May 8
1906 — Philadelphia manager Connie Mack needed a substitute outfielder in the sixth inning of a game against Boston and called on pitcher Chief Bender. Bender hit two home runs, both inside the park.
1907 — Boston’s Big Jeff Pfeffer threw a no-hitter to give the Braves a 6-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds in Boston.
1929 — Carl Hubbell of the New York Giants pitched a no-hitter against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the first by a left-hander in the majors in 13 seasons.
1935 — In the first game of a doubleheader, Ernie Lombardi of the Cincinnati Reds hit four doubles in consecutive innings (sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth) off four different Phillies pitchers. Lombardi also singled to send the Reds past Philadelphia 15-4.
1946 — Boston shortstop Johnny Pesky scored six times, an American League record, in a 14-10 win over the White Sox. Pesky, who was 4-for-5 with a walk and two RBIs, matched Mel Ott’s National League mark for runs scored in a game.
1963 — A Stan Musial home run against the Dodgers gives him 1,357 extra-base hits, surpassing Babe Ruth’s major league record. He will get 20 more; his record will later be broken by Hank Aaron.
1963 — Pirates LF Willie Stargell’s first major league homer and Cubs P Bob Buhl’s first major league hit in 88 at-bats highlight a 9-5 Chicago win over Pittsburgh.
1966 — Frank Robinson became the only player to hit a home run out of Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium. The shot over the left-field wall came off Cleveland right-hander Luis Tiant. The Orioles won 8-3.
1966 — The St. Louis Cardinals closed old Busch Stadium with a 10-5 loss to the San Francisco Giants.
1966 — Orioles outfielder Frank Robinson hits the only ball ever completely out of Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium. The shot clears the left-field single-deck grandstand’s rear wall, 451-feet away, going an estimated 541 feet.
1968 — Jim “Catfish” Hunter of the Oakland A’s pitched a perfect game to beat the Minnesota Twins 4-0.
1983 — Darryl Strawberry gets his first major league hit, a single that scores Danny Heep, in a 10-5 Mets win over the Reds.
1984 — Minnesota’s Kirby Puckett had four singles in his first major league game, and the Twins beat the California Angels 5-0.
1994 — Danny Tartabull, Mike Stanley and Gerald Williams hit back-to-back-to-back home runs for the Yankees in the 6th inning of New York’s 8-4 win over Boston.
1994 — The Colorado Silver Bullets, the first women’s team to play a pro men’s team, lost 19-0 to the Northern League All-Stars. Leon Durham hit two homers and Oil Can Boyd started for the All-Stars. The Silver Bullets had two hits, struck out 16 times and made six errors.
1998 — Cardinals 1B Mark McGwire hits his 400th career home run in a 9-2 loss to the Mets. He is the 27th player to reach 400, and does so in fewer at bats than anyone in history, 4,726. Babe Ruth had taken 127 more at-bats, having held the old record.
2000 — Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals hits his 12th home run of the season, against the San Francisco Giants. The homer ties “Big Mac” with Jimmie Foxx for ninth place on the all-time list with 534 career homers. McGwire needs just two taters to catch number eight on the list, Mickey Mantle, at 536.
2001 — Randy Johnson became the third pitcher to strike out 20 in nine innings, but didn’t finish the game in which the Arizona Diamondbacks beat Cincinnati 4-3 in 11 innings. Johnson, the first left-hander to strike out 20, missed a chance to join Roger Clemens and Kerry Wood as the record-holders for a nine-inning game because Arizona could not finish off the Reds in regulation.
2001 — The Devil Rays edge the Orioles, 4-3, as Tampa Bay’s Fred McGriff joins Mark McGwire, Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds, Eddie Murray and Reggie Jackson as the only players to homer off 300 different pitchers in their career.
2009 — In his first game of the season after missing six weeks because of hip surgery, Alex Rodriguez hits the first pitch he sees from Baltimore’s Jeremy Guthrie for a three-run home run in a 4-0 Yankees win that ends a five-game losing streak. CC Sabathia pitches a four-hit shutout in his best performance since signing a huge free agent contract over the winter.
2010 — Jody Gerut hit for the cycle and drove in four runs, and the Milwaukee Brewers pounded the Arizona Diamondbacks 17-3. Gerut hit a solo home run in the second inning, singled in the third, drove in a run with a triple in the fifth and added a two-run double in the ninth.
