The Month That Was in Baseball: June 2024

Saturday, June 1

On a wet, windy day at Chicago’s Wrigley Field that delays the start of the Cubs’ game against Cincinnati by nearly four hours, it’s the home team that prevails, 7-5, on Dansby Swanson’s two-run, tie-breaking home run in the eighth. But the wild part takes place in the second, when the Reds plate four runs—three on Luke Maile’s two-out, three-base error charged to Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki on a dropped fly ball. In the bottom of the inning, Suzuki atones; with two outs and the bases loaded, he appears at the plate and smashes his first career grand slam, tying the game at 4-4. The victory is only the second in 10 games for the Cubs, who remain below .500 at 29-30. 

The San Diego Padres, a distant second to Los Angeles in the NL West, are dealt a double blow of distress as veteran starting pitchers Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove both go on the injured list. Musgrove himself is scratched just hours before his scheduled start at Kansas City with elbow inflammation, but Randy Vasquez—bouncing back and forth from the minors—fills in and keeps the Royals in check through five innings, while the Padres pull away with five answered runs to triumph, 7-3. 

Atlanta’s Chris Sale, just anointed as our pick for the NL’s Best Pitcher of May, likely won’t win the honor again in June. After allowing three runs over his previous 39 innings, the lanky veteran is pummeled by the visiting Oakland A’s, conceding eight runs through four innings in his worst outing of the season to date. But he’s spared getting tagged with a loss as the Braves fight back with six runs in the fifth to take a 9-8 lead—before the A’s bounce back with three late tallies of their own, all while their bullpen keeps the Braves scoreless over the final four frames to prevail, 11-9. 

Sunday, June 2

Three outs away from being swept at home for the first time since last August—and from seeing a very long streak of consecutive games with an extra-base hit come to an end—the Royals snap out of a day-long funk, earning that long hit on a two-run, game-tying triple from Nelson Velazquez—who then scores on Nick Loftin’s sac fly to give Kansas City a 4-3 walk-off victory over San Diego. 

Velazquez’s three-bagger extends the Royals’ streak of games with at least one extra-base hit to 90; their last game without one came last August 28, against Pittsburgh in the first game of what would be the last series in which the Royals were swept at Kauffman Stadium.

Unlike the Royals, the San Francisco Giants can’t avoid being swept by the visiting New York Yankees—despite a 5-3 lead going into the ninth. Giants closer Camilo Doval, who’s not exactly been at his best so far in 2024, concedes four runs on four hits, two walks and a wild pitch, with the big blow coming from Juan Soto’s second homer of the game that puts the Yankees ahead to stay. It’s Soto’s 20th career multi-homer game—and Doval’s second blown save of the year, which doesn’t sound as bad as his 4.24 season ERA. The Giants manage to lead for eight innings despite another iffy—and ultimately, injurious—start for last year’s NL Cy Young winner Blake Snell, who leaves with to a groin issue one out away from qualifying for his first win in six starts this season. Erik Miller replaces Snell and immediately gives up a game-tying double to Alex Verdugo, raising Snell’s ERA on the year to a really bad 9.51. Snell will miss the rest of the month. 

The Washington Nationals end the Guardians’ nine-game home win streak at Cleveland, dealing them a 5-2 defeat. Not even the return of leadoff sparkplug Steven Kwan, out four weeks with a bad hamstring, can prop up the Guardians; in his first at-bat, he strikes out against the Nationals’ Jake Irvin, ending a run of 70 straight plate appearances without being retired via the K. 

Monday, June 3

San Diego infielder Tucupita Marcano, who hasn’t played since tearing an ACL last year as a member of the Pirates, is given a lifetime ban from the sport for betting on his own team last year while on the shelf. It continues a worrisome trend in which pro athletes, potentially more seduced than ever by the lure of gambling as sports leagues gradually open up to legalized betting for the sheer purpose of collecting more revenue, might be more tempted to quietly participate in wagering on other sports—or even their own, as Marcano is said to have done. 

Additionally, four other players are suspended for a year for gambling on baseball, including Oakland reliever Michael Kelly and minor leaguers Jay Groome (Padres), Jose Rodriguez (Phillies) and Andrew Saalfrank (Diamondbacks). The reason these players aren’t banned for life, unlike Marcano, is because they didn’t bet on their own teams (or those within their organization). 

Marcano is the first major leaguer given a lifetime ban for gambling since Jimmy O’Connell in 1924. Yes, we haven’t forgotten about Pete Rose; he agreed to his current ban in 1989 after an investigation by MLB. 

Philadelphia spoils the homecoming of Rhys Hoskins, the former Phillie of eight years who gives it his best in his first appearance back at Citizens Bank Park since signing with Milwaukee. Hoskins belts his 10th home run of the season, adding a walk and stolen base for the Brewers, but his teammates offer little else against the Phillies and Zack Wheeler (one run allowed in seven innings) in a 3-1 defeat. With the win, the Phillies match the idle Yankees for the majors’ best record, at 42-19. 

The question isn’t who on the Astros has had Tommy John surgery but, rather, who hasn’t. Jose Urquidy, who already had a TJ back in 2017, will be going under the knife for the same procedure; he hasn’t pitched for Houston since suffering a forearm strain in Spring Training, and had a recent setback while on rehab in the minors. Urquidy is hardly the only Astros starter who has experienced Tommy John; Justin Verlander, Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers Jr. have all had the procedure done on them over the last few years. (The latter two remain out of action.) 

Tuesday, June 4

The notoriously unpredictable Avisail Garcia is let go by the Miami Marlins, barely halfway through a five-year contract paying him $53 million. In 153 games with the Fish, Garcia batted .217 with 13 home runs and 49 RBIs; his release continues a frustrating trend to a career in which he’s impressed when least expected—and disappointed when better results are much more anticipated. This probably means someone will pick him up, and he’ll thrive anew. 

Luis Gil continues a remarkable run for the Yankees, allowing one hit through six shutout innings in New York’s 5-1 home win over Minnesota. Over his last seven games, Gil has allowed three runs on 15 hits over 44.2 innings; the only MLB player more untouchable over a similar span of starts is Hall of Famer Bob Feller, who allowed a run on 13 hits over 46 innings in 1946. Gil is not only excellent, but wise; he walks Royce Lewis, making his return to the Twins after missing two months due to his latest injury. Tommy Kahnle, replacing Gil, isn’t as wise; he faces Lewis and gives up a home run, which represents Minnesota’s lone tally on the night. 

Ten Thousand people show up to a baseball game in Oakland, but only 5,800 of them are at the Coliseum; the other 4,200 are at sold-out Raimondi Park, where the Oakland Ballers (or B’s) make their home debut in this, their first season in the independent Pioneer League. The B’s, basically created as a counterpoint to the lame duck A’s—on their way to Las Vegas via Sacramento—lose to the Yolo High Wheelers, 9-3. Manager Micah Franklin, when asked if his B’s are competing with the A’s, tells the San Jose Mercury News, “We don’t compare with the A’s. We don’t try to. We’re different. We’re the Ballers. We’re here, and we’re not going anywhere.” 

