Early-season baseball always has its fair share of small-sample surprises — that’s why they play 162 games — but the biggest surprise, by far, this season has been the Seattle Mariners. Heading into Thursday’s matinee with the Kansas City Royals, the Mariners are 12-2 and have been putting up some historic early-season offensive numbers. Those will surely slow down, at least somewhat, but for now, folks are having fun in the Pacific Northwest. Certainly more fun that Twins pitching did last night, but perhaps not more than a 101-year-old on her birthday in Houston or the Rays first baseman who helped a White Sox runner do what?
The Mariners have homered in all 14 games thus far and have scored six or more runs in 12 of them. Both of those numbers are historic.
.@Mariners are mashing their way into the history books. pic.twitter.com/jlFyqyCWP0
— MLB (@MLB) April 11, 2019
So a few things… the Mariners have homered in 14 straight games to open the season— tying the 2002 Indians…. ummmm, also they have scored 6 runs in 12 of their first 14 games— they are the first team to ever do that. They are 12-2 let it soak in.
— Angie Mentink (@AngieMentink) April 11, 2019
In a nightmare of a fifth inning, Minnesota Twins pitchers issued SEVEN free passes in a row — six walks and a hit batter — to gift the New York Mets a few runs. The Mets’ social media team had a little fun with it.
Here’s the Twins pitchers’ disastrous 5th inning at Citi Field, which included *7 straight* free passes (6 walks + 1 HBP) and 6 runs allowed: pic.twitter.com/VSWd2DmgVV
— David Adler (@_dadler) April 11, 2019
This is really cool: The mother of Houston Astros pitching coach Brent Strom celebrated her 101st birthday on Wedesday by throwing out the first pitch before the Astros played the Yankees. Then she met Jose Altuve.
Yesterday, Brent Strom’s mother-in-law celebrated her 101st birthday, threw out the first pitch, and met her favorite player, Jose Altuve. 😭
📝 https://t.co/ndODbizHra pic.twitter.com/4BEsR9rwwf
— Houston Astros (@astros) April 11, 2019
Finally for something completely different, check out what Tampa Bay Rays first baseman Ji-Man Choi did for Chicago White Sox base runner Tim Anderson on a cold day in Chicago. Nice gesture, but eww.
