Yusei Kikuchi’s ‘crazy’ collision, Dodgers-Yankees classics, and blowing a 15-1 lead

Boy, what a week. Baseball in London wasn’t like baseball in Queens at all. … And there was a game in El Paso, Texas, where even a two-touchdown lead wasn’t safe. … And there was an at-bat in San Francisco that actually had us looking up that time a 3-foot-7 guy batted — in a major-league game.

So yeah, all that was wacky. But this is the Weird and Wild column. And trust me, it can’t possibly get Weirder (or Wilder) than the place where we begin, with …

The last pass interference call in Oakland?

Yusei Kikuchi would have made a sensational NFL cornerback.

Or if the Maple Leafs need someone to unleash a good hip check next season, they should keep him in mind.

Hey, and when is the next Wrestlemania? If the WWE poohbahs are looking for somebody to sprint out of the tunnel and level the Undertaker after he tumbles out of the ring, we have just the guy for them.

Wait, you say? What the heck are we talking about, you ask? How did we drag the NFL, NHL and WWE into this column, you’re wondering? OK, we can explain.

Let’s take you back to Sunday in Oakland. Kikuchi wasn’t pitching for the Blue Jays that day. So the odds of him turning into the lead item in the next Weird and Wild column were right up there with the odds of him winning the next Nobel Peace Prize. But then …

This thing happened. And I can’t stop watching it.

Yusei Kikuchi is READY for the NFL season. pic.twitter.com/pWzMYneGhP

— BlueJays Muse (@BlueJays_Muse) June 9, 2024

“Is that Kikuchi?” asked the great Dan Shulman, on the Sportsnet telecast. Oh yeah, it was. That. Was. Kikuchi. Evacuating the dugout and slamming into A’s first baseman Tyler Soderstrom in the 10th inning of a wacky game in the soon-to-be-defunct Coliseum in Oakland. Which got his teammate, David Schneider, who was batting, called out for … eh, what exactly? It was so classic.

“I’ve never seen that,” Shulman said a few moments later. Which raises this question: Has anybody?

So Weird and Wild was happy to dive into this, naturally, with the assistance of Kikuchi’s always-entertaining cohort in the Jays rotation, Kevin Gausman.

WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT? I wrote many, many words last week on what I thought would absolutely be the two goofiest interference calls of the season — two calls that went against runners during the infield fly rule. But what the heck was this? Ha. Tough question.

“It was crazy,” Gausman told Weird and Wild. “I mean, just complete shock. I’m looking up at the ball, and the next thing you know, I look down and we’ve got two guys down. One of them is our guy. One of them is their guy. And both their faces were just priceless. You know, they’re both looking at each other kind of like: “Where did you come from?’”

But it was easier to answer that question than it was to answer what seems like the most basic question of all: What happened?

It turns out you can’t just tell the computers that record baseball’s sacred play-by-play files that David Schneider was out on Random Pitcher Not in the Game Steamrolling the First Baseman Interference. Good luck finding that magic keystroke.

So Baseball Reference simply lists this as: “Foul Pop Fly (1B),” as if nothing unusual happened at all. And over at MLB.com, it’s described this way on their play-by-play feed.

Fan interference? Really? Please check Kikuchi’s ticket stub and get back to me on that one.

SO HAS THAT EVER HAPPENED? After those infield fly rule interference calls last week, I asked my friends at STATS Perform to check on how many other infield fly rule interferences had ever shown up in their database. But as we just saw, there was no possible way to see if this sort of interference had ever happened, because this sport can barely figure out what to tell its database this play even was.

So I did the next best thing. I asked Kevin Gausman if he’d ever heard of anything like it, because at least he was an eyewitness.

“No, I’ve never seen that,” he said. “Of course, granted, most big-league teams have a rail (in front of the dugout). So that’s why that never happens. And obviously, at the Coliseum, they don’t have that. … But I’ve never seen that happen. Especially not in the big leagues.”

Yeah, but what about the minor leagues? Or even Little League?

“Oh, I’m sure somebody ran into somebody,” he said. “Usually it’s a coach or a new player or something. But never a player running into another player — let alone a starter that had nothing to do with the game.”

So we were both willing to concede there was definitely a That’s Just Baseball in Oakland factor at work here. And clearly, Kikuchi’s intention was to get out of the way. Nevertheless, is it normally a good method of getting out of the way to run straight at a fielder barreling right toward you?