2012 — Josh Hamilton became the 16th player to hit four home runs in a game. His four two-run drives came against three different pitchers, carrying the Texas Rangers to a 10-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.
2015 — Bryce Harper hit two more home runs, giving him five in two games, and Danny Espinosa also connected twice to power the Washington Nationals to a 9-2 win over the Atlanta Braves. The 22-year-old Harper became the youngest in major league history to hit five homers in two games.
2018 — James Paxton of the Mariners becomes only the second-ever Canadian-born pitcher to throw a no-hitter, after Dick Fowler in 1945, turning the trick against the Blue Jays in a 5-0 win.
_____
May 9
1901 — Earl Moore of the Cleveland Indians pitched nine hitless innings against the Chicago White Sox before giving up two hits in the 10th to lose 4-2.
1937 — Ernie Lombardi of the Cincinnati Reds went 6-for-6 in a 21-10 rout of the Phillies in Philadelphia.
1947 — In his first game outside of New York City, Jackie Robinson has two hits and scores twice in the Dodgers’ 6-5 loss to the Phillies.
1961 — Jim Gentile of the Baltimore Orioles hit consecutive grand slams in the first and second innings of a 13-5 rout of Minnesota.
1962 — Brooks Robinson becomes the 6th major leaguer this century to hit grand slams in back-to-back games, as he hits one against Kansas City’s Ed Rakow. Baltimore wins, 6-3, at home.
1967 — Cardinals outfielder #9 Roger Maris hits his first National League home run on the ninth day of the month in seat 9 of section 9.
1973 — Johnny Bench of the Reds hit three home runs off Philadelphia’s Steve Carlton for the second time in his career. Bench drove in seven runs in Cincinnati’s 9-7 victory.
1984 — The Chicago White Sox and Milwaukee Brewers played for 8 hours, 6 minutes in the longest game. After playing 17 innings the previous day, the teams met again before a regularly scheduled game, making the total 34 innings for two days. Harold Baines homered off Chuck Porter with one out in the bottom of the 25th for a 7-6 victory. Tom Seaver won both games for the White Sox.
1987 — Baltimore’s Eddie Murray became the first major leaguer to homer from both sides of the plate in consecutive games as the Orioles beat the Chicago White Sox 15-6 at Comiskey Park.
1993 — Cubs 1B Mark Grace hits for the cycle in Chicago’s 5-4 loss to the Padres. He is the 14th Cub to do so.
1999 — Marshall McDougall hit six consecutive homers and knocked in 16 runs — both NCAA records — in Florida State’s 26-2 rout of Maryland. The second baseman opened with an RBI single, then hit six straight homers. After his base hit, McDougall had a solo homer in the second inning, a three-run shot in the fourth, a solo homer in the sixth, a three-run shot in the seventh, a grand slam in the eighth and a three-run shot in the ninth.
2006 — Tampa Bay prospect Delmon Young was suspended for 50 games without pay by the International League for throwing a bat that hit a replacement umpire in the chest. IL president Randy Mobley said he believed the suspension was the longest in the league’s 123-year history. The suspension is retroactive to April 27, the day after Young tossed his bat in a Triple-A game while playing for Durham.
2010 — Dallas Braden pitched the 19th perfect game in major league history, a dazzling performance for the Oakland Athletics in a 4-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. He struck out six in the 109-pitch performance, throwing 77 strikes in his 53rd career start.
2011 — Zack Greinke wins his first game for the Milwaukee Brewers, striking out 9 batters in 6 innings in a 4-3 win over San Diego at Miller Park.
2013 — For only the third time ever, the reigning Cy Young Award winners face off. David Price and R.A. Dickey get no-decisions as the Rays top the Blue Jays, 5-4. The other match-ups had been Orel Hershiser vs. Frank Viola in 1989 and Tom Glavine vs. Roger Clemens in 1999.
2015 — Bryce Harper did it again, extending his remarkable homer streak with a two-run shot in the bottom of the ninth inning that sent the Washington Nationals over the Atlanta Braves 8-6. Harper homered for the sixth time in his last three games, one off the major league record set by Shawn Green in 2002.
2019 — With a solo homer in the 3rd inning in a 13-0 win against the Tigers, Albert Pujols of the Angels becomes the fifth player in major league history to collect 2,000 RBIs.
