May 21
1926 — Earl Sheely of the Chicago White Sox hit three doubles and a home run against the Boston Red Sox. Sheely doubled in each of his last three at-bats the previous day to give him seven consecutive extra-base hits, tying a major league record. The six doubles in the two games also tied a major league record.
1943 — In the fastest nine-inning night game in American League history, the Chicago White Sox beat the Washington Senators 1-0, in 1 hour, 29 minutes.
1948 — Joe DiMaggio had two home runs, a triple, double and single to lead the New York Yankees to a 13-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox.
1952 — Duke Snider’s home run highlighted a 15-run first inning in the Dodgers’ 19-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds in Brooklyn. Snider, Pee Wee Reese and Billy Cox each made three plate appearances in the first inning.
1986 — Rafael Ramirez of Atlanta had four doubles in seven at-bats as the Braves beat the Chicago Cubs 9-8 in 13 innings.
1996 — Larry Walker drove in a career-high six runs, hitting a pair of two-run homers, a triple and a double in the Colorado Rockies’ 12-10 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. His 13 total bases set a club record.
1997 — Roger Clemens earned his 200th career victory, leading the Toronto Blue Jays to a 4-1 win over the New York Yankees.
2000 — For the first time in baseball history, there were six grand slams in a single day. Anaheim’s Garret Anderson hit the record-breaker off Kansas City’s Chris Fussell. J.T. Snow of San Francisco, Brian Hunter of Philadelphia, Jason Giambi of Oakland, and Los Angeles’ Adrian Beltre and Shawn Green connected with the bases loaded before Anderson. The old mark of five was set in 1999.
2004 — Jose Cruz Jr. went 4-for-4 with a homer and three doubles, leading Tampa Bay to a 5-3 victory over Cleveland.
2005 — The Texas Rangers set two club records in an 18-3 rout of the Houston Astros. Texas got home runs from Rod Barajas, Hank Blalock, Laynce Nix and Mark Teixeira in an eight-run, four-homer second inning. Texas slugged a team-record eight homers total on the day, also receiving blasts from Kevin Mench, Richard Hidalgo and two from David Dellucci.
2009 — Albert Pujols of St. Louis hit a homer in the first inning that knocked out the “I” on the Big Mac Land sign located in Busch Stadium’s left field. The Cardinals won 3-1.
2009 — Joe Mauer hit a grand slam, two doubles and drove in a career-high six runs as Minnesota routed the Chicago White Sox 20-1.
2010 — Dan Haren doubled twice, drove in three runs and pitched eight strong innings, offsetting Edwin Encarnacion’s three home runs for Toronto, and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Blue Jays 8-6. Haren allowed four runs on nine hits and two of Encarnacion’s three homers.
2013 — Mike Trout hit for the cycle and drove in five runs to lead the Los Angeles Angels in a 12-0 rout of Seattle Mariners.
Today’s birthdays: Bobby Cox 80.
May 22
1933 — Joe Sewell of the New York Yankees struck out for the first time this season, during a 3-0 win over Cleveland. Sewell would strike out only three more times in 524 at-bats.
1957 — The Boston Red Sox hit four home runs in the sixth inning of an 11-0 win over Cleveland. Gene Mauch, Ted Williams, Dick Gernert and Frank Malzone connected. All the homers came on the first 16 pitches from Cal McLish.
1959 — Baltimore’s Hoyt Wilhelm pitched a one-hitter against the New York Yankees for a 5-0 win. Jerry Lumpe’s single in the eighth spoiled the no-hit bid.
1963 — Mickey Mantle hit a pitch from Kansas City’s Bill Fischer off the right-field facade at Yankee Stadium in an 8-7 victory over the A’s.
1968 — Willie Stargell of the Pittsburgh Pirates hit three home runs, a double and a single in a 13-6 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Stargell’s double just missed going out, as it bounced off the railing of the left-field bleachers.
1976 — St. Louis’ Reggie Smith hit three home runs — two right-handed and one left-handed — and drove in five runs in a 7-6 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. Smith’s third homer came with two outs in the ninth and broke a 6-6 tie.
1977 — Boston and Milwaukee hit a combined 11 home runs in a 14-10 Red Sox victory at Fenway Park, tying a major league record. The Red Sox connected for six and the Brewers hit five in the first game of a doubleheader.
