May 5
1904 — Cy Young of the Red Sox pitched a perfect game against the Philadelphia Athletics, beating Rube Waddell 3-0. Having pitched nine hitless innings in two previous efforts, he ran his string of hitless innings to 18.
1917 — Ernie Koob of the St. Louis Browns pitched a no-hitter against the Chicago White Sox for a 1-0 win in St. Louis.
1925 — Manager Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers hit three homers, a double and two singles against the St. Louis Browns.
1925 — Shortstop Everett Scott of the New York Yankees was benched, ending his streak of 1,307 consecutive games played that started while playing for the Boston Red Sox. Scott, who gave way to Pee Wee Wanninger, had the longest playing streak before Lou Gehrig.
1933 — Pepper Martin of the St. Louis Cardinals hit for the cycle and scored four runs in a 5-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.
1939 — Sam Chapman of the Philadelphia Athletics hit for the cycle in a 10-5 win over the St. Louis Browns. Chapman completed the cycle with a single in the ninth.
1955 — Brooklyn Dodgers rookie Tom Lasorda makes his first major league start as he he throws three wild pitches in one inning, tying a major league record. After his pitching career, Lasorda will enjoy far more success as a Hall of Fame manager.
1962 — Bo Belinsky of the Los Angeles Angels beat the Baltimore Orioles 2-0 with a no-hitter at Dodger Stadium. Belinsky struck out nine and walked four.
1975 — The Oakland Athletics release pinch runner Herb Washington, ending his unusual major league career. Curiously, Washington played in 105 major league games without batting, pitching, or fielding. He collected 31 stolen bases and scored 33 runs.
1978 — Pete Rose became the youngest and 14th player with 3,000 hits when he singled against Montreal’s Steve Rogers at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium.
1980 — National League president Chub Feeney suspended Pittsburgh’s Bill Madlock for 15 days and fined him $5,000 for shoving his glove in the face of home plate umpire Gerry Crawford.
1999 — Colorado became the first team in 35 years and the third this century to score in every inning in a 13-6 win over the Chicago Cubs. The last time a team scored in all nine innings was also at Wrigley Field, when St. Louis beat the Cubs on Sept. 13, 1964.
2000 — St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Mark McGwire hits the longest home run in the 30-year history of Cinergy Field, but the 473-foot shot is not enough as Ken Griffey, Jr.’s home run leads the Cincinnati Reds past St. Louis, 3-2.
2003 — Matt Stairs of the Pittsburgh Pirates hits a home run off Houston Astros pitcher Wade Miller which is estimated at 461 feet, making it the longest in the history of Minute Maid Park.
2004 — Mike Piazza set a major league mark for homers as a catcher, hitting No. 352, in the New York Mets’ 8-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants.
2004 — Roger Clemens of the Houston Astros moves past Steve Carlton for second place on the career strikeout list with his 4,137th in Houston’s 6-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
2006 — At Citizens Bank Park, Omar Vizquel of the San Francisco Giants plays his 2,302nd game at shortstop, catching Cal Ripken, Jr. for third-most all time. Vizquel is now behind Hall of Famers Luis Aparicio (2,581) and Ozzie Smith (2,511). He will eventually pass both.
2015 — Bartolo Colon became the first pitcher in at least 100 years to beat the same opponent with seven different teams, stopping Baltimore once again and leading the New York Mets to a 3-2 win over the Orioles.
2018 — In pitching a perfect 9th inning in a 6 – 5 win against the Rangers, Craig Kimbrel of the Red Sox becomes the 29th man to record 300 saves. He is the youngest to reach the mark at 29 (Francisco Rodriguez was 31) and has needed the fewest games, 494 (Mariano Rivera had done so in 537 games) and save opportunities (330, compared to 335 for Joe Nathan) to do so.
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