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Cleveland Indians pitcher Corey Kluber became the third major league hurler to reach 200 strikeouts this season, hitting the milestone in Thursday’s 4-1 loss to the Minnesota Twins.

In the midst of a tremendous breakout season, the 28-year-old right-hander now has 205 strikeouts through 27 outings, easily topping his previous career-high mark of 136 punchouts, which he set last season.

Though he reached a milestone and held the Twins to three runs over seven innings, Kluber took his first loss since June 30 on Thursday, as he was outdueled by Minnesota right-hander Phil Hughes, who is having a breakout season of his own.

Kluber‘s outing, while a strong one for most pitchers, was disappointing by the standards that he has created. He gave up just four earned runs over his previous six starts, compiling a 55-6 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 47.2 innings during that stretch.

Although the Seattle Mariners‘ Felix Hernandez remains the obvious front-runner, Kluber has nearly as strong of an argument for AL Cy Young honors.

Among qualified American League starters, the Indians’ ace is third in ERA (2.46), second in innings (186.1), ninth in WHIP (1.08), tied for second in strikeouts (205) and tied for fifth in wins (13). Per FanGraphs.com’s measure, Kluber has been worth 5.5 wins above replacement, tied with Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw for second in the majors, behind only Hernandez (6.2).

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The Washington Nationals won a 10th consecutive game Thursday, matching the franchise record for longest winning streak, per ESPN Stats & Info.

As has become the custom during their recent run, the Nationals won Thursday’s game in dramatic fashion, downing the Arizona Diamondbacks 1-0 on a walk-off error by Arizona third baseman Jordan Pacheco in the ninth inning. The walk-off victory was Washington’s fifth in a span of six games, something no team has done since the Houston Astros in 1986, according to ESPN Stats & Info.

Dating back to their time in Montreal, the Nationals/Expos have compiled five winning streaks of exactly 10 games, most recently—besides the current one—from June 2-12, 2005, per MLB.com. Each of the preceding four streaks ended at exactly 10 games, as the franchise has never put together an 11-game run in its 46-year history.

Among active major league franchises, only the Nationals/Expos and Miami Marlins have failed to compile a winning streak longer than 10 games. The Marlins have won nine in a row on four separate occasions but have yet to hit the 10-game mark in their 22-year history.

The Nationals head into Friday evening’s game against the San Francisco Giants favored to take sole possession of the franchise record for longest winning streak. Playing at home for a seventh consecutive game, the Nationals will toss a red-hot Doug Fister against Giants right-hander Tim Hudson.

Fister, who owns a 12-3 record and 2.20 ERA this season, has not given up more than two runs in a start since July 2, with the streak spanning seven outings. He’s held his opponent to three earned runs or fewer in 16 of his 18 starts this year.

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Following Monday’s 4-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs, the New York Mets have become the first team in the last 10 years to record four or fewer hits in five consecutive games, per ESPN Stats and Info.

The rare streak may sound familiar to diehard fans of the Amazin’s, as the 2004 Mets were the last team to compile such a run of futility.

In fact, per Complete Baseball Encyclopedia (via GammonsDaily.com), the Mets are responsible for three of these unwanted single-season streaks, of which there have been only seven in the major leagues since 1914.

The third such streak in franchise history came back in 1963 during the team’s second year of existence.

While no team has ever gone more than five straight games in the same season with four hits or fewer, the 2002-03 Detroit Tigers had a six-game run which began on the final day of the 2002 campaign.

While that ’03 Tigers squad and the ’63 Mets were both historically bad, the same hasn’t been true for the other teams, a group rounded out by the 1946 Boston Red Sox, 1980 Oakland Athletics and 1993 Cincinnati Reds, per Complete Baseball Encyclopedia (via GammonsDaily.com).

The 1946 Red Sox won 104 games as American League champions, before losing the the St. Louis Cardinals in one of the all-time great World Series.

The 1980 Athletics and 1993 Reds were rather unremarkable, finishing 83-79 and 73-89, respectively.

The ’04 Mets were a bit worse at 71-91 while this year’s version sits at 59-67 heading into Tuesday’s game against the A’s.

A matchup against tough Oakland lefty and former Met Scott Kazmir means history could be in the making, though the southpaw has struggled over his last few starts.

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Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Vance Worley had an odd Monday night, becoming the first hurler since at least 1900 to record eight or more strikeouts during a start in which he gave up six or more runs in the first inning, per Elias Sports Bureau.

Worley‘s night at PNC Park started in the worst fashion imaginable, as he gave up solo home runs to the Atlanta Braves’ first two batters of the game, outfielder Jason Heyward and light-hitting shortstop Andrelton Simmons. Heyward‘s long ball was his first since July 18 and 10th of the season while Simmons’ was his first since June 10 and sixth of the season,

The nightmare didn’t end there, as Worley proceeded to allow a walk to first baseman Freddie Freeman, a single to outfielder Justin Upton and an infield single to third baseman Chris Johnson before finally striking out second baseman Tommy La Stella for the first out of the game. Following an RBI single by catcher Gerald Laird and an RBI groundout from pitcher Ervin Santana—aided by a Pittsburgh error—the Braves held a 6-0 lead after the top of the first inning.