1983 — Cliff Johnson of the Toronto Blue Jays hit his 18th career pinch homer. The homer, off Baltimore’s Tippy Martinez, tied Johnson with Jerry Lynch on the career pinch home run list.
1998 — Brian Cox went 6-for-6, including a grand slam in a 10-run third inning, as Florida State rolled past Delaware 27-6 in the NCAA Atlantic II Regional. Freshman Matt Diaz hit three home runs for the Seminoles.
2000 — Milwaukee beat Houston in the first game of a doubleheader, 10-9, coming back from a 9-2 deficit to tie the score with seven runs in the bottom half of the ninth inning. The Brewers won the game in the 10th on a home run by Jose Hernandez.
2008 — Boston’s J.D. Drew and Mike Lowell hit grand slams to help Daisuke Matsuzaka remain unbeaten as the Red Sox posted an 11-8 win over the Kansas City Royals.
2009 — Michael Cuddyer hit for the cycle and matched his career high with five RBIs as Minnesota defeated Milwaukee 11-3. Cuddyer hit a three-run homer in the first inning, doubled in the third and singled in the fourth before completing the cycle by tripling on a broken-bat liner into the left-field corner in the sixth.
2012 — C.J. Wilson and Ernesto Frieri combined on a one-hitter to give the Los Angeles Angels a 4-0 win over Oakland. Cliff Pennington had the only hit — a one-out single in the fifth — for Oakland.
Today’s birthdays: Corey Dickerson 32; Eric Sogard 35.
May 23
1901 — The Cleveland Blues, later known as the Indians, scored nine runs with two outs in the ninth inning to beat the Washington Senators 14-13.
1910 — In the top of the ninth inning in a game against Boston, Cincinnati’s Dode Paskert stole second base, third base and home plate. The theft gave the Reds a 6-5 win.
1924 — Washington’s Walter Johnson struck out 14 in a 4-0 one-hitter over the Chicago White Sox for his 103rd shutout.
1925 — Cincinnati pitcher Pete Donohue had five hits — four singles and a homer — in beating the Philadelphia Phillies 11-2.
1935 — The first major league night game, scheduled for Cincinnati, was postponed because of rain.
1948 — Joe DiMaggio hit three consecutive home runs, the first two off Bob Feller, to lead the New York Yankees to 6-5 win over Cleveland.
1962 — New York’s Joe Pepitone hit two homers in the nine-run eighth inning of the Yankees’ 13-7 triumph over Kansas City.
1970 — The San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants battled for 15 innings, with the Padres winning 17-16. Nate Colbert led San Diego with five hits and four RBIs.
1984 — The Detroit Tigers won their 16th consecutive road game, 4-2 at California, tying an AL record.
1991 — Tommy Greene, making the 15th start of his major league career, pitched a no-hitter and the Philadelphia Phillies beat Montreal 2-0.
2002 — Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Shawn Green became the 14th man in major league history to homer four times in a game and set a big league record with 19 total bases. He went 6-for-6, scoring six times with seven RBIs in a 16-3 win at Milwaukee.
2003 — Jeremi Gonzalez earned his first major league victory in nearly five years as Tampa Bay beat Anaheim 3-1. Gonzalez won for the first time since June 28, 1998, while with the Chicago Cubs. He had elbow surgery in 1998 and ’99 before the Cubs released him in 2001.
2009 — Jason Giambi hit his 400th homer in the Oakland Athletics’ 8-7 loss against the Arizona Diamondbacks, becoming the 44th player to reach the milestone.
2011 — Corey Hart hit his first three home runs this season and drove in seven to tie both club records, lifting Milwaukee to an 11-3 win over Washington.
Today’s birthdays: Cesar Hernandez 31.
May 24
1918 — Cleveland’s Stan Coveleski pitched 19 innings in the Indians’ 3-2 victory over the New York Yankees. Former pitcher Joe Wood hit a home run for the win.
1935 — In the first major league night game in Cincinnati, the Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1 before 25,000.
1936 — Tony Lazzeri, batting eighth for the New York Yankees, drove in 11 runs with a triple and three home runs — two of them grand slams — in a 25-2 rout of the Philadelphia A’s.
1940 — The New York Giants beat the Boston Bees 8-1 before 22,260 in the first night game at the Polo Grounds.
