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Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt hit his 33rd double of the season in Monday’s 9-1 win over the Miami Marlins. According to the team’s official Twitter account, that set a new franchise record for most two-baggers before the All-Star break.

The record-setting hit came in the fourth inning of Monday’s game, when Goldschmidt smacked a double to right-center field, scoring rookie outfielder David Peralta from third base.

While the double itself was impressive, it didn’t have much impact on the outcome, as the Diamondbacks already held a 6-0 lead at that point. Goldschmidt‘s RBI pushed it to 7-0.

According to Dave Zorn of 24/7 Sports, the Diamondbacks’ previous record holder for most doubles before the All-Star break was Luis Gonzalez, who hit 32 prior to the Midsummer Classic back in 2003.

Widely regarded as the most prolific hitter in the franchise’s brief history, Gonzalez is the Diamondbacks’ all-time leader in batting average (.298), home runs (224), doubles (310), RBI (774) and runs (780), among other categories.

Though he has a comfortable lead in most of those categories, Gonzalez will likely see many of his franchise records fall to the 26-year-old Goldschmidt, who already has 80 home runs, 292 RBI, 279 runs and 121 doubles through just 443 career games.

Assuming he stays in Arizona for the long haul, Goldschmidt—owner of a .294/.382/.526 career slash line—is well on his way to stealing Gonzalez’s title of best hitter in Diamondbacks history.

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With his 124th hit of the season in Monday’s 12-7 win over the Texas Rangers, Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve set a new franchise record for most hits by one player before the All-Star break, per CSN Houston’s Julia Morales.

The previous record holder was first baseman/left fielder Bob Watson, who recorded 123 hits before the break for the Astros in 1973, according to MLB Stat of the Day on twitter.

In the midst of an incredible season, Altuve reached 124 hits with five games remaining before the break, leaving plenty of time to pad his record-setting total. While it certainly helps that he has only missed three of his team’s 91 contests this season, Altuve has also been excellent on a per-game basis. 

He carries a robust .338/.378/.436 slash line into Tuesday’s game against the Rangers, with his .338 batting average ranking first in the American League and second in all of baseball, just 11 points behind the .349 average of Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki.

Adding to his impressive season, Altuve also leads the American League with 39 stolen bases, putting him three behind Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Dee Gordon (42) for the major-league lead. Gordon has been caught stealing nine times, while Altuve has incredibly been thrown out just three times.

Always a good contact hitter, Altuve has taken his game to the next level this season by shrinking his strikeout rate to a microscopic 6.6 percent, best in the majors among all qualified players, according to Fangraphs.com.

On pace to finish the year with 221 hits, Altuve is primed to record just the second 200-hit season in Astros history, with the feat previously accomplished by Craig Biggio in 1998, per MLB.com.

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The New York Yankees made a bit of history Sunday, becoming the first team in MLB history to have two rookie pitchers named to an All-Star team, per Elias Sports Bureau.

Japanese phenom Masahiro Tanaka is on the short list of candidates to start for the American League, while 26-year-old setup man Dellin Betances figures to pitch out of the bullpen. Both newcomers have quickly emerged as masters of their respective crafts, helping an otherwise shaky Yankees team stay right in the thick of the playoff chase.

The 25-year-old Tanaka leads the majors with 12 wins, a number that no other Yankee rookie has ever reached before the All-Star break, according to ESPN Stats & Info.

If not for the remarkable season Seattle Mariners ace Felix Hernandez is having, Tanaka would be a lock to start the All-Star Game. As is, Tanaka still has a chance to get the nod, with his 2.27 ERA only a bit behind Hernandez’s 2.12 mark, and his 130 strikeouts just 15 shy of King Felix’s 145.

Betances, who earned his first career save in Monday’s game against the Cleveland Indians, hasn’t received nearly the same amount of press as Tanaka, though his work out of the bullpen has been nothing short of remarkable. The New York City native ranks second among American League relievers with 52.1 innings pitched, while leading the majors in strikeouts (79) by a relief pitcher.

As if that weren’t enough, the young right-hander sports a pristine 1.55 ERA, eighth-best in the AL among relievers who have logged 20 or more innings.

Along with Tanaka, Betances is the first rookie pitcher the Yankees have had in the All-Star Game since 1947, when Spec Shea did the honors, per the team’s official Twitter account.

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Making his ninth start of the season and the 10th of his career, Los Angeles Angels pitcher Matt Shoemaker struck out seven Houston Astros over six innings in Thursday’s 5-2 victory.

The performance brought his strikeout total in 10 career starts to 57, setting a new franchise record for the most punchouts through the first 10 starts of a pitcher’s career, according to Eric Kay, the Angels’ director of communications.

