Aug. 27
1897 - Roger Bresnahan, later a Hall of Fame catcher, made his major league debut as a pitcher for the Washington Senators by shutting out the St. Louis Browns 3-0.
1937 - Brooklyn’s Fred Frankhouse pitched a rain-shortened no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds. The game was stopped with two out in the eighth inning with the Dodgers leading 5-0.
1974 - Benny Ayala of the Mets became the first National League player in 13 years to hit a home run in his first major league at-bat, connecting against Houston’s Tom Griffin in New York’s 4-2 victory at Shea Stadium.
1977 - Toby Harrah and Bump Wills of the Texas Rangers hit back-to-back inside-the-park home runs on consecutive pitches in the seventh inning as the Rangers beat the Yankees 8-2 at Yankee Stadium.
1978 - Joe Morgan of the Cincinnati Reds hit his 200th career home run to become the first player in major league history to have 200 homers and 500 stolen bases.
1982 - Rickey Henderson of Oakland broke Lou Brock’s 1974 record of 118 stolen bases in a season and stole three more bases in the Athletics’ 5-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers. It gave Henderson 122 thefts in 127 games.
1999 - Vladimir Guerrero’s hitting streak was halted at 31 games by Cincinnati’s Ron Villone, as the Reds posted a 4-1 win over Montreal. Guerrero went 0-for-2 with an intentional walk against Villone, ending the majors’ longest hitting streak since 1987.
2005 - Jeff Kent became the first player to hit 300 home runs as a second baseman in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 8-3 win over Houston. The homer was the 325th of his career.
2010 - The Washington Nationals announced rookie sensation Stephen Strasburg had a torn ligament in his right elbow. The 22-year-old right-hander would need ligament replacement operation that requires 12 to 18 months of rehabilitation.
2010 - Florida led off a game with back-to-back homers for the first time in franchise history, Chris Volstad pitched eight strong innings and the Marlins romped 7-1 past slumping Atlanta. Cameron Maybin hit the first pitch of the game into the left-field seats and Logan Morrison then connected off Tommy Hanson for his first major league home run.
2011 - Justin Verlander became the majors’ first 20-game winner, grinding through six innings in the Detroit Tigers’ 6-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins. Verlander (20-5) became the first pitcher to win 20 games before the end of August since Arizona’s Curt Schilling in 2002.
Today’s birthdays: Sam Travis 24; Nick Tropeano 27; Jordy Mercer 30.
Aug. 28
1926 - Emil Levsen of the Cleveland Indians pitched two complete-game victories over the Boston Red Sox, 6-1 and 5-1. He did not strike out a batter in either game. The Indians used the identical lineup in both games.
1951 - The Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the New York Giants 2-0, snapping the Giants’ 16-game winning streak. The streak enabled the Giants to cut the Dodgers 13 1/2-game lead to six.
1971 - In the nightcap of a doubleheader, Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Rick Wise hit two home runs to help himself to a 7-3 victory over the San Francisco Giants.
1977 - Steve Garvey of Los Angeles hit three doubles and two home runs in five at-bats, leading the Los Angeles Dodgers to an 11-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. One of Garvey’s homers was a grand slam.
1977 - In a 6-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles, Nolan Ryan of the California Angles struck out 11 batters to pass the 300-strikeout plateau for the fifth time in his career.
1990 - Ryne Sandberg became the first second baseman in history to have consecutive 30-homer seasons, leading the Cubs to a 5-2 victory over the Houston Astros.
1992 - The Milwaukee Brewers set an American League record with 31 hits and 26 singles in a 22-2 rout of the Toronto Blue Jays.
1996 - The Cleveland Indians finished the season 12-0 against Detroit Tigers to become the seventh team to sweep a season series since 1900.
2003 - Eric Gagne set a major league record with his 44th straight save this season as Los Angeles beat Houston 6-3. Gagne eclipsed Tom Gordon’s 1998 record of 43 in a row to begin a season. Gagne has 52 consecutive saves, two short of tying Gordon’s record of 54.
2008 - Cristian Guzman of the Nationals became the second player to hit for the cycle since the franchise moved to Washington, driving in three in an 11-2 rout of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
2014 - San Francisco’s Yusmeiro Petit set a major league record when he retired his 46th batter in a row, and the Giants beat Colorado 3-1. Petit got the first eight Colorado hitters, establishing the mark by striking out Charlie Culberson. That broke Mark Buehrle’s record of 45 straight with the Chicago White Sox in 2009. Petit’s streak covered eight games, six of them in relief.
2016 - Ryan Harlost led Endwell, New York, to the Little League World Series title, striking out eight and limiting South Korea to five hits in six innings in a 2-1 victory. Endwell became the first U.S. winner since Huntington Beach, California, in 2011, and gave New York its first championship since 1964.
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Aug. 29
1918 - The Chicago Cubs, behind the pitching of Lefty Tyler, clinched the National League pennant with a 1-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.
1934 - The Philadelphia A’s ended Schoolboy Rowe’s 16-game winning streak with a 13-5 victory over the Detroit Tigers.
1965 - San Francisco’s Willie Mays broke Ralph Kiner’s National League record with his 17th home run of the month in an 8-3 triumph over the New York Mets. Kiner had 16 homers in September of 1949. Mays hi a tape measure shot off Jack Fisher.
1967 - Bert Campaneris of the Kansas City A’s hit three triples in a 9-8, 10-inning loss to the Cleveland Indians.
1971 - Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves knocked in his 100th run of the season, giving him the National League record of 11 seasons with 100 or more RBIs.
1977 - Lou Brock stole base No. 893, breaking Ty Cobb’s modern record for career stolen bases.
1977- Cleveland’s Duane Kuiper hit a one-out solo home run in the first inning off Chicago’s Steve Stone at Municipal Stadium. It was Kuiper’s only homer in 3,379 career at-bats - the fewest homers in most at-bats for any player in MLB history.
1985 - Don Baylor of the New York Yankees set an American League record when he was hit by a pitch for the 190th time in his career. Baylor was struck by California Angels pitcher Kirk McCaskill in the first inning, breaking the old mark of 189 set by Minnie Minoso.
1993 - George Brett recorded his 200th stolen base in Kansas City’s 5-4, 12-inning victory over Boston to join Willie Mays and Hank Aaron as the only players with 3,000 hits, 300 homers and 200 steals.
1995 - Pittsburgh’s Paul Wagner, the NL leader in losses, lost his no-hitter against Colorado on an infield single with two out in ninth.
2000 - Anaheim’s Darin Erstad went 3-for-5 to reach 200 hits faster than any player in 65 years as the Angels defeated Toronto 9-4. Ducky Medwick of the St. Louis Cardinals did it in 131 games in 1935.
2002 - Mark Bellhorn became the first player in NL history to hit a home run in the same inning from both sides of the plate, in the fourth of the Chicago Cubs’ 13-10 win over Milwaukee.
2004 - Albert Pujols hit his 40th home run and reached 100 RBIs for the fourth straight season to help St. Louis beat Pittsburgh 4-0. He’s the fourth player to start his major league career with four straight seasons with at least 100 RBIs, joining Hall of Famers Al Simmons, Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams.
2010 - Brian McCann hit a game-winning homer with help from video replay, giving the Atlanta Braves a stunning 7-6 victory over the Florida Marlins. It was the first time a game ended using a video review.
2015 - Edwin Encarnacion hit three home runs and tied a Toronto record with nine RBIs as the AL East-leading Blue Rays routed the Detroit Tigers 15-1.
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