The Braves stage a late-game homer barrage to beat the Phillies, 4 – 3. Trailing 3 – 0 entering the bottom of the 9th, after being muzzled for 8 innings by Kyle Kendrick, who had entered the game with a 17.47 ERA, the Braves tee off against Ryan Madson after two outs. Troy Glaus goes deep with a runner on base and rookie Jason Heyward follows with a game-tying blast. Nate McLouth then hits a walk-off long ball against Jose Contreras in the 10th inning.
On the day the struggling Boston Red Sox have to place two starting outfielders – Jacoby Ellsbury and Mike Cameron – on the disabled list, they eke out a dramatic 7 – 6 win over the Texas Rangers. Entering the game with a 4-9 record, they fall behind 5 – 1 and 6 – 2 while the Rangers run wild, stealing 9 bases against the duo of Tim Wakefield and Victor Martinez. the Rangers swipe nine bases, including a club-record of five in one inning, to establish a franchise mark. The number of stolen bases allowed by the Boston backstops ties the 1913 mark for the most ever yielded by the team in one game. They then mount a comeback when Darnell McDonald, called up earlier in the day from AAA Pawtucket, hits a two-run game-tying pinch homer in the 8th, then ends the game with a run-scoring single off the Green Monster in the bottom of the 9th.
Rockies president Keli McGregor, while on a business trip for the club, is found dead in his hotel room in downtown Salt Lake City. The 48 year-old baseball executive, believed to have died of natural causes, spent 17 years with Colorado.
In Boston, Dustin Pedroia goes 4 for 6 as Boston beats Baltimore, 12 – 1, to complete a four-game sweep. Justin Masterson, subbing for an injured Daisuke Matsuzaka, wins his first start of the season in a game that begins at 11:00 AM on Patriots Day.
2008 – The Blue Jays release former superstar Frank Thomas, who has 516 major league home runs and a 979 career OPS to his name. A five-time All-Star and two-time MVP, Thomas has gotten into conflict with manager John Gibbons, who benched him. After a clubhouse meeting, Toronto G.M. J.P. Ricciardi and the designated hitter reach a “mutual agreement,” that gives the disgruntled player an opportunity to continue to be a full-time player on another team. Thomas is 12th all-time in major league history in OPS, 9th in walks and 18th in home runs. It is the third major player-manager conflict for Gibbons in his time with Toronto; he will be fired and replaced by Cito Gaston in a few weeks.
Alex Rodriguez becomes the second player to hit twelve home runs in the season’s first fifteen games when he goes deep twice in the Yankees’ 7-6 loss to Boston at Fenway Park. Hall of Fame third baseman Mike Schmidt also accomplished the feat, hitting a dozen for the Phillies in 1976.
Alex Rodriguez becomes the second player to hit twelve home runs in the season’s first fifteen games when he goes deep twice in the Yankees’ 7-6 loss to Boston at Fenway Park. Hall of Fame third baseman Mike Schmidt also accomplished the feat, hitting a dozen for the Phillies in 1976.
The first Virginia Tech home athletic event, a game against Miami, since the campus massacre, which claimed 32 lives of students and staff, draws 3,132 fans. The overflow crowd is the largest ever recorded in the 18-year history of English Field, home of the Hokies college baseball team.
In honor of their hard playing center fielder, the first 10,000 adult fans attending the game at Great American Ball Park receive a Ryan Freel Dirty T-shirt giveaway from the Reds. The Cincinnati leadoff hitter, known to finish games wearing a filthy uniform, doesn’t disappoint as he raises lots of dust getting on base twice, including a key single in the tenth inning, in the Reds’ 2-1 victory over the Phillies.
Appearing as a pinch hitter at Petco Park, Julio Franco becomes the oldest major leaguer to hit a home run. The 47 year, 240 days old’s eighth-inning blast, which put the Mets ahead in their 7-2 victory over the Padres, surpasses Jack Quinn, who accomplished the feat as a pitcher for the Philadelphia A’s at the age of 46 years, 357 days.