April 20
1910 - Addie Joss of Cleveland pitched the second no-hitter of his career, a 1-0 win over the White Sox in Chicago. An official scoring change aided Joss. In the second inning Freddy Parent lightly topped a ball to Cleveland third baseman Bill Bradley. Bradley raced toward the ball, juggled it and failed to get Parent before he crossed first base. The initial ruling on the play was a base hit, but the official scorer later changed it to an error on Bradley. Joss allowed two walks and fielded ten balls from the mound and earned ten assists.
1912 - Fenway Park was opened in Boston and the Red Sox defeated the visiting New York Highlanders, later known as the Yankees, 7-6 in 11 innings. Tiger Stadium in Detroit also opened its doors as the Tigers defeated the Cleveland Indians 6-5.
1916 - The Chicago Cubs played their first game at Weeghman Park - renamed Wrigley Field in 1926 - defeating the Cincinnati Reds 7-6 in 11 innings.
1920 - Manager Gavvy Cravath of the Philadelphia Phillies inserted himself as a pinch hitter and beat the New York Giants with a three-run homer, 3-0. It was his last home run in the majors.
1937 - Gee Walker hit for the cycle on opening day to lead the Detroit Tigers to a 4-3 win over Cleveland.
1938 - Cleveland’s Bob Feller pitched the first of 12 career one-hitters, beating the St. Louis Browns 9-0.
1939 - In his first major league game, Ted Williams hit a 400-foot double in four at-bats as the Boston Red Sox lost 2-0 to New York at Yankee Stadium.
1967 - Tom Seaver of the New York Mets recorded his first major league victory with a 6-1 triumph over the Chicago Cubs. Seaver went 7 2-3 innings and gave up eight hits and one run.
1982 - The Atlanta Braves recorded their 12th consecutive victory from the beginning of the season - a 4-2 decision over Cincinnati in Atlanta - and eclipsed the major league record set a year earlier by the Oakland A’s.
1988 - The Baltimore Orioles set a major league record with their 14th straight defeat at the start of the season, losing to the Milwaukee Brewers 8-6.
1997 - The Chicago Cubs stopped their season-opening losing streak at 14 games, rallying in the sixth inning to beat the New York Mets 4-3 in the second game of a doubleheader. The Mets won the opener 8-2. Chicago’s 0-14 start set a National League record and was the second worst behind the 1988 Baltimore Orioles, who began 0-21.
2006 - Julio Franco became the oldest player in major league history to hit a home run when he hit a two-run, pinch-hit shot in the eighth inning to help the New York Mets rally for a 7-2 win over San Diego. Franco, 47, replaced Athletics pitcher Jack Quinn in the record book who was 46 years, 357 days old when he homered on June 27, 1930.
2007 - Alex Rodriguez went 3-for-5 with two home runs in a 7-6 loss to Boston and joined Mike Schmidt, who hit 12 homers in the first 15 games in 1976, as the fastest to reach a dozen in baseball history.
2012 - Drew Stubbs had three hits and drove in three runs to lead the Cincinnati Reds to a 9-4 win over the Chicago Cubs - the 10,000th victory in franchise history.
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April 21
1910 - The Cleveland Indians played their first game at League Park and lost to the Detroit Tigers 5-0 in front of 19,867.
1955 - The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies 14-4 at Ebbets Field for their 10th consecutive victory from the start of the season - a major league record that lasted until 1981.
1967 - After 737 consecutive games, the Dodgers were rained out for the first time since moving to Los Angeles. The St. Louis Cardinals were scheduled.
1982 - The Atlanta Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds 4-3 for their 13th straight victory.
1987 - The Milwaukee Brewers’ 13-game winning streak from the start of the season ended with a 7-1 loss to the Chicago White Sox. Milwaukee shared the major league streak of 13 straight, set by the Atlanta Braves in 1982.
1994 - Eddie Murray set a major league record with his 11th switch-hit home run game as the Cleveland Indians beat the Minnesota Twins 10-6. Murray hit a three-run homer batting left-handed in the first inning and hit a two-run homer from the right side in the seventh to break a 5-5 tie.
1996 - Brady Anderson led off the first inning with a home run for the fourth straight game for Baltimore. The Texas Rangers overcame that homer, beating the Orioles 9-6.
1999 - Houston’s Jeff Bagwell matched career bests with three home runs and six RBIs, setting a franchise record for homers as the Astros beat the Chicago Cubs 10-3. Bagwell ended the day with 225 homers, two ahead of Jimmy Wynn.
