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Milwaukee Brewers closer Francisco Rodriguez earned his 342nd career save Saturday, moving past Rollie Fingers to take sole possession of 11th place on the all-time saves list, per Mike Vassallo, the Brewers’ senior director of media relations.

Rodriguez entered Saturday night’s game against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the ninth inning to protect a two-run lead for starting pitcher Yovani Gallardo, who had out-dueled Clayton Kershaw over the game’s first eight innings.  

Rodriguez gave up a leadoff home run to the resurgent Matt Kemp, but he then followed with two strikeouts and a groundout to lock down the 3-2 victory.

The save was Rodriguez’s MLB-leading 38th, already the fourth-best total of his career and his most since setting the single-season record of 62 saves back in 2008.

According to MLB Stat of the Day, “K-Rod,” as he’s affectionately known, has the most saves (342) through his age-32 season of any pitcher in major league history.

K-Rod, who started 2014 with 304 career saves, has passed 10 retired closers on the all-time list this season, including Hall of Famer Goose Gossage (310), Rick Aguilera (318), Francisco Cordero (329), John Wetteland (330) and, most recently, Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers (341). Next up on the list in 10th place is Randy Myers at 347.

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Minnesota Twins first baseman Joe Mauer has reached a pair of milestone since returning from the disabled list Monday, recording his 300th career double and 1,500th hit.

Mauer, who was out for nearly six weeks with an oblique injury, hit double No. 300 in his first game back Monday against against the Houston Astros.

He then reached 1,500 hits in Wednesday’s game against the Astros, with a first-inning single doing the honors. Later in the same game, Mauer made No. 1,501 count, hitting a two-run home run in the sixth inning to give the Twins a 2-0 lead in an eventual 3-1 victory.

It seems some time off was just what the former catcher needed, as he heads into Saturday’s contest against the Kansas City Royals with six hits in 16 at-bats (.375 batting average) over four games since returning from the disabled list. In addition to Wednesday’s home run, two of Mauer’s hits have gone for doubles, and he’s also drawn a pair of walks.

Even with the recent outburst, Mauer is still on track to have arguably the worst season of his prestigious career. His .276 batting average and .347 on-base percentage would easily be the worst of his career, while his .370 slugging percentage would be just a smidgen better than the low-water mark of .368 that he posted in an injury-riddled 2011 campaign.

Of course, it would be rather unwise to count Mauer out, as he finished the last two years with an on-base percentage above .400, despite playing more than 70 games behind the plate in both seasons.

Now limited to first base and designated hitter, Mauer should be in for a productive final six weeks of the season, assuming he stays healthy.

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With Friday’s 5-0 win over the New York Yankees, the Tampa Bay Rays became just the fourth team in major league history to reach .500 after sitting 18 games under at any point during the season, per Matt Baker of the Tampa Bay Times.

Surprisingly enough, none of the previous three teams—including the 2004 Devil Rays—were able to finish the season above .500.

This year’s Rays, who hit a low-water mark of 24-42 on June 10, have now won seven of their last nine games to pull even at 61-61. They’ve accumulated 37 wins against just 19 losses since June 10, good for a .661 winning percentage.

Such a tale of two seasons would typically be accompanied by a slew of injuries, and while the Rays have certainly dealt with their fair share, it really hasn’t been anything out of the ordinary. In fact, the most significant injury was to 25-year-old starting pitcher Matt Moore, who was ruled out for the season in April because of a torn UCL in his left elbow that required Tommy John surgery.

Meanwhile, outfielder Wil Myers hasn’t played since May 30 due to a wrist injury, and the team was able to turn things around without either Myers or Moore.

As well as the Rays have played for the last nine weeks, they still face an uphill battle to make the playoffs. They’re nine games behind the division-leading Baltimore Orioles, with both the Toronto Blue Jays (7.5 back) and New York Yankees (eight back) sitting in between.

The wild-card race won’t be much easier, as the Los Angeles Angels or Oakland Athletics figure to account for one spot, while the Rays sit 5.5 games back of the Seattle Mariners, who have won five consecutive games.

