Last night was a big night for baseball. Let’s unpack:
The Dodgers No-Hit
Walker Buehler and the Dodgers threw a combined no-hitter to open their series with the San Diego Padres in Mexico. With an 11-22 record, 10.5 games out of first, the last-place Padres are pretty much a disaster so far. But it’s still a very impressive feat for the Dodgers, the franchise’s first combined no-hitter, the first outside of the US or Canada, and only the 12th in MLB history!
Rookie Walker Buehler pitched six innings – and got his first Major League hit! – before turning it over to Tony Cingrani, Yimi Garcia, and Adam Liberatore. Buehler is the youngest Dodgers pitcher to pitch more than 6 no-hit innings since Rex Barney in 1948, back in the team’s Brooklyn days. Together, four arms held the San Diego Padres down for the 23rd no-hitter in Dodgers history, and the first since Clayton Kershaw’s on June 18, 2014.
Making the victory even sweeter, perhaps, was the fact that former Dodger Fernando Valenzuela threw out the first pitch in his native country. He no-hit the Cardinals as a Dodger in 1990.
Albert Pujols Becomes Latest Mr. 3000
Last night, Albert Pujols has his 3,000th career hit! He’s now the 32nd member of the 3,000-hit club, but only the 4th in MLB history with 3,000 hits and 600 home runs, a quartet of Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, ARod, and now Pujols. He’s also the 2nd Dominican-born player with 3,000; he and Adrian Beltre have both reached the milestone and are also the only members of the 3,000-club who are still active players.
Whether or not your an Angels fan or a fan of Pujols, any lover of baseball should be impressed and excited for him. There are few moments like it. It’s just an incredible achievement.
Red Sox Win
Yes, they beat the last-place Texas Rangers from the American League West, which should be a no-brainer and not a story, but this is the Red Sox. And they did lose to the Rangers 11-5 the night before.
With solo homers from JD Martinez, Mookie Betts, and two from Rafael Devers, the team easily soared to a 5-1 win. Mookie’s 13th homer of the season broke yet another franchise record; it was his 70th home run as leadoff hitter, surpassing Dom DiMaggio’s previous record of 69. He also leads the league in just about everything.
Devers’ first home run of the night was off Bartolo Colon, who made his MLB debut when Devers was an infant. Devers becomes the third Red Sox player ever to have more than one multi-homer game before the age of 22; the first were Ted Williams and Tony Conigliaro. His bat power is astonishing; the home run had an exit velocity of 111.6 MPH, with an estimated distance of 427 feet.
Rick Porcello continued to be the best pitcher in the rotation, pitching six innings. He’s now 5-0. Last season, he led the league in losses.
