Yesterday saw baseball history be made in several different ways. Unfortunately for Chicago Cubs pitcher Jon Lester, he made the made the bad kind of history, having an awful pitching performance for the ages. Also, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Houston Astros both did something that had previously only been done three times in the last 40 years.
Jon Lester's horrible outing makes history
Yesterday was the first time in Jon Lester's career that he got pulled in the 1st inning, in what was his 355th career start. The earliest he had been pulled before was after 1.1 innings pitched (IP) against the New York Mets on July 3rd, 2016.
Lester was on the wrong side of baseball history yesterday, as he became only the fourth pitcher in last 100 years to give up 10 or more runs and not get out of first inning. The last time the Pittsburgh Pirates, who Lester was pitching against, scored 10 runs in the top of the 1st inning was on June 8th, 1989, when Barry Bonds was 24 and in his fourth season with the team. Lester's stat line was a horrendous 0.2 IP, 6 hits, 10 runs, 4 earned runs, 3 walks, 2 errors and 0 strikeouts. He also allowed a grand slam and home run back to back, throwing 53 pitches with only 27 strikes and an ERA of 54.
Cervelli and DeJong make history
On the other hand, Jon Lester's performance helped Francisco Cervelli make history as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat up on the Chicago Cubs 14-3. He became the sixth player in the modern era (since 1900) to have a 1st inning grand slam home run from the number two spot.
The last time someone did that was Mike Trout in 2013. For the day Cervelli had 1 run, 2 hits, 5 RBIs and a home run in 4 at-bats.
In a different game, which saw the St. Louis Cardinals defeat the New York Mets 6-0, rookie Paul DeJong made history. The 23-year-old became the first rookie and Cardinals player in the modern era to have more than 6 extra base hits in a 3-game series.
For the game, DeJong had 1 run, 2 hits, 1 RBI and a home run in 4 at-bats.
The Dodgers and Astros accomplish rare feat
Two days ago the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Kansas City Royals 5-4 to get their 60th win of the season. Yesterday they beat them 5-2 to go into the All-Star break with the best record in the league at 61-29 (.678).
Yesterday also saw the Houston Astros clobber the Toronto Blue Jays 19-4 to get to 60-29 (.674%) before the All-Star break. This makes the Dodgers and Astros only the fourth and fifth teams in the last 40 years to get to 60 wins before the All-Star break. The previous teams to do this were the 1998 Yankees, 2001 Mariners, and 2003 Braves.