In addition to the stiff competition out west, the AL Central is also a threat to produce two playoff teams now that the Kansas City Royals have stormed ahead of the Detroit Tigers for the division lead.

According to FanGraphs.com’s playoff odds, the Rays only have a 5.8 percent chance of qualifying for the postseason heading into Saturday’s game against the Yankees.

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Detroit Tigers pitcher David Price is the first hurler to reach the 200-strikeout mark this season, having hit the milestone with his first punchout in a six-K performance during Sunday’s 6-5 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.

Price hardly turned in his best outing in a game that would ultimately last 19 innings, as he surrendered three runs over six frames in his second appearance since being traded by the Tampa Bay Rays.

While the six strikeouts would represent a nice total for nearly any other pitcher, the big lefty has only failed to reach that mark in two of his 25 outings this season. He fanned 10 batters in his Tigers debut last week, marking his 10th double-digit strikeout game of the season.

Though Price was long positioned to win the race to 200 punchouts, the competition this season was unusually stiff. Heading into Tuesday’s slate of game, Seattle Mariners ace Felix Hernandez sits at 194 strikeouts after a strong outing Monday against the Blue Jays, followed by Corey Kluber (187), Stephen Strasburg (186), Max Scherzer (182), Yu Darvish and Johnny Cueto (181).

Darvish, who leads all qualified starters with a 11.35 K/9, has been held back by the fact that he’s only made 22 appearances. Notably absent from the top of the list is All-World Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, who ranks second with a 10.76 K/9, but has only started 19 games because of an April injury.

Price’s 9.96 K/9 is good for seventh in the majors, trailing Strasburg‘s 10.71, Jake Odorizzi’s 10.20, Chris Sale’s 10.18 and Scherzer‘s 10.17, in addition to the league-leading marks posted by Kershaw and Darvish.

Price, who previously reached the 200-strikeout mark in 2011 (218) and 2012 (205), has already matched the second-highest total of his career, and will soon enough set a personal best.

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With a pair of long balls in Monday’s 6-5 win over the St. Louis Cardinals, Miami Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton recorded the 13th multi-homer game of his career, setting a new franchise record, per ESPN Stats & Info.

The previous mark of 12 was held by Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Hanley Ramirez, who played for the Marlins from 2006 through July of 2012. Ramirez and Stanton are now tied at 148 for second place on the Marlins’ all-time home runs list, trailing Dan Uggla (154) by only six.

Uggla and Ramirez homered in the same game 22 times, a then-MLB record for a double-play combo that has since been broken by the Philadelphia Phillies’ Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins.

When it comes to Stanton, there’s been no shortage of statistics to quantify his achievements, as the young slugger seems to be paving a path to Cooperstown.

Per Lee Sinins of Complete Baseball Encyclopedia, Stanton’s 148 career homers are a record through the age of 24 among players who primarily play(ed) right field. Former record-holder Mel Ott, who spent his entire 22-year career with the New York Giants, retired in 1947 with 511 career home runs to his name.

Stanton seems to be headed for a similar total, if not more. While the quantity of his home runs is no doubt impressive, the quality—or should we say distance—is what really stands out.

Stanton has incredibly slugged seven homers of 450 feet or longer this season, eclipsing the number recorded by any team, per ESPN Stats & Info. Only the San Francisco Giants (five) are even close to Stanton’s individual total, as no other club—besides, of course, the Marlins—has produced more than three.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, Stanton is on fire entering Tuesday’s game, with five home runs and eight RBI in his last five games. Even with ace Adam Wainwright scheduled to take the hill Tuesday, the Cards probably want to tread cautiously.

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While another member of the New York Yankees has received plenty of attention for his ascension on MLB‘s all-time hits list, Yankees outfielder Ichiro Suzuki is quietly embarking on his own journey to surpass some of the legends of the game.