_____
May 10
1909 — Pitching for Winchester in the Blue Grass League, Fred Toney worked 17 no-hit innings before winning 1-0 over Lexington.
1926 — At Yankee Stadium, Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth hit back-to-back homers off Tiger starter Sam Gibson, and the Yankees outscore the Tigers, 13-9.
1934 — Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees played five innings before removing himself from the game because of illness. By that time, he had two homers, two doubles and seven RBIs against the Chicago White Sox.
1944 — Cleveland’s Mel Harder became the 50th player to win 200 games as the Indians beat the Boston Red Sox 5-4.
1946 — The Boston Red Sox take their 15th straight game, a 5-4 win over New York in front of a Friday Ladies’ Day crowd at Yankee Stadium of 64,183. Earl Johnson got the win with four innings of scoreless relief. Joe DiMaggio’s grand slam accounted for the Yankees’ scoring.
1962 — Minnesota’s Lenny Green and Vic Power hit back-to-back home runs off Cleveland’s Jim Perry to start the game. Cleveland came back to win 9-4.
1967 — Braves outfielder Hank Aaron hit an inside-the-park home run. It was the only one of his 755 homers which did not clear the fence.
1970 — Hoyt Wilhelm pitched his 1,000th major league game, but the Atlanta Braves lost 6-5 to the St. Louis Cardinals.
1981 — Charlie Lea became the first French-born pitcher to throw a no-hitter as the Montreal Expos beat the San Francisco Giants 4-0 in the second game of a doubleheader.
1999 — Nomar Garciaparra hit two grand slams and a two-run homer to become the first AL player with 10 RBIs since 1975, leading the Boston Red Sox past the Seattle Mariners 12-4.
2000 — The Pirates defeat the Mets, 13-9, as Wil Cordero goes 5 for 5 with a double, home run, and four RBIs. The Mets’ Rickey Henderson becomes the 21st major-leaguer to garner 10,000 at bats in his career. Henderson finishes the night with 10,002 at-bats and trails only Cal Ripken Jr., among active players.
2005 — Tony Peña, the American League Manager of the Year in 2003, resigns as manager of the Royals.
2008 — Greg Maddux of the San Diego Padres became the ninth pitcher in big league history to win 350 games, allowing an unearned over six innings in a 3-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies.
2012 — The Orioles became the first AL team to open a game with three straight home runs, and Baltimore added two more long balls against Colby Lewis en route to a 6-5 victory over the Texas Rangers in a doubleheader opener. Ryan Flaherty, J.J. Hardy and Nick Markakis began the bottom of the first inning with homers to give Baltimore a lead it would not relinquish. The previous team to homer in its first three at-bats was the Milwaukee Brewers on Sept. 9, 2007. Hardy was also the middle man in that assault. Milwaukee was the third major league team to accomplish the feat, all from the NL.
2013 — Two one-hitters with no other baserunners were pitched. Shelby Miller and Jon Lester each accomplished the feat. St. Louis Cardinals rookie Miller and Boston Red Sox left-hander Lester allowed just one hit and faced only 28 batters — no walks, hit batsmen or errors — in complete-game shutouts.
2015 — Felix Hernandez records his 2,000th career strikeout in leading the Mariners to a 4-3 win over the Athletics; at 29, he is the fourth-youngest to the mark.
2022 — Coming into his 11th career start with an ERA of 6.33, Reid Detmers of the Angels pitches the first complete game no-hitter of the season in a 12-0 win over the Rays. He allows just one walk and strikes out 2 as Mike Trout homers twince and Chad Wallach and Anthony Rendon once each in a one-sided game.
2023 — Kenley Jansen becomes the seventh pitcher to record 400 career saves in preserving the Red Sox’s 5-2 win over the Braves.
_____
May 11
1904 — Cy Young’s 23-inning no-hit string ended. The streak included two innings on April 25, six on April 30, a perfect game against the Philadelphia A’s on May 5, and six innings today.
1919 — Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators pitched 12 scoreless innings in a duel with Jack Quinn of the New York Yankees at the Polo Grounds. The Big Train allowed only two hits and retired 28 batters in a row. Future football star George Halas, batting leadoff for the Yankees, went 0-for-5, striking out twice.
1919 — Hod Eller of the Cincinnati Reds pitched a no-hitter to beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-0. Eller struck out eight and walked three.
