Historic homers, crazy comebacks among best stats of the week

Here’s our weekly look at 10 mind-blowing notes from the last week in baseball (April 26-May 2).

Birthdays are important: Anthony Volpe hit an important home run on Sunday -- a birthday homer. At 23 years old, he tied Rusty Torres (Sept. 30, 1971) for the second-youngest Yankees player with a birthday dinger. The only Yankees player to homer on his birthday at a younger age? A 22-year-old Yogi Berra on May 12, 1947.

Terrific ten: Gunnar Henderson’s leadoff homer on Monday was his 10th of the season in Game 28 for the O’s. He became the ninth player, age 22 or younger, with at least 10 home runs in his team’s first 28 games of a season, joining 2020 Fernando Tatis Jr. (12 HR), 1995 Manny Ramírez (12), 1966 George Scott (11), 1998 Alex Rodriguez, 1969 Reggie Jackson, 1969 Carlos May, 1959 Harmon Killebrew and 1929 Mel Ott. He hit No. 10 on April 29, making him the youngest player with 10 homers before May in a season in MLB history.

No hits, no problem: On Monday, the Cubs and Mariners both won despite not recording their first hits until the eighth inning. It was the first time that two teams won on the same day when they were held hitless through at least the first seven innings in at least the expansion era (1961), according to the Elias Sports Bureau. For Seattle, it was the fifth such win in franchise history, with all five coming since the start of 1985. That’s tied with the Yankees for the most such wins in the last 40 seasons.

Electric Elly: Elly De La Cruz finished April with eight homers and 17 stolen bases in the month, becoming the first player with at least that many homers and stolen bases in a calendar month (since at least 1901). Let’s look ahead. There are only five players in that span to have at least five homers and 15 stolen bases in a calendar month multiple times. They are Rickey Henderson (June ’90, May ’86, June ’85), Barry Bonds (Sept ’96, July ’91), Eric Davis (June-July ’86), Joe Morgan (Aug ’76, Aug ’73) and Lou Brock (Aug ’70, July ’66). Only De La Cruz’s fellow Reds’ No. 44 did this twice in a single season.

Trailing Tuesday: With the Cardinals, Marlins, Astros, Phillies and D-backs pulling off comeback victories Tuesday, there were five wins by teams that trailed in the ninth inning or later. If that feels like a lot of late drama, it’s because it is. That was tied for the most such wins on a single day in the last 50 seasons. It also happened on Oct. 3, 2015, Aug. 16, 2005, Aug. 14, 2001, July 15, 1999 and May 17, 1994.

Walker-off: Once the bees were dealt with in Arizona on Tuesday, Christian Walker took charge. He hit two homers, including the walk-off in the 10th inning. It was the eighth time a player had a multi-homer game including a walk-off home run in D-backs history, joining David Peralta (8/6/2018), Paul Goldschmidt (8/13/2013), Chris Young (8/7/2010), Young (6/13/2010), Erubiel Durazo (8/9/2002), Reggie Sanders (4/20/2001) and Damian Miller (5/9/2000). With Andrew Benintendi on Saturday and Walker Tuesday, there have now been two multi-homer games including a walk-off home run by players this year, matching last season’s total.

Spectacular Shota: Through his latest start Wednesday, Shota Imanaga now has a 0.78 ERA. That’s the fourth-lowest ERA in a pitcher’s first six career starts since earned runs became official in both leagues (1913) excluding openers, behind only Fernando Valenzuela (0.33, 1981), Dave Ferriss (1945, 0.50) and Bob Shawkey (1913, 0.75). It’s also the second-lowest ERA in the first six starts of a season by a Cubs pitcher since earned runs became official in the NL (1912). Phil Douglas was at 0.75 in 1918. But he had relief appearances in between, so for first six outings of a season, all starts, Imanaga is lowest for the Cubs.

1,000: Ketel Marte and Chris Taylor each played his 1,000th career MLB game on Wednesday. It was the fifth time in MLB history that two players reached their 1,000th game in the same contest and the first time the two were opposing players, per Elias. They join Mike Gallego and Mark McGwire (5/6/1995 OAK), Glenn Beckert and Don Kessinger (8/21/1971 CHC), Buddy Kerr and Walker Cooper (4/19/1951 BOS) and Ben Chapman and John Stone (9/19/1936 WAS). The incredible part of this? When the Mariners called Marte up for his MLB debut in ’15, Taylor was the corresponding move, getting sent down. And yet there they were, sharing Game 1,000. A testament to perseverance.

Catch him if you can: The Nationals’ Jacob Young, who debuted last year, got up to 25 career stolen bases before finally being caught. That’s tied with Quintin Berry and Jacoby Ellsbury for the fourth-most consecutive stolen bases without being caught to start a career (since CS began getting tracked in both leagues in 1951), per Elias. He trails only Tim Locastro (29 straight), Tim Raines (27) and Mitchell Page (26).

And still unswept: Teams enter each series trying to win the series, but even just avoiding being swept is worth noting. To that end, the Orioles have now gone 101 straight series without being swept, entering the weekend. That’s the third-most consecutive series of multiple games without being swept, per Elias. They trail only the 1942-44 Cardinals (125) and 1903-05 Giants (106).