While the deficit proved too much for the Pirates to rebound from, Worley bounced back nicely on a personal level, recording seven strikeouts over five scoreless innings the rest of the way, albeit in a 7-3 Pirates loss.

While such a peculiarity can never be expected, Worley was facing the right team to grab an odd piece of strikeout-related history. The Braves have struck out in 22.6 percent of their plate appearances this season, ranking 27th in the majors and ahead of only the Houston Astros (23.1), Chicago Cubs (23.2) and Miami Marlins (23.3). Atlanta also ranks a miserable 28th in the majors in runs scored (470) this season and is sitting in the bottom 10 for batting average (.246), on-base percentage (.310) and slugging percentage (.372).

The eight strikeouts represent Worley‘s highest single-game total since July 20, 2012, when he fanned nine San Francisco Giants while pitching for the Philadelphia Phillies. In between that outing and Monday’s, the right-hander went 27 consecutive starts without once recording eight or more strikeouts.

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Cincinnati Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips, who went hitless in his first game back from the disabled list Monday, needs just two more hits to reach 1,500 for his career.

After missing more than five weeks of action due to a torn tendon in his thumb, Phillips rejoined the Reds Monday against the St. Louis Cardinals, starting at second base and batting sixth in an eventual 6-5, 10-inning loss.

Though he registered just one walk in his five plate appearances, Phillips appeared to make it through the game without incident, setting him up to reach the 1,500-hit milestone before the end of this week.

With 1,409 of his 1,498 career hits coming in a Cincinnati uniform, Phillips ranks 12th on the all-time franchise list for a team that can lay claim to some excellent hitters.

The top two spots on said list are unsurprisingly held by MLB hit king Pete Rose (3,358) and Hall of Fame shortstop Barry Larkin (2,340).

Signed with Cincinnati through 2017, the 33-year-old Phillips will likely climb into the top-10 spots on the franchise hits list, as he’s just 30 behind 11th-place Frank McCormick (1,439) and 90 behind 10th-place Ted Kluszewski (1,499).

Ninth-place Frank Robinson has a comfortable lead over Phillips, with the Hall of Famer’s 1,673 hits for the Reds besting the second baseman’s 1,409 by a margin of 264.

While he has a shot to become the sixth player in franchise history with 2,000 hits in a Reds uniform, Phillips has shown undeniable signs of decline the last few seasons. Following perhaps the best year of his career in 2011, the veteran second baseman dropped back to his career norms in 2012 and then sunk even lower in 2013.

While his batting average has bounced back a bit from last season’s .261, Phillips owns perhaps his worst slash line since joining the Reds, sitting at .269/.307/.388 through 87 games.

His .695 OPS would mark a personal worst during his Cincinnati tenure, falling just short of the .706 mark he posted last year. Prior to 2013, Phillips’ worst season-long OPS as a Red was .750 from 2012.

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Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Ender Inciarte pushed his hitting streak to 18 games with a 10th-inning double in Monday’s 5-4 loss to the Washington Nationals, thus extending his own franchise rookie record.

Inciarte nearly saw his streak come to an end, as he’d registered just one walk in his four plate appearances after grounding out in the eighth inning. However, a ninth-inning homer by fellow rookie outfielder David Peralta sent the D-Backs to extra innings, allowing Inciarte to extend his team record.

Inciarte‘s 18-game hitting streak is tied for the second-longest by any rookie this year, matching the run put together by Chicago White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu from June 15 to July 4, per ESPN.com.

The season’s longest streak by a rookie also came courtesy of Abreu, who hit in 21 consecutive games from July 6 to August 1. With his streaks separated by just the one contest on July 5, Abreu hit safely 39 times in a span of 40 games.

As for Inciarte, while the 23-year-old owns a strong .316/.365/.405 batting line over the course of his streak, it’s the 27-year-old Peralta who has unquestionably been the Diamondbacks’ more impressive rookie outfielder in terms of batting this year.

Inciarte was having a miserable season at the plate before his streak started, and he still owns a rather unsavory .266/.302/.330 batting line heading into Tuesday’s game against the Nationals.

Peralta, meanwhile, has been a menace to opposing pitchers, posting a .290/.320/.461 slash line in 64 games, with six home runs, six triples, 31 RBI and 31 runs.

However, Inciarte‘s strong defense shouldn’t be forgotten about, as FanGraphs.com has him at 1.5 Wins Above Replacement (WAR) through 81 games—due almost entirely to his work with the glove. Peralta, on the other hand, has been worth just 0.7 WAR through 64 games by FanGraphs‘ measure, grading out as a below-average defensive outfielder.

While it’s unwise to place too much emphasis on advanced defensive metrics with such a small sample size, there’s likely something to the notion that Inciarte and Peralta are much closer in terms of value than their batting stats seem to indicate.

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New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira hit his 361st career home run Sunday, tying Joe DiMaggio for 80th place on the all-time home runs list, per ESPN Stats & Info.