Wednesday, June 5

For the first time in 182 games, the Braves are held scoreless—and nearly hitless, to boot—as they drop a 9-0 loss against the Red Sox at Boston. Austin Riley’s leadoff single in the fourth is the only knock of the day off the Red Sox and Nick Pivetta, who deals seven scoreless innings. Atlanta’s streak was the fifth longest in MLB history; the longest, period, still remains the property of the 1931-33 Yankees, who scored in 307 straight games. 

Marvelous Pittsburgh pitching sensation Paul Skenes passes a major litmus test, surviving five innings against the high-powered Dodgers and improving to 3-0 in five starts with a 10-6 win at PNC Park. Skenes allows three runs, including two home runs—one a 415-foot blast from Shohei Ohtani on a 100-MPH, 3-2 delivery—but strikes out eight while walking just one. Even more impressive than the young Skenes is 36-year-old reliever Aroldis Chapman, who despite allowing a run on two hits in one inning of work throws two pitches at 104 MPH—the fastest thrown by any major leaguer this season. 

Not that he needs the help, but Skenes is the first pitcher since at least 1961 to receive five or more runs of support in each of his first five career starts. 

Making his seventh career start, 22-year-old Oakland pitcher Joey Estes retires the first 18 Seattle batters he faces before J.P. Crawford belts a double to lead off the seventh. Estes will be removed one hitter later, but picks up the win as the A’s ride to a 2-1 home win. 

In two starts against the Mariners, Estes has allowed a run on three hits and no walks over 11.1 innings. 

The Houston rotation continues to be snakebit by major injury. Just two days after losing Jose Urquidy to Tommy John surgery, Cristian Javier will undergo the same procedure and miss the rest of the 2024 season. In seven starts this year, the 27-year-old right-hander was 3-1 with a 3.89 ERA. 

In Asheville, North Carolina, John Garcia becomes the first player in recorded professional baseball history to collect five doubles in one game, achieving the feat for the Class A+ Asheville Tourists in their 18-8 rout of the Bowling Green Hot Rods at 100-year-old McCormick Field. Official minor league records go back to only 2005, so it’s possible that in the long, expansive history of the minors, there’s a tale—tall or otherwise—of someone matching or possibly surpassing Garcia’s mark. 

Thursday, June 6

The Yankees outlast the visiting Twins, 8-5, for their eighth straight victory, improving their record for both the regular and postseason against Minnesota to 123-44 since 2002. But for a lineup that’s remained remarkably healthy all season, there’s concern as Juan Soto departs the game with discomfort in his left arm; he’ll dodge the bullet and miss only the next three games—albeit highly anticipated home games against the Dodgers—after tests reveal nothing serious. 

Friday, June 7

The White Sox defeat the Red Sox at Chicago, 7-2, ending a 14-game losing streak which is one short of the all-time franchise nadir set between the end of 1967 and start of 1968. Providing pick-us-up help are home runs from the middle of the order (Andrew Vaughn, Gavin Sheets and Luis Robert Jr.—his second round-tripper in four games since returning from a two-month absence), and six more solid innings from reliever-turned-starting sensation Gordon Crochet, who strikes out 10 over six solid innings. The 24-year-old lefty has gotten credit for six of the White Sox’ 16 wins this season, and his 103 K’s lead the AL. 

Seattle manager Scott Servais needs to learn how to hold on to a big lead. For the fifth time in the last seven years, his Mariners can’t hold on to an advantage of seven or more runs—in this case, flubbing an 8-0 lead in the fourth at Kansas City, with the Royals completing the comeback with a three-run rally in the ninth. Servais’ biggest blown lead came in September 2022—also at Kansas City—with the Mariners coughing up a nine-run lead (11-2) and losing to the Royals, 13-12. 

Saturday, June 8

In MLB’s annual weekend invasion of Britain, the Phillies and Mets take over London Stadium—an oval facility typically used for soccer’s West Ham United—and before 53,882 fans watch as Philadelphia takes a 7-2 victory. Six of the Phillies’ runs are notched in the fourth inning, with home runs from Bryce Harper and Whit Merrifield; on the mound, Ranger Suarez gives up two runs on eight hits through 5.2 innings to become the majors’ first 10-game winner on the season. 

Harper’s solo homer—complete with a knee-skidding slide common throughout European soccer—makes the Phillies 22-0 this year when he knocks in a run. His next RBI will come on June 12 at Boston—in a game the Phillies will lose, 8-6.  

Another sellout crowd, at New York’s Yankee Stadium, provides a rare occurrence of Yankee fans possibly being outnumbered—certainly outshouted—as the visiting Dodgers storm to an 11-3 victory behind Teoscar Hernandez’s 18th multi-homer game and career high-tying six RBIs. The typically boisterous Yankee fan base is drowned out by a sea of Dodger fans, including 1,300 representing Pantone 294, the team’s fan group named after the printing color used for Dodger blue; before the game, the group marches down the streets near the Stadium a la soccer supporters in England and clearly make their presence known once inside the ballpark. 

The Toronto Blue Jays end a first-inning scoring drought and ride Kevin Gausman’s first career shutout in a 7-0 win at Oakland. Three walks and a sac fly are all the Jays need to open the scoring in the first, the first time the team has tallied in the opening frame in 29 games—two shy of the MLB record held by the 1937 Boston Bees, then undergoing an unsuccessful brand shift before reverting back to the Braves. From there, Gausman takes over—limiting the A’s to five hits and a walk while striking out 10; it’s the second time in his 12-year career that he’s gone the distance, having previous done it for Baltimore in 2014. 

The news is not all good for Toronto; Alek Manoah, the burly pitcher who’s badly struggled to retain ace-like form, will undergo season-ending surgery on his left elbow. In five starts this season, Manoah has produced a 1-2 record and 3.70 ERA. 

Sunday, June 9

The Phillies bungle up a chance to complete a two-game sweep of the Mets in their weekend at London, as New York small-balls its way to three ninth-inning runs via two walks, a hit batsman, two singles (one an infield safety) and a passed ball to take a 6-5 victory. A chance for Philadelphia to counter in the bottom of the ninth is diffused when Nick Castellanos grounds into a bases-loaded, game-ending double play. In defeat, the Phillies’ Bryce Harper collects his 1,000th career walk—and while four other active players have more BBs, they’re all at least five years older than the 31-year-old Harper. 

Before another raucous—but more pro-Yankee—crowd in the Bronx, the Yankees avoid a three-game home sweep against the Dodgers with a 6-4 victory thanks primarily to a three-run homer in the sixth from backup outfielder Trent Grisham. That moment is preceded by chants of “We want Soto,” in reference to star hitter Juan Soto, available off the bench but still hurting from recent injury; Grisham had entered the day batting .083. Aaron Judge caps the Yankee scoring and provides insurance in the eighth with his league-leading 24th homer. 

Monday, June 10

The Orioles secure their first-ever four-game sweep at St. Petersburg against the Tampa Bay Rays, as Gunnar Henderson belts his seventh leadoff homer of the season and Corbin Burnes turns in another fine start, improving to 7-2 with a 2.08 ERA. For the Orioles, it’s their 21st straight series either won or tied against AL East teams, tied for the longest since divisional play began in 1969, for the Rays, it’s their eight straight defeat against an AL East foe. 

