This Date in Baseball-Week Ahead

May 30

1894 -- Boston’s Robert Lowe became the first player in Major League history to hit four home runs in a game, leading the Beaneaters to a 20-11 win over Cincinnati. After hitting four straight homers, all line drives far over the fence, Lowe added a single to set a major league record with 17 total bases.

1922 -- Between the morning and afternoon games of a Memorial Day twin bill, Max Flack of the Chicago Cubs was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for Cliff Heathcote. They played one game for each team.

1927 -- In the fourth inning of a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, shortstop Jim Cooney of the Chicago Cubs caught Paul Waner’s liner, stepped on second to double Lloyd Waner and then tagged Clyde Barnhart coming from first for an unassisted triple play.

1935 -- Babe Ruth made his last major league appearance. He played one inning for the Boston Braves against the Philadelphia Phillies. Jim Bivin retired Babe Ruth on an infield grounder in the Babe’s final major league at-bat.

1940 -- Carl Hubbell of the New York Giants threw 87 pitches in a 7-0 one-hitter against the Brooklyn Dodgers. He faced the minimum 27 batters. Johnny Hudson, who singled, was caught stealing.

1956 -- Mickey Mantle hit a home run that came within a foot-and-a-half of leaving Yankee Stadium. It hit the face of the upper deck in right field, 370 feet from home plate and 117 feet in the air. Mantle became the first player to hit 20 home runs by the end of May as the Yankees beat the Washington Senators 4-3.

1961 -- Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Bill Skowron each hit two homers to lead the New York Yankees to a 12-3 rout of the Boston Red Sox. Yogi Berra also added a homer.

1962 -- Pedro Ramos of the Cleveland Indians tossed a three-hitter and hit two home runs, including a grand slam, for a 7-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.

1977 -- Cleveland’s Dennis Eckersley pitched a 1-0 no-hitter against the California Angels.

1982 -- Baltimore’s Cal Ripken Jr. began his record consecutive games streak by starting at third base against the Toronto Blue Jays.

1987 -- Eric Davis hit a grand slam in the third inning, breaking two National League records and leading the Cincinnati Reds to a 6-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Davis became the first NL player to hit three grand slams in a month and his major league leading 19 homers broke the NL record for most homers in April and May.

1992 -- Scott Sanderson became the ninth pitcher to beat all 26 major league teams as New York defeated Milwaukee 8-1. Sanderson joined Nolan Ryan, Tommy John, Don Sutton, Mike Torrez, Rick Wise, Gaylord Perry, Doyle Alexander and Rich Gossage as those who have defeated every club.

2001 -- Barry Bonds hit two home runs, moving past Willie McCovey and Ted Williams into 11th place on the career list with 522. Bonds with 17 home runs in May, surpassed the mark set by Mark McGwire in 1998 and Mickey Mantle in 1956.

2003 -- Ken Griffey Jr. hit a game-tying home run in the ninth and a go-ahead homer in the top of the 11th to lead Cincinnati over Florida 4-3.

2006 -- Vernon Wells hit three home runs and Troy Glaus added two more in Toronto’s 8-5 victory over Boston.

2009 -- Travis Tucker hit an RBI single with one out in the top of the 25th inning, leading Texas to a 3-2 victory over Boston College in the longest game in NCAA history. The game eclipsed the previous record of 23 innings, set in 1971 when Louisiana-Lafayette defeated McNeese State 6-5.

2010 -- Albert Pujols hit three long home runs to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 9-1 win over the Chicago Cubs. Pujols homered in the first, fifth and ninth innings for his fourth career three-homer game.

2011 -- Jo-Jo Reyes won for the first time in 29 starts by throwing his first career complete game to lead Toronto to an 11-1 rout of Cleveland. Reyes avoided becoming the first pitcher to go winless in 29 starts. Oakland’s Matt Keough went 28 starts between wins in 1978 and 1979, matching the dubious mark first set by Boston’s Cliff Curtis in 1910 and 1911. The left-hander went 0-13 with a 6.59 ERA in his 28 starts between wins.

2011 -- Arizona’s Kelly Johnson became the second player in the majors this year to have four extra-base hits in a game as the Diamondbacks beat the Florida Marlins 15-4. Johnson hit solo home runs in the third and sixth, doubled in the fourth and tripled in the seventh.

2015 — The Dodgers snap a 42-inning scoreless road streak in beating the Cardinals, 5-1. They are held hitless for five innings by Michael Wacha to beat an unenviable club record dating back to 1908, until a run-scoring single by Howie Kendrick in the 6th puts the team on the board and a three-run homer by Yasmani Grandal gives them the lead. It is Wacha’s first loss after opening the year with seven straight wins.