1940 — The Cleveland Indians edged the Browns 3-2 in the first night game at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis. The crowd of 24827 was the largest in attendance since 1922.
1947 — Brooklyn’s Carl Furillo batted for Gene Hermanski — in the first inning — and hit a three-run homer. Why the move? Phillies manager Ben Chapman started righty Al Jurisch just to pitch to Brooklyn’s first two hitters: Pee Wee Reese and Jackie Robinson. Reese struck out and Robinson walked. Lefty Oscar Judd, warming up from the start, came in to pitch to the next three lefty hitters: Pete Reiser, Dixie Walker, and Hermanski. Reiser walked and Walker popped out. Furillo came in for Hermanski and connected to give the Dodgers a 3-0 lead. The Dodgers lost to Philadelphia 4-3 in 10 innings.
1964 — Harmon Killebrew of the Minnesota Twins hit the longest home run in Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium, a 471-foot shot to left-center off right-hander Milt Pappas.
1984 — Jack Morris led the Tigers to their 17th straight road win, setting an AL record. Morris allowed four hits and Detroit beat the California Angels 5-1.
1990 — Chicago’s Andre Dawson was walked intentionally five times by the Cincinnati Reds to break the record shared by Roger Maris and Garry Templeton.
1994 — The St. Louis Cardinals set a major league record by stranding 16 runners without scoring, losing to David West and three Philadelphia Phillies relievers 4-0.
1995 — Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley became the sixth pitcher with 300 saves in a 5-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles.
1998 — Freshman Matt Diaz hit four homers, tying a school and regional record, and drove in seven runs as Florida State routed Oklahoma 23-2 to advance to the NCAA Atlantic II Regional final.
2000 — For the third time in major league history a team blew a seven-run lead twice in a week. The Houston Astros lost a 7-0 lead at home against Philadelphia after blowing a 9-2 lead in the ninth inning at Milwaukee two days earlier.
2001 — Jon Lieber of the Chicago Cubs threw a 79-pitch, one-hit shutout in a 3-0 blanking of the Reds. It was the first shutout of the Reds in an NL-record 208 games.
2006 — Adam Wainwright homered in his first major league at-bat and pitched three innings of relief to earn the win in St. Louis’ 10-4 victory over San Francisco. Wainwright, who had no batting practice since spring training, hit the first pitch he saw out to left in the fifth for a solo homer.
2007 — John Smoltz of Atlanta pitched seven shutout innings and became baseball’s first pitcher with 200 wins and 150 saves with a 2-1 win over the New York Mets.
2007 — Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki went 3-for-6 with a homer in his 1,000th major league game. Suzuki compiled 1,414 hits in those games — the second most by a player in his first 1,000 games since 1900. Hall of Famer Al Simmons (1924-44) had 1,443 hits in that span.
2009 — Milwaukee’s Mike Cameron homered in the Brewers’ 6-3 loss at Minnesota, becoming the 20th player in major league history to have 250 home runs and 250 steals. He has 291 career steals.
2011 — Chicago’s Carlos Quentin hit three home runs to lead the White Sox to an 8-6 win over Texas. The game was delayed nearly 3 hours by heavy rain and hail. Quentin’s third homer — a solo shot off Dave Bush in the ninth — made it 8-6.
2013 — Anibal Sanchez took a no-hitter into the ninth inning before Minnesota’s Joe Mauer broke it up with a one-out single, and that was the only hit the Detroit right-hander allowed in the Tigers’ 6-0 victory over the Twins.
Today’s birthdays: Chad Green 30.
May 25
1906 — Jesse Tannehill’s 3-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox snapped a 20-game losing streak — 19 at home — for the Boston Red Sox.
1935 — Babe Ruth, winding up his career with the Boston Braves, hit three homers and a single at Pittsburgh, but the Pirates won 11-7. Ruth connected once off Red Lucas and twice off Guy Bush.
1941 — Boston’s Ted Williams raised his batting average over .400 for the first time during the season. Williams finished the season batting. 406.
1951 — Willie Mays, a highly touted rookie for the Giants, went 0-for-5 in his debut against the Philadelphia Phillies.
1982 — Ferguson Jenkins became the seventh pitcher to strike out 3,000 batters in the Chicago Cubs’ 2-1 loss at San Diego. Jenkins reached the milestone by striking out Garry Templeton in the third inning.