Tuesday, June 11

The Pirates’ Paul Skenes and Cardinals’ Milos Mikolas duel into the seventh without conceding a run, with Mikolas sharp in particular with just a hit and walk allowed before being removed after the seventh on only 84 pitches. Still 0-0 after eight, the Pirates finally scratch out two runs in the ninth, then hold on in the bottom half of the inning as the Cardinals get one back and leave two runners on base before Michael Siani strikes out to give the Bucs a 2-1 win. 

In six starts this year for the Pirates, Skenes has a 2.43 ERA with 46 strikeouts—and just six walks—in 33.1 innings. After being removed with one out in the seventh, he is given a standing ovation…by Cardinals fans at St. Louis. 

The Dodgers club a franchise-record four home runs in one inning, with Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernandez and Jason Heyward all going deep in the sixth off Texas reliever Grant Anderson. They’ll hit five overall on the night as they demolish the Rangers, 15-2 at Los Angeles. 

Bud Black becomes the second manager in Rockies history to win 500 games, reaching the milestone with a 5-4 victory at Minnesota. It doesn’t come easy, with an awful Colorado bullpen nearly upchucking the lead after Cal Qunatrill’s six shutout innings as the Twins score four times in the late innings before running out of outs. 

Black is 34 wins away from matching Clint Hurdle—who led Colorado to its unlikely 2007 pennant, its only one to date—for the most by a Rockies manager. 

Powered by a pair of homers from Kyle Schwarber—who always seems to switch on in June—and seven excellent innings from Zack Wheeler (improving to 8-3 with a 2.16 ERA), the Phillies take down the Red Sox at Boston, 4-1. But the victory is tempered by news that All-Star catcher J.T. Realmuto will miss at least the next month as he undergoes surgery on a sore right knee. Despite a 17-game hitting streak in May, Realmuto has been feeling pain in his knee—and slumping more recently with two hits in his previous 24 at-bats. 

Wednesday, June 12

For the second straight day, the Padres go deep to wrap up a walk-off win over the A’s at San Diego. After tying the score in the eighth on Donovan Solano’s second homer, the Padres win it in the ninth, 5-4, on rookie Jackson Merrill one-out solo shot—his second homer. The win cements the Padres’ first series sweep of the 2024 season. 

At age 21 years and 54 days, Merrill is the youngest player in major league history with a multi-homer game—with one of those winning the game in the final at-bat. 

The Twins score five times in the first inning and don’t ease off the pedal from there, racking up 24 hits in a 17-9 rout of the visiting Rockies. Individually, Carlos Correa has five hits—all singles to tie a franchise mark—while his teammates gang up for nine extra-base hits, including a double and home run from Royce Lewis. 

Only three times in Washington Senators/Twins history has the franchise accrued more hits in a game. 

The 17 runs allowed—all earned—pushes Colorado’s road ERA on the season to 5.55; that’s even worse than the 5.41 figure they’ve posted at mile-high Coors Field. Overall, the Rockies’ 5.48 ERA is easily the majors’ worst. 

Thursday, June 13

The Rangers win their second straight game at Los Angeles over the Dodgers, 3-1, moving Bruce Bochy alone into ninth place on the all-time list with 2,126 managerial victories. The four-time World Series-winning pilot, who still has more losses (2,136) than wins, passes Joe McCarthy to move up the chain; he’ll likely take over the #8 spot, currently held by Bucky Harris with 2,158 wins, sometime later this summer. The recently retired Dusty Baker, with 2,183 career victories, looms at #7. 

The Royals avoid a four-game sweep against the visiting Yankees in dramatic fashion, bouncing back from a 3-2 deficit in the ninth to win on Maikel Garcia’s two-run double off New York closer Clay Holmes. Kansas City’s victory ends a 15-game winning streak by the Yankees against AL Central clubs, and provides the Royals with a semblance of respectability by avoiding a sweep after having played so well at home this season; they’re currently 25-14 at Kauffman Stadium. 

A rare lack of contribution from Aaron Judge has much to do with the New York loss. The Yankee megastar strikes out in all four of his plate appearances, ending a 37-game on-base streak that was the second longest of his career. It’s the fifth time that he’s struck out every time he’s come up to bat in a game consisting of four or more plate appearances. 

J.D. Martinez’s 321st home run is his first walk-off shot, as the 36-year-old slugger pounds a one-out, two-run blast in the bottom of the ninth to give the Mets a 3-2 home win over Miami. Norm Cash remains the major leaguer with the most career round-trippers (377) without a single one of them ending a game. 

Friday, June 14

Baseball’s gambling crisis continues to grow—with concern over how much worse it will get. In a year that has already seen a lifetime ban on one player (Tucupita Marcano), year-long suspensions on four others and the arrest of Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter for embezzling millions from the superstar slugger to feed an illegal gambling habit, MLB now has officially sidelined umpire Pat Hoberg for alleged gambling activity—something he denies taking part in. Hoberg, remembered for having perfectly called balls and strikes during the 2022 World Series, has actually been sidelined since Spring Training, when MLB began its investigation on him. Beyond that, no other details are provided from either party—including the length of Hoberg’s punishment. 

The Yankees are the first team to reach 50 wins on the year, bashing the Red Sox, 8-1, in the first meeting between the two archrivals this season. Former Red Sock Alex Verdugo, now employed by New York, launches a home run on the first pitch he sees against his former team, and ends the night with three hits, including a double and single, while knocking in four runs. Luis Gil throws five solid innings for the Yankees, improving his season record to 9-1 while lowering his ERA to 2.03. 

Another first get-together on the year between two of Baseball’s other top teams takes place as the Phillies need extra innings to top the Orioles at Baltimore, 5-3, on Alec Bohm’s two-run double in the 11th. Of note for the Orioles is a single strikeout by closer Craig Kimbrel in a scoreless ninth; it’s his 1,000th career K registered in that frame, making him the first major league pitcher ever with 1,000 in any given inning. 

Apparently, the Astros don’t believe that the minors fixed Jose Abreu well enough to keep him. The 37-year-old first baseman is released by Houston after a terrible start to the year, even as the Astros still owe him $30 million for a contract that expires at the end of 2025. A prominent slugger for the White Sox who won the 2014 AL Rookie of the Year award—and six years later, the AL MVP—Abreu was batting .099 with no homers and three RBIs through his first 22 games this season before being sent to, essentially, hitting rehab in Florida. In two weeks since returning to Houston, Abreu did finally punch out a couple of home runs but otherwise remained underwhelming, batting .167 over 42 at-bats. 

Saturday, June 15

Who are you, DJ Herz? The 23-year-old Washington southpaw, making just his third major league appearance after four-plus years of decent (but hardly dominating) work in the minors, amazes with six innings of scoreless ball, striking out 13 of the 19 Miami batters he faces—and allowing just one baserunner (a Jake Burger single) among the other six as the Nationals roll to a 4-0 home win. It’s Herz’s first major league career win; he’s only the second pitcher to strike out at least 13 without a walk within his first three MLB starts, the other being Washington star pitcher Stephen Strasburg in his 2010 debut—but Strasburg gave up two runs. 

