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A very funny thing happened in Colorado last night. Also: Ken on the anniversary of Cal Ripken breaking Lou Gehrig’s record, Ohtani’s 100th homer as a Dodger was a record-breaker and uhhh … surely Framber Valdez didn’t do that on purpose … right?? I’m Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal. Welcome to The Windup!

(Also: Some of you might have missed yesterday’s Windup because we had some technical hiccups. You can catch up here if you’d like.)

Chaos: Benches clear, lineup card borked, Giants still win

Well, that’s one way to get yourself back to third base.

In the top of the first inning last night, Rafael Devers hit a three-run home run off Rockies starter Kyle Freeland. Devers stood and watched the ball a little longer than Freeland thought prudent, and the pitcher let him know about it.

The requisite yelling and shoving ensued — you can read all about it here — but no real punches were thrown, which means there’s a way more interesting angle here (and no — not just that Devers didn’t finish his home run trot for nearly 10 minutes after the ball left the yard):

The ejections. In addition to Freeland, the umpiring crew determined that Matt Chapman and Willy Adames had escalated things by doing the bulk of the shoving. As you might expect, losing the entire left half of an infield — and your Nos. 3-4 hitters — can really muck up a manager’s lineup card.

Casey Schmitt wasn’t even supposed to be throwing, having been hit by a pitch on his elbow the night before. He didn’t even do any pregame throwing, but in the bottom of the first inning, there he was, playing second base. Christian Koss slid over to shortstop. Dominic Smith was the other addition, playing first base and sliding Devers — and I cannot stop laughing at this — over to third base. (If you need context for why this is funny … here you go.)

For what it’s worth, Devers got three chances at third, and handled them all cleanly, even starting a double play in the third inning! The Giants won 7-4.

More Giants: Andrew Baggarly’s profile on Giants rookie Drew Gilbert and his “goofy, collegiate energy” is a must-read.

Ken’s Notebook: I’d rather be in Baltimore this weekend

I’ve said it before. I’ll say it forever. The night Cal Ripken Jr. broke Lou Gehrig’s consecutive-games record was the highlight of my career. Above the multiple Super Bowls, NBA Finals and Olympic Games I covered. And yes, above anything else I’ve done in baseball, in print and on television.

Saturday night is the 30th anniversary of Ripken breaking Gehrig’s record. The Baltimore Orioles will commemorate the occasion with a celebration at Camden Yards. It will be a cool night at the ballpark, no doubt. For all of us who were there, and even many who were not, the memories of 2,131 remain vivid.

I wrote the front-page column that night for The (Baltimore) Sun. I was not yet 33, fairly young for a general sports columnist. And with sports writers from all over the country gathering in the press box, I was quite nervous. The Internet did not exist then. This would be a rare time when many of my peers — and sports writing heroes — would see my work.

But enough about me. The night had such meaning, for Baltimore, for baseball, even for the country. Both President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore were in attendance. So was Gehrig’s former teammate, Joe DiMaggio.

It was baseball’s first big moment coming off the strike of 1994-1995. Ripken handled the hoopla leading up to the event magnificently, not just doing every interview, but also signing autographs after every home game. The line of fans would extend from the field all the way to the lower concourse. And Ripken would accommodate every last one.

People marked the big night on their calendars. Each night at Camden Yards when the game became official, the Orioles would unfurl a banner on the warehouse revealing where the countdown stood — 2,027, 2,028, 2,029 … The moments became increasingly emotional. Everyone knew the story of Gehrig’s tragic death from ALS. And everyone in Baltimore admired Ripken, a hometown boy from Aberdeen, Md.

The column I ended up writing that night focused on the victory lap Ripken took around the ballpark after the game became official and the record was finally his. The Sun turned the front page into a poster that still hangs in my office. We were told later that the next day’s edition was the biggest seller in the newspaper’s history. I’m confident that record, like Ripken’s, will never be broken.

I’ll be at Globe Life Field on Saturday night, covering an Astros-Rangers showdown for Fox. I wish I could be at Camden. Just to soak it all in. Just to relive the memories once more.

Milestones: Ohtani’s 100th homer as Dodger is a laser 

Shohei Ohtani has been with the Dodgers for less than two full seasons. As of last night, he has now hit 100 home runs in a Dodgers uniform (271 for his career). While the round number is notable, the reason it’s getting a section here is because it was an absolute laser beam. Watch it here, then come back and check out some absurd numbers.

First, the pitch from Bubba Chandler was 99.2 mph. Entering this year, the Statcast-era (2015-present) record for home run exit velocity on a pitch faster than 99 mph belonged to Luke Raley, who took a Joe Kelly fastball deep at 114.3 mph. Earlier this year, Aaron Judge broke that record, hitting a Garrett Crochet fastball to the moon at 115.5 mph.

Judge’s record was short-lived and emphatically broken: Ohtani’s home run left the bat at 120 mph.

Also, it was a low-soaring projectile. The launch angle of 23 degrees was only the fourth home run of the Statcast era to be hit off a 99-plus mph pitch at such a low angle (the lowest: Pete Alonso hit one at 18 degrees last year).

OK OK OK, if your eyes have glazed over at all the math, here: Look at Dalton Rushing’s reaction:

Huh: Did Framber Valdez drill his catcher on purpose?

It seems incredibly unlikely, right? Surely not. But … OK, to set the scene, the Yankees were beating the Astros 2-0 in the top of the fifth, and had loaded the bases. With Trent Grisham at the plate, Astros catcher César Salazar appeared to tell Valdez to step off:

As you can see, Valdez did not step off. What you can’t see: Grisham hit a grand slam. 6-0 Yankees.

On the next pitch, it is very obvious that Salazar is expecting one pitch — something breaking to his glove side — and Valdez throws … not that.

Chandler Rome was there to get all the postgame quotes. After the game, both Valdez and Salazar were called into manager Joe Espada’s office for a closed-door meeting. Valdez later said that the cross-up was unintentional, but that he apologized to Salazar. We’ll probably never hear confirmation to the contrary, but at very least, it was a highly unusual sequence of events.

The Yankees won, 7-1 (but both the Mariners and Rangers lost, so Houston’s lead in the division is still three games).

Handshakes and High Fives

One correction from yesterday: I accidentally misidentified Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia as “Mikael Franco.” (I blame the fact I’ve been going through old baseball cards this week.)

As the Mets try to solve Kodai Senga’s recent struggles, could an optional trip to the minor leagues be in the works?

Red Sox wunderkind Roman Anthony left last night’s game with oblique tightness. He’s headed for the MRI machine. Meanwhile, Cubs outfielder Kyle Tucker left the game with calf tightness — we’ll know more soon.

After taking evasive measures to avoid a near-collision in the outfield on Monday, Diamondbacks outfielder Lourdes Gurriel has a torn right ACL.

Jim Bowden lists his top 50 prospects in the game.

On the pods: On “Rates & Barrels,” the crew takes a look at some recent prospect call-ups. And Jon “Boog” Sciambi joined Doug Glanville this week on “Starkville” to talk all things Cubs, plus trade deadline tweaks and more.

Most-clicked in our last newsletter: Trevor Story’s Pesky Pole home run.

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(Photo: Ron Chenoy / Imagn Images)