1923 — Setting several Pacific Coast League records, Pete Schneider of Vernon hit five homers and a double to knock in 14 runs in a 35-11 romp over Salt Lake City.
1955 — Ernie Banks’ grand slam — the first of five on the year — led the Chicago Cubs to a 10-8 victory that snapped the Brooklyn Dodgers’ 11-game winning streak.
1963 — Sandy Koufax pitched the second of four career no-hitters to help Los Angeles beat San Francisco 8-0.
1971 — Cleveland pitcher Steve Dunning became the last American League pitcher to hit a grand slam before the inception of the designated hitter rule in 1973. Dunning’s homer off Diego Segui of the Oakland A’s gave the Indians a 5-0 lead, but Phil Hennigan got the victory as the Indians won 7-5.
1972 — Tom Seaver wins his 100th game in a 2-1 New York Mets victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Mets also acquire veteran outfielder Willie Mays from the San Francisco Giants for pitcher Charlie Williams and $50,000.
1977 — Atlanta Braves owner Ted Turner decides to take the managerial reins of his team, which has lost 16 straight games. The Braves lose their 17th in a row in Turner’s debut, as coach Vern Benson makes most of the strategic decisions. After the game, the National League removes Turner from the dugout, citing a rule that prevents an owner from doubling as manager. Dave Bristol, who was given a “sabbatical” to allow Turner to step into the dugout, will be brought back to finish the year at the helm of the team.
1980 — 39-year-old Pete Rose steals second base, third, and home in one inning for the Phillies. The last National League player to pull this feat had been Jackie Robinson in 1954.
1996 — Al Leiter, the wildest pitcher in the American League the previous season, pitched the first no-hitter in Florida’s brief history as the Marlins beat the Colorado Rockies 11-0.
1998 — Kerry Wood of the Chicago Cubs set the major league record for strikeouts in consecutive games (33) by fanning 13 Arizona Diamondbacks in a 4-2 victory. The record for strikeouts in two starts had been 32, set by Luis Tiant in 1968 and matched by Nolan Ryan (1974), Dwight Gooden (1984) and Randy Johnson (1997).
2000 — The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Chicago Cubs 14-8 in the longest nine-inning game in National League history — 4 hours, 22 minutes. The teams tied the major league record set by Baltimore and the Yankees on Sept. 5, 1997.
2003 — Rafael Palmeiro of Texas became the 19th player to join the 500-homer club. In a 17-10 win, Palmeiro hit a full-count fastball into the right field stands off Cleveland right-hander David Elder.
2009 — In the tallest pitching matchup in baseball history, 6-foot-10 Randy Johnson beat 6-9 Daniel Cabrera. The Big Unit and the towering Cabrera measure a combined 163 inches — one more than the combined heights of Cabrera and Mark Hendrickson on Sept. 1, 2004, in the previous record-holding matchup. Johnson struck out nine for his 298th career victory as San Francisco topped Washington 11-7.
2011 — Tim Wakefield takes the mound for the Red Sox at age 44 years and 282 days. He breaks Deacon McGuire’s record as the oldest performer in Boston Red Sox history - McGuire was 44 years and 280 days old on August 24, 1908, his last game for the franchise.
2016 — Max Scherzer ties the major league record by striking out 20 batters in a nine-inning game against his former team as the Nationals defeat the Tigers, 3-2. He now shares the mark with Roger Clemens, Kerry Wood and Randy Johnson. Scherzer does not issue a single walk in the game.
2020 — Major League Baseball owners agree on a tentative plan to resume the season that has been put on hold since spring training was shut down in early March by the coronavirus pandemic. Training would resume in June and an 82-game season would start around July 1-4, with games played in home ballparks, but without spectators. Teams would play games only against divisional opponents, or teams from the corresponding division in the other league, and the postseason would be expanded to 14 teams from the current 10. Rosters would be expanded to 30 players, with an additional 22-man taxi squad available as replacements in the absence of minor league games. Owners insist that the Players Association will need to accept that salaries will be based on total revenues for the plan to go ahead, something that is unlikely to be acceptable, however. This exact plan will be rejected, but the two sides will agree on a 60-game season starting in late July along the same general parameters.
2021 — The Oakland Athletics receive permission from MLB to start exploring relocation options, as their most recent attempt to come to an agreement with local authorities on replacing the outdated Oakland Coliseum, has gone nowhere.
