MLB: Rockies' Blackmon leads a night of bizarre accomplishments

Charlie Blackmon was at the forefront on a bizarre night of accomplishments in MLB as the Colorado Rockies lost 10-4 to the Atlanta Braves.

Blackmon went three for five with a home run, two doubles and two RBIs in Colorado's loss on Thursday.

But in that loss Blackmon joined elite company. In fact, he joined Hall of Fame company.

The Rockies' centrefielder became just the fourth lead-off hitter in the history of the game to post three straight seasons of 300 total bases. He has done that while hitting .335 in 2017, .324 in 2016 and .287 in 2015.

Blackmon has hit at least 17 home runs and 27 doubles in each of those years and done so in near complete obscurity in Denver. But his under-the-radar last three seasons with the Rockies leads perfectly into some other stats that players did not even know they were trying to accomplish.

In that same game, Braves centrefielder Ender Inciarte hit two home runs and stole two bases. He is only the sixth player to do that since 2000.

Then there was Minnesota Twins rookie Aaron Slegers who threw just over six innings, allowing two hits, two walks and two runs.

He is the first Twins pitcher to throw six innings and allow two hits or fewer in his debut since Pat Mahomes did it in 1992.

In another rare occurrence, the Chicago Cubs lost a game in which they scored 10 runs for the first time since 2006. The reigning World Series champions handed the Reds a 9-0 lead before rallying to tie the game in the fifth, eventually losing 13-10. 

THURSDAY'S RESULTS

Minnesota Twins 3-9 Cleveland Indians

Minnesota Twins 4-2 Cleveland Indians

Chicago Cubs 10-13 Cincinnati Reds

Toronto Blue Jays 5-3 Tampa Bay Rays

Texas Rangers 9-8 Chicago White Sox

San Francisco Giants 5-4 Philadelphia Phillies

Houston Astros 0-4 Arizona Diamondbacks

Colorado Rockies 4-10 Atlanta Braves

Pittsburgh Pirates 7-11 St Louis Cardinals

New York Mets 5-7 New York Yankees

San Diego Padres 1-2 Washington Nationals

CORBIN STAYS HOT FOR DBACKS

Diamondbacks pitcher Patrick Corbin has been on fire as of late. He had another quality start, going almost nine scoreless innings while allowing just four hits in Arizona's win over the Astros. In his last 12 starts Corbin has a 3.13 ERA, 25.1-percent strikeout and 5.8-percent walk rate.

MITCHELL ALMOST GIFTS METS VICTORY

Yankees pitcher Bryan Mitchell joined Blackmon, Inciarte and Slegers among the bizarre stat leaders Thursday, but his stats were not good. He managed to allow four runs on three hits and a walk in no innings pitched in the Yankees' win over the Mets. Mitchell only threw 12 pitches, but he managed to give up a grand slam to Curtis Granderson and single-handedly let the Mets back in the game. The Yankees actually swept the Subway Series for the first time since 2003.

MONSTROUS MAZARA LIFTS RANGERS

Rangers outfielder Nomar Mazara snapped a 5-5 tie in the fifth inning with a monster blast to right-centre field as Texas went on to beat the White Sox. 

INDIANS AT ROYALS

This one is all about two of the best left-handed hitters in baseball versus possibly the best curveball pitchers, especially against left-handers, in the MLB. It is the Indians' Corey Kluber (11-3, 2.71 ERA) against Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas on Friday. Hosmer has been great this season hitting .315 on the year, while Moustakas has been good this year but great as of late, hitting .339 in August with five home runs, and .284 with 35 homers on the season. But Kluber has been dealing and left-handers are batting just .199 against him.