The magic potion will apparently wear off for Herz in his next two outings to end the month of June, surrendering eight runs (seven earned) over seven total innings. 

The Dodgers lose a game and an ace, as Yoshinobu Yamamoto departs after two shutout innings with triceps issues in, ultimately, a 7-2 home defeat to the Royals. After Yamamoto’s departure, the Royals go to work on the Dodgers’ bullpen, with the big hit coming on MJ Melendez’s grand slam to end a 12-pitch battle with Blake Treinen. Seth Lugo picks up his AL-best 10th win for Kansas City, allowing two runs over six innings. 

Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts tells reporters after the game that there’s a “high probability” that the first-year, highly-paid Japanese star pitcher, 6-2 with a 2.92 ERA over 14 starts, will be placed on the injured list. That insight will be confirmed in the next day, with no target date for a return—except that he’ll be out for “some time,” according to Roberts. 

Houston ace Justin Verlander is scratched from his scheduled start against Detroit due to a sore neck—and the Tigers gang up early and often on his replacement, Spencer Arrighetti, ultimately scoring 10 runs over the first three innings off the rookie Astro and a couple of relievers in a 13-5 rout at Houston. Wencell Perez, Riley Greene and Colt Keith each collect four hits for the Tigers, with Greene belting two of Detroit’s five homers along with six RBIs. 

Sunday, June 16

Another day, another big loss for the Dodgers, who defeat the visiting Royals, 3-0, behind Shohei Ohtani’s two solo homers and Tyler Glasnow’s seven shutout innings. They lose star spark Mookie Betts for a likely long spell after his hand is fractured on a 98 MPH pitch in the seventh. Betts has played all but one game this season, batting .304 with 10 homers, 40 RBIs, 50 runs and 47 walks; as good and expansive as the Dodgers’ lineup is, he will be missed at the top of the order. 

In defeat, the Royals nab just three hits—all singles. It thus ends an MLB-record streak of 72 games to begin a season in which the team had an extra-base hit in each; it had at least one long hit in 101 straight games going back to the end of last season—15 games shy of a franchise record. 

The Red Sox bolt around the bases before bolting away from the Yankees at Fenway Park, scoring five runs over their final two innings in a 9-3 victory. The chief ingredient in Boston’s win is an all-time franchise record nine stolen bases, including four from David Hamilton; the nine swipes aren’t the most allowed in Yankees history, but they are the most conceded since 1915, when Ty Cobb stole four of nine bags for Detroit. 

Ronel Blanco nearly does it again. Having earlier thrown a no-hitter in his first start of the season, the 30-year-old Dominican deals seven hitless innings against the Tigers in a 4-1 victory before being taken out after 94 pitches—13 short of his season high. Ryan Pressly gives up the Tigers’ first hit in the eighth, and closer Josh Hader surrenders Detroit’s lone run in the ninth. 

This is the sixth time this season that a pitcher has been removed from a start having allowed no hits over at least six innings of work. Blanco’s no-hitter on April 1 is the only individual no-no thrown this year. 

The Twins sweep both a doubleheader and four-game series at Minnesota against the A’s, who extend their latest losing streak to nine. The 6-2 and 8-7 wins are powered by Royce Lewis, who homers in each game; the oft-injured third baseman has hit seven over his first 12 games this year, and 24 over his first 82 career games—both records in Washington Senators/Twins history. 

Monday, June 17

With Mookie Betts out for the long term, the Dodgers simply plug Shohei Ohtani into the leadoff spot and he responds—but of course he does—with two doubles, a single and a stolen base in a 9-5 victory at Colorado. Perhaps the most eye-opening stat emerging from the Dodgers’ box score is five walks for Freddie Freeman, tying a modern (post-1900) franchise mark also held by Gene Hermanski (1949) and Dusty Baker (1980). 

At Arlington, the Mets pile up 22 hits—their most in a game since 2019—on their way to thrashing the sliding Rangers, 14-2. Five different New Yorkers collect at least three hits, with Francisco Lindor dropping four from the leadoff spot. The defending champion Rangers have lost 22 of their last 33 games, yet remain tied for second in the AL West with Houston—albeit with a 33-39 record. 

Tuesday, June 18

Willie Mays, considered the greatest living baseball player—and arguably the best ever, period—passes away of heart failure at his Bay Area home at the age of 93. “My father has passed away peacefully and among loved ones,” Mays’ son Michael writes in a statement released by the Giants, Willie’s team of 21 seasons. “I want to thank you all from the bottom of my broken heart for the unwavering love you have shown him over the years.” He concludes: “You have been his life’s blood,” Just a day earlier, Mays had released a statement that he would be unable to travel to Birmingham, Alabama, where the Giants and Cardinals will play a special game at 114-year-old Rickwood Field—home of the Negro Leagues’ Birmingham Black Barons, where Mays began his pro career at the tender age of 15. 

The ultimate five-tool player, Mays was spotted in Birmingham by a Giants scout, who hastily wired the team and pleaded, “Don’t ask any questions. You’ve got to get this boy.” The Giants heeded his advice, and after a phenomenal start to the 1951 season at the Triple-A level—batting .477 in 35 games—he was promoted to the then-New York Giants, where he won Rookie of the Year honors. From there, Mays was beyond par excellence; he copped two MVPs, played in 24 All-Star games, twice hit over 50 homers and led the NL four times in both round-trippers and steals, three times in triples and five times in OPS. In 1961, he hit four homers in a game. Defensively, he won 12 Gold Gloves in the outfield (all consecutively) and made one of the greatest defensive plays in baseball history when he chased down a prodigious Vic Wertz fly in the 1954 World Series and, 450 feet away with his back to the infield, made a running catch in the Polo Grounds’ spacious center field. The moment is simply referred to as “The Catch.” (The Giants’ four-game sweep of Wertz’s Cleveland Indians was the only World Series triumph of Mays’ career.) 

If not for nearly two full seasons spent in the military early in his career, Mays might have had a shot of hitting over 700 home runs and passing Babe Ruth’s fabled mark of 714, a record he and Hank Aaron jostled back-and-forth trying to surpass in the late 1960s before Mays began to fade while Aaron surged onward. Mays was a no-brainer, first-ballot choice to be inducted into the Hall of Fame; he was brought back into the Giants’ fold in 1993 by new management, which embraced the team’s past heroes. As such, Mays became the team’s goodwill ambassador and godfather to Barry Bonds, who would ultimately surpass Mays’ and everyone else’s home run numbers. Rightfully, the Giants’ current home of Oracle Park is addressed as 24 Willie Mays Plaza, and his likeness is immortalized with a statue in front of the main entrance—surrounded by 24 palm trees to match his uniform number. 

How good was Mays? In the only game I ever saw him play, in 1972 at Houston just a week after being traded from the Giants to the Mets, he entered in the late innings as a defensive replacement in the outfield. He was 41 at the time, so think about that; he was asked by the Mets to enter a game on defense because, even at that age, he was considered a superior defensive asset. His belated entry onto the field didn’t go unnoticed by the Astrodome crowd of 25,473, which gave him a standing ovation. 

