro (2002) for second place.

So there you are CJ. You’re welcome, for free.

Quick Saturday Recap

Braves looked to be DOOOMED after the Rockies tied it up in the 6th, but the Braves weren’t done and homers by Matt Olson, Matt Olson, Marcell Ozuna, and Jorge Soler proved to be worth 1 wins. That being said, the outfield defense is a mess and was so bad that I just had to poke some fun at the mishap:

Pierce Johnson, Joe Jimenez, and Raisel Iglesias all deserve some serious love for coming in, only allowing 1 hit in 3.1 innings to seal the deal.

Sunday Game Thread and Spencer Schwellenbach

It’s Sunday Funday y’all and Spencer Schwellenbach will take on Kyle Freeland in the series finale. The game is set for 2:10 CT/3:10 ET.

Transaction a Day AA

Eddie Rosario was outrighted to the Gwinnett Stripers a few days back, but has decided that AAA was not for him and he’s elected free agency. Good luck, Eddie. Braves fans will always remember 2021.

Braves Lineup

When Michael Harris II gets back, I hope the Braves go back to the original blueprint and platoon Adam Duvall (who’s still been great against LHP) with Jarred Kelenic.