The Grand Slam: LaTroy Hawkins makes 1,000th career appearance
Hawkins, who has served as Colorado’s closer all season, entered in the eighth inning with the Rockies trailing. He faced one batter, getting Darwin Barney on a fly ball to right. So we can add efficient and spotless to describe his historic outing. Colorado would actually tie the game in the ninth on Ben Paulsen’s home run, but ultimately fell 6-5 in the 12th. But the night for them was seemingly about celebrating and acknowledging Hawkins’ great career.
In 20 seasons, Hawkins has played for 10 different teams. Also worth noting, 98 of his first 99 appearances were all starts. Since, he’s made 901 consecutive relief appearances. He found his niche, he remained consistent, and he stayed remarkably healthy. The three keys to sticking in MLB.
Unfortunately, it’s not easy for everyone, but that’s why Hawkins’ milestone is to be celebrated. Congrats to one of baseball’s truly good men.
UPTON BROTHERS EACH HOMER, RECORD OUTFIELD ASSIST: B.J. and Justin Upton have had many many unique brother tandem moments during their MLB careers. Among those would be the first brother duo to hit a game-tying and game-winning home run in the same inning, as well as the first brothers to hit back-to-back home runs in 75 years.
According to Elias Sports, the Uptons added a first to their list on Saturday when both of them homered and recorded an outfield assist in the same game. B.J. hit the first homer against Phillies A.J. Burnett, a solo shot in the third to break a tie. Justin followed with a two-run homer off Burnett in the seventh, which broke another tie and provided the difference in Atlanta’s 4-2 win.
In the field, Justin threw out Chase Utley at home on Ryan Howard‘s single to left field in the fourth inning. One inning later. B.J. followed up by throwing out Wil Nieves at home following a Ben Revere single.
By our count, that’s three runs for and two more taken away. In a two-run victory, that makes the Uptons the MVPs.
JONATHAN LUCROY SETS DOUBLES RECORD: While most of the Milwaukee Brewers have cooled off this season, catcher Jonathan Lucroy has remained one of the hottest hitters in all of baseball. That continued on Saturday as Lucroy connected for his MLB-leading 53rd double overall, and his 46th double as a catcher, which set a new MLB single-season record for a player at that position.
Lucroy broke the record previously held by Ivan Rodriguez, who hit 45 of his 47 doubles in 1996 while catching for the Texas Rangers. Yadier Molina third with 44 doubles while catching for St. Louis in 2013, which ranks third.
Lucroy’s record-breaking double gave Milwaukee a 2-1 fifth-inning lead against Tsuyoshi Wada of the Chicago Cubs, and that would hold as the final score. Lucroy finished with three hits. If he plays and goes 1-for-3 on Sunday, he’ll finish the season hitting exactly .300.
RAYS NOTCH 22ND SHUTOUT: The Tampa Bay Rays are wrapping up a rare down season, but there’s one stat that should give fans plenty of reason for hope in the future. With Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Cleveland, the Rays completed their 22nd shutout of the season, which is the most by an American League staff during the DH era (since 1973).
Alex Colome, a 25-year-old right-hander making just his seventh career start, carried most of the load on Saturday, tossing 6 1/3 scoreless on four hits. Veteran relievers Joel Peralta, Grant Balfour and Jake McGee took it from there. That has mostly been the formula for Tampa. Of the 22 shutouts, only Drew Smyly went the distance on his own. Still, it’s a young staff with Colome, Smyly, Jake Odorizzi and Chris Archer all in the mix, and it only figures to get better.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
