The week in interesting and unusual stats (April 18-24)

8:50 PM ET

Each Sunday in this space we bring you some of our favorite quirks, oddities, and unusual plays from the week in baseball. Many thanks to our friends at Baseball Reference and the Elias Sports Bureau for research assistance.

A common baseball saying is that there are seven ways to reach first base (sometimes more, depending on how granular you want to get). Nationals pitcher Oliver Perez found one of them at just the right moment Sunday, dropping a two-out bunt in the bottom of the 15th and reaching on an error by John Ryan Murphy. Danny Espinosa scored from second on the play, making it the first game-tying plate appearance by any pitcher in extra innings since Rick Camp hit his famous home run for the Braves in the 18th inning on July 4, 1985.

One inning later, Chris Heisey hit the latest home run (by inning) in franchise history; Ryan Zimmerman went deep in their only other 16-inning (regular-season) game since the move to Washington. The previous franchise mark for latest walk-off was when Marquis Grissom beat the Giants at Stade Olympique on May 7, 1991.

Heisey also bookended Matt den Dekker’s leadoff dinger from 15 innings earlier, marking the second time the franchise has hit a leadoff homer and a walkoff homer in the same game. Espinosa was involved in that contest as well, ending a 2011 affair against the Cardinals that started with Jayson Werth’s solo shot.

Sunday’s game also marked the first extra-inning loss …

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