2001 — Kerry Wood of the Chicago Cubs allowed one hit and struck out 14 in a 1-0 win over the Brewers. Wood took a no-hit bid into the seventh before giving up a leadoff single to Mark Loretta.
2001 — Hideo Nomo of the Boston Red Sox tossed a one-hitter and struck out 14 in a 4-0 win over Toronto. Nomo faced one batter over the minimum of 27, giving up a leadoff double in the fourth to Shannon Stewart.
2002 — Shawn Green of the Los Angeles Dodgers homered twice in a 10-5 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks, setting a major league record with seven homers in his last three games.
2009 — Cleveland rallied from a 10-0 deficit in the fourth as Victor Martinez’s two-out, two-run single in the ninth capped a seven-run inning and lifted the Indians to an 11-10 victory over Tampa Bay. The Indians became the first team in the majors to win after trailing by 10 runs since the Texas Rangers rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 16-15 on May 8, 2004.
2011 — Andruw Jones hit a pair of two-run homers, Mark Teixeira also hit a two-run shot and Mariano Rivera made a milestone appearance in New York’s 7-3 victory over Toronto. Rivera pitched the ninth inning in a non-save situation, the 1,000th game he’s played for the Yankees. The 11-time All-Star closer became the first player in major league history to reach the plateau for one team and the 15th to make it overall. Jones homered in the second inning and Teixeira in the third off Jo-Jo Reyes, who matched a major league record by making his 28th consecutive start without a win.
2011 — Infielder Wilson Valdez wound up as the winning pitcher when the Philadelphia Phillies needed 19 innings to outlast the Cincinnati Reds 5-4. Valdez threw a hitless 19th inning in his first professional pitching appearance. He became the first position player to become a winning pitcher since Colorado catcher Brent Mayne on Aug. 22, 2000.
2012 — Nelson Cruz hit a grand slam and tied his career high with eight RBIs, Josh Hamilton hit his 19th home run of the season and the Texas Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 14-3. Cruz’s grand slam came in the seventh inning and gave Texas a 14-1 lead. He also had a three-run double in the first and an RBI single in the sixth.
2013 — Angel Pagan became the first San Francisco player to end a game with an inside-the-park homer, connecting with a runner aboard in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Giants a 6-5 victory over Colorado. The last major leaguer to hit an inside-the-park home run that ended a game was Rey Sanchez for Tampa Bay on June 11, 2004 — also in a 10-inning victory over Colorado.
Today’s birthdays: Miguel Tejada 47.
May 26
1916 — Benny Kauff of the Giants was picked off first base three times by Boston’s Lefty Tyler. The miscues didn’t hurt as New York won its 14th consecutive road victory beating the Braves, 12-1.
1925 — In Detroit’s 8-1 win over the Chicago White Sox, Ty Cobb became the first to collect 1,000 career extra-base hits. He finished his career with 1,139.
1929 — Pinch-hitters Pat Crawford of the Giants and Les Bell of the Boston Braves hit grand slams in New York’s 15-9 victory.
1930 — Joe Sewell of the Cleveland Indians, who fanned only three times in 353 at-bats during the season, was struck out twice in the same game by Pat Caraway of the White Sox.
1937 — Billy Sullivan and Bruce Campbell appeared for the Cleveland Indians as pinch hitters. Each hit a home run, making this the first time two American League pinch hitters hit home runs in the same game. The Indians beat the Athletics, 8-6.
1956 — Cincinnati Reds pitchers John Klippstein, Hershell Freeman and Joe Black combined for 9 2-3 hitless innings, but lost 2-1 in 11 innings to the Philadelphia Phillies.
1959 — Harvey Haddix of Pittsburgh pitched 12 perfect innings before losing to Milwaukee 1-0 in the 13th on an error, a sacrifice and Joe Adcock’s double.
1962 — Sandy Koufax struck out 16 Phillies to lead the Dodgers to a 6-3 victory.
1995 — Southern California and Fresno State combined for an NCAA postseason baseball record of 39 runs in the Trojans’ 22-17 win in the West Regional. USC scored three runs in the top of the ninth to break the record of 37 set by the Trojans and Houston in 1990.
