It seems lately that there isn’t some sort of history being made each week in baseball. This past week was no different. There were hitting milestones, pitching performances for the ages, and some pretty fine defensive work. Nevertheless, we can only take the cream of the crop from the past seven days on Top of the Heap. Many fine showings, including a hell of a catch from last week’s runner-up Joc Pederson, were left behind. Here are the top five plays that defined the week that was in baseball.
5. Brock Holt Goes Cycling
The Red Sox have been teetering on the brink of implosion for about a month now. They’ve have several lengthy losing streaks, including a seven game run entering last week. However, there have been several shining lights in an otherwise lost season. One of those has been Brock Holt. Last Tuesday versus Atlanta he put on quite the show for the Fenway faithful, even if they didn’t realize it at first. He led off the bottom of the first with an opposite field double off Julio Teheran. Following a ground out in the third, he’d get a two out single in the fifth. A solo home run over the Green Monster in the seventh left him a triple short of the cycle. He would need a big eighth inning from his teammates to get a chance. They did just that against Braves reliever Sugar Ray Marimon. Holt came up with two outs and put a ball into the famed Fenway triangle in center. He put his head down and sped to third to complete the first cycle in the Majors this season and the first for the Red Sox since 1996.
4. Gerardo Parra Is An Extra Base Thief
Like Boston, Milwaukee hasn’t had much to cheer about in 2015. They were in that type of funk on Wednesday as the Royals put a hurting on them and Joe Blanton won his first game in over two years. Nevertheless, the top play of this game did come from a member of the Brew Crew. In the bottom of the fourth, Mike Fiers gave up a deep drive to Kansas City’s Alex Rios. Gerardo Parra was strangely shallow on the play but tracked the ball back to the warning track. He seemed to have a good beat on it before the ball started tailing away from him at the last minute. Fear not Milwaukee fans as Parra switched directions with lightning quickness and made a sensational over the shoulder snag. Did that wonderful play soften the blow of a 10-2 loss? Probably not. It did however get the Brewers on the right side of a Top of the Heap play this week.
3. Billy Burns Takes Away Two Then Turns Two
Billy Burns just missed the cut on last week’s Top of the Heap. He made sure this week that no such snub would be possible. In last Tuesday’s game against the Padres, Burns didn’t have to wait long to make an impact. In the bottom of the first inning, Oakland lefty Scott Kazmir gave up a towering drive to San Diego’s Justin Upton. Speed merchant Billy Burns had his starter’s back as he made like the Flash and got to the wall to rob Upton of a two run home run. To add insult to injury, Burns threw the ball back in to a small relay team to double up baserunner Yonder Alonso. It went from a two run play to a two out play just like that. Justin Upton needs to learn a valuable lesson from this though. He has been the victim here on Top of the Heap for two weeks running now. Keep your hits out of these center fielder’s webs Justin!
2. A-Rod Does A Jeter Impression For Hit 3000
Alex Rodriguez has been on a quest for both history and redemption in 2015. The latest milestone to fall was hit 3000. Only 28 other men in the long, illustrious lineage of the game of baseball have secured 3000 career hits. Only two of those men (Derek Jeter & Wade Boggs) did it the way Alex Rodriguez did it on Friday night. The Tigers sent former Cy Young winner Justin Verlander to the hill to try to foil history. It would only take one pitch to A-Rod for Verlander to fail in that task and join teammate David Price on the exclusive list of pitchers to give up hit 3000. Those two join Chris Haney on the even more unique list of players to give up the 3000th via a home run. It will be interesting to see if any more records fall at the feet of the beleaguered Yankee in 2015. Either way, he’ll know he wasn’t once again one-upped by his former contemporary Jeter on hit 3000.
1. Max Scherzer Flirts With Perfection…Again
Last week, Max Scherzer dominated the Brewers to the tune of 16 strikeouts, 1 walk, and a Carlos Gomez bloop single in the seventh inning. His encore this week came against the Pirates and was even better. Scherzer dominated one of the hottest teams in the sport and had a perfect game heading into the ninth inning. The first two men went down meekly as Gregory Polanco fouled out and Jordy Mercer flied out. That left light-hitting Jose Tabata as the only thing standing between Scherzer and perfection. It looked like it was going his way getting the count to 2-2. Then it happened. He hit Jose Tabata with a pitch. Many say Tabata leaned into it but it didn’t matter. The perfect game was gone. Only Hooks Wiltse back in 1908 could feel Scherzer’s pain of losing a perfecto via a hit batsman on batter 27. Nonetheless, Scherzer got Josh Harrison to fly out in the next-at bat and he had his no-hitter. He also got his chocolate syrup shower, a custom Nationals fans hope to see more and more of as summer rolls on. You may not have been perfect Mad Max, but you were certainly Top of the Heap this week.