Teixeira slugged No. 361 off Tampa Bay Rays reliever Joel Peralta in the eighth inning of Sunday’s game. The shot, which sailed over the right-field fence for his 20th home run of 2014, gave Teixeira a 20-homer season for the 11th time in his 12-year career. The only season in which Teixeira has failed to reach the 20-homer plateau was last year when a wrist injury limited him to just 15 games.

The 11 seasons of 20 or more home runs tie Teixeira for fourth most among switch-hitters, alongside teammate Carlos Beltran and the recently retired Lance Berkman, per Complete Baseball Encyclopedia (via GammonsDaily.com).

Beltran has 14 home runs this year and thus needs just six more to move into sole possession of fourth place on said list. Tied for second with 14 20-homer seasons are Yankee legend Mickey Mantle and former Atlanta Brave Chipper Jones.

Hall of Fame inductee Eddie Murray leads the way at 16 seasons with at least 20 long balls, and his 504 career home runs have him 26th on the all-time list. Teixeira, who turned 34 in April, would likely have to play at least four more seasons to have any shot at joining Murray in the 500-homer club.

Mantle’s 536 home runs mark the all-time record for a switch-hitter, with Teixeira the only viable threat (and even that’s a stretch) among active players to make a run at the record.

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Miami Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton hit his 149th career home run in Sunday’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, thus moving past Hanley Ramirez for sole possession of second place on the Marlins’ all-time home runs list.

Topping said list at 154 is Ramirez’s longtime double-play mate Dan Uggla, who is currently a free agent.

At his current pace, Stanton figures to pass Uggla in mid-September, as the 24-year-old slugger needs just six more homers for sole possession of first place.

Stanton’s 2014 campaign has already earned a top-10 spot on the single-season franchise home runs list, per Complete Baseball Encyclopedia (via GammonsDaily.com).

His 32 home runs this season are in a four-way tie for 10th place, matching the number hit by Uggla (2008), Mike Jacobs (2008) and Mike Lowell (2003).

Stanton is already responsible for Nos. 2 and 3 on said list, having hit 37 homers in 2012 and 34 in 2011.

It’s seemingly only a matter of time before he takes the franchise record from retired outfielder Gary Sheffield, who hit 42 home runs in 1996.

Ultimately, the only obstacle to Stanton achieving every one of his franchise’s significant home run records is the possibility of a trade.

With the Marlins sitting at 62-62 and no longer taking the mindset of a rebuilding club, all is quiet on the Stanton trade-talk front for the first time in years.

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Colorado Rockies outfielder Michael Cuddyer wasted no time re-acclimating himself to major league pitching, hitting for the cycle on his first day back from the disabled list in the second game of Sunday’s doubleheader versus the Cincinnati Reds.

Cuddyer, who missed more than two months of action due to a shoulder injury, registered just a lone single in five at-bats during the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader.

No matter, because he proved his health without question in the second game, becoming just the fourth player in major league history to hit for the cycle in two leagues, per MLB Stat of the Day.

The other three players—John Reilly, Bob Watson and John Olerud—are similar to Cuddyer in that they had excellent careers but aren’t considered worthy of the Hall of Fame. Olerud actually has a decent case to join the Hall, but as a medium-power first baseman who largely played in the steroid era, he has never quite gotten the respect he deserves.

In any case, Cuddyer—who previously hit for the cycle as a Minnesota Twin in May 2009—became the 12th-oldest player since 1914 to accomplish the feat, at 35 years and 143 days, per MLB Stat of the Day.

In light of the veteran outfielder’s age, recent injury and lack of speed, it’s rather surprising that he tallied the first cycle of the 2014 season. However, Cuddyer’s home park of Coors Field is rather inviting for triples, of which he surprisingly has 41 in his 14-year career.

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Milwaukee Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy, who hit his 40th double of the season Sunday, has a chance to become the first catcher in the modern era (since 1900) to lead a league in two-baggers, per ESPN Stats & Info.

Lucroy’s 40 doubles tie him with Detroit Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera for the major league lead, just one ahead of Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt (39), who will likely miss the rest of the season because of a fractured hand.

Goldschmidt was previously on track to lead the National League in doubles, as he sat five ahead of Lucroy entering the game in which he suffered his hand injury.

With Goldschmidt out of the picture, Lucroy’s primary challengers for the NL lead are Atlanta Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman (35), Washington Nationals outfielder Denard Span (34) and New York Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy (34).

Span seems unlikely to put up much of a fight, as he’s averaged just 31 doubles per 162 games throughout his career, in large part because he turns so many would-be two-baggers into triples. Murphy and Freeman are both more in the mold of the classic doubles hitter, though Freeman’s 35 two-baggers this year already represent a career high.

Lucroy’s 40 doubles mark a surprisingly rare feat for his position, as only two primary catchers have recorded that many in a campaign since 2008. Yadier Molina (44) and Jarrod Saltalamacchia (40) both did it last year, meaning no catcher reached 40 doubles in a season during the four-year stretch from 2009 to 2012.

In fact, Lucroy’s 40-double campaign is just the fourth by a catcher this millennium, which is perhaps less surprising once you account for the extra rest afforded to backstops in today’s game.

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