With a single in Saturday’s contest against the Cleveland Indians, Suzuki passed Hall of Famer George Sisler for 48th place on the hits list, recording No. 2,811 of his career. After adding a double in Sunday’s series finale, Suzuki stands at 2,812, 27 shy of Charlie Gehringer in 47th place.

Now limited to a part-time role, the 40-year-old former superstar faces an uphill battle to join the vaunted 3,000-hits club, which has just 28 members.

However, whether or not he reaches the milestone, Suzuki has already cemented his place in the Hall of Fame, as he didn’t begin his MLB career until the age of 27, when he memorably took home AL Rookie of the Year and MVP honors for the 116-win Seattle Mariners.

Had he not spent the first nine years (1992-2000) of his career with the Orix Blue Wave in Japan, Suzuki would have long ago passed 3,000 hits and might even be preparing to make a run at 4,000.

In fact, had he joined MLB when first ready, Suzuki might already have 4,000 career hits. Though he wouldn’t have reached the highest level at age 18 as he did in Japan, Suzuki would have benefited from MLB’s longer season of 162 games, compared to just 144 in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).

Playing in the Japan Pacific League, Suzuki recorded just 36 hits between his first two years, before bursting onto the scene with a 210-hit campaign in 1994, a season he started at the age of 20. Given that the 1994 season—in which he posted a .385/.445/.549 slash line—stands as one of Suzuki’s best in Japan, he may well have already been good enough to thrive in Major League Baseball.

There’s a line of thinking that Suzuki never could have registered 1,278 hits (his career total in NPB) through his age-26 season in the United States. However, his career arc in Japan hints otherwise, as Suzuki was quite clearly a superstar by the age of 20.

While we’ll never know what could have been, Suzuki’s total of 4,090 hits between NPB and MLB is one of the more impressive accomplishments in recent baseball history.

All stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless specifically noted otherwise.

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Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Melky Cabrera had an unusual Sunday, recording five walks and three hits in his team’s 19-inning marathon with the Detroit Tigers.

Per MLB Stat of the Day, Cabrera became the first player in major-league history with five walks and three hits in the same game. He also became the 105th player since 1914 to record a five-walk game, as the feat isn’t quite as rare as you might expect.

The “Melkman” is the first player since Rod Carew on May 12, 1972 to reach base safely eight times in one game, according to MLB Stat of the Day.

As busy as his day was, Cabrera somehow failed to cross the plate, though he did drive in a lone run with a seventh-inning single, his second hit of the contest.

After Cabrera started the game with just one hit in three-at bats, the RBI single began a stretch of seven consecutive plate appearances in which he reached base. He walked in the ninth inning and singled in the 12th, before drawing walks (two intentional) in each of his final four plate appearances.

Toronto ultimately won 6-5 in 19 innings, thanks to a walk-off RBI single from star outfielder Jose Bautista. The game, which saw each team use eight pitchers, was the longest in the 38-year history of the Blue Jays franchise, per ESPN Stats & Info.

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New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter moved into sixth place on MLB‘s all-time hits list Saturday, passing fellow shortstop Honus Wagner, per MLB Milestones on Twitter.

For the milestone hit, No. 3,431 of his career, Jeter dribbled a little bouncer to the left side of the infield in the sixth inning of Saturday’s game against the Cleveland Indians.

Indians third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall attempted to field the ball bare-handed but was unable to do so. With Jeter standing on first base, manager Joe Girardi stepped out onto the field and called timeout to retrieve the Cooperstown-bound bat and baseball as the Yankee Stadium crowd stood and applauded their captain for yet another milestone.

Wagner, a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame’s inaugural class in 1936, played 21 major league seasons from 1897 to 1917 for the Louisville Colonels and Pittsburgh Pirates. 

After spending three years in Louisville, Wagner was traded to the Pirates before the start of the 1900 season, and he would spend the rest of his career in the Steel City. He amassed 2,970 hits as a member of the Pirates, ranking second on the all-time franchise hits list behind only the great Roberto Clemente, who had an even 3,000 hits during his storied career.