“No,” Gausman agreed, without having to think about it. “If you watch the video, you see (Kevin) Kiermaier kind of goes in the opposite direction, right? So I think Yusei just kind of saw him and started running towards first base and ran right into Soderstrom.”

And he didn’t notice that there was a first baseman headed right for him?

“I think he was just in shock at first,” Gausman said. “Like, what just happened?”

What just happened? (Darren Yamashita / USA Today)

SO COULD WE SEE MORE OF THIS?

I tried to think of any kind of parallel to this in any sport. Was this like a running back in football racing toward the end zone … and a guy runs off the bench and tackles him? Or what about a basketball player rising up to shoot a three-pointer … and a dude jumps off the bench to block the shot?

“Wasn’t it Mike Tomlin who ‘tripped’ a guy running down the sideline?” Gausman reminded me.

Ha. Oh yeah. So Kikuchi is now the Mike Tomlin of baseball?

“That’s right,” Gausman voted.

So here’s another thought, since we’re still talking about Kikuchi’s antics almost a week later: Would baseball be more fun if you could actually do that?

“Oh, man,” Gausman said, excitedly, “that would be crazy. Every fly ball, if you could just go and tackle the guy that you think is going to catch it? That would be nuts.”

Hey, if this sport wants to see more guys running around the bases, that would do it.

“Yeah,” Gausman said, laughing. “That would definitely do it.”

What do you think, Weird and Wild fans? Should we lobby for this rule change?

“Yeah, for sure,” Gausman said … so we have his hearty endorsement anyway.

AH, THE MEMORIES

Finally, should we mention that this was also the last game these guys were ever going to play in the Coliseum? We know Kikuchi’s teammates will never allow him to forget this uplifting moment. But what about everyone else in the Blue Jays dugout? Is there a chance this would be their everlasting memory of baseball in Oakland — that goofy play?

“No, I have a ton of memories of playing there,” Gausman said, before ripping through a montage that included no games he actually pitched there. “I had a squirrel in my locker one year. We had the dugout bathroom flood one time. So you know, it’s a unique place. You can say what you want about it and all the guys who have played there. But you can also kind of appreciate how different it is, and how unique of a place it is.”

So what will you remember? Reggie Jackson’s bombs? Dave Stewart’s stare? Rollie Fingers’ mustache? The Bash Brothers? The glory days of Hudson/Mulder/Zito? Billy Beane inventing Moneyball? All were so, so cool.

But how come I can’t get the vision out of my head of Yusei Kikuchi romping out of the dugout to flatten a first baseman who was merely trying to play first base? It makes no sense, I know. But in a way, it’s part of the unpredictable wackiness of the sport we call …

Baseball!

GO DEEPER

Is the Orioles' amazing AL East series streak the most impressive streak of division-play era?

Dodgers-Yankees: Cue that Ebbets Field footage

Teoscar Hernández had a big weekend in the Bronx. (Vincent Carchietta / USA Today)

Paging Ken Burns! Once upon a time, he rolled out an epic nine-part* production he catchily entitled … “Baseball.” And while it’s not true that all nine of those parts were built around black-and-white footage of those epic Dodgers-Yankees World Series of the 1940s and ’50s, it sometimes felt like it. For corroboration, just ask Doris Kearns Goodwin!

(*Subsequently expanded — 16 years later — to 11 parts, but that’s not important now.)

I bring this up, because last weekend, the Dodgers of Chavez Ravine roared into Yankee Stadium, still in the Bronx. And it was awesome baseball theater. In fact, it conjured up memories right out of Burns’ editing room. As always, the Weird and Wild column was all over it.

The 0-0 Game — On Friday night, these two teams cruised into extra innings with precisely zero runs on the board. The Dodgers eventually won in the 11th, 2-1. But naturally, the Weird and Wild question of the day was …

When was the last time any Dodgers-Yankees game was scoreless through nine innings?

And that answer is … Game 6 of the 1956 World Series! The Dodgers needed to win to force a Game 7. Clem Labine then outdueled Bob Turley, with a 10-inning shutout. And the Dodgers won, 1-0, in the 10th on a Jackie Robinson walk-off single. An October classic.

The Teoscar Hernández Show — This whole weekend was one big Teoscar Hernández extravaganza. Let’s recap.

