Trailing 1-0 in the ninth inning, the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied for a walk-off win Monday on Adrian Gonzalez's double. Since 2013, the Dodgers have three walk-offs against San Francisco, and all of them were on hits by Gonzalez. However, the team's last walk-off double against the Giants was so long ago that Vin Scully didn't even call it. It was Sept. 5, 1948, by George Shuba. In a week filled with tributes to the retiring broadcast icon, we dove into the archive for a few other recent nuggets that Scully hadn't called in a very long time. Thanks to Baseball Reference and the Elias Sports Bureau for research assistance.
Monday's opposing pitcher was Madison Bumgarner, who is still in search of a no-hitter. He did, however, have a one-hit outing with zero walks and 10 strikeouts. That was his second such game; he joins Mike Mussina and Pedro Martinez as the only pitchers in the live-ball era to do it twice (exactly one hit, not counting no-no's). And while Scully didn't get that "final no-hitter" (yet), Bumgarner was the first opposing pitcher with that line (exactly one hit, no walks, double-digit strikeouts) in Scully's 67-year career.
Saturday's Dodgers game saw a trading of unusual home runs when Josh Reddick hit a grand slam with Los Angeles already ahead 10-0. It was the team's first slam with a 10-run lead since Don Hoak against the Reds in a 13-run inning on Aug. 8, 1954. Pat Valaika of the Colorado Rockies then broke up the shutout, only the second homer ever hit at Dodger Stadium when trailing by 14 runs or more. Frank Thomas (then of the Mets) did it on May 25, 1962, in the stadium's first season.
(By the way, Cristhian Adames also homered this season with the Rockies trailing by 14; they are the first team to do it twice since the 2002 Milwaukee Brewers.)
On July 6, Chris Hatcher batted for himself with two out in the 14th inning. He grounded out, marking the first time Scully had ever called a Dodgers pitcher making the final out of an extra-inning contest. Walter "Dutch" Ruether had been the previous one to do it, against the Cubs on Sept. 23, 1924.
The Dodgers recorded an 18-9 win over the Reds on Aug. 22, their highest-scoring game against Cincinnati since 1954. Gonzalez hit three homers, the first Dodger to do so against the Reds since Hall of Famer Roy Campanella did it in Scully's first year, Aug. 26, 1950. Jackie Collum's pitching line in that game (zero outs, seven runs, but none earned) remains unique in the major-league annals.
The Dodgers finally clinched the National League West on Sunday, in Scully's final game at Dodger Stadium, and "would you believe [it was on] a home run?" Charlie Culberson's walk-off in the 10th was the second division- or pennant-clinching homer he'd called; Steve Finley hit a grand slam in the next-to-last game of the 2004 season. The Dodgers' only other extra-inning clincher (in team history, not just Scully's) was way back on Sept. 29, 1959, when Carl Furillo's 12th-inning single scored Gil Hodges and gave the Dodgers a victory over Milwaukee in a best-of-3 tiebreaker.