Coming off a disastrous eight-run outing against the Kansas City Royals, Shoemaker appeared to be in for another rough day once the Astros plated a pair of runs in the third inning to erase the Angels’ early 1-0 lead. However, Shoemaker induced an inning-ending double play from Astros third baseman Matt Dominguez, thus limiting the damage in the top of the third.

The Angels would bounce back to score four runs in the bottom of the fourth, and Shoemaker ultimately bowed out after recording seven strikeouts over six strong innings, with his team holding a 5-2 lead. The bullpen finished things off, allowing Shoemaker to improve to 6-2 on the season.

The 27-year-old right-hander has seemingly come out of nowhere this year after making one start last season, in which he recorded five strikeouts over five scoreless innings. Despite that one strong outing, Shoemaker never made much noise, as his minor league track record is rather uninspiring.

Last season with Triple-A Salt Lake, he posted a 4.64 ERA and 7.81 K/9, on the heels of an even worse year in 2012. And he was no better earlier this season, as he owned a gruesome 6.31 ERA through 25.1 innings at the time of his call-up.

While he’s struggled in five appearances out of the bullpen this season, Shoemaker has made the most of his nine starts. He owns a 6-1 record as a starter and has only once surrendered more than three earned runs in an outing, in that aforementioned start against the Royals.

Shoemaker certainly hopes to have a better career than Bo Belinsky, the hurler whose franchise record he broke. Belinsky, a southpaw who played from 1962-1970, struck out 56 batters for the Angels in the first 10 starts of his career. Despite the early success, he ultimately retired with a 28-51 record and a lifetime 4.10 ERA.

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New York Yankees designated hitter Carlos Beltran hit his 367th career home run Thursday night against the Minnesota Twins, breaking a fourth-place tie with Lance Berkman for homers by a switch-hitter, as reported by Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Beltran’s three-run shot off Twins starter and former Yankee Phil Hughes highlighted a four-run fifth inning, propelling the Yankees to an 8-5 victory that broke a season-high five-game losing streak. It was Beltran’s first home run at Target Field, marking the 38th MLB ballpark he’s gone deep in, per ESPN Stats & Info.

Beltran is in his 17th MLB season and first with the Yankees, after spending the 2012 and 2013 campaigns with the St. Louis Cardinals. An eight-time All-Star, Beltran has played for six different teams, notably logging six-plus seasons for both the Kansas City Royals and New York Mets. 

As a switch-hitting slugger, Beltran is in very select company, trailing only two Hall of Famers and another soon-to-be Hall of Fame inductee. Former Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones is third on the list with 468 career homers, while “Steady” Eddie Murray is second with 504. Yankee legend Mickey Mantle, widely considered the best switch-hitter of all time, sits atop the pack at 536 home runs.

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Seattle Mariners outfielder James Jones had a night to remember Monday against the Houston Astros, as he became just the second player in franchise history to record four hits and three stolen bases in the same game, per MLB Stat of the Day.

Unsurprisingly, the other player to accomplish the feat in an M’s uniform was future Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki, who registered four hits and four steals in a July 20, 2004 game against the Boston Red Sox.

Batting second and starting in center field, Jones started his historic game in rather inconspicuous fashion with a flyout to left field. It was the last time he’d be retired all night, as each of his following four plate appearances ended with a single.

After his first base knock in the third inning, Jones stole second base then proceeded to also swipe third before ultimately being stranded. He again stole second base after a fifth-inning single but was once again stranded in scoring position.

Jones didn’t get much chance to run after his third hit, as the next batter, Robinson Cano, smashed a three-run homer to extend the M’s lead to 8-3 in the seventh inning.

Jones got another opportunity in the ninth inning, and while he made the most of it with a base hit, Cano proceeded to single on the first pitch of the following at-bat. Jones perhaps could’ve tried to steal third base, but with a five-run lead in the ninth inning, it wouldn’t have been in good taste.

The 25-year-old rookie hasn’t brought much to the table in terms of power this season, but he finished the month of June with 12 steals in 12 attempts while also posting a .292 batting average. Still in search of his first career home run, Jones has proved to be a demon on the basepaths, if nothing else.

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The San Diego Padres posted an atrocious .171 batting average during June, setting a live-ball era record for the worst team batting average in a calendar month, per ESPN Stats & Info.

It was truly an awful month for the San Diego offense, as the team struggled to a 10-17 record despite posting a 3.39 ERA. The only Padres with a batting average above .245 in June were outfielder Jake Goebbert and starting pitcher Tyson Ross. Goebbert registered four hits (all singles) in 13 at-bats for a .308 average, while Ross managed a pair of singles in seven at-bats for a .286 mark.

Among the team’s regular and semi-regular batters, Tommy Medica led the way with 13 hits in 53 at-bats, good for a .245 batting average. There was a significant gap between Medica and second-place Alexi Amarista, who recorded just 14 hits in 62 at-bats for a .226 average.