2022 — Christian Yelich becomes the 5th player to hit for the cycle for the third time when he does so in a 14-11 Brewers loss to the Reds. His previous two cycles had also come against the Reds, within a three-week span in 2018.
2024 — Paul Skenes, the first overall pick of the 2023 amateur draft and considered the best pitching prospect since Stephen Strasburg, makes his much-anticipated major league debut for the Pirates against the Cubs. He allows only one run through the first four innings, on a solo homer by Nico Hoerner in the 4th, and strikes out seven, but allows the first two batters in the 5th to reach base before giving way to reliever Kyle Nicolas, who allows both inherited runners to score. The Cubs, who were trailing 6 - 1 at one point, eventually tie the score but Pittsburgh comes out on top, 10 - 9, after a two-hour rain delay.
_____
May 12
1910 — Chief Bender of the Philadelphia Athletics pitched a 4-0 no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians.
1926 — Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators records his 400th career win when he defeats the St. Louis Browns, 7-4.
1937 — St. Louis’ Joe Medwick hit two home runs and two doubles to lead the Cardinals to a 15-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.
1955 — Sam “Toothpick” Jones of the Cubs got a no-hitter the hard way. In the ninth inning against Pittsburgh, he walked the bases full and then struck out the next three batters for a 4-0 victory.
1956 — Carl Erskine of the Brooklyn Dodgers pitched a 3-0 no-hitter against the New York Giants.
1958 — Willie Mays hits the first grand slam in the history of the San Francisco Giants.
1966 — Lou Brock’s RBI single in the 12th inning gave the St. Louis Cardinals a 4-3 victory over Atlanta in the opening of Busch Memorial Stadium. Felipe Alou hit two home runs for the Braves.
1969 — Bob Gibson of the St. Louis Cardinals becomes the seventh pitcher in National League history to strike out the side on nine pitches.
1970 — Ernie Banks hit his 500th home run off Pat Jarvis in Chicago’s 4-3 victory over Atlanta at Wrigley Field.
1989 — Rick Reuschel of the San Francisco Giants records his 200th major league win, beating Montreal, 2-1.
1999 — Boston Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez strikes out 15 batters for the second consecutive game in a 9-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners.
2000 — Boston’s Pedro Martinez, who had 17 strikeouts in his last start May 6 against Tampa Bay, struck out 15 in a 9-0 win over Baltimore, to tie an AL record set in 1968 by Cleveland’s Luis Tiant for most strikeouts over two games.
2001 — A.J. Burnett pitched an unlikely no-hitter — overcoming a record nine walks — to lead Florida over San Diego 3-0.
2004 — In one of the most remarkable at-bats in major league history, Alex Cora fouls off 14 consecutive pitches and then hits the 18th pitch over the right field fence for a two-run home run off Cubs pitcher Matt Clement.
2008 — Indians second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera turned the 14th unassisted triple play in major league history, accomplishing the feat in the second game of a doubleheader against Toronto. Cabrera made a diving catch on a line drive by Lyle Overbay, touched second base and then tagged out Marco Scutaro to quickly end the fifth inning of Cleveland’s 3-0 loss in 10 innings.
2009 — Ryan Zimmerman extended his hitting streak to 30 games, getting a first-inning single in the Washington Nationals’ 9-7 loss to San Francisco.
2010 — Homer Bailey became the latest Cincinnati Reds starter to pitch a gem against the Pittsburgh Pirates, tossing his first career complete game in a 5-0 win. The Reds became the first team in the majors in nearly 10 years to pitch back-to-back, complete-game shutouts without a walk — Oakland’s Tim Hudson and Barry Zito did it on Sept. 9-10, 2000, against Tampa Bay.
2015 — The Mariners tie a team record by hitting six homers in an 11-4 win over the Padres at Safeco Field. Nelson Cruz hits his major league-leading 15th home run, while Mike Zunino hits two, and Kyle Seager, Justin Ruggiano and Logan Morrison complete the barrage.
2017 — Buster Posey homers in the 17th inning to send the Giants to a 3-2 win over the Reds, in a game that takes 5 hours and 28 minutes.
_____
May 13
1911 — Detroit’s Ty Cobb hit his first grand slam. After six innings, the Tigers led the Red Sox, 10-1. Boston came back to win the game 13-11 in 10 innings.
