MLB Notebook: Holland shuts down Yanks in the Bronx
For the first 13 seasons it hosted Major League Baseball games, Yankee Stadium never saw a visiting left-hander waltz in and shut out the home team on two or fewer hits. That all changed on April 17, 1936, when the Red Sox and Yankees renewed acquaintances and Lefty Grove took the hill. And if not for Lou Gehrig, Grove's day might have been even more special. Grove allowed just a pair of singles -- both to Gehrig -- while going the distance, with the only other blemish coming on a walk to Red Rolfe.
Facing only three batters over the minimum, Grove fanned four, chipped in with a hit and an RBI, and came away with his first win of the season, the 224th of his career. Grove would finish that '36 season with six shutouts, the most for a Red Sox left-hander in a season since Babe Ruth collected six in 1917.
Rangers southpaw Derek Holland held the Yankees to a pair of singles in a 2-0 victory on Thursday, putting together his sixth career shutout.
Holland is the 13th visiting left-hander since 1916 to hold the Yankees to two or fewer hits in a nine-inning shutout, and the first to do it since the Mariners' Matt Young on June 3, 1983.
Holland is one of eight within the group of 13 to not allow any extra-base hits. The other seven: Grove (1936), Al Milnar (1940), Don Ferrarese (1956), Mike McCormick (1965), Billy Rohr (1967), Jim Kaat (1971) and Britt Burns (1982).
Regardless of venue, Holland is the first southpaw to hurl a nine-inning shutout with no extra-base hits against the Yankees since the Indians' Billy Traber on July 8, 2003.
With six career shutouts, Holland is tied with Kenny Rogers for the most among the franchise's left-handers. Rogers allowed 26 hits and eight walks with 28 strikeouts in his six. Holland is now at 23 hits allowed, eight walks and 40 K's.
Angels
The Angels defeated the Tigers, 3-1, in 10 innings on Thursday, with the go-ahead run scoring courtesy of an Albert Pujols RBI double.
Pujols has 14 go-ahead (including game-ending), extra-inning hits in his career. Dating back to his first year in 2001, those 14 tie Pujols with Orlando Cabrera for the most in the Majors. The rest of the top five during that span: Raul Ibanez, Ryan Howard and Adam Jones, who each have 13.
The RBI pushed Pujols' total to 1,483. Reaching 1,500 this year would make him the fourth player in history to hit the milestone by the end of his 13th season. The others: Al Simmons (1,571), Gehrig (1,566) and Joe DiMaggio (1,537).
Mike Trout was 4-for-5 with a double and a run scored. Trout has 96 multihit games in his career, with that total matching those of Arky Vaughan, Frank Robinson and Starlin Castro for the 19th most for any player before his 22nd birthday since 1916. As is often the case when discussing impressive statistics from very young players, Mel Ott tops this list, with 160 multihit games.
Strikeouts
Matt Garza fanned 10 in seven innings and improved to 3-1 as the Cubs defeated the Brewers, 7-2, on Thursday. Garza's outing gives the Cubs 142 games with 10 or more strikeouts by a starter since the start of the 1998 season (selected for the debut year of Kerry Wood). Since '98, the D-backs have the most (191). The Red Sox (127), Phillies (113) and Giants (110) are the only other teams with at least 100. At the other end, the Royals have the fewest since 1998, with 21.
Segura
Brewers shortstop Jean Segura collected his National League-leading 102nd hit of the year on Thursday. The 102 represent the 19th most for a Brewers player in the first half of a season. Dave May had the most -- 127 in 1973.
Segura's 102 first-half hits are third most for any Brewers player in his age-23 or younger season. In the first half of the 1979 season, Paul Molitor (age-22 season) had 114 hits before the All-Star break, and in 1977, Robin Yount (age-21 season) had 107.
Davis
In the Orioles' 7-3 win over the Indians on Thursday, Chris Davis collected his 25th double of the season, giving him 53 extra-base hits. The 53 through 80 team games ties Davis with Duke Snider (1954), David Ortiz (2004) and Derrek Lee (2005) for the 14th most for any player since 1916. Snider finished his season with 89 (and led the league), Ortiz finished with 91 (the most in the AL that year) and Lee ended up with 99 (to lead the league).
Cuddyer
Colorado's Michael Cuddyer went 3-for-4 against the Mets on Thursday to extend his hitting streak to 24 games and his on-base streak to 43 games.
Cuddyer's hit streak is the longest in Rockies history, surpassing the 23-game run by Dante Bichette in 1995.
The on-base streak -- already the longest in Rockies history -- is the longest in the Majors in one season since 2009, when Ichiro Suzuki and Ryan Zimmerman each posted 43-game runs.
Cuddyer -- who has hit safely in every game he's played in during the month -- has a June slash line of .366/.398/.598. With an overall line of .351/.402/.597, Cuddyer is second in the NL in batting, fourth in on-base percentage and third in slugging.
Red Sox
Boston scored seven runs in the second inning and defeated Toronto, 7-4, on Thursday. This season, the Red Sox have scored 180 runs in innings one through three -- the most in the AL (the Rays are second, with 152). Among players with at least 100 plate appearances in the first three innings, Boston's Dustin Pedroia -- who was 1-for-2 with a two-run home run in the first three innings of the win over the Blue Jays -- owns the fifth-highest OPS (1.030) in the Majors. The top four: Davis (1.276), Miguel Cabrera (1.258), Carlos Gonzalez (1.133) and Torii Hunter (1.067).
Dodgers
Yasiel Puig drove in two runs, Matt Kemp doubled and stole two bases and the Dodgers defeated the Phillies, 6-4, on Thursday for the club's sixth straight victory.
Puig has 16 RBIs through his first 23 games. The top totals since 1916 for Dodgers players through their first 23 big league contests: 20 (George Shuba), 19 (Del Bissonette, Roy Campanella), 18 (Howie Schultz, Kemp), 17 (Dick Gray) and 16 (Puig, Preston Ward, Ernie Koy).
Kemp has six games in his career in which he's stolen at least two bags and also collected an extra-base hit. Among outfielders since 2006 (Kemp's first season), Rajai Davis has the most such games, with 13 (Kemp is tied for ninth). Both Kemp and Davis have a long way to go to catch up to the top mark for outfielders since 1916. Rickey Henderson had 79, more than double the No. 2 guy, Lou Brock, who had 39.