Friday: Smokes a game-winning two-run double in the 11th inning. … Saturday: Just your basic two-homer, six-RBI game in Yankee Stadium. … Sunday: Whomps a go-ahead sixth-inning homer off Luis Gil (in a game the Dodgers go on to lose). Whoa. So that was something.

Here was the Weird and Wild question of the day after Hernández’s Sunday rocket launch reached earth orbit: How many Dodgers have ever hit home runs in two straight games in Yankee Stadium (any version of Yankee Stadium) in the same year?

And that answer is … Exactly one. Back in the 1977 World Series, Reggie Smith homered in Game 2 off Catfish Hunter, then in Game 6 off Mike Torrez. They weren’t on back-to-back days, but whatever!

The Judge’s Chamber — Also appearing in these games: A man named Judge. And yep, Aaron Judge would be heard from.

He reached base 10 times in this series and crushed three long balls. But on Saturday, even in defeat, he did something to inspire yet another Weird and Wild question of the day:

Who was the last Yankee with a multi-homer game against the Dodgers at Yankee Stadium?

And that answer is … a different guy named Reggie who also participated in that 1977 World Series. By which I mean this man:

1977 World Series, Game 6. The Bronx. Reggie Jackson walks on four pitches in his first at-bat. Then he homers on the first pitch of his second at-bat. And his third. And his fourth. Off three different pitchers. And the Yankees are world champions.pic.twitter.com/tx0Sx2izvh

— Super 70s Sports (@Super70sSports) June 5, 2020

Yep, Aaron Judge was the first Yankee to hit more than one homer in any game against the Dodgers in New York since Reggie Jackson, in the three-homer World Series game that stirred more October drinks than any other!

So how about that little trip down memory lane? Doris Kearns Goodwin … your thoughts?

This Week in Useless Info

Royce Lewis has 22 homers in 291 career at-bats. (Bruce Kluckhohn / USA Today)

YOU TOO CAN DRIVE A ROYCE — Royce Lewis. Holy Balboni. Does this dude know how to announce his presence, or what? Let’s recap the last 13 months for the Twins’ fast-rising young star:

May 29, 2023 — Homers in his first (big-league) game of last season.

Oct. 3, 2023 — Homers in the first postseason game of his career.

March 28, 2024 — Homers on Opening Day (then gets hurt).

June 4, 2024 — Homers in his first game after being out for 58 games in a row.

June 10, 2024 — Homers in his first home game of the season.

So of course I asked: Who else has done that — or anything remotely like that?

Fortunately, that was a project that intrigued Baseball Reference’s always-resourceful Kenny Jackelen. Here’s his list of all the players in history who have hit a home run in their first game two seasons in a row, plus their first postseason game in between. It’s a fun group.

Lou Gehrig, 1932-33
Mickey Mantle, 1955-56
Brooks Robinson, 1966-67
Frank Robinson, 1969-70
Jose Canseco, 1988-89
Carlos Beltrán, 2004-05
Hideki Matsui, 2009-10
Nelson Cruz, 2010-11
George Springer, 2018-19
Khris Davis, 2018-19
Yordan Alvarez, 2022-23
Royce Lewis, 2023-24

Of that whole list, I found only one other player who did those things plus homered in his first home game of either year (that wasn’t Opening Day) — a guy named Mickey Mantle, in 1956. Note to Royce Lewis: When you’re hanging out with Mickey Mantle, that’s always good.

THE BRYCE YOU PAY — Bryce Harper is 31 years old. He just drew his 1,000th career walk. He blew past 300 career homers last year. I had a feeling there would be a very cool list of players who reached 1,000 walks and 300 homers before they turned 32. I wasn’t wrong!

Mickey Mantle
Mel Ott
Jimmie Foxx
Eddie Mathews
Frank Thomas
Babe Ruth
Lou Gehrig
Barry Bonds

And (of course) …

Adam Dunn

(Source: Baseball Reference / Stathead)

So that’s seven Hall of Famers, a seven-time MVP and the Grand Emperor of Three True Outcomes, Adam Dunn … plus Harper. I’d love to hang around the meetings of that club.

THE SCHWARBINO MAKES ANOTHER ENTRANCE — It was Tuesday evening in Fenway Park … Kyle Schwarber wriggling into the box for the first pitch the Phillies would see back on this side of the Atlantic … and then this happened.

There were lots of fun Weird/Wild angles on that first-pitch leadoff blast by the Schwarbino. But how about this one: Schwarber has now hit a leadoff home run at Fenway Park for and against the Red Sox. It won’t take long to recite the list of others in history who have done that, courtesy of the great Katie Sharp of Baseball Reference.