1911 — The New York Giants scored a major league record 10 runs before the St. Louis Cardinals retired the first batter in the first inning. Fred Merkle drove in six of the Giants’ 13 runs in the first en route to a 19-5 rout.
1923 — Joe Sewell of the Cleveland Indians struck out twice in one game for the first time in his career. Washington Senator rookie Wally Warmoth was the pitcher. In a 14-year career, Sewell had only one other multiple strikeout game.
1942 — Boston’s Jim Tobin became the only pitcher in modern history to hit three home runs in one game. Tobin led the Braves to a 6-5 win over the Chicago Cubs. His fourth at-bat was a fly ball caught against the fence in left field.
1955 — At Yankee Stadium, Mickey Mantle hits home runs from both sides of the plate for the first time in his major league career.
1958 — Teammates Willie Mays and Darryl Spencer each had four long hits as San Francisco beat the Dodgers in Los Angeles 16-9. Mays had two homers, two triples, a single and four RBIs, and Spencer had two homers, a triple, a double and six RBIs for a combined 28 total bases.
1958 — Stan Musial got his 3,000th hit with a pinch-double off Chicago’s Moe Drabowsky at Wrigley Field. The Cardinals won 5-3.
1969 — Ernie Banks of the Chicago Cubs reaches the 1,500 runs batted in milestone with seven RBI in a 19-0 shellacking of the expansion San Diego Padres.
1976 — For the sixth consecutive game, George Brett of the Kansas City Royals collects at least three hits.
1980 — Ray Knight of Cincinnati hit two home runs in the fifth inning — including a grand slam — to lead the Reds to a 15-4 rout of the New York Mets. 7.
1982 — The Chicago Cubs won game No. 8,000 in their history with a 5-0 victory over Houston at the Astrodome.
1989 — Kirby Puckett of the Minnesota Twins tied a major league record with four doubles against the Blue Jays. He became the 35th player to hit four doubles in a game, the first since Toronto’s Damaso Garcia in 1986.
1993 — George Brett of the Kansas City Royals hits his 300th career home run in the 6th inning of a 7-3 victory over the Cleveland Indians. Brett is only the 6th major league player with at least 3,000 hits and 300 home runs.
1994 — Tim Salmon of the California Angels went 5-for-5 against the Seattle Mariners to give him 13 hits over three consecutive games.
2000 — Todd Stottlemyre of Arizona earned his seventh victory of the season as the Diamondbacks beat the San Diego Padres 6-2. It was Todd’s 136th career win. He and father Mel Stottlemyre became the first father-son combination to record 300 wins.
2001 — Alex Rodriguez becomes the fifth-youngest big leaguer to hit his 200th career home run, at 25 years and 289 days. Mel Ott accomplished the feat in 1934 at the youngest age (25 years, 144 days).
2002 — 38 home runs shy of the exclusive 500 home run club, Jose Canseco retires at 37 age due to injuries sustained in recent years.
2007 — San Francisco rookie Fred Lewis hit for the cycle in a 15-2 win over Colorado, just four days after being called up from Triple-A Fresno.
2009 — Soon after Adam LaRoche became the first player to have a home run taken away following a video replay review, Ross Gload lost one the same way when umpires reversed their call. LaRoche wound up with a double for Pittsburgh at PNC Park. Gload’s pinch-hit drive was finally called foul at Milwaukee and he eventually struck out. Both players had already rounded the bases when umps changed the original call.
2009 — Ryan Zimmerman’s 30-game hitting streak ended when he went 0 for 3 with two walks in Washington’s 6-3 victory over the San Francisco Giants.
2012 — Joey Votto hit a grand slam in the ninth inning for his third home run of the game, rallying the Cincinnati Reds to a rain-delayed 9-6 victory over the Washington Nationals.
2014 — Pinch-hitter Greg Garcia was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and one out in the 12th inning, sending the St. Louis Cardinals to 4-3 win over the Chicago Cubs.
2023 — By striking out Brice Turang and Joey Wiemer of the Brewers in the 5th inning, Zack Greinke becomes only the fifth pitcher in major league history to have struck out 1,000 different batters in his career. The veteran Royals hurler, who is in his 20th season, joins Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux and Roger Clemens in the exclusive club.
2024 — In a first, women are the lead television announcers for both teams in today’s game between the Athletics and Astros. Jenny Cavnar was named the A’s lead broadcaster before the start of the season, and for the occasion the Astros have announcer Todd Kalas and in-game reporter Julia Morales switch roles, with Morales, a long-time friend of Cavnar’s, taking over in the broadcast booth.
