TWOSDAY TIDBITS
A FREEBIE FROM THE BILL CHUCK FILES
A TWO STRANGE MONDAY
Do you remember the movie A Beautiful Mind? It starred Russell Crowe in a beautiful performance as John Nash, the brilliant but schizophrenic mathematical genius who learned to manage his illness and went on to win the Nobel Prize. It co-starred the beautiful Jennifer Connelly as his wife. The Ron Howard-directed movie took the Oscar for best picture. At Nash’s peak moments of delusion, you see him making paranoid connections between things that really don’t exist. Fortunately, I don’t suffer from that horrible impairment; then again, I’m also no genius. But I’m telling you, last night, when I saw the scoreboard, and as I scanned the scores, I started making connections and…uh, oh, I’m on my way to Nash-ville. Fortunately, the very sane mind of Sarah Langs and the folks at OptaSports.com were seeing the same things; I bet Tim Kurkjian and Jayson Stark did as well.
Here’s what they shared: There were 12 games last night. They were decided by a total of 20 runs, the smallest combined run differential on a single day with at least 12 games since August 6, 1989 (also a 20-run differential across 13 games). There were a total of 64 runs scored, 5.33 runs per game. That’s tied with June 19, 2014, for the fewest runs per game on a single day with at least 10 games since the start of the 1990 season.
Here’s what I saw:
Two-Run wins: Tigers beat the Yankees, 5-3. Blue Jays beat the Astros, 4-2.
Two-Runs scored: Royals beat the Rays, 2-1. Blue Jays beat the Astros, 4-2. Brewers beat the Reds, 2-1. Dodgers beat the Twins, 2-1. Cardinals beat the Dbacks, 3-2. Rockies beat the Red Sox, 3-2.
One-Run wins: Rangers beat the Marlins, 4-3. Brewers beat the Reds, 2-1. Dodgers beat the Twins, 2-1. White Sox beat the Guardians, 6-5. Cardinals beat the Dbacks, 3-2. Rockies beat the Red Sox, 3-2. Padres beat the Braves, 1-0.
Outliers: Nationals beat the Phillies, 4-1. Orioles beat the Angels, 6-1.
THE RED SOX LOST (AGAIN)
It’s amazing all the different ways the Red Sox can find to lose games. Last night, they were winning 2-0 in the bottom of the 9th in Colorado. Aroldis Chapman was on the mound (I’ll get back to him in a moment), going for his 15th save, and Jake McCarthy hit a bases-loaded, bases-clearing groundball three-run triple to win the game (I’ll get back to the oddities that took place before this in a moment). It was baseball’s first walkoff triple of the year. Last year, there were three of these oddities. One was by the Red Sox’s own Ceddanne Rafaela. The other two, by Mickey Moniak (yes, another Colorado Rockies) and Jesus Sanchez of the Marlins, were both off the Cubs’ Daniel Palencia (!) (oh please, stop all the connections!).
Walk-off triples when trailing by 2 runs (since 1969):
6/22/26 Jake McCarthy
8/11/06 Grady Sizemore
9/26/87 Juan Beníquez
4/14/80 Dave Collins
9/3/71 Manny Mota
5/29/71 Joe Torre
It was only the third time the Rockies entered the 9th without a run and earned a walkoff win in that inning. The team also did it on Aug. 11, 2018, against the Dodgers and on June 11, 2008, against the Giants.
This was Chapman’s first blown save of the season. That’s 22 games without a blown save in 2026. Going back to 2025, this ended a streak of 46 games without a blown save. His last blown save was on July 23, 2025, against the Phillies. His only other was last May against the Brewers. Yeah, I’ll still get back to Chapman.
The Red Sox are now 31-45 (.408). The Giants are now 31-46 (.403). The Rockies are now 31-48 (.392). They are the teams with the fewest wins in the majors. Just a passing thought, I think it’s the Rockies’ turn to get Rafael Devers. Or, maybe the Angels, who are 32-48 with the lowest winning percentage in the American League (.400 three itsy-bitsy points worse than Boston).
