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.
1930 — Babe Ruth hits three consecutive home runs in the first game of a doubleheader against the A’s.
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.
1996 — At Fenway Park, Seattle pounds out 19 hits to beat Boston, 13-7. Ken Griffey, Jr. becomes the 7th-youngest player to collect 200 homers when he connects in the M’s six-run 4th inning. Jay Buhner hits a two-run shot in the inning, the 5th game in a row he’s connected, and Edgar Martinez adds four hits in the game.
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.
2002 — The Diamondbacks set down the Giants, 9-4, behind Randy Johnson. Johnson notches the 3,500th strikeout of his big league career in the contest.
2004 — In his return to Texas, Alex Rodriguez is roundly booed by fans at the Ballpark in Arlington. The fans continue to show their displeasure as the Yankees third baseman drives a 2-1 pitch over the fence during his 1st-inning at-bat.
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.
2015 — The Brewers’ Will Smith is ejected for having rosin and sunscreen on his forearm in the 7th inning of Milwaukee’s 10-1 loss to the Braves. Smith explains that he simply forgot to wipe off his arm before leaving the bullpen when called into the game. He will receive an eight-game suspension as well.
2018 — Baseball has a new phenom as 19-year-old Juan Soto of the Nationals, making his first start ever in the outfield after striking out as a pinch-hitter in his debut the day before, crushes the first pitch he sees from Robbie Erlin of the Padres for a three-run homer. He goes 2-for-4 in 10-2 win by Washington. He is the first teenager to homer since teammate Bryce Harper did so in his rookie year in 2012.
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