April 23
1903 — The New York Highlanders won their first game as a major league team, 7-2 over the Washington Senators.
1913 — New York Giants ace Christy Mathewson beat the Phillies 3-1, throwing just 67 pitches.
1939 — Rookie Ted Williams went 4-for-5, including his first major league home run, but the Red Sox lost to Philadelphia 12-8 at Fenway Park.
1946 — Ed Head of the Brooklyn Dodgers no-hit the Boston Braves 5-0 at Ebbets Field. Head was making his first start after a year’s military service.
1952 — Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians and Bob Cain of the St. Louis Browns matched one-hitters. Cain wound up as the winner, 1-0.
1952 — Hoyt Wilhelm of the Giants hit a home run at the Polo Grounds in his first major league at-bat. He was the winner, too, and pitched 1,070 games in the majors — but never hit another homer.
1954 — Hank Aaron hit the first home run of his major league career. The drive came against Vic Raschi in the Milwaukee Braves’ 7-5 victory over St. Louis.
1962 — After an 0-9 start, the expansion New York Mets won their first game beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-1 behind Jay Hook.
1964 — Ken Johnson of the Houston Colt .45s became the first pitcher to lose a nine-inning no-hitter when Pete Rose scored an unearned run to give the Cincinnati Reds a 1-0 victory.
1989 — Nolan Ryan came within two outs of his sixth career no-hitter, losing it when Nelson Liriano tripled in the ninth inning as the Texas Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4-1. Ryan finished with his 10th lifetime one-hitter.
1999 — Fernando Tatis of St. Louis became the first in major league history to hit two grand slams in one inning in a 12-5 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Tatis also set the record with eight RBIs in one inning.
2008 — The Chicago Cubs won their 10,000th game, joining the Giants as the only franchise to reach that mark with a 7-6 10-inning victory at Colorado.
2009 — Ichiro Suzuki lined James Shields’ second pitch of the game for a home run, the only run of Seattle’s 1-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. It was the 22nd time a leadoff homer was the deciding run in a game, and it was just the second time it happened for the Mariners.
2013 — B.J. Upton and his brother Justin hit back-to-back homers for the first time, leading the Atlanta Braves past the Colorado Rockies 10-2 to complete a doubleheader sweep. It was the 27th time in major league history that brothers homered in the same game, but only the second time they went deep in consecutive at-bats. Lloyd and Paul Waner of the Pittsburgh Pirates also accomplished the feat on Sept. 15, 1938.
April 24
1901 — Chicago defeated Cleveland 8-2 in the first American League game. Three other scheduled games were rained out. The game lasted 1 hour, 30 minutes in front of a reported crowd of 14,000 at the Chicago Cricket Club.
1911 — Battle Creek of the South Michigan League turned two triple plays in the first two innings against Grand Rapids.
1917 — George Mogridge of the New York Yankees pitched a no-hitter against the Red Sox in Boston, winning 2-1.
1947 — Johnny Mize of the New York Giants hit three consecutive homers in a 14-5 loss in Boston. It was a major league-record fifth time in his career that Mize hit three home runs in one game.
1962 — Sandy Koufax struck out 18 Chicago Cubs and pitched the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 10-2 victory at Wrigley Field.
1965 — Casey Stengel recorded his 3,000th victory as a manager as the Mets beat the San Francisco Giants 7-6.
1994 — Julio Franco and Robin Ventura twice hit back-to-back homers in Chicago’s 7-6 loss to Detroit.
1996 — Greg Myers and Paul Molitor each had five RBIs as the Minnesota Twins set a team record for runs and routed the Detroit Tigers 24-11. It was the highest run total against the Tigers in 84 years, matching the mark set in a 24-2 loss to the Philadelphia Athletics on May 18, 1912.
1998 — Moises Alou drove in five runs and Carl Everett homered from each side of the plate to lead Houston to an 8-4 win over Montreal.
2007 — Oakland set a major league record in a 4-2 win over Baltimore, keeping the Orioles off the scoreboard in the first inning. It was the 20th straight game in which the A’s did not allow a first-inning run, a record for the start of the season.
