This Date in Baseball

Published 3:51 pm Wednesday, April 22, 2020

COMPILED BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

APRIL 23

1903: The New York Highlanders won their first game in the major leagues, 7-2 over the Washington Senators.

1913: New York Giants ace Christy Mathewson beat the Phillies 3-1, throwing just 67 pitches.

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1939: Rookie Ted Williams went four for five, including his first major-league home run, but the Red Sox lost to Philadelphia 12-8 at Fenway Park.

1946: Ed Head of the Brooklyn Dodgers no-hit the Boston Braves 5-0 at Ebbets Field. Head was making his first start after a year of military service.

1952: Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians and Bob Cain of the St. Louis Browns matched one-hitters. Cain wound up as the winner 1-0.

1952: Hoyt Wilhelm of the Giants hit a home run at the Polo Grounds in his first major league at-bat. He was the winner, too, and pitched 1,070 games in the majors — but never hit another homer.

1954: Hank Aaron hit the first home run of his major-league career. The drive came against Vic Raschi in the Milwaukee Braves’ 7-5 victory over St. Louis.

1989: Nolan Ryan came within two outs of his sixth career no-hitter, losing it when Nelson Liriano tripled in the ninth inning as the Texas Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4-1. Ryan finished with his 10th-lifetime one-hitter.

2000: Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada each homered from both sides of the plate as the Yankees beat Toronto 10-7. It is the first time that feat has been accomplished by two players on the same team in the same game.

2007: Alex Rodriguez became the first player in major league history to hit 14 homers in the first 18 games of a season and tied the record for April homers, connecting in the second and ninth innings of the New York Yankees’ 10-8 loss to Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

2008: The Chicago Cubs won their 10,000th game, joining the Giants as the only franchise to reach that mark with a 7-6 10-inning victory at Colorado.

2009: Ichiro Suzuki lined James Shields’ second pitch of the game for a home run, the only run of Seattle’s 1-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. It was the 22nd time a leadoff homer was the deciding run in a game, and it was just the second time it happened for the Mariners.