_____
May 14
1913 — Washington’s Walter Johnson gave up a run in the fourth inning against the St. Louis Browns to end his streak of 56 scoreless innings. The Senators won 10-5.
1914 — Jim Scott of the Chicago White Sox pitched nine innings of no-hit ball against the Washington Senators, but lost 1-0 after giving up two hits in the 10th inning.
1920 — Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators recorded his 300th victory with a 9-8 win over the Detroit Tigers.
1927 — Chicago pitcher Guy Bush went the distance for the Cubs in a 7-2 18-inning win over Boston. Charlie Robertson of the Braves almost matched the feat, leaving with one out in the 18th.
1950 — Pittsburgh first baseman Johnny Hopp hit two home runs and four singles in six at-bats, leading the Pirates to a 16-9 victory over the Cubs in the second game of a doubleheader at Chicago.
1965 — Carl Yastrzemski of Boston hit for the cycle and added another home run for five RBIs in a 12-8 10-inning loss to the Detroit Tigers.
1966 — Roberto Clemente’s sixth and final career home run off Sandy Koufax is another no-doubter. It comes during Koufax’s final season, the net result being one less shutout for Sandy and one more moon shot for Clemente
1967 — Mickey Mantle’s 500th home run, off Stu Miller, lifted the New York Yankees to a 6-5 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.
1972 — In his first game with the New York Mets, Willie Mays hit a fifth inning home run off Don Carrithers for the difference in a 5-4 triumph over the San Francisco Giants.
1977 — Jim Colborn of the Kansas City Royals no-hit the Texas Rangers for a 6-0 victory.
1986 — California Angels slugger Reggie Jackson hits his 537th career home run to move past Mickey Mantle on the all-time list. Jackson delivers the milestone blast against Roger Clemens of the Boston Red Sox.
1988 — Jose Oquendo became the first non-pitcher in 20 seasons to get a decision, taking the loss in the 19th inning when Ken Griffey’s two-out, two-run double led the Atlanta Braves over the St. Louis Cardinals 7-5.
1989 — Benny Distefano became the first left-handed catcher in a major league game in nine years when he caught the ninth inning of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 5-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves. Mike Squires caught two games with the Chicago White Sox in 1980 and Dale Long caught two games for the Chicago Cubs in 1958.
1993 — Jay Gainer of the Colorado Rockies hit a home run on the first major league pitch he saw. The first baseman became the fifth National Leaguer and 12th major leaguer to accomplish this feat. The Cincinnati Reds beat the Rockies 13-5.
1996 — Dwight Gooden pitched a no-hitter as the New York Yankees beat the Seattle Mariners 2-0. Gooden struck out five and walked six.
2000 — Although Sammy Sosa collects five hits, Henry Rodriguez has seven RBI and Eric Young steals five bases, the Chicago Cubs still manage to lose to Montreal, 16-15. Young’s five stolen bases are the most by a Cubs player since 1881 when George Gore stole seven.
2010 — After Twins manager Ron Gardenhire orders an intentional walk to Mark Teixeira and brings in righty Matt Guerrier to face Alex Rodriguez in the 7th, the Yankee third baseman blasts his 19th career grand slam to pass Frank Robinson for 7th on the all-time career home run list and give New York an 8-4 win.
2012 — Major League Baseball fires arbitrator Shyam Das after 13 years on the job. The Commissioner’s office was incensed at Das for overturning Ryan Braun’s suspension for PED use on a technicality on February 23rd, and the last straw comes when the same ruling is used today to justify ending Eliezer Alfonzo’s 100-game suspension early.
2016 — In his final season, David Ortiz is still a master of the clutch hit. Today, he hits a two-out 9th-inning triple off Luke Gregerson to drive in Xander Bogaerts and tie the game for the Red Sox against the Astros, then hits a two-out double in the 11th off Michael Feliz that again drives in Bogaerts and gives the Sox a 6-5 win. The double is the 600th of his career, making him only the third player after Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds to hit 500 homers and 600 doubles; he had hit homer #513 in the 3rd inning.
2017 — The Yankees officially retire uniform number 2 in honor of Derek Jeter and unveil a plaque in his name in Monument Park at New Yankee Stadium between games of a doubleheader against the Astros.
_____
