Between The Lines

Swinging Singles
The wildest game of the week was played last Saturday night in Kansas City, where the Royals beat the Tigers 5-4 on Jon Nunnally's homer in the 16th inning. It was Kansas City's first extra-base hit of the game, following a club-record 21 singles, five short of the American League mark set by the 1992 Brewers. "Just call us the swinging singles," said Royal coach Jamie Quirk. Kansas City used 22 players, nine of whom batted in the number 9 spot in the order. Royal pitcher Hipolito Pichardo, who got the win, was forced to bat twice—the first Kansas City hurler to hit in a game since Mark Littell in 1977. (Infielder David Howard threw two innings last year and batted as a pitcher.) Pichardo went 0 for 2. The Tigers, meanwhile, were held hitless over the last nine innings.

Angels with No Mercy
The Angels have scored in double figures 17 times this year, six more than any other AL team. California has also won eight games this year by 10 or more runs. No other AL team has even half as many victories by such lopsided margins.

No Relief
In an 18-11 loss to the Blue Jays last Saturday, Oakland reliever John Briscoe gave up two runs in the sixth inning without a ball leaving the infield. He allowed an infield hit, a walk, a hit batsman, a walk and another hit batsman. The outing raised Briscoe's ERA to 31.50.