April 3

2019 – Jacob deGrom, last year’s Cy Young Award winner is back at it. He strikes out 14 Marlins in 7 innings and also hits a homer to lead the Mets to a 6 – 4 win. It is deGrom’s 26th consecutive quality start, dating back to 2018, matching the major league record set by Hall of Famer Bob Gibson in 1967-1968.

Something unprecedented happens in the Brewers’ 5 – 4 win over the Cardinals. The Cards open the game with back-to-back homers, as Dexter Fowler and Tommy Pham connect off Chase Anderson within the first three pitches of the game, and the contest ends in similar fashion, but now it’s Milwaukee’s Christian Yelich and Ryan Braun who go deep back-to-back off Dominic Leone with two outs in the bottom of the 9th to end the game.

The Padres are the last team to enter the win column this year, as they defeat the Rockies, 8 – 4, at Petco Park after four straight losses to open the season. Rookie 3B Christian Villanueva is the hero with a three-homer game.

2017 – Christian Bethancourt’s bid to become the first two-way player in the majors in over a decade does not get off to a good start. The former catcher pitching for the Padres on opening day relieves Jhoulys Chacin in the 4th with his team trailing the Dodgers, 7 – 1, and immediately uncorks wild pitches on his first two deliveries to the plate, both times scoring a run. He gets out of the inning when a couple of long fly balls are caught just shy of clearing the fence, but in the 5th, Corey Seager touches him for a three-run homer as Los Angeles goes on to win a 14 – 3 rout. For L.A., Joc Pederson hits a grand slam and drives in 5 runs and Yasmani Grandal homers from both sides of the plate, as the team wins its opening game for the seventh straight season – every time behind the pitching of ace Clayton Kershaw.

In the first game of the major league season, the Pirates defeat the Cardinals, 4 – 1, behind a great performance by Francisco Liriano who strikes out 10 batters in 6 scoreless innings and also drives in the first run of the game with a single off Adam Wainwright.

On Opening Day in Kansas City with the team’s theme “We Are The Champions” playing in the background, over 2,000 fans participate the Relay the Way event, establishing a new record when they line up to complete the longest first pitch in baseball history. The ball, which is tossed hand to glove for four hours, travels a distance of nine miles and raises over $100,000 for the Royals’ Urban Youth Academy charity.

2015 – Major League Baseball suspends P Ervin Santana, who signed the largest free agent contract in Twins history this off-season, for 80 games for testing positive to the anabolic steroid stanozolol. Santana claims he never knowingly took a banned substance.

On the first day of minor league games this year, Henry Owens of the Portland Sea Dogs (Eastern League) throws a rain-shortened six-inning no-hitter as Portland defeats the Reading Fightin Phils, 5 – 0. Mookie Betts goes 4 for 4 with a homer and 3 runs scored to lead the Sea Dogs’ offense.

The Rays win for the first time this year in dramatic fashion, as Matt Joyce hits a walk-off homer off the Orioles’ Tommy Hunter for a 7 – 6 win. His heroics are necessitated by a rare blown save by Fernando Rodney, who had not allowed a run over his last 20 appearances for the Rays, dating back to last season, in addition to his perfect run in the 2013 World Baseball Classic.

The Red Sox start a season 2-0 for the first time since 1999 when they defeat the Yankees, 7 – 4, behind the pitching of Clay Buchholz, who allows one run in 6 innings. Yankees starter Hiroki Kuroda isn’t so lucky, having to leave the game in the 2nd inning after being struck on a finger by a line drive off the bat of Shane Victorino. For the second straight game, New Yankee Stadium is virtually empty by the end of the game, as the home side falls behind early and never threatens the Sox’s lead.