1996 — The Chicago White Sox became the 16th team in AL history to hit four homers in one inning in their 12-1 win over Milwaukee. Frank Thomas, Harold Baines and Robin Ventura hit consecutive homers and Chad Kreuter added another in Chicago’s seven-run eighth.
1997 — Chicago’s Sammy Sosa and the Pirates’ Tony Womack hit inside-the-park homers in the sixth inning of the Cubs’ 2-1 win. It was the first time two inside-the-park homers had been hit in the same inning in 20 years.
2004 — Daryle Ward hit for the cycle and tied his career best with six RBIs in Pittsburgh’s 11-8 win over St. Louis.
2008 — Chase Utley tied the National League lead with his 16th homer and drove in six runs as Philadelphia routed Colorado 20-5. The Phillies batted around three times and had season-highs in hits (19) and runs.
2011 — The hot-hitting Boston Red Sox routed the Detroit Tigers 14-1 in an eight-inning, rain-shortened game. The Red Sox, who beat Cleveland 14-2 the previous day, scored at least 14 runs in back-to-back games for the first time since 1998.
Today’s birthday: Ben Zobrist 40.
May 27
1904 — Dennis McGann of the New York Giants stole five bases in one game to set a major league record.
1937 — Carl Hubbell, working in relief for the New York Giants, won his 24th straight game over two seasons. Hubbell pitched two innings and Mel Ott hit a ninth-inning home run to beat the Cincinnati Reds 3-2. Hubbell’s string started July 17, 1936.
1955 — Norm Zauchin of the Boston Red Sox knocked in 10 runs with three home runs and a double in the first five innings of a 16-0 victory over the Washington Senators.
1960 — Baltimore catcher Clint Courtney used the “big mitt” for the first time to catch knuckleball pitcher Hoyt Wilhelm. The mitt, designed by Paul Richards, was 50 percent larger than the standard. Nothing got by Courtney as the Orioles beat the New York Yankees 3-2.
1968 — Montreal and San Diego were awarded National League franchises as the league expanded for the first time in seven years.
1974 — Pittsburgh’s Ken Brett beat the San Diego Padres 6-0 with a two-hitter and in the second game of the doubleheader, hit a pinch-hit triple to give the Pirates an 8-7 victory.
1981 — Seattle’s Lenny Randle dropped to his hands and knees in an attempt to “encourage” Amos Otis’ slow roller to go foul. Umpire Larry McCoy accused the Mariner third baseman of blowing the ball foul and gave the Kansas City outfielder the single. Randle explained he was merely yelling at the ball not to stay fair. The Royals won 8-5.
1986 — At Cleveland, the Boston Red Sox were leading the Indians, 2-0, in the sixth inning when the game was delayed then called on account of fog.
1995 — Oakland’s Steve Ontiveros pitched 3-0 one-hitter against the New York Yankees. Luis Polonia got the only hit for New York.
1997 — Seattle’s Ken Griffey Jr. broke his own major league record for home runs hit through May by connecting for his 23rd of the season in an 11-10 loss to Minnesota. Griffey’s homer broke the mark he set in 1994.
2004 — Carlos Pena was 6-for-6 with two home runs, five RBIs and four runs in Detroit’s 17-7 victory over Kansas City.
2009 — Daisuke Matsuzaka and the rest of Boston’s pitchers tied a modern-day record with six wild pitches. Matsuzaka tied a franchise record set 80 years ago with four, while relievers Manny Delcarmen and Justin Masterson also sent catcher George Kottaras scrambling. It was just the fifth time since 1900 that a team threw six wild pitches in a game.
2010 — Florida International’s Garrett Wittels extended his hitting streak to 50 games, after a third-inning single against Western Kentucky. Wittels moved within eight games of matching the NCAA Division I record of 58, set by Oklahoma State’s Robin Ventura in 1987.
2012 — Taylor Sewitt threw 11 shutout innings of relief, entering the game with no outs in the first, to help Manhattan College beat Canisius 3-2, for the school’s second straight Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference title.
2012 — Paul Konerko hit a tiebreaking three-run homer — his 400th with the White Sox — and Chicago routed the Cleveland Indians 12-6. The offensive outburst gave Chicago nine or more runs in four consecutive games. The White Sox last accomplished that feat June 27-30, 1938.
Today’s birthdays: Frank Thomas 53, Jeff Bagwell 53.