At Wrigley Field in Chicago, where the Giants are playing the Cubs, a message is posted on the big board in between innings notifying the near-sellout crowd of 36,347 of Mays’ passing, with the public address announcer asking for a moment of silence. The fans fail to comply, not out of contempt but because they’d rather spend the moment standing up and alternately cheering and applauding the legend that was Mays. As for the game, the Cubs break a 2-2 deadlock in the eighth with three runs off Giants reliever Tyler Rogers. Besides giving up the runs on four hits, Rogers also walks a batter—his first unintentional pass in his last 36 innings going back to last season. 

The Rockies are one strike away from edging the Dodgers, 9-8, and they think they have that strike when Teoscar Hernandez appears unable to check his swing—but first base umpire Lance Barksdale says he holds, infuriating the Rockies and manager Bud Black (who gets tossed). On the very next pitch, Hernandez sends an opposite-field drive over the right-field fence, giving the Dodgers an 11-9 lead while sending Colorado right fielder Jake Cave into a rage. The Rockies are unable to respond in the bottom of the ninth, and drop to 25-48 on the year; this is the sixth time they’ve allowed five or more runs in the ninth inning this season, extending what’s already an MLB season record. 

This is only the second time in modern Dodgers history that they win after entering the ninth inning trailing by five or more runs.  

At Anaheim, the Angels take a 6-0 lead to the bottom of the ninth, but what appears to be an easy finish turns into a nail-biter as the Angels score three times, get two more men on base with two outs, and then Taylor Ward—representing the tying run at the plate—drills a deep shot to right-center that Milwaukee center fielder Sal Fralick snares above the yellow line, stealing a home run and preserving a 6-3 victory. Among the Brewers’ six runs earlier in the game is a solo homer from Christian Yelich, the 200th of his career.  

It’s a day of good news, bad news and “phew” news for the Yankees, who open a big three-game series against fellow AL East contender Baltimore with a 4-2 victory at New York. The win pulls the Yankees 2.5 games ahead of the Orioles on a day when it’s learned that first baseman Anthony Rizzo will miss roughly eight weeks with a broken arm sustained in a collision at first base two days earlier at Boston. But the Yankees dodge an even bigger bullet during this game, as über-slugger Aaron Judge is hit on the hand by a pitch in the third and departs; X-rays will later show no significant damage. It’s expected that Judge will be listed as day-to-day. 

Wednesday, June 19

The Diamondbacks finally involve themselves in a close game. At Washington, the Nationals score three late runs on Arizona—two on a go-ahead home run in the sixth from Jesse Winker—to triumph, 3-1. While the result isn’t a nail-biter, it does end the Diamondbacks’ modern era-record streak of 10 games in which it was the final score was decided by five or more runs. If you want to include the 1800s, the record belongs to the 1890 Louisville Colonels, who participated in 12 such straight games. 

For the first time in three months, reigning AL Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole takes the mound for the Yankees, allowing a pair of runs to the visiting Orioles over four-plus innings in his return from elbow injury. Baltimore takes a 2-1 lead with Cole’s departure, and survives a four-RBI night from Giancarlo Stanton—including an RBI single in the ninth to send the game into extra innings—to defeat New York in 10, 7-6. 

The Grimace streak is over for the New York Mets, who lose 5-3 at Texas for their first loss since the purple McDonald’s mascot threw out the first pitch at Citi Field seven games earlier. New York briefly has the lead in the sixth, 3-1, but the Rangers respond with four unanswered tallies over their next two frames—with Leody Taveras’ two-run, pinch-hit homer serving as the ultimate winning blow. 

Thursday, June 20

Just two days after the passing of Willie Mays, his former home park in Birmingham, Alabama where he played as a teenager takes center stage for MLB’s first-ever Tribute to the Negro Leagues contest between the Giants, Mays’ former team, and the St. Louis Cardinals. Many African-American stars of recent MLB times are mixed in with living ex-Negro Leaguers, and while the all-black circuits are formally honored, there is a special focus on Mays; his son Michael, flanked by Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey Jr., walks to home plate before the start of the game and gives a stirring tribute to his father. In the game to follow, played at 8,000-seat, 114-year-old Rickwood Field—rickety wood and all—the Cardinals edge the Giants by a 6-5 score behind Brendan Donovan’s three hits (single, double, home run) and three RBIs. The Giants get three of their runs on a homer from Heliot Ramos, playing Mays’ former position in center field. 

All to appropriately, this is the first game in MLB history where all four umpires are black. 

Reggie Jackson, blunt and as articulate as ever at age 78, is invited on Fox’ pregame broadcast and tells a broadcast panel that includes Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz of his difficult experiences playing at Rickwood Field and throughout the segregated South as a member of the A’s organization. It’s definitely worth a listen.  

At New York, the Orioles make the Yankees—and first-half star pitcher Luis Gil in particular—look absolutely mortal, demolishing the Bronx Bombers 17-5 on 19 hits including seven doubles and three home runs. Gil is torched for seven runs on eight hits and a pair of walks before being given a very early exit with just one out in the second inning; he had given up his seven previous runs over his last nine starts, totaling 55.1 innings. 

By taking the rubber match of the three-game series, the Orioles establish an MLB record with their 22nd straight series without losing one against opponents within their own division. Of those 22, they’ve won 16 and split six. 

The consolation prize for the Yankees is the return of Aaron Judge, back after having his hand hit in the first game of the series; he singles, homers and drives in three runs. His 27 round-trippers on the year are five ahead of #2 on the list, the Orioles’ Gunnar Henderson. 

Seth Lugo gets the start for the Royals at Oakland and, although he fails to pick up his 11th victory as Kansas City nets the winning run in the eighth after his departure in a 3-2 triumph; his 6.2 innings make him the first pitcher to eclipse 100 on the year. The 34-year-old veteran is easily on pace to top his career high in frames, which he established last year for San Diego with 146.1. 

Friday, June 21

In his first game facing the Angels, Shohei Ohtani shows what his former team of six seasons has been missing without him. It’s too bad for Ohtani that his Dodgers teammates are also missing. Ohtani reaches base in all four of his plate appearances with a single, two walks and his NL-leading 22nd homer of the season—but the rest of the Dodgers combine for three singles in 31 at-bats with no walks, and that allows the Angels to sneak away with a 3-2, 10-inning victory at Dodger Stadium. It’s the Angels’ first win in extras this season. The Angels get help erasing the goose egg off their end of the scoreboard thanks to Dodgers reliever Ryan Yarbrough, who allows two sixth-inning runs on a single and three hit batsmen. Yarbrough is the first Dodger to hit three batters in an inning since 1940. 

Right on the heels of the Angels and trying to escape last place in the AL West, the A’s come from behind to defeat the visiting Twins, 6-5, with Shea Langeliers belting a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to give Oakland the lead for keeps. Langeliers’ blast makes a winner out of A’s reliever Sean Newcomb, who makes the final out of the eighth by picking off Austin Martin after entering the game and throwing two pitches to Willi Castro. Newcomb thus becomes the first pitcher in 124 years of A’s baseball, and the 27th in MLB history, to gain credit for a win without (technically) facing another batter. 