Johnny Damon
Rickey Henderson
Julio Lugo
Jimmy Piersall

Fenway opened 112 years ago. Wouldn’t you think there’d be more than five men in history who were in that club? I would — but since we’re both wrong, that’s why you’re reading all about it in the Weird and Wild column!

DEJA BOOM — Isn’t life more fun when the Big Dumper (Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh) bats in a huge spot in a game? Let’s go with yes on that, if only because it’s the right answer.

But now consider these back-to-back Cal Raleigh at-bats Monday night. They were what you’d call eventful.

Eighth inning — bats with the bases loaded, gets called out on strikes, almost gets tossed for arguing, but his manager, Scott Servais, hustles out, takes over and gets booted (by umpire Chris Guccione) instead.

Ninth inning — Guess who bats with the bases loaded again, except this time …

So how many other men have struck out with the bases loaded and then hit a walk-off slam in back-to-back innings? Katie Sharp dug through the play-by-play files back to 1912 and found, um, nobody … until the Big Dumper did what he does.

Servais’ review of that turn of events: “I’m glad I got thrown out — because I can’t hit grand slams.”

THE WILD BLUE YANDY — It’s a good thing for the Rays that Yandy Díaz stopped by the Trop last weekend. Let’s explain why.

Saturday — The Rays got precisely two hits against Kyle Bradish and the Orioles. Guess who got both of them (with no outs in the first and two outs in the ninth, by the way)? Right. Yandy Díaz.

Sunday — One game later, the Rays were getting no-hit into the sixth inning by Grayson Rodriguez. Guess who broke up the no-hitter in the sixth? Right again. Yandy Díaz.

So, how rare is it for a player to have all of his team’s hits one game, and also break up a no-hitter in the sixth or later in an adjacent game? I ran that one past my friends at STATS. Here’s what they found in the last 50 years:

Got all his team’s hits one game, broke up a no-hitter in his next game — Omar Narváez, for the Brewers against the Twins, on April 3 and 5, 2021. But you should know the Brewers played a game in between (without him), so not quite the same thing!

Broke up a no-hitter one game, got all his team’s hits the next game — Nick Castellanos, for the Tigers, on March 28-29, 2019, against the Blue Jays. But he did it in reverse order. So also … not quite the same thing!

Which means … only one man has pulled off these two oddities in that order in the last 50 years. And that man is … the Yandy Man, who can (and did).

THE SLEEPING GIANTS — Hey, did anybody notice what the Giants did last weekend? They won two games in a row against a team managed by this guy.

Forever grateful. Thank you. pic.twitter.com/lNV9ibte1f

— Bruce Bochy (@BruceBochy) September 30, 2019

Then again, it’s not as if that had never happened before. The Giants had also won two games in a row against a team managed by Bruce Bochy (in this case the Padres) as recently as … Sept. 8 and 9, 2006!

Sept. 8 — Matt Cain outduels Jake Peavy, 4-0

Sept. 9 — Giants blow a 4-0 lead, then win on a Mark Sweeney 11th-inning walk-off, 5-4.

By the next year, Bochy was managing the Giants. Anybody remember how that worked out?

This Week in Strange But Trueness

LONDON CALLING — Baseball in London. What an invention. Not just for all humankind but for Strange But True kind — if only because …

Whit Merrifield! RBIs by Whit in London this season — 4. … RBIs by Whit in Philadelphia this season — 3!

David Dahl! Pinch home runs by the Phillies in London this season — 1 (by Dahl on Sunday). … Pinch home runs by the Phillies anywhere in the USA — 0!

Luis Torrens! We’ve seen games end in about a billion different ways — but never this way!

So how Strange But True was that? How many games have ever ended with one of those 2-3 double plays (or 2-2-3 to be technical)? According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that answer is none, since Grounded Into Double Play became an official statistic in both leagues — 85 seasons ago!

But hang on. One more thing. According to the Baseball Reference play-by-play files, the Mets hadn’t turned a 2-3 double play in any point of any game, on a ball that wasn’t a pop fly, since the second season of their existence: That was a Norm Sherry-to-Ed Kranepool special, with Johnny Podres batting and Willie Davis out at home, on May 21, 1963.

That was Game No. 201 in the history of the Mets. And then, 4,553 regular-season games later, it happened again … to save a game in London.

