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By taking second base five times and third once, Carl Crawford tied the modern major league record for steals in a game in the 5-3 win over the Red Sox on Sunday.
The others to steal six in a game since 1900 were Hall of Famer Eddie Collins, Otis Nixon and Eric Young. Young, in 1996, was the last to do it.
The feat moved him past Jacoby Ellsbury into the major league lead with 17 steals this season.
Three things of note from the game:
1. Putting him in position to steal all those bases was that B.J. Upton went 0-for-5 as the leadoff man. Only in his final at-bat did Crawford hit with someone on base. He plated the lone runner with an infield single then and went on to steal his sixth base.
2. That final steal came when Evan Longoria opted to take a 2-1 fastball right down the middle with two outs in the top of the ninth. Crawford got his record, and Longoria went down swinging on a nasty changeup on the very next pitch.
It didn't matter, as the Rays went on to win 5-3 anyway, but the pitch Longoria stood there watching was definitely one you'd want the game's hottest hitter taking a cut at. I really doubt he would have taken it had he not seen that Crawford was off with the pitch.
3. Not one of the steals led directly to a run scored.
Crawford did score twice in the game. In the first, he walked, stole second and went to third as the throw went into center. Evan Longoria was then hit by a pitch and Carlos Pena doubled. Crawford definitely would have scored from second and likely would have scored from first on the ball.
In the fourth, he singled, stole second and then reached third on a single to right. Two HBPs followed, so Crawford would have been forced in had he still been standing at second.
Did the speed of the Rays fluster the Red Sox? Probably. Did it lead to pitchouts with Crawford on base? Two that I saw. However, I still think it's safe to say that Crawford did more for his fantasy owners than he did the Rays with all of those steals today.
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Well, that's just how steals work, no?
I agree with you that Crawford possibly screwed Longoria on that steal of third. And the point is well taken that stolen bases are usually more of a fantasy stat than a helpful baseball stat. But how can you say definitively that he would've scored from first on Pena's double, or that he would have been forced in by a couple of HBPs? Are we to assume that had Crawford stayed put, all of the subsequent events would have gone exactly the same way? If Crawford doesn't steal in that first inning, does Evan Longoria still get hit with a pitch? We have no way of knowing. As the situations change, the pitch selection changes, the pitcher's mind process changes, etc. It's the same mistake that announcers make when they say "that wouldve been a run had Vince Coleman not been picked off second" after a single. Not an accurate statement.