At the time of his retirement in 1917, Wagner was the MLB all-time hits leader with 3,430. Nearly a century later, only six men have been able to surpass that total.

In addition to Jeter, who added his 3,432nd hit Monday against the Baltimore Orioles, the players ahead of Wagner are Tris Speaker (3,515), Stan Musial (3,630), Hank Aaron (3,771), Ty Cobb (4,191) and Pete Rose (4,256).

Jeter has now found his final place on the all-time hits list, barring a change of heart to return to the diamond in 2015. The Yankees have 44 games left in 2014, and Jeter would need nearly two hits per contest to catch Tris Speaker.

All stats courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.

NOTE:  MLB.com lists Wagner with 3,430 hits, while Baseball-Reference.com lists him at 3,420. For an explanation of the 10-hit difference, refer to this article posted on Baseball-Reference.com.

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With a two-run blast in the ninth inning of Thursday’s 7-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, Miami Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton moved into sole possession of third place on his franchise’s all-time home runs list, per Lee Sinins of Complete Baseball Encyclopedia.

The home run, No. 144 of Stanton’s career, did little to help the Marlins’ chances of winning in a game that was all but decided. Still, the slugging outfielder moved within 10 long balls of the all-time franchise record of 154 home runs, held by second baseman Dan Uggla, who is currently a free agent.

Sitting in second place is current Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Hanley Ramirez, who hit 148 homers in a Marlins uniform from 2006 to 2012. Uggla and Ramirez played together as a double-play combo for five season from 2006 to 2010.

The man Stanton passed for third place Thursday night, retired third baseman Mike Lowell, holds the all-time franchise record with 578 RBI. Of course, much like Uggla, Lowell is merely keeping the seat warm for the 24-year-old Stanton, owner of 370 career RBI.

Though he’s been the subject of trade rumors for years now, Stanton figures to stick in Miami for at least a few more seasons, as the team is finally on the cusp of contention. Despite losing ace Jose Fernandez to Tommy John surgery, the Fish have remained competitive, holding a 55-59 record heading into Friday’s game against the Cincinnati Reds.

The team still has more than its fair share of holes to fill, but the outfield at least is set for the foreseeable future, as the powerful Marcell Ozuna is flanked by Stanton and the underrated Christian Yelich. Per FanGraphs.com, the Marlins’ outfield trio has combined for 9.8 wins above replacement (WAR) this season, with Stanton (4.6 WAR) leading the team, followed by Yelich (3.0) and Ozuna (2.2)

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Los Angeles Angels first baseman Albert Pujols hit his 513th career home run in Tuesday’s game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. According to MLB Milestones‘ Twitter account, that moved him into sole possession of 21st place on MLB‘s all-time home runs list.

Pujols’ long ball, an eighth-inning shot off Dodgers setup man Brian Wilson, was his 21st of the 2014 season.

The home run tied the contest at 4-4, but Angels reliever Kevin Jepsen was unable to hold off the Dodgers in the ninth inning, as Juan Uribe scored the walk-off winning run on third baseman David Freese’s errant throw.

After an injury-plagued 2013 in which he played in only 99 games and hit a career-low .258, Pujols has already appeared in 111 games in 2014 and is on pace to exceed his 155-game average through the first 12 years of his career from 2001 to 2012.

However, it does appear that the 34-year-old nine-time All-Star has slowed down a bit.

His .275 batting average this season is the second-worst of his career, only besting the aforementioned .258 from 2013. Also, his 2014 on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS are only better than his marks from 2013 and sit significantly lower than his career numbers.

Pujols’ home run Tuesday broke a three-way tie for 21st on the all-time home runs list, vaulting the former St. Louis Cardinal past a pair of Hall of Famers, Eddie Matthews and Ernie Banks.

Pujols now needs eight home runs to catch a trio of Hall of Fame greats tied in 18th place at 521—Willie McCovey, recently inducted Frank Thomas and Boston Red Sox legend Ted Williams.

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