Stats of the Day: CarGo, Arenado blast off
Here are four interesting items from around the big leagues on Wednesday …
• Carlos Gonzalez and Nolan Arenado stood tall in the Rockies' 9-4 win over the D-backs, with the right fielder homering twice and driving in seven and the third baseman reaching 100 RBIs for the season. With his seven-RBI day, Gonzalez set a new career high. His previous best had been six, a mark he reached five times. Gonzalez's six games with at least six RBIs are the most in Rockies history, ahead of the three from Andres Galarraga, Dante Bichette, Vinny Castilla and Larry Walker. With 33 home runs to accompany his 100 RBIs, Arenado is the 22nd third baseman to put up a 30-100 campaign while playing in an age-24 or younger season. This last happened in 2009, when both Evan Longoria and Ryan Zimmerman did it. It first happened in 1953, when Eddie Mathews went 47-135 in his age-21 season.
Video: ARI@COL: Arenado collects his 100th RBI with homer
• Clayton Kershaw struck out 15 in a six-hitter to help hand his Dodgers a 2-1 victory over the Giants. Kershaw tied a career high with the 15 strikeouts, a mark he originally reached in his no-hitter on June 18, 2014. His 15 in this outing pushed his season total to a career-best 251 (his previous high of 248 came in 2011). The 251 K's tie Kershaw with Don Drysdale (1963) for the sixth most in a season in franchise history. In his previous start, Kershaw struck out 14. He is the only Dodgers pitcher since 1914 to have back-to-back efforts with at least 14 K's, and he is the 17th pitcher overall since 1914 to do this. In his next outing, Kershaw will have the chance to match Pedro Martinez's 1999 feat of three straight.
Video: SF@LAD: Kershaw fans 15 in complete-game victory
• Miami's Ichiro Suzuki collected a double and a single to push his career tally of hits to 2,927, tying Al Simmons for 37th on the all-time list. Suzuki's 2,927 are the second most for a player from his age-27 through age-41 seasons, behind Pete Rose's 2,970. Rose's total for those years came in 2,340 games and saw him produce a .313 average, while Ichiro has played in 2,330 games and holds a .315 batting mark.
Video: MIA@ATL: Ichiro ties Simmons on all-time hit list
• Royals right-hander Yordano Ventura struck out 11 in seven innings and picked up the win as Kansas City beat Detroit, 12-1. Ventura has struck out 11 in back-to-back starts (before this two-start stretch, he had one double-digit strikeout game -- 10 K's -- in 53 career starts). With the two efforts, Ventura joined Bret Saberhagen (1989) and Kevin Appier (1996) as the only Royals hurlers to post consecutive outings with at least 11 K's.
Milestone watch for Thursday
• Jose Abreu needs one home run for 25 this season. With it, he would become the 15th player with at least 25 in each of his first two seasons.
• Andrew McCutchen, who has 150 stolen bases in his career, needs two home runs to reach 150 in that category. If he gets there, he will join Willie Mays, Eric Davis and Matt Kemp as the only center fielders to have at least 150 homers and 150 steals through their first seven seasons.