Welcome to Behind the Plate With DJ, a weekly look at what is going on in the world of baseball. This series will weigh in on the interesting, the controversial, and the downright cool. The play of the week could be an incredible play or an unusual one. If something made you scratch your head, you will probably find it here. So sit back, relax, and let’s take a look at the week that was.
Powerful Loss
The White Sox did something that had only been done twice before in MLB history. On June 25, they hit 7 home runs in the game and still managed to lose the game against the Blue Jays.
The 7 home runs matched the team record set in 1955 against the Kansas City Athletics. Brett Lawrie started the barrage with a long fly to left field with the White Sox down 5-0 in the second inning. It was originally ruled a home run, but after a conference, it was decided that the ball did not leave the park. Lawrie, however, did not stop running, so he was awarded an inside-the-park home run.
Dioner Navarro and J.B. Shuck followed that with home runs of their own to give the White Sox back-to-back-to-back home runs to pull them to within 2. The Blue Jays built their lead back up to 8-3 in the fourth inning.
Lawrie hit one out to left for his second home run of the game and the 4th for the team. It was the first time that a White Sox player hit an inside-the-park and an out-of-the-park home run in the same game since Ron Santo did it in 1974.
Tim Anderson added a solo shot in the 7th, Alex Avila in the 8th, and Adam Eaton in the 9th. All 7 of the home runs were solo shots. Lawrie added an RBI single in the 6th, but the White Sox were never able to draw even, much less take a lead, and they fell to the Blue Jays by a score of 10-8.
In the second inning, R.A. Dickey struck out Todd Frazier and Avila before giving up three consecutive home runs, then he struck out Anderson. Said Dickey, “An outing where you strike out the side and give up three home runs, I don’t know if that’s ever been done.”
The Tigers are the only other team to have hit 7 home runs and lost the game, doing it on May 28, 1995 against the White Sox and on August 8, 2004 against the Red Sox.
Creative Subs
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Cubs manager Joe Maddon had to get creative in Cincinnati on June 28 in a 15-inning marathon against the Reds. In the 14th inning, Maddon brought in pitcher Spencer Patton, who got Brandon Phillips to fly out to center. Then Maddon brought in Travis Wood to face Jay Bruce.
But instead of taking Patton out of the game, he had the pitcher play left field. After Wood induced Bruce to ground out to first, Patton came back to the mound while Wood took over in left. Patton got Adam Duvall to ground out to end the inning and send the game to a 15th inning.
In the top of the 15th, pitcher Jason Hammel came in to pinch hit for Patton. Hammel grounded into a fielder’s choice and ended up on 1st with the bases loaded. He scored on a grand slam by Javier Baez, which just happened to be the latest grand slam in Cubs history.
The Cubs had a 7-2 lead going into the bottom of the 15th. Relief pitcher Pedro Strop replaced Patton … and played left field. Wood took the mound and set the Reds down in order to preserve the win.
This was the first time that multiple pitchers came off the mound and returned to pitch in the same game since the Mets did it in 1986. It was also the first time the Cubs used 3 pitchers in the field since 1913.
When all was said and done, the Cubs came away with a hard fought and badly needed win after losing 6 of the previous 8 games.
Advanced Stat of the week
Every week, Behind the Plate will look at an advanced stat that is being used in baseball. These stats give a better idea on what value a player gives a team. This week’s stat is Spin Rate.
Spin Rate refers to the revolutions per minute of the ball out of the pitcher’s hand. This is calculated by the comprehensive StatCast system that is in every Major League ballpark.
The Spin Rate can change the trajectory of the pitch, which can make it more difficult to hit. A higher Spin Rate on a fastball or breaking ball will give it more movement, and thus make it harder to hit. For changeups and knuckle balls, the opposite is true. For those slower pitchers, a lower Spin Rate will cause more movement.
To be more specific, a higher Spin Rate on a fastball will give the ball more backspin, and that will counteract the effect of gravity. This gives the the illusion that the ball is rising, and it will cause the hitter to get under the ball and pop it up. A lower Spin Rate will have the opposite effect, effectively causing the ball to sink and induce more ground balls.
The average Spin Rate is about 2,200 RPM, and pitchers can generate anywhere from 1,800 RPM to 2,600 RPM. The key for a pitcher is not to be average, at least in some aspect of his pitching. There are a number of ways for a pitcher to vary his pitches, from arm angle to velocity to whether or not his arm crosses his body. Spin Rate is just another way a pitcher can stand out and be more deceptive to a hitter.
Plays of the Week
This week we take a look at two unlikely base running events. The reason they were so unlikely is who the runners were.
The first one involves Diamondbacks pitcher Zack Greinke. Greinke led off the top of the fourth inning with a walk against the Rockies. Then, with one out, he stole second base. His head-first slide probably did not sit well with his coaches and fans, as he led with his pitching hand, but he did get the job done. He would come around to score his second run of the game on a single by Yasmany Tomas in a game that the Diamondbacks would win 7-6.
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On June 28, there was a play during the Dodgers at Brewers game that is not seen very often, and even less often with a catcher running. Jonathan Lucroy of the Brewers was on second base when Chris Carter hit a drive to center field in the bottom of the eighth inning. Joc Pederson caught the ball, but crashed into the wall. Lucroy tagged up and scored all the way from second on a sacrifice fly. That brought the Brewers to within 6-5, which ended up being the final score.
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