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 24,827 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.
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.
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.
2015 - The Texas Rangers sent the New York Yankees to their 10th loss in 11 games with a 5-2 victory. The Yankees lost six straight in a single season for the first time since May 11-16, 2011, and have 10 defeats in an 11-game span for the first time since May 23 to June 3, 1995.
2016 - Justin Verlander struck out 10 in eight scoreless innings, and Francisco Rodriguez held on for his 400th save as Detroit beat Philadelphia 3-1.
Today’s birthdays: Chad Green 28; Wilmer Font 29; Adam Conley 29.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.