By the way, I’m already sick of hearing about Rafael Devers. The Red Sox broke him. The Giants got him and didn’t repair him. Both teams (and player) are a mess.
CRAZY EIGHTS
Colorado ended the game with eight straight hits. In the 8th, the Rockies had a runner thrown out at home, and another got tagged out after being caught between second and third base when a runner in front of him stopped at third. According to our friends at Elias, they’re the first team since at least 1961 (the expansion era) with eight hits in its final eight plate appearances. One of the hits was by the above-mentioned Mickey Moniak, who had a pinch-hit single.
Aroldis Chapman allowed three runs on four hits. He threw eight pitches.
JAKE McCARTHY
Need a little more about Mr. Walkoff Triple?
On Saturday, the Rockies beat the Pirates, 2-1. Jake McCarthy hit a leadoff inside-the-park homer off Paul Skenes.
He also had another unusual moment against the Pirates on May 13 in the Rockies’ 10-4 win. In the bottom of the 1st, the Bucs’ Oneil Cruz was on second base with one down and took off on the pitch. Bryan Reynolds then hit a sinking liner to left field. McCarthy comes running in to make the play, as he does, Cruz is helplessly on third base. With no reason to throw the ball to second, the smiling McCarthy kept running and stepped on second to complete an unassisted double play. 7U in your scorebook. The most recent unassisted DP by a left fielder was by Boston’s Jonny Gomes in the 15th inning against the Mariners on July 31, 2013. Gomes was one of McCarthy’s outfield coordinators when he was drafted by Arizona.
Last season, he hit 5 triples and 4 homers. This season, he has hit 4 triples and 5 homers.
FINALLY, WE GET TO AROLDIS CHAPMAN
Trade Aroldis Chapman ASAP. There is a feeling among baseball people that when you trade off your star players, you are signaling to your fanbase that you have given up on the season.
If there is anyone in Red Sox Nation who believes that their team can win the World Series this year, they should be on the same meds as John Nash was back in his day. This season is done. Finished. Finito. It is an ex-season. If Craig Breslow has any hopes of retaining his job, he should set an early July deadline for Aroldis Chapman, for the many teams that need relief help, and for Sonny Gray, for the many teams that need another mid-rotation starter. He will increase their value by allowing the acquiring teams to receive an extra month of service from the two pitchers. What is the point of Boston holding on to them until the August 3 trade deadline? Every time on the mound, these two pitchers run the risk of injury and losing trade value. One other point: if I were Boston, I would not deal with Willson Contreras. They can’t hit now, and if they trade him, next season they will be down two hitters once again.
THE DODGERS WON ONE AND LOST TWO
Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman each homered, while only Byron Buxton homered for the Twins, and Los Angeles defeated Minnesota, 2-1. However, Kyle Tucker and Dalton Rushing both had to leave the game. Tucker was removed for back spasms, while Rushing underwent precautionary concussion testing after a foul tip off the mask. The Dodgers are already playing without their regular catcher, Will Smith, who is on the IL with neck issues.
The win enabled the Dodgers to become the first team to 50 wins this season (50-29).
Kyle Tucker is hitting .234 with 6 homers this season for the Dodgers. Of even greater concern, in my beautiful mind, is that since last July 1, Tucker has played 139 games (starting 138) and has hit .230 with an OPS of .700. He has 11 homers, and the left-hand hitting Tucker has only hit .224 against righties.
LET’S SEE SHOHEI DO THIS
This past Sunday, I wrote about Jim Bunning’s perfect game. What I didn’t mention was that it was the first game of a doubleheader between the Phillies and the Mets. In the second game, Rick Wise earned his first major-league win. On this date in 1971, the Phillies’ Rick Wise no-hit the Reds, facing only 28 batters and throwing only 95 pitches. Oh yeah, Wise hit two home runs and drove in three of the Phillies, four runs.
It was the first two-homer game of Wise’s career, but not the last. He did it again that same season on August 28th. Wise hit 15 homers in his 18-year career (although he did not have any at-bats in six of those years).
FOR PEOPLE WITH BEAUTIFUL MINDS
Subscribe to Billy-Ball.