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May 31

1914 -- Joseph Benz of the White Sox pitched a no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians for a 6-1 victory.

1927 -- Detroit first baseman Johnny Neun made an unassisted triple play against Cleveland. He caught Homer Summa’s liner, tagged Charlie Jamieson between first and second and then touched second base before Glenn Myatt could return. The Tigers beat the Indians 1-0.

1937 -- Carl Hubbell’s 24-game winning streak ended with a 10-3 loss to the Brooklyn Dodgers. Hubbell’s last defeat came on July 13, 1936, 1-0 to the Chicago Cubs.

1944 -- Al Unser’s only home run of the year, a pinch-hit grand slam with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, helped the Detroit Tigers beat the New York Yankees 6-2.

1964 -- The New York Mets and the San Francisco Giants played the longest doubleheader in major league history -- 9 hours, 52 minutes -- with the help of a 23-inning game in the nightcap that was won by the visiting Giants 8-6 on run-scoring hits by Del Crandall and Felipe Alou against Galen Cisco. The second game took 7:23 to play.

1970 -- Chicago’s Luis Aparicio and Walt Williams each collect five hits in a 22-13 rout of the Boston Red Sox. Williams also scored five times. The two teams collected 40 hits, one short of the AL record set in 1950.

1980 -- Ken Landreaux went 0-for-4 in Minnesota’s 11-1 loss to Baltimore, ending his hitting streak at 31 consecutive games. It was the longest streak in the American League since Dom DiMaggio’s 34-game streak in 1949.

1997 -- Ila Borders became the first woman to pitch in a regular-season professional game, in the sixth inning of the St. Paul Saints’ Northern League game against Sioux Falls. She gave up three earned runs without getting an out.

1999 -- Umpire Frank Pulli used TV replay to take away a home run from Florida’s Cliff Floyd in the fifth inning of the Marlins’ 5-2 loss to St. Louis.

2001 — At Safeco Field, Seattle Mariners ace Aaron Sele trims the Baltimore Orioles, 2-1. Sele is now 8-0 and the Mariners are 40-12. The Orioles’ only run is Cal Ripken, Jr.’s 420th career home run.

2006 — Roger Clemens agrees to terms on a one-year deal with the Houston Astros to come back for a 23rd season, or at least the remaining four months of the current season. The seven-time Cy Young Award winner ends his seven-month retirement by accepting a deal that will pay him approximately $12.8 million - the pro-rated value of his $22,000,022 seasonal contract - to pitch for the Astros for the balance of the current season.

2008 -- Manny Ramirez of the Boston Red Sox hit career homer No. 500, a drive off Baltimore right-hander Chad Bradford to become the 24th major leaguer to reach the milestone.

2009 -- Stephen Cardullo set a tournament record with seven hits, including three of Florida State’s NCAA-record 15 doubles, as the Seminoles routed Ohio State 37-6 advanced to the super regionals. Florida State set NCAA postseason records with 37 runs, 38 hits and 66 total bases, while Cardullo set the school mark for hits.

2015 — Martin Maldonado ends a 17-inning marathon with a solo walk-off homer off Vidal Nuno to give the Brewers a 7-6 win over the Diamondbacks. Maldonado goes 4-for-6 with 3 runs and 2 RBIs while catching all 17 innings. Matt Garza throws five scoreless innings in his first relief appearance since 2010 to earn the win. At 5 hours and 49 minutes, it is the longest game by time in the history of Miller Park.

2016 — The Rockies tie a team record by hitting 7 homers in a 17-4 drubbing of the Reds. Nolan Arenado and Charlie Blackmon hit two homers each. Losing pitcher Jon Moscot surrenders four of the long balls in his return from the disabled list, including one by Blackmon to lead off the bottom of the 1st.

2021 — The Venezuelan national team beats Cuba in a world-level event for the first time since the 1953 Amateur World Series. In the opener of the 2021 Americas Olympic Qualifier, Carlos Pérez hits a three-run homer off Lázaro Blanco in the 1st and Hernán Pérez falls a double shy of a cycle. Moisés Gómez saves the 6-5 win for Jhonathan Diaz.

2022 — The Reds win their first game at Fenway Park since Game 7 of the 1975 World Series when they defeat the Red Sox, 2-1, beind a ten-strikeout performance by Luis Castillo, who allows just 1 hit in 6 innings. The Reds had played six games at Fenway since their last win, and had lost them all.

