The new record for combined HR in a homestand got me thinking about absurdly trivial trivia, and how today's game might be worth a footnote or two.

Namely, the 5 hits given up, all of them being home runs. Using baseball-reference's play index:

* Today was only the 4th time in history that a team gave up 5 or more home runs in a game and NO OTHER HITS. Oddly, the most recent incident of this was just a couple weeks ago (Texas did it against Baltimore on May 10, 2012; Texas also did it on 6/24/89 against Cleveland, and Detroit did it against the Yankees on 6/16/2004).

* Of these 4 incidents, today's game is the first time a team has WON a game while giving up 5+ HR and no other hits.

* Mat Latos becomes the 6th pitcher in MLB history to give up 5 or more HR and no other hits. Colby Lewis (TEX) was the previous most recent guy to do it. Also: Ted Lilly, Charlie Hough, Steve Stone, and Denny McLain.

* Mat Latos becomes the FIRST AND ONLY ONLY pitcher in MLB history to give up 5 or more HR and NO OTHER BASERUNNERS. No walks, HBP, errors, etc. Five hits, all home runs, but never had to work out of the stretch once. Wacky.

* And Mat Latos becomes the first and only starting pitcher in MLB to do the 5+ HR and no other hits and still get the WIN. Delicious.

Thus ends my addition to useless knowledge....


Rick