Mortality appears to have finally caught up with—and on this day, cripples—Shota Imanaga. The Cubs pitcher, so spectacular through his first nine games since crossing the Pacific from Japan, is shelled by the visiting Mets for 10 runs on 11 hits through three-plus innings before being mercifully removed in an 11-1 loss. Imanaga is the first Cubs pitcher to allow 10 earned runs in a start since Jason Hammel in 2016; after conceding just five earned runs in his first nine starts, he’s allowed 21 over his last five. 

The Reds’ Elly De La Cruz may be regarded as one of the game’s most promising and exciting talents, but he’s still got some learning to do. In Cincinnati’s 5-2 home win over the Red Sox, the 22-year-old shortstop strikes out in all three of his at-bats, making him the first major leaguer to reach 100 for the season. Though he leads the majors with 36 steals and is second on the Reds with 12 homers, his .234 batting average is not what the team is hoping for—and nobody in the majors has committed more errors than his 15. 

It’s another bad night for Colorado’s Dakota Hudson, who is ripped for eight runs over three-plus innings and becomes the majors’ first 10-game loser on the year, as the Rockies drop an 11-5 decision to the visiting Nationals. Overall for the Rockies, it’s their 50th loss of the season in 76 games—sharing the club record with the inaugural 1993 team and 2005 squad for the fewest games played to suffer 50 defeats. 

Saturday, June 22

For the first time since the inclusion of the pitch clock at the start of the 2023 regular season, a timing violation leads to a walk-off run. It happens in Denver, where the Rockies’ Ryan McMahon looks to strike out on a full-count, two-out, bases loaded pitch from Washington closer Brandon Finnegan—but as McMahon is turning away in disgust, home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt waives the pitch off, raises his arm and points to his wrist to indicate that Finnegan took too long to deliver the pitch. Thus, the game-winning run is forced home on a walk to give the Rockies an 8-7 victory. Finnegan hardly reacts and simply walks off the field without protest; this is the ninth time this season that he’s been called for a pitch clock violation, which is easily tops among all major league hurlers. 

In his 71st career start, Minnesota’s Bailey Ober throws his first complete game, allowing two runs on four hits with 10 strikeouts (and no walks) over 89 pitches—70 of them for strikes—in a 10-2 rout of the A’s at Oakland. That’s the fewest pitches thrown by a Minnesota pitcher in a complete-game effort since 2005, when Carlos Silva totaled a stunningly low 74. 

The Orioles lose their second straight game at Houston, 5-1, but their only run comes on a second-inning homer from Jordan Westburg; it’s the 21st straight game that a Baltimore player has homered to set a franchise mark. Outside of Westburg’s blast, the Orioles can barely penetrate Ronel Blanco, who continues to have a breakout campaign by improving to 8-2 with a 2.34 ERA. 

For the sixth time in PNC Park’s 24-year history, a home run ball reaches the adjacent Allegheny River on the fly—and not surprisingly, it comes off the bat of Pittsburgh bruiser Oneil Cruz, whose 445-foot drive down the right-field line in the first inning gets wet. Cruz’s 10th homer opens the scoring for the Pirates in a 4-3 victory over Tampa Bay. 

Sunday, June 23

After nearly eight months, Max Scherzer returns to action in style, allowing just one hit and no walks over five shutout innings and picking up his 215th career victory in the Rangers’ 4-0 win over the Royals at Arlington. The last of Scherzer’s four strikeouts ties Greg Maddux for 11th on the all-time list, with 3,371. The 39-year-old ace missed the first three months of the year as he recovered from back surgery in December. 

It’s another excellent outing for heralded Pittsburgh rookie Paul Skenes—but on this day, he and his Pirates will get no win against the visiting Rays. That’s not Skenes’ fault; after surrendering a first-pitch leadoff homer in the first inning to Yandy Diaz, Skenes doesn’t allow another run through seven innings—giving up five more hits, a walk and striking out eight while hitting a season-high on max velocity at 101.5 MPH, on what will be his final delivery of the day. After his departure, reliever Colin Holderman quickly fails to preserve a 1-1 tie by giving up two runs, securing a 3-1 victory for Tampa Bay. 

In eight starts since being called up, Skenes is 4-0 with a 2.14 ERA; his 61 strikeouts and eight walks make him the first NL pitcher to reach 60 strikeouts before walking his 10th batter to start a career. 

Injury, ineffectiveness…and now, ignominy. That seems to sum up the season to date for Mets closer Edwin Diaz, who faces a suspension of 10 games after umpires suspect illegal substances on his hand prior to pitching the ninth in New York’s 7-3 win at Chicago over the Cubs. In his place, Drew Smith and Jake Diekman combine to shut down the Cubs in the ninth. 

Since missing all of last season after tearing an ACL while celebrating a World Baseball Classic win with teammates, Diaz has struggled to regain his superior 2022 form; he’s saved seven games but blown four other opportunities, has posted a 4.70 ERA, and missed nearly three weeks due to a shoulder injury. 

The game will otherwise be remembered for the unveiling of a sculpture for Cubs Hall-of-Fame favorite Ryne Sandberg at Wrigley Field on this, the 40th anniversary of his breakout game simply recalled as the “Sandberg Game.” 

After Juan Soto and Aaron Judge survived long-term injury scares earlier in the month before only missing anywhere from a day to three instead, Giancarlo Stanton—the third member of the Yankees’ bash-happy trifecta—isn’t as lucky. The injury-prone slugger, who’s played all but 10 games in 2024, is expected to miss four weeks after injuring his hamstring the night before against the visiting Braves. In 69 games this season, Stanton is hitting .246 with 18 home runs and 45 RBIs. Without Stanton, the Yankees go down to defeat against Max Fried and the Braves, 3-1; Soto and Judge combine for two singles in eight at-bats with no walks and three strikeouts. 

A day after signing a four-year, $22.5 million extension, fourth-year Phillies pitcher Cristopher Sanchez tosses seven shutout innings in a 4-1 victory that starts at 11:30 in the morning, part of MLB’s scheme to attract viewers to Roku—which has exclusive TV rights for the game. With his effort, Sanchez improves to 5-3 with a 2.67 ERA. 

Monday, June 24

In a meeting of two of the AL’s top three teams (by the record), the Cleveland Guardians top the Orioles at Baltimore, 3-2, behind Jose Ramirez’s tie-breaking solo home run in the sixth inning, six solid frames of pitching from Tanner Bibee, and three strikeouts in a perfect ninth for back-up closer Scott Barlow, filling in for a spent Emmanuel Clase (four appearances over his past five days). It’s the sixth straight win and 50th overall on the season for Cleveland, the third team to reach the halfway-to-hundred marker after the Yankees and Phillies. Meanwhile, the Orioles go homerless and see their franchise-record streak of 22 straight games with a round-tripper come to an end. 

