Alexis Gómez hits a three-run triple in the 1st off Norge Vera and Lorenzo Barcelo allows one run in five innings as the Dominican national team stuns Cuba, 5 – 2, in the finale of the 2010 Pan American Games Qualifying Tournament. Both teams had already qualified for the 2011 Baseball World Cup and 2011 Pan American Games along with the USA, Venezuela, Panama and Canada. Host Puerto Rico qualifies only for the 2011 Pan American Games.

At Yankee Stadium, the Twins drop Game 3 of the ALCS, 6-2, giving New York a sweep of the series. Minnesota, the first team to make the playoffs, exits the postseason for the second straight year without winning a game in the first round.

Although the Astros finish ten games under .500, the team exercises the 2012 option on the contract of their manager Brad Mills and adds a club option for the following season. After a dismal 17-34 start and the loss of veterans Roy Oswalt to the Phillies and Lance Berkman to the Yankees, the first-year skipper pilots Houston to a 59-52 record after June 1.

With only 17 instances of a manager getting tossed in the history of the postseason, two occurrences happen on the same day when the Rays’ Joe Maddon and Twins’ Ron Gardenhire are both ejected from different ALCS games. The Tampa Bay skipper gets the heave-ho in the fifth frame in a game against Texas for arguing a check swing with home plate umpire Jim Wolf, and the Minnesota pilot suffers the same fate with Hunter Wendelstedt for arguing balls and strikes in the seventh inning in the contest against the Yankees.

Rays’ hurler David Price is this year’s recipient of the Oklahoma Sports Museum’s Warren Spahn Award given annually to the best left-handed pitcher in the big leagues. The honor, named after the winningest southpaw in the history of the game, is awarded based on a point system which evaluates performance based on their wins, strikeouts, and earned run average.

The Cardinals exercised their $16 million option for next season with first baseman Albert Pujols. The 30 year-old superstar, a three-time NL MVP, led the circuit with 42 home runs and 118 RBIs.

At Citizens Bank Park, Phillies right-hander Roy Halladay throws the second no-hitter in postseason history when he beats the Reds, 4-0, in Game 1 of the NLDS. Don Larsen became the first hurler to accomplish the feat by throwing a perfect game in the Yankees’ victory over Brooklyn in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series.

Hanshin Tigers outfielder Matt Murton breaks Ichiro’s Japanese record for the most hits in a single season when he strokes his 211th hit of the year, a two-run single to center in a game against the Yakult Swallows. The 29 year-old former major leaguer, a 2003 first-round draft pick of the Red Sox who became part of a trade to the Cubs in a four-team deal that included Nomar Garciaparra, also played with the A’s before being released by the Rockies last season.

A day after the season ends, the last-place Pirates fire John Russell, who equaled a franchise record for most losses by a manager in three seasons, compiling a 186-299 record. The other Buc skipper with as many defeats in the same time frame was Fred Haney, posting a 163-299 record from 1953-55.

On a day three managers are sacked, the Reds give their skipper, Dusty Baker, a two-year contract extension through 2014. Cincinnati is making its first playoff appearance in 15 years.