2002 - Atlanta’s Rafael Furcal tied a modern major league record and became the first Braves player in 46 years to hit three triples in a game, as Atlanta beat Florida 4-2.
2012 - Phil Humber threw the first perfect game in the majors in almost two years, leading the Chicago White Sox to a 4-0 victory over the Seattle Mariners. It was baseball’s 21st perfect game and first since Philadelphia’s Roy Halladay threw one against the Florida Marlins on May 29, 2010.
2012 - Nick Swisher hit a grand slam to help the New York Yankees erase a nine-run deficit, then he added a two-run double to give them the lead as they posted back-to-back seven-run innings to beat Boston 15-9 at Fenway Park.
2015 - Jay Bruce and Todd Frazier each hit two-out grand slams, powering the Cincinnati Reds past the Milwaukee Brewers 16-10.
2016 - Jake Arrieta of the Chicago Cubs pitched his second no-hitter in a span of 11 regular-season starts, shutting down the Cincinnati Reds in a 16-0 rout. Arrieta struck out six, walked four and allowed only six balls hit out of the infield.
2018 - Oakland’s left-hander Sean Manaea pitched the first no-hitter against Boston in 25 years, with an overturned call preserving the gem in Oakland’s 3-0 win over the sizzling Red Sox. Manaea struck out 10, walked two and threw 108 pitches to finish off Oakland’s first no-no since Dallas Braden tossed a perfect game against Tampa Bay in 2010.
April 22
1876 - In the first National League game, Joseph Borden of Boston beat the hometown Philadelphia team 6-5.
1898 - Theodore Breitenstein of the Cincinnati Reds and James Hughes of Baltimore each pitched no-hit ball games. Breitenstein no-hit the Pittsburgh Pirates 11-0 and Hughes no-hit the Boston Braves 8-0.
1903 - The New York Highlanders lost their first game at Washington 3-1 before 11,950 fans.
1934 - Chicago’s Lon Warneke pitched his second consecutive one-hitter, beating St. Louis and Dizzy Dean 15-2.
1959 - The Chicago White Sox scored 11 runs with only one hit in the seventh inning of a 20-6 rout of the Kansas City A’s. Johnny Callison had the hit - a single. In the inning, Chicago was the recipient of 10 walks - five with the bases loaded - three Kansas City errors and one hit batsman.
1962 - The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the New York Mets 4-3 in a game in which two NL records were tied. Bill Mazeroski tripled in a run in the eighth to give the Pirates a 10-0 record, which matched the record for most consecutive wins since the start of the season set by the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers. The Mets lost their ninth straight to match the mark set by Brooklyn in 1918 and tied by the Boston Braves in 1920.
1970 - Tom Seaver of the Mets struck out the last 10 Padres he faced for a 2-1 victory over San Diego. He gave up two hits and finished with a total of 19 strikeouts, tying Steve Carlton’s major league record.
1976 - Montreal’s Tim Foli hit for the cycle in a 12-6 victory over the Chicago Cubs.
1978 - Andre Thornton of the Cleveland Indians hit for the cycle in a 13-4 win against the Boston Red Sox.
1980 - Ivan DeJesus of the Chicago Cubs hit for the cycle in 16-12 win against the St. Louis Cardinals.
1982 - The Atlanta Braves’ major league record for the fastest start was stopped at 13 straight victories when they lost 2-1 to the Cincinnati Reds.
1991 - San Francisco’s Robby Thompson hit for the cycle in a 7-5 loss to the San Diego Padres.
1993 - Chris Bosio pitched a no-hitter to give the Seattle Mariners a 7-0 win over the Boston Red Sox.
2007 - The Boston Red Sox hit four straight home runs against the New York Yankees, tying a major league record. Manny Ramirez, J.D. Drew, Mike Lowell and Jason Varitek connected in a span of 10 pitches during the third inning against Chase Wright, who was making his second major league start for New York. Boston won 7-6.
2008 - Atlanta’s John Smoltz became the 16th pitcher in major league history to reach the 3,000-strikeout plateau in the Braves’ 6-0 loss to the Washington Nationals.
2014 - Albert Pujols became the first major leaguer to hit his 499th and 500th homers in the same game, driving in five runs to help the Los Angeles Angels beat the Washington Nationals 7-2.
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