Yesterday’s History

So for those who missed it, Victor Mederos made baseball history yesterday. Walt Weiss did his substitute thing that cost him his DH, in this case giving Matt Olson two innings of rest, moving Dominic Smith from DH to first base, and inserting Mederos in Olson’s spot. Because Kyle Higashioka isn’t much of a pitcher, and because Mederos was going to get a second inning of mopup work, he came to bat with two on and two outs in the bottom of the eighth and singled in two runs — the last runs scored in the game, as well as the last hit of the game, and worked a perfect 9th inning to make it the final 15-1.

He was the first pitcher to come to the plate this year and the first to get a hit or an RBI since the universal DH in 2022. This at-bat had other ramifications: Victor Mederos is a 1.000 batter with a 2.000 OPS. Victor Mederos has a career RBI/AB ratio of 2.

All that is pretty easy to place in baseball history. I wanted to look at something a little harder to search: how often has the man who got the last RBI of a game and/or the last hit of a game also pitched the last out of the game?

Rabbit Hole Time: there are a lot of ways to look at this (all counts before last night):

Last Hit, Any Game, Any Player

2107 times in MLB history. Most recent: Nicky Lopez, 202308121

This was the first game of a doubleheader in which the Braves beat the Mets 21-3. Nicky Lopez, playing shortstop, hit a three-run homer for the last hit (and RBI) of the game and then pitched the bottom of the 9th

Last Hit, Any Game, Pitcher Hitting

2100 times in MLB history. Most recent: German Marquez, 20210417

Again against the Mets. Again a doubleheader, played under the 7-inning doubleheader rules of 2020-2021. Complete (7-inning) game by Marquez, complete with a single in the 6th as the last hit.

Last Hit, DH Game, Any Player

3 times in MLB history. Most Recent: Nicky Lopez, same as above

Last Hit DH Game, Pitcher Hitting

1 time in MLB History. Eduardo Rodriguez, 19730903

The Brewers made substitutions in the eighth inning that brought reliever Eduardo Rodriguez up. He tripled for the last hit of the game (and scored on a throwing error to complete the Little League homer) and pitched the 9th in a 13-5 win.

Last RBI, Any Game, Any Player

3376 times in MLB history. Most recent: Pablo Reyes: 20240427

In a 17-0 game, Pablo Reyes, playing third base, knocked in run 17 and then pitched a scoreless 9th

Last RBI, Any Game, Pitcher Hitting

3363 times in MLB History. Most recent: Adam Wainwright, 20210811

Complete game by Adam Wainwright in Pittsburgh, including the last RBI in a 4-0 shutout. Also a Maddux — 88 pitches

Last RBI, DH Game, Any Player

3 times in MLB history. Most recent: Pablo Reyes, above

Last RBI, DH Game, Pitcher Hitting

Never happened before. Congratulations, Victor, who is now the most recent in all 8 of these.

The Game

The Braves, home to various Joneses and Murphys1 from time immemorial put its latest Murphy, Owen, into a starting pitching role today. His initial encounter, with former Brave Joc Pederson, who to my eye looks like his World Series bonus was spent on fine dining, ended with the pearl-less Joc depositing one in the Chophouse. He got the next three, though, and then after walking two in the second, got the aforementioned former Brave, Nicky Lopez, to bounce into an inning-ending double play.

He was opposed by MacKenzie Gore, as if John Phillips had married an alternative-universe-heterosexual Lesley Gore, but still named his daughter MacKenzie, and she’d taken her mother’s name after John left for Michelle. The only thing about that sentence is that it shows I am a severely disturbed individual. But it got me thinking about Mackenzie Phillips for the first time in 25 years or so, who I’m happy to report, insofar as Wikipedia knows, seems to have gotten her act together.

Gore has pitched pretty well against the Braves in his career (a sub-4 ERA in 43 innings with 44 Ks) but a 2-run homer by Eli White in the second flipped the lead. A Drake Baldwin single added another. A sac fly from Ozzie plated the 4th run.

A defensive flub from Dubón and three singles got the Rangers back in the game in the 3rd with two runs. With two outs and the bases loaded, Weiss replaced Murphy. Jeffy approved; I didn’t, but probably because I’ve heard Smoltz and Glavine complain about early hooks for baby-faced starters for years. A great catch by Eli White made Weiss’ decision acceptable in the short-term.

Another supra-Chop homer from Michael Harris II moved the lead back to 2, where it stayed through a full inning from Dodd and then an inning from J.R. Ritchie. He was replaced (I think prematurely, but I am emphatically not a major league manager — but B14, Stampton and Nathan agreed with me) by Tyler Kinley, the first pitcher used by the Braves in this game not earning the minimum. (The four of them combined make less than MacKenzie Gore.) But a bloop and a blast tied the game, forcing Weiss to start using the cream of the pen. Enter Dylan Lee, who gave up two infield singles followed by a single from the pesky Brandon Nimmo, giving the Rangers a two run lead.

Having been given the lead, Gore was brought back out for the bottom of the 6th. With two outs, he grazed Joey Bart and Jim Jarvis and was done. I believe he said “You Don’t Own Me” on his way to the dugout. Baldwin lined out to fizzle the threat.

Now trailing, Weiss went with Danny Young in the 7th. A walk and a botched bunt play put the good guys in trouble again. A walk and a 3-0 count upped the trouble level, but a timely double play lowered the apprehension level.

Mauricio Dubón doubled Harris in to pull the difference to 1 in the bottom of the 7th, and the Braves by that point had used up everyone but Fuentes, Iggy and Mederos, unless I missed yet another signing of Carlos Carrasco. Fuentes pitched around his own throwing error in the 8th, aided by a nice catch by Harris.

After a 1-2-3 inning from Iggy, Jacob Latz pitched a perfect inning for the save. Sure we lost the game, but now we’ve used every reliever post ASG. (No… I don’t find that to be a sufficient upside.)

Sherlocks against TBD tomorrow in the rubber game.

Misleading Stats Watch

In an attempt to buoy hopes, Brandon Gaudin pointed out that Braves lead MLB in run differential after the 7th. Those of you who read yesterday’s post can plainly see that that is entirely due to the stinginess of the Atlanta bullpen. This team is not particularly great at scoring runs late. (They’re not bad, either… they’re around average.) So when the pen gives up 4, that stat is pretty meaningless.

JJ vs. JJ

For only the 265th time in MLB history, a pitcher with initials “JJ” faced a batter with initials “JJ” when Jim Jarvis singled off Jakob Junis. It was the 72nd hit.

  1. For the record, Buzz, Frank and Dave from Boston and Dale, Sean and Owen from Atlanta. ↩︎