MLB Notebook: Bailey joins exclusive NL trio

On April 28, 1961, at County Stadium in Milwaukee, southpaw Warren Spahn took on a Giants lineup that featured Harvey Kuenn, Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Orlando Cepeda batting in the 2-3-4-5 spots. Spahn not only held that quartet hitless, but he did the same to the rest of the batters in the San Francisco lineup.

In beating the Giants, 1-0, Spahn had produced his second no-hitter in as many years, becoming the first National Leaguer to hurl no-hitters in back-to-back seasons. A year later, another NL southpaw -- the Dodgers' Sandy Koufax -- threw his first career no-hitter, starting a run of throwing one in four straight seasons. Until Reds starter Homer Bailey retired the Giants' Gregor Blanco for the 27th out on Tuesday night, Spahn and Koufax had been the only two Senior Circuit pitchers to have no-hitters in consecutive seasons.

In beating the Giants, 3-0, for second career no-hitter, Bailey faced one batter over the minimum, allowing only a walk to the leadoff hitter in the seventh. He fanned nine, for a game score (an equation used to measure a pitcher's dominance) of 95.

Bailey's first no-hitter came on Sept. 28, 2012, against the Pirates, giving him two no-hitters over a span of 19 outings. Before Bailey, Nolan Ryan was the most recent pitcher to have a pair so close together (in terms of appearances). Ryan had two over a span of 13 outings, with one coming against the Twins on Sept. 28, 1974, and then another against the Orioles on June 1, 1975.

Bailey is the third pitcher to throw multiple no-hitters for the Reds. Johnny Vander Meer threw his back-to-back no-hitters in 1938, and Jim Maloney had a pair in the 1960s.

Bailey is the 31st pitcher to throw multiple no-hitters. The others: Al Atkinson (two), Ted Breitenstein (two), Mark Buehrle (two), Jim Bunning (two), Steve Busby (two), Larry Corcoran (two), Carl Erskine (two), Bob Feller (three), Bob Forsch (two), Pud Galvin (two), Roy Halladay (two), Ken Holtzman (two), Randy Johnson (two), Addie Joss (two), Koufax (four), Dutch Leonard (two), Maloney (two), Christy Mathewson (two), Hideo Nomo (two), Allie Reynolds (two), Ryan (seven), Frank Smith (two), Spahn (two), Bill Stoneman (two), Adonis Terry (two), Virgil Trucks (two), Vander Meer (two), Justin Verlander (two), Don Wilson (two) and Cy Young (three).

In Bailey's no-hitter last season, his game score was 96. With the 95 on Tuesday, he is the fifth Reds pitcher since 1916 to have multiple outings with game scores of at least 95. Maloney had four, while Hod Eller, Fred Toney and Vander Meer each had two.

Bailey's no-hitter was the 136th in NL history (not counting Halladay's no-no in the 2010 postseason). It was the first thrown against the Giants since Kevin Millwood's gem on April 27, 2003. Bailey was the first pitcher not named "Kevin" to no-hit the Giants since Terry Mulholland on Aug. 15, 1990. In between, San Francisco was no-hit by Kevin Gross, Kevin Brown and Millwood.

Pedroia and Papi
The Red Sox defeated the Padres, 4-1, with Dustin Pedroia drawing three walks. Pedroia has reached safely in 76 games this season -- third most in the Majors, behind Miguel Cabrera's 78 and Joey Votto's 77. Pedroia's 76 through 85 team games are the most for Boston since Mo Vaughn reached safely in 78 of the Sox's first 85 games in 1996.

Boston designated hitter David Ortiz became the 58th player in history with 500 doubles. His two-base hit Tuesday represented the 935th career extra-base hit for Ortiz, placing him 54th on that list. With 417 homers, Ortiz is one of 20 players in history with 500 doubles and 400 home runs. Of the 20, Ortiz's extra-base-hit percentage is the fourth highest, behind marks by Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Albert Pujols. Of Ortiz's 500 two-base hits, 392 have come with the Red Sox. That total is the fifth highest in club history, behind Carl Yastrzemski (646), Ted Williams (525), Dwight Evans (474) and Wade Boggs (422).

Price returns
In his first outing since May 15, Rays left-hander David Price fanned 10 in seven scoreless innings, and Tampa Bay topped Houston, 8-0.

Price has 14 career double-digit strikeout games, third most in franchise history. James Shields leads with 19, and is followed by Scott Kazmir, with 17. Tuesday's outing marked the third time Price had fanned at least 10 and allowed no runs. Those three tie him with Shields and Matt Garza for the second most, with Kazmir having four.

Kershaw's gem
Making his 169th career appearance, Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw twirled a four-hit shutout vs. the Rockies. It was his seventh career shutout, and the fifth on four hits or fewer.

The five shutouts on four or fewer hits through Kershaw's first 169 games represent the third most for any Dodgers southpaw since 1916. Fernando Valenzuela had 11 through his first 169 games, while Johnny Podres had eight.

The four hits allowed represent the second fewest in a shutout by a Dodgers pitcher at Coors Field, with Nomo's no-hitter in 1996 at the top of the mountain.

With this outing, Kershaw lowered his ERA to 1.93 -- the lowest mark for any qualifying pitcher in the NL. The lowest ERA for any Dodgers pitcher with at least 18 starts before the All-Star break is Don Drysdale's 1.37 in the first half of 1968. Kershaw's 1.93 would be the sixth lowest.

Puig keeps rolling
Yasiel Puig doubled and homered in a three-hit night, running his home run total to eight and his extra-base-hit total to 15. Puig has played 27 games. The eight homers through Puig's first 27 games are the most for any Dodgers player since 1916. The 15 extra-base hits through his first 27 games are the second most for any Dodgers player since '16, with Johnny Frederick (in '29) having 16.

Here and there
• Seattle's Raul Ibanez hit his 20th home run of the season, making him the sixth player in history to collect at least 20 in his age-41 or older season. The other five: Williams (29 in 1960), Barry Bonds (28 in 2007 and 26 in '06), Darrell Evans (22 in 1988) and Dave Winfield (21 in '93).

• The Astros struck out 12 times vs. the Rays, giving Houston 39 double-digit strikeout games in 84 contests. No team since 1916 has had that many through 84 games, with the previous high mark being 36 by the 2010 D-backs. The third-highest total since 1916 (35) is held by this year's Braves team.