In terms of dragging the team average down, the worst offenders were veterans Carlos Quentin and Everth Cabrera, both of whom were expected to play key roles in the Friars’ attack this season. Quentin posted a hideous .085 June batting average by registering just five hits in 59 at-bats, while Cabrera was a bit better at .133, with just 13 hits in a team-leading 90 June at-bats.

The Padres finished the month in a fitting manner Monday against the Cincinnati Reds, coming away with a 1-0 victory despite having just one hit in 24 at-bats. Luckily for the San Diego faithful, rookie sensation Jessie Hahn spun yet another gem, striking out nine batters over five scoreless innings.

The Padres’ stable of young arms may inspire jealousy in other organizations, but it looks like the team will need a complete overhaul on offense in order to emerge as a serious contender in future years.

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The Tampa Bay Rays pitching staff struck out 287 batters in June, setting a new MLB record for most strikeouts by a team in one calendar month, according to MLB.com. The previous record of 286 was set in August 2002 by the Chicago Cubs, who rode the right arms of Kerry Wood and Mark Prior into the record books.

It looked like the Rays would fall just short of the milestone Monday night, as they carried a 3-2 lead into the ninth inning against the New York Yankees in their final game of the month. Entering the inning with 283 punchouts in June, Tampa Bay needed Joel Peralta to strike out the side just to match the Cubs’ historic mark.

Instead, Peralta struck out just one batter but also surrendered a game-tying solo home run to Yankees second baseman Brian Roberts, thus sending the contest into extra innings. Tampa’s Grant Balfour fanned a pair of batters in the 10th inning to tie the 2002 Cubs record then gave way to Brad Boxberger for the 11th and 12th frames.

After Boxberger failed to record a K in the 11th, the Rays took a 4-3 lead in the top of the 12th thanks to an RBI single from Logan Forsythe. Needing just one strikeout to make history, Boxberger fanned future Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki to lead off the bottom of the 12th. Once the game finished with a pair of groundouts, the Rays went home with both a victory and the MLB record for most strikeouts in a calendar month.

While it was Boxberger on the hill for the historic punchout, starting pitcher David Price was the catalyst behind Tampa Bay’s record-setting month. The 6’6″ lefty fanned double-digit batters in each of his five June starts, finishing the month with 54 strikeouts in just 39.2 innings.

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Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander took a no-decision in Friday night’s contest vs. the Houston Astros, leaving him without a win for the month of June and winless for the first time in any full calendar month of his MLB career, as reported by The Oakland Press’ Matthew Mowery on Twitter.

Verlander, 6-7 in 2014, went 0-3 in the month of June, losing his first three starts before failing to take a decision in his final two outings of the month. The Tigers went 1-4 in his June starts, and they have dropped seven of their last 10 games started by Verlander.

Verlander’s remarkable streak of earning at least one win in each full regular-season calendar month (April to September) began in April of his rookie season in 2006. His streak of consecutive months earning a win will end at 50, barring an unforeseen relief appearance and win this weekend.

The six-time All-Star has 143 career victories compared to only 84 losses for an impressive .630 winning percentage.

However, the 31-year-old right-hander has struggled this year, allowing more hits than he has innings pitched for the first time since his rookie season of 2006. His 4.72 ERA is the second-worst of his career, besting only the 4.84 mark posted in his 2008 campaign, when he went 11-17.

Verlander’s previous low of one win in a calendar month has occurred nine time, most recently in September 2013.

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Chicago White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu slugged two home runs in Friday night’s contest against the Toronto Blue Jays to become the first player in MLB history with 25 homers through the first 67 games of his career, per ESPN Stats & Info.

Abreu led off the fifth inning of Friday’s game with his 24th home run of the season. He hit his 25th of the year and second of the game in his next at-bat in the seventh inning.

Blue Jays first baseman Edwin Encarnacion also hit home run No. 25 Friday night, creating a three-way tie atop MLB’s home run leaderboard. The third player, Baltimore Orioles outfielder Nelson Cruz, went deep in the second game of Friday’s doubleheader against the Tampa Bay Rays.

With his 25 home runs in only 67 games, Abreu has shattered the previous record of 72 games needed to reach 25 homers, set by Rudy York of the 1937 Detroit Tigers. Mark McGwire was second fastest, needing 77 games to reach the mark during his rookie campaign with the Oakland Athletics in 1987. Wally Berger of the 1930 Boston Braves now drops to fourth on this list, hitting 25 home runs in his first 79 career games.

AL Home Run Derby Captain Jose Bautista should be looking forward to this year’s Derby, as Abreu, Encarnacion and Cruz are all American Leaguers. Florida Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton currently paces the National League with his 21 homers, while Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki sits in second with 18.

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