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June 1

1923 -- The New York Giants scored in every inning to beat the Philadelphia Phillies 22-8 at the Baker Bowl.

1925 -- Lou Gehrig batted for Pee Wee Wanninger in the eighth and replaced Wally Pipp at first base to start his streak of 2,130 consecutive games. The Washington Senators beat the New York Yankees 5-3.

1937 -- Bill Dietrich of the Chicago White Sox pitched a no-hitter against the St. Louis Browns in an 8-0 win.

1975 -- Nolan Ryan of the California Angels pitched his fourth no-hitter, striking out nine. Ryan tied Sandy Koufax’s record by beating the Baltimore Orioles 1-0. It was Ryan’s 100th major league victory.

1977 -- Seattle’s Ruppert Jones homered off Cleveland’s Dennis Eckersley in the fifth inning to snap Eckersley’s no-hit string of 22 1-3 innings, just two outs short of Cy Young’s major league record. The Indians went on to win, 7-1.

1987 -- Cleveland’s Phil Niekro pitched the Indians to a 9-6 victory, his 314th, over the Detroit Tigers. The win gave himself and his brother, Joe, a major league record 530 combined victories, surpassing Gaylord and Jim Perry.

2000 -- Pawtucket’s Tomo Ohka became the third pitcher in the 117-year history of the International League to throw a nine-inning perfect game when he beat the Charlotte Knights 2-0.

2005 -- Miguel Tejada hit a homer, three doubles and scored three runs in Baltimore’s 9-3 victory over Boston.

2009 -- The New York Yankees played error free for the 18th straight game in a 5-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians, surpassing Boston’s major league mark of 17 set in 2006. New York’s last error came on May 13 at Toronto when shortstop Ramiro Pena misplayed a groundball.

2011 -- Cincinnati’s Francisco Cordero got his 300th career save, securing the Reds’ 4-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. Cordero pitched a perfect ninth, becoming the 22nd reliever to achieve 300 saves, tying Bruce Sutter at the mark.

2012 -- Johan Santana pitched the first no-hitter in New York Mets’ history. Santana was helped by an umpire’s missed call and an outstanding catch in left field in an 8-0 victory over St. Louis Cardinals. Carlos Beltran, back at Citi Field for the first time since the Mets traded him last July, hit a line drive over third base in the sixth inning that hit the foul line and should have been called fair. But third base umpire Adrian Johnson ruled it foul and the no-hitter was intact. Mike Baxter made a tremendous catch in left field to rob Yadier Molina of extra bases in the seventh, getting injured in the process.

2012 -- Jonathan Crawford threw the seventh no-hitter in NCAA tournament history, shutting down Bethune-Cookman in a 4-0 victory in the opener of the Gainesville Regional. Crawford, a sophomore, was nearly perfect and faced the minimum 27 batters. The only player to reach base was Bethune-Cookman’s Jake Welch on a walk in the third inning, and Florida catcher Mike Zunino threw him out trying to steal.

2012 -- Alex Miklos hit a go-ahead RBI triple in the 21st inning as Kent State outlasted Kentucky 7-6 in the second-longest game in NCAA tournament history. The Golden Flashes held the lead in the ninth and 18th innings, but the Wildcats answered both times to extend the game. It was the longest game in the NCAA tournament since Texas beat Boston College 3-2 in 25 innings on May 30, 2009.

2016 — Indians OF Marlon Byrd is suspended for 162 games following the second positive test for PEDs of his career. At 39, it marks the end of the former All-Star’s career.

2021 — The Olympic hopes end for three countries. Puerto Rico falls, 7 - 6, in 10 innings to Nicaragua in the Americas Olympic Qualifier, as Benjamín Alegría doubles twice, scores twice and drives in a run while Norman St. Clair and Berman Espinoza turn in six shutout innings of relief. Venezuela walks it off to eliminate Colombia as Diego Rincones breaks a 2 - 2 tie in the bottom of the 9th with a solo shot off Carlos Ocampo. Canada eliminates Cuba (missing the Olympics for its first time as a medal event), 6 - 5, as John Axford (now working as an announcer) saves it for Dustin Molleken to overcome three runs by Roel Santos. In the other game, Team USA locks up a spot in the semifinals with an 8 - 6 win over the Dominican national team, Luke Williams hitting a big two-run triple. Nicaragua and the Dominicans will play tomorrow for the last semifinal spot to join the US, Canada and Venezuela.

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