Baseball! It’s the best — on any continent.

It’s been that kind of season for Pedro Grifol and the Sox. (Steven Bisig / USA Today)

PUT YOUR SOX ON ONE AT A TIME — Hey, let’s look in on those Chicago White Sox, as they continue to cliff-dive toward the Sea of the ’62 Mets. They’re going to be a regular contributor to the Strange But True segment of this column, at least if they keep this up.

Want some good news? The Sox played a game last weekend against the Red Sox, scored in the first inning and went on to win. Want some bad news? It was the first time they’d won a game in which they scored in the first since May 9.

In a related development, they’re 4-9 this season when they score in the first inning. That’s a spiffy winning percentage of .308. Does that seem strange (but also true)? It should, because …

The Yankees are 25-3 when they score in the first inning.

The Orioles are 12-3.

The Cubs are 13-2.

The 29 teams not named the White Sox are a combined 338-182. That’s a .638 winning percentage. Which means that everyone else plays like a 103-win team when they score in the first. But in other news …

No team has had this bad a winning percentage in games in which they scored in the first inning since Carden Gillenwater’s 1948 Senators, who went 10-24 (.294) on the way to finishing 40 games out of first place.

Repeat after me: Scoring early is a time-honored formula for winning many, many baseball games … unless you’re the ’24 White Sox.

WHAT ABOUT A FIRST-QUARTER TOUCHDOWN? — As long as we’re on this scoring-early tangent, did you hear the one about the Mariners last Friday?

They put up a quick touchdown, without any assistance from Geno Smith, and took a 7-0 lead in the top of the first inning in Kansas City … which seemed like a good thing … until they lost. And how shocking was that? The Royals hadn’t even made it through the postgame handshake line when my friend and colleague, Tyler Kepner, texted me:

(For the) next W&W…how often does a team score 7 in the top of the first and lose the game?

Hey, on it! You ask. We deliver. Baseball Reference’s Katie Sharp dug through BR’s play-by-play database, which is mostly complete back to 1912, and found …

That only happened six times in 108 seasons … but since then (of course) has now happened three times just since 2020. The three teams that pulled this off in the last five seasons:

Phillies in Toronto, Aug. 20, 2020 — scored seven in the first off Trent Thornton and Jacob Waguespack, but still lost, 9-8.

Cubs in Milwaukee, June 30, 2021 — scored seven in the first off Aaron Ashby, then gave up 15 unanswered runs and lost, 15-7.

Mariners in Kansas City, last Friday — scored seven in the first off Daniel Lynch, led until they gave up three in the ninth and lost, 10-9.

The Mariners have now blown an eight-run lead (or bigger) in a game three seasons in a row. But you know what they had never done — until last Friday? Scored seven in the top of the first and didn’t get to high-five afterward.

BETTER LATE THAN … OOPS, NEVER MIND – That seven-run top of the first was the Strange But True way that Mariners-Royals series started. Amazingly, the way it ended also worked its way into this column. That’s because …

In that Sunday finale, the Royals did something that seemed even harder to do: They launched two-run home runs in the ninth (MJ Melendez) and 10th innings (Hunter Renfroe) … and they still lost.

So how many teams have ever hit multi-run homers in the bottom of the ninth and 10th innings of a game and still managed to avoid winning it? Katie Sharp reports that would be precisely zero since 1912. Until now, anyway.

QUE PASA IN EL PASO? — Now here’s a line score you don’t see every day.

That’s what the view looks like when a team blows a 15-1 lead. And that’s a thing that happened, in actual life, to the Las Vegas Aviators, of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League, in El Paso last Saturday. They led 15-1 in the fourth. They lost 17-16 to those pesky El Paso Chihuahuas.

And even though that did not happen in a league known as “the major leagues,” is it Strange (but True) enough to make it into this column? Apparently!

What were the odds of a team blowing a 15-1 lead? You would think that answer would be zero. But not according to the Win Probability calculations on milb.com. Vegas had “only” a 99.7 percent win probability after that score hit 15-1. So yep, they were saying there was a chance.

How many big-league teams have ever done that? Ho-ho-ho. You’re joshing, right? No team in AL/NL history has ever come from 14 runs down to win any game. That record is 12 — done once in the last 99 years, by Jim Thome’s 2001 Cleveland Indians, in a game the Mariners do not have fond memories of.