April 25
1901 — In the opener at Detroit’s Bennett Park, the Tigers beat Milwaukee in a great comeback. Trailing 13-4 going into the bottom of the ninth, the Tigers scored 10 runs for a 14-13 victory. Frank Dillon had four doubles.
1904 — New York pitcher Jack Chesbro recorded the first of his 41 victories on the season, an American League record that still stands.
1933 — Yankees pitcher Russ Van Atta made a spectacular debut by blanking Washington 16-0 and going 4-for-4.
1976 — Cubs center fielder Rick Monday rescued the American flag from two trespassers who tried to set it on fire in the outfield of Dodger Stadium. The incident happened in the fourth inning of a 5-4, 10-inning loss to Los Angeles.
1995 — Major league baseball returned after a 257-day layoff as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Florida Marlins 8-7. Players had gone on strike the previous season.
1997 — Matt Williams hit three homers and David Justice homered twice as the Cleveland Indians and Milwaukee Brewers combined to match a major league record for home runs in a nine-inning night game with 11. Cleveland hit a club-record eight in all, including three in one inning as the Indians beat the Brewers 11-4.
2001 — Rickey Henderson of the Padres set the major league walks record with his 2,063rd base on balls in San Diego’s 5-3 loss to Philadelphia.
2009 — Albert Pujols hit his second grand slam of the season and surpassed 1,000 career RBIs in St. Louis’ 8-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs.
2017 — Eric Thames hit his major league-leading 11th home run — his eighth against Cincinnati this season — and the Milwaukee Brewers cruised to a 9-1 victory over the Reds. In his first season with the Brewers after playing three years in South Korea, Thames capped a five-run sixth with a two-run drive off reliever Robert Stephenson. He has homered in all six games against the Reds and joined Willie Stargell as the only players in MLB history to hit eight homers in April against one team.
2017 — Trea Turner hit for the third cycle in Nationals history and drove in a career-high seven runs, helping Washington to a 15-12 win over Colorado on a frigid night.
April 26
1902 — Cleveland’s Addie Joss pitched a one-hitter in his major league debut. Joss allowed a scratch single to Jessie Burkett as the Indians beat the St. Louis Browns 3-0.
1905 — Jack McCarthy of the Cubs threw out three runners at the plate, each of whom became the second out of a double play. McCarthy’s defense preserved a 2-1 win over the Pirates.
1907 — Johnny Bates of the Boston Doves hit for the cycle against the Brooklyn Superbas.
1941 — The Chicago Cubs became the first major league team to install an organ at their ballpark. Roy Nelson took to the keyboard and played a pregame program.
1952 — Detroit’s Art Houtteman’s had his no-hit bid broken up on a two-out ninth-inning hit by Harry Simpson but the Tigers routed the Indians 13-0.
1961 — Roger Maris of the New York Yankees began his successful run at Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record with the first of his 61 homers, connecting in the fifth inning against Detroit right-hander Paul Foytack.
1970 — Willie McCovey and Dick Dietz each hit grand slams as the San Francisco beat Montreal 11-1 in the first game of a doubleheader.
1980 — Steve Carlton of Philadelphia pitched the sixth one-hitter of his career against St. Louis for a National League record. The Phillies beat the Cardinals 7-0. Ted Simmons singled to lead off the second inning. Carlton walked one batter and struck out five.
1990 — Nolan Ryan tied Bob Feller’s major league record of 12 one-hitters as the Texas Rangers beat the Chicago White Sox 1-0. Ryan struck out 16 as he allowed only Ron Kittle’s check-swing single in the second inning.
1994 — Baltimore’s Brady Anderson has four extra-base hits in the Orioles’ 10-4 win over Oakland. Anderson’s two doubles and two homers came while leading off an inning.
1995 — The Colorado Rockies posted an 11-9 victory over the New York Mets in 14 innings, tying the NL record for innings played in a season opener.
2016 — Andrew McCutchen hit three homers and drove in five runs to help the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Colorado Rockies 9-4.
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