In their first game back in San Francisco since the passing of Willie Mays, the Giants—with all their players wearing Mays’ #24 in tribute—rally in the ninth to score three runs, the last coming home on Wilmer Flores’ walk-off, bases loaded walk, to defeat the Cubs, 5-4. The loss for Chicago is yet another bitter moment for Justin Steele, who after winning 16 games last season still has none in 11 starts this year despite a 1.38 ERA over his last six outings; he can only watch as a 4-2 lead he departs from in the eighth is bungled by a Cubs’ bullpen which currently has a 4.47 ERA—as opposed to the starters’ 3.60. 

The Phillies easily tame the Tigers at Detroit, 8-1, behind a big day for Bryce Harper (two doubles, a home run and five RBIs), Aaron Nola’s 99th career win, and the first 1-3-5 triple play turned in the majors since 1929. That event occurs in the third inning, when Nola snares a liner from Matt Vierling, throws to first to double up Carson Kelly, before Zach McKinstry—inexplicably not returning to third—is tripled up to complete the play. 

Tuesday, June 25

The Cleveland Guardians now have MLB’s best record, improving to 51-26 with a 10-8 victory at Baltimore and extending the Orioles slide to five games—their longest losing streak since in over two years. Jose Ramirez’s three-run homer highlights a five-run fifth, while Bo Naylor finishes the evening a home run shy of the cycle. The Orioles club eight extra-base hits, including four homers, in defeat. 

It’s not been a wonderful last week for the Blue Jays; they’ve lost their top hitting prospect (Orelvis Martinez) to an 80-game PED ban, star first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. says he’s open to a trade to the Yankees—acknowledging that baseball is a “business”—before walking his comments back, and the team steps onto the field at Fenway Park riding a seven-game losing skid. Less than three hours later, the Jays are feeling much better as they score seven runs in the third inning and cruise to a 9-4 win over the Red Sox. Guerrero crushes a pair of two-run doubles to lead the Jays. 

Shohei Ohtani belts a leadoff homer in the first, then caps the scoring in the fourth with an RBI single as the Dodgers hold on to edge the White Sox at Chicago, 4-3. It’s Ohtani’s ninth straight game with at least one RBI, tying a franchise record; the win gives the Dodgers 50 at their season’s halfway point. On the other side, the White Sox finish their first half with an abysmal 21-60 mark, the worst start in their 124 years of play. In fact, the 60 losses are the most in any one 81-game stretch within a single season in team history. 

Wednesday, June 26

It takes half a season, but the Houston Astros reach the .500 mark for the first time this season as they defeat the visiting Rockies, 7-1. Getting the job done on the mound for the Astros is rookie Spencer Arrighetti, who becomes the first Houston hurler this year to strike out 10 batters in a game while keeping the Rockies scoreless through seven innings on just three hits. 

Only two MLB teams—the Giants and A’s—have yet to see any of their pitchers earn double-digit strikeouts this year. The A’s haven’t had a pitcher do it in their last 224 games. 

Shohei Ohtani once again sets the tone for the Dodgers at Chicago with a leadoff homer in the first, while Gavin Stone throws the Dodgers’ first complete-game shutout since April 2022 in a 4-0 victory over the White Sox. It’s the 10th straight game in which Ohtani has knocked in at least one run, setting a Dodgers franchise record; since taking over the leadoff role in place of the injured Mookie Betts, Ohtani has 14 hits in 33 at-bats (.424 average) with three doubles, six homers, 15 RBIs, 12 runs and 10 walks. 

Speedy, 20-year-old Milwaukee rookie Jackson Chourio becomes the youngest major leaguer to hit an inside-the-park homer since Ken Griffey Jr. in 1989, rounding the bases in the fourth inning of a contest the Brewers will win in 10 innings, 6-5, as Andruw Monasterio singles home the gift runner. Starting the game, but lasting only four innings, for Milwaukee is 2015 AL Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel, who gives up five runs on eight hits. The Brewers are Keuchel’s seventh team over his last six seasons; this is his first start for Milwaukee after being traded by the Mariners, who had him locked down at Triple-A Tacoma. 

The Mets sweep a short two-game series against the Yankees at Citi Field with a downpour-interrupted 12-2 romp, but they still have an Aaron Judge problem—as does the rest of Baseball. Sean Manaea throws five shutout innings for the Mets before the rains come and shut things down for an hour and a half, while catcher Francisco Alvarez produces a jackpot-like 3-3-3-3 line in the box score, adding a walk to go with a single, double and home run. Judge has two of the Yankees’ six hits and knocks in both runs on his 30th homer of the season, making him only one of three players (after Ken Griffey Jr. and Mark McGwire) to reach 30 three times before the All-Star Game. 

On May 3, Judge was batting .197 with six homers, and hearing boo birds at Yankee Stadium; in 46 games since, he’s batting .394 with a remarkable 25 homers, 17 doubles, 59 RBIs, 35 walks and a 1.471 OPS. 

Thursday, June 27

A wondrous first half (53-28) for the Phillies ends in deep concern as two of the team’s star players—Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber—both get hurt and will go in the injured list in the final inning of a 7-4 home loss to the Marlins. Harper, who earlier on Thursday was named along with the Yankees’ Aaron Judge as the first two players officially slotted into the 2024 All-Star Game—due to both players receiving the most votes in their respective leagues—suffers a hamstring injury on the game’s final play and limps off into the dugout. Schwarber, a DH playing only his third game this season in the outfield, sustains a groin injury earlier in the inning. 

The White Sox’ Luis Robert Jr. accounts for the game’s lone run by going deep in the first inning against the Braves and former White Sock Chris Sale, handing the Braves their third shutout loss since losing Ronald Acuna Jr. to a season-ending injury. Sale, who doesn’t allow another run over seven total innings, fails in his bid to take the MLB lead in wins with 11. 

The Braves are 14-15 and hitting only .209 without Acuna since he tore up his knee on May 26. 

The Blue Jays hand the Yankees their ninth loss over their last 11 games—dropping New York into a first-place tie with Baltimore—in a 9-2 win at Toronto. George Springer wields the big bat for the Jays with a pair of three-run homers, while former Yankee Isiah Kiner-Falefa is hit three times to tie a Toronto record held by Reed Johnson—who felt the hat trick of pain thrice, once in 2005 and twice more in 2006.

Friday, June 28

Orlando Cepeda, one of the most gifted and vibrant players of his generation, has passed away at the age of 86. His loss is another gut-punch for Baseball—and long-time fans of the Giants in particular, still in mourning over last week’s loss of Willie Mays. 

Born in Puerto Rico, Cepeda debuted for the Giants at age 20 as the team began their first season relocated to San Francisco from New York. He homered in the team’s first game in the City by the Bay (playing at Seals Stadium), took NL Rookie of the Year honors unanimously, and became an instant favorite for local fans who saw him as one of their own, as (mystifyingly) opposed to the transplanted New Yorker in Mays. Cepeda only got better in the years to follow, earning All-Star status from 1959-64 as he constantly batted over .300 with power—peaking in a prodigious 1961 campaign in which he led the NL with 46 homers and 142 RBIs, still bowing in the MVP race to the Reds’ Frank Robinson, who had slightly less impressive numbers but whose team won the pennant. Ultimately, Cepeda’s tenure in San Francisco would come to a premature and frustrating end as he virtually competed with fellow future Hall of Famer Willie McCovey for the first base job while clashing with manager Alvin Dark. He told This Great Game’s Ed Attanasio a few years back: “Alvin Dark didn’t like me and I didn’t like him either…Dark thought baseball was like the military. He was always telling (Latin players) to speak English and turn down the music. Dark treated me like a child and really didn’t understand his Latin players. Latins are different, but Dark did not respect our differences.” 

