Watch: Dodgers and Phillies Swap Pair of Memorable Home Runs

Clayton Kershaw had never given up a grand slam before Monday. The Phillies had allowed only three inside-the-park home runs before Monday.

The boxscore of Monday's Dodgers-Phillies game will tell you that Philadelphia won, 4-3, and that Chris Taylor, Justin Turner, Aaron Altherr and Curtis Granderson all hit home runs. But it won't come close to explaining the oddities behind what Taylor and Altherr accomplished in their trips around the bases.

Starting with Taylor, he clubbed the second pitch of the game to deep left-centerfield. The ball ricocheted off a short metal fence above the outfield wall and landed far, far away from the nearest Phillie. The speedy Taylor circled the bases for a leadoff inside-the-park homer.

Looks like Chris Taylor rounded the bases before the ball reached the infield. pic.twitter.com/6agXlyv99p

— SI MLB (@si_mlb) September 19, 2017

There are a couple remarkable angles to this:

From @ESPNStatsInfo: The last #Dodgers player to hit a leadoff inside-the-park homer in 1st inning was Dave Roberts on Aug. 9, 2003.

— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) September 18, 2017

Update: It is hard to do. The last team to allow four inside-the-park HRs in one *season* was 1997 Pirates. Phillies last did it in 1961.

— Matt Gelb (@MattGelb) September 18, 2017

Inside-the-park home runs aren't always self-inflicted by the defensive team, but perhaps no stat better encapsulates the Phillies' season than four inside-the-park homers allowed in 30 days. Seems almost impossible. As for the Dave Roberts bit?

time is a flat circle https://t.co/9Fzby9xZ6A

— Andy McCullough (@ByMcCullough) September 18, 2017

The second notable home run of the night cost the Dodgers' the lead and eventually the game. Clayton Kershaw made his 228th career start on Monday. Previously he had faced 103 batters with the bases loaded. Never before had this happened.

Deep into the Philadelphia night: https://t.co/u0OKQIi4A4 #PapaSlam pic.twitter.com/dC04eqLwK9

— MLB (@MLB) September 19, 2017

Naturally, there were a few interesting tidbits to extract.

104th hitter Kershaw had faced with the bases loaded. The first 103 had hit .193/.233.250, with 0 slams, 34 K and 17 hits! https://t.co/bQ3vnTu0So

— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) September 19, 2017

The takeaways: Kershaw is a generational talent and the Phillies are weird.

Even during an inconsequential September game between two teams whose playoff fates are decided, a future Hall of Famer might slip up in a way he never has. Or a last-place team might do something a last-place team would do. Baseball cannot be scripted.