They gave up a 10-run inning … and won! Yep, those Chihuahuas served up a 10-spot to Vegas in the fourth inning … and won anyway. So how many teams in AL/NL history have done that? According to STATS, that answer is six — but three of those happened in 1912. The three since:

DATE	TEAM	OPPONENT	INNING
8/23/2006	Indians	Royals	1st
6/8/1989*	Phillies	Pirates	1st
6/3/1933	Yankees	A's	3rd**

(**11 runs)
(*This was the famous game in which Pirates broadcaster Jim Rooker said: “If we lose this game, I’ll walk home to Pittsburgh.” Uh-oh!)

They had a nine-run inning after giving up a 10-run inning! Can you tell yet that this game was bonkers? Three innings after allowing 10 runs in an inning, El Paso scored nine in the seventh inning. So how many major-league games have featured something like that? Exactly three in the modern era, according to STATS.

DATE	TEAMS	BIG INNINGS
7/22/2006	Rays-Orioles	10-9
6/3/1933	Yankees-A’s	10-11
4/29/30	Giants-Robins	9-11

Fun Fact Dept. — The winning pitcher in that 1933 game: Jumbo Brown. The winning pitcher in that 1930 game: Jumbo Elliott. It’s only fitting, since the innings that got that game into this column were … jumbo-sized!

AND SPEAKING OF JUMBO — Last week in this column, we looked into whether Sean Hjelle (all 6-foot-11 of him) versus Aaron Judge (all 6-7 of him) was the largest pitcher/hitter matchup ever. (Yes.) This week, it’s time to remind you that we’re here for everyone in this sport, of all shapes and sizes.

How about this mano a mano Tuesday in San Francisco:

In one corner, the diminutive Jose Altuve (5-feet-6, at least officially).

In the other corner, that very same XXL reliever, Sean Hjelle (still 6-11).

And yes, it was just as much fun up close as it was reading those last two sentences. We join this clip with Giants broadcast legend Mike Krukow wondering if Altuve is really even 5-6.

So what was the Weird and Wild question of the day about that matchup? You can probably guess: Was that 17-inch height differential the largest since Bill Veeck sent 3-foot-7 Eddie Gaedel up to hit in 1951?

And the answer, according to Katie Sharp, was: This one tied that record, previously set by:

• Altuve (5-6) versus Jon Rauch (6-11), twice in 2012

• Rauch (6-11) versus Alexi Amarista (5-6), Aug. 3, 2012

• Rauch (6-11) versus David Eckstein (5-6), six times

But you should know that if they want to tie that Eddie Gaedel record, either Altuve or Hjelle will have to grow another foot before the next time they face each other! Get out your tape measure, because Gaedel (3-feet-7) versus Bob Cain (6-foot-0) had a minor height differential of 29 inches. So hey Sean Hjelle, just be grateful Altuve was actually visible from 60 feet away!

pic.twitter.com/OBJeVzxiuz

— Bubble Gum Comics (@VinSportsNutz) August 19, 2018

STRANGE BUT TRUE BOX-SCORE LINE OF THE WEEK

What’s your line? Finally, check out this box-score classic from Pirates reliever Ben Heller last Sunday against the Twins:

1 IP, 5 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 3 HBP and last but not least, 12 batters faced

What’s up with that? My friends who are Pirates fans had a similar question, except it went more like: “What the fbxg!xzph! was up with that?” And their (ahem) curiosity about this outing came down to two extremely Strange But True developments:

1) A relief pitcher hit three frigging batters in the same extra inning and was allowed to keep pitching? That seems weird.

Yep. Good point. You know how many other relievers in the Baseball Reference database have ever hit three batters in a one-inning, extra-inning appearance? As is so often the case, none is a tremendous guess. But also …

2) A relief pitcher was allowed to face 12 batters in the same extra inning without getting taken out of the game? That also seems kinda weird. In fact, I could only find one other reliever in the last century with an outing like that:

Jack Baldschun, Reds versus Astros, on June 2, 1966:

1 IP, 8 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 0 BB, 0 K and also … 12 batters faced (all in the 12th inning).

In the Pirates’ defense, Heller was their sixth pitcher of the day, so it was (cough, cough) his game to win or lose. In the case of the ’66 Reds, who the heck knows why Baldschun was authorized to give up eight runs in the 12th inning. But then again, as we’ve observed a few times around here, stuff happens in …

Baseball!