Freed to St. Louis, Cepeda became more embraced in the Cardinals’ culture and vice versa, responding in his first full season there with the NL MVP—the first to be given with a unanimous vote—batting .325 with 25 homers and 111 RBIs as the Cardinals soared to a seven-game World Series triumph over Boston. In the years to follow, Cepeda began to fade, but found a late burst in 1973 by taking advantage of the AL’s new designated hitter rule, batting .289 with 20 homers for the Red Sox at age 35. 

Unhappy in retirement as he looked back on all that angered him, Cepeda turned to Buddhism. “If I had become a Buddhist during my baseball career,” he told TGG, “I believe I would have batted .300 and hit 500 home runs. The reason I didn’t play ball was because I wanted to party every night. I never drank that much, but I’d smoke weed. The next morning, I didn’t want to go to the ballpark.” Named to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1999, Cepeda was welcomed back into the Giants’ community by ownership embracing the past, and became a frequent visitor to Oracle Park; one of the ballpark’s more popular and enduring places to pick up food has been Orlando’s Caribbean BBQ, located behind the center-field scoreboard. 

News of Cepeda’s death reaches a sellout crowd of over 40,000 at San Francisco as the Giants earn a 5-3, walk-off win over the Dodgers on Brett Wisely’s towering two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth. With the loss, the Dodgers see the end of Shohei Ohtani’s franchise-record 10-game streak with an RBI, while they’re no longer undefeated (24-1) when Miguel Rojas gets a hit. 

Two hitting streaks continue. In Tampa Bay’s 3-1 victory over the Nationals, the Rays’ Yandy Diaz breaks Jason Bartlett’s club record from 2009 with a hit in his 20th straight game—but fails to knock in a run in his ninth straight, leaving him tied for that franchise record with four other players, most recently Ben Zobrist and Evan Longoria (also in 2009). Up in Atlanta, meanwhile, the Pirates’ Bryan Reynolds extends his hit streak to 24 games, the longest by any major leaguer this season; his lone single is hardly enough to overcome the Braves, who triumph, 6-1. 

The Rays were the only remaining MLB team never to have a player put together a 20-game hit streak.

It’s another milestone homer—and a big one on the night for the Brewers—for rookie Jackson Chourio, who cleans the bases with a fourth-inning grand slam, providing Milwaukee with all of its scoring in a 4-2 home win over the Cubs. Chourio is the 10th youngest major leaguer ever to belt a slam, and the youngest since Jose Reyes in 2003. 

The A’s snap an 11-game road slide, the longest seen in the majors this year, with a 9-4 victory at Phoenix over the Diamondbacks. Four home runs, all over the final two innings, propel Oakland to a comeback win after falling behind 4-3 in the seventh. 

Saturday, June 29

The Twins win their 5,000th game since moving from Washington in 1961, defeating the Mariners at Seattle, 5-1. Leading the charge, as he has all week for the Twins, is Byron Buxton—whose three-run homer in the sixth inning caps the scoring and provides breathing room for Minnesota. Buxton’s fourth homer over his last five games also extends a streak of consecutive games in which the Twins have homered to 18, tying a franchise mark. 

A fifth-inning grand slam for the Orioles’ Heston Kjerstad not only gives Baltimore the lead for keeps in a 6-5 home victory over the Rangers, it also sets a team record for the most homers in calendar month with 59. Anthony Santander’s solo shot an inning later will give the O’s 60 for June; only the Braves (61 in June 2023) and Yankees (74 in August 2019) have hit more in one month. 

Kjerstad’s odd box score line of 1-1-1-4 suggest a pinch-hit appearance, but he actually plays the entire game with two walks and an HBP thrown in.

The Orioles’ old team mark of 58, set by the 1987 squad, was at the time a major league record. 

Another excellent Paul Skenes start and a couple of historical statistical highlights aren’t enough for the Pirates to overcome the Braves in Atlanta, losing 2-1 in 10 innings. Skenes, in his ninth start, allows a run over six innings with nine strikeouts—but he’s matched by Atlanta ace Max Fried, who also allows a run on the same number of hits (six) over the same number of innings. In defeat, Bryan Reynolds extends his hit streak to 25 games with a ninth-inning triple; Aroldis Chapman, pitching the bottom of that ninth, strikes out two batters and passes Billy Wagner with the most strikeouts ever recorded by a left-handed reliever, with 1,196. 

Reynolds’ streak will come to an end the next day. 

Eleven people are hurt, including six who are sent to hospital, after an escalator at Milwaukee’s American Family Field accidentally speeds up—turning into a “roller coaster off the tracks,” as described by a Chicago-based podcaster who breaks his leg in the incident. None of the injuries are considered life-threatening. This all takes place after the Brewers lose to the Cubs, 5-3. 

Sunday, June 30

Wyatt Langford is the first MLB player to hit for the cycle this season—and the first for Texas since Carlos Gomez in 2017—finishing the accomplishment with a three-run homer in the eighth as the Rangers roll to an 11-2 Sunday night victory at Baltimore, ending a six-game skid. After flying out in the second, Langford triples in the fourth, doubles in the fifth, and singles in the sixth. 

Of the 12 cycles in Rangers history, 10 of them have come since 2004. 

In a 10-4 triumph, the Giants pound away at the visiting Dodgers with 10 doubles, the most by the team since 1912—and the most, ever, by the team in a game in which special rules due to overflow crowds on the playing field are not in effect. Jorge Soler, Heliot Ramos and Patrick Bailey each have a pair of two-baggers. If this sounds a tad like déjà vu, the Giants also collected nine doubles back on May 18; no other MLB team this season has more than eight in a game. 

For the fifth time in eight games, the Brewers hit a grand slam as Brice Turang clears the bases in the fourth inning, part of a big rally in which Milwaukee will score all of its runs in a 7-1 home win over the Cubs. The only other team with that many slams in as many or fewer games was the 2020 Padres; overall, the Brewers have six slams on the year to lead the majors. 

In a game that matches the longest by innings played this season—it probably seems longer given that the two combatants are a combined 52-117 this year—the Rockies need 14 frames to defeat the White Sox at Chicago, 5-4, avoiding a three-game sweep. After the contest is sent into extras at 2-2, both teams notch a run in the 10th, then again in the 13th; after Michael Toglia brings home the gift runner in the 14th for the Rockies, the White Sox fail to answer by going down in order against Jalen Beeks. Mike Soroka takes the loss for Chicago and drops his season record to 0-8. 

According to STATS , the Rockies are only the second team to collect less than six hits and more than 20 strikeouts in a game—and still win. The other team? The Rockies, who did it in an 11-inning game on May 14, 2019 at Boston against the Red Sox.