In a game that's based around threes and nines, our weekly look at MLB oddities turned up a lot of fours. From four-hit games to the four bases on a home run, we take a tour through some of the most notable from the fourth-to-last week of the season.
Chris Coghlan crammed 11 total bases into his four hits on Sunday, legging out triples in his first two plate appearances and homering in his third. The Cubs still lost. Kyle Seager had those hits in June, but Coghlan is the first player with a homer and two triples in a loss since Phillies coach Juan Samuel did it while playing for the Tigers on June 2, 1994. He is the first Cubs batter to do it -- win or lose -- since Roy Smalley against the Boston Braves on June 20, 1950.
Scott Van Slyke, batting eighth, contributed two singles, two doubles, and four RBIs to the Dodgers' win Monday. He's the first Dodger with four hits and four RBIs from that low in the order since James Loney's nine-RBI game against the Rockies in 2006. Their last to do it without a home run was Bill Russell against the Phillies on May 7, 1976.
Meanwhile, Joc Pederson had three singles out of the nine-hole, marking the first time the Dodgers have gotten three hits from both of the bottom two spots in their order since April 20, 1972. The battery of Claude Osteen and Chris Cannizzaro did it in an 11-1 win over Atlanta.
Kyle Seager and Mark Trumbo each went 4-for-4 with a two-run homer Wednesday. They are the first pair of Mariners teammates to have four-hit games since July 2011, and the first to also homer since 2006. However, in their history, the Mariners had never before had two batters each go a perfect 4-for-4 (or better), with a home run, in the same game.
Corey Seager, playing in just his ninth major-league game, went 4-for-4 in Saturday's win. The last Dodger to have four hits and three RBIs so early in his career was longtime outfielder Carl Furillo. He did it in his eighth game, against the Phillies on April 24, 1946.
Jackie Bradley Jr. had a two-run homer among four hits Monday. The last Boston hitter with four hits and four RBIs in a game was … Bradley in August. He's Boston's first player with a pair of four-hit, four-RBI games in a season since Mike Lowell in 2007, and their first ever to do it twice while batting ninth. Since RBIs became official in 1920, only two other players have had multiple such games batting ninth in one season: Tom Brookens of the Tigers in 1988, and John Castino for Minnesota in 1980.
Eugenio Suarez had his first career four-strikeout game Tuesday. By our definition, though, he did not earn the "golden sombrero" since he also tripled to score the last two Cincinnati runs. He's the second player this year to have four strikeouts and a triple in a game; Joey Gallo pulled that off on June 29. No Cincinnati hitter had done it in the live-ball era.
The Rockies hit four home runs out of Petco Park on Thursday. Final score: 4-3. It's the sixth time Colorado has scored at least four runs with all of them on solo homers, but only the second such game in team history that they've won. The other was July 9, 1995, when John Vander Wal, Larry Walker, Eric Young and Dante Bichette went deep in a 4-1 win against Montreal.
After hitting five home runs Friday to beat the Yankees, the Blue Jays cranked four more in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader. It's only the third time Toronto has hit four homers in back-to-back road games at the same park; it happened in 2009 at Fenway and in April 1985 at the original Arlington Stadium.
They didn't homer in the 11th inning, but the Jays did score four runs in an extra frame for the first time since, well, Tuesday. That was their highest-scoring extra inning in over three years, and it's the first time they've had two four-run extra innings in a season since 1989 (one of those was also in the Bronx).
Bartolo Colon helped his own cause Thursday with an RBI single. He had already set a career high for hits, but that set one in RBIs as well, a whopping four. He had five in his career prior to this year. Matt Harvey leads Mets pitchers with seven RBIs this season, but Jon Niese has four, and Steven Matz (remember his debut?) has five. It's the first time the Mets have had four pitchers with four RBIs since 1990, when David Cone, Sid Fernandez, Dwight Gooden and Frank Viola combined for 22. Their only other season doing it was 1974 (Jon Matlack, Jerry Koosman, George Stone, Tom Seaver).
More from this week
Rich Hill and Drew Smyly, Sunday: First opposing starters to allow zero runs and strike out 10 hitters since Andy Benes (Padres) and Bret Saberhagen (Mets) on July 15, 1994.
Royals, Saturday: First time scoring five runs in consecutive innings since Aug. 28, 1988.
Tim Hudson, Tuesday: First Giants pitcher to homer as part of a back-to-back since Bob Knepper (who followed his catcher, Mike Sadek) on May 25, 1979 (off Phil Niekro).
Brett Gardner, Saturday: First Yankee to homer in both games of a doubleheader loss since Graig Nettles on Aug. 2, 1983.
Nevin Ashley, Wednesday: First Brewers position player to double in his first major-league plate appearance since Antone Williamson on May 31, 1997.
Cody Asche, Saturday: First pinch-hit walk-off homer for Phillies to beat the Cubs since Mike Schmidt on Oct. 2, 1981.
Francisco Liriano, Tuesday: First Pirates pitcher to hit two batters and get two hits as a batter since Don Cardwell in 1965.
Stephen Strasburg, Wednesday: First "Washington Nationals" pitcher to strike out 13 batters and lose. Last for franchise was Javier Vazquez (14 strikeouts but zero run support) on April 9, 2003.