On this weeks podcast – August 5, 1979, Willie Mays is inducted into the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Mays slugged 660 homers, batted .302, and collected 3,283 hits in his 22-year career. Known for his all-around play, Mays won 12 Gold Glove Awards for his defense in center field. Former…
2018 – The Orioles’ awful season continues as they blow an early 8 – 3 lead against Boston to lose, 19 – 12. This puts them 46 1/2 games back of the division-leading Red Sox, with 46 games remaining, meaning they are mathematically eliminated. It matches the earliest date this has happened in baseball history, set by the 1932 Red Sox and copied by the 1962 Mets, two notoriously awful teams, and the 46 games left to play at the time of elimination is a new record in the divisional era.
2017 – Dexter Fowler has a career night as he hits a grand slam and drives in 5 runs to lead St. Louis to an 8 – 6 win over the Royals. It is the 6th straight win for the Cards, who are now back within one game of the first-place Cubs in the NL Central after having trailed by as many as 6 1/2 games in mid-July.
8/10/2016: Brian Dozier of the Twins led off the bottom of the first inning with a home run. The Astros and Twins were rained out after two innings and a 2 � hour delay with the Twins leading, 5-0.
2016 – Rangers slugger Prince Fielder formally announces that his career is over at 32, the result of having undergone a second spinal fusion surgery a few weeks earlier, making him medically unable to perform although he has four years remaining on his contract. He is the third prominent home run hitter to announce his retirement in a week, following Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez.
The Blue Jays defeat the Tigers, 6 – 5, in the longest game in team history in terms of both time and innings, thanks to a run-scoring single by Jose Bautista in the 19th inning, after 6 hours and 37 minutes of baseball. The winning hit comes off Rick Porcello, normally a starter but pressed into action by the length of the game. Melky Cabrera is the first player since Rod Carew on May 12, 1972 to reach base 8 times in a game. Chad Jenkinsthrows 6 scoreless innings for the win. The Tigers take an early 5 – 0 lead against starter Mark Buehrle who is chased in the 4th, but the Jays claw back and tie the game in the bottom of the 9th.
In the Northwest League, four pitchers for the Spokane Indians combine to no-hit the Everett AquaSox in 11 innings, 3 – 0. A three-run homer by RF Luke Tender provides all of the scoring. Derek Thompson pitches 5 innings, followed by Shane McCain with 3, Adam Parks with 2 and Luis Pollorena who completes the gem by pitching the bottom of the 11th.
The Marlins end the Braves’ 14-game winning streak as Miami’s Adeiny Hechavarria scores the game’s only run on a wild pitch by Jordan Walden in the 9th inning after leading off the frame with a triple. Young starters Nathan Eovaldi and Alex Wood pitch 7 and 6 scoreless innings respectively.
Juan Uribe of the Dodgers falls victim to the hidden ball trick in the 4th inning, but it’s the only highlight on the day for the Rays, who fall, 5 – 0, as Los Angeles is now 19-3 since the All-Star break. Zack Greinke pitches 6 1/3 innings for the win.
Austin Jackson runs wild as the Tigers defeat Texas, 6 – 2. He triples in the 4th to score Detroit’s first run, then after the Bengals score four runs to go ahead in the 6th, he caps the scoring in the 7th with the Tigers’ first inside-the-park homer in five years when Nelson Cruz makes an ill-advised attempt to catch his drive rather than let it bounce in front of him for a double; the ball skips past Cruz all the way to the wall. Prince Fielder hits a three-run homer for Detroit as Max Scherzer is the winner over Scott Feldman.