August 25, 1985, Dwight ”Doc” Gooden of the New York Mets becomes the youngest pitcher to win 20 games in a season. At 20 years, nine months, and nine days – one month younger than Bob Feller was when he won 20 games in 1939 – Gooden defeats the San Diego Padres, 9-3. Gooden would…
2018 – Kendrys Morales homers in his sixth straight game to spark a comeback for the Blue Jays, who trail the Phillies, 5 – 0 at that point in the 4th. But a two-run homer by Billy McKinney in the 7th brings the Jays to within one run, then Morales sparks the winning rally in the 8th with a lead-off walk against Seranthony Dominguez. A few batters later, Aledmys Diaz hits a bases-clearing double to put Toronto ahead, 8 – 6, and Ken Giles records his 18th save in as many opportunities. Morales will homer again tomorrow, to bring his streak to seven game, one shy of the major league record.
8/25/2017 – Although it was not actually a case of batting out of turn, the Red Sox had an amazing mistake in the 9th inning of their 16-3 loss to Baltimore on August 25, 2017. As is often the custom in such lopsided contests, the Red Sox put a position player on the mound in the top of the 9th. In this case, it was Mitch Moreland, who had played first base the entire game to this point. The Red Sox lost the DH for the remainder of the game and the new first baseman, Hanley Ramirez, entered the game in the 7th spot in the batting order, formerly occupied by DH Chris Young. They made no other changes. Moreland did well in his one inning as pitcher, allowing no runs on two hits and even collecting a strikeout.The trouble occurred in the home 9th. The first batter was Rafael Devers, batting in the 6th spot. He made an out and the proper next batter was Ramirez. However, Chris Young came to the plate and singled – even though he was no longer in the game! Because this was an illegal reentry and not an improper batter, the umpires should have noticed it and not allowed it. No one appeared to notice – not the umpires or either team. Since it was a 16-3 game with two outs to go, it is likely that Ramirez had not even thought about where he was batting. As for DH Young, he simply followed Devers to the plate as he had all night. The official remedy is to call Young a pinch-hitter for Ramirez, which causes all the official totals to come out right.
2016 – Matt Moore of the Giants comes within one out of throwing a no-hitter against the Dodgers, but Corey Seager singles to right with two outs in the 9th to end the bid. Moore immediately leaves the game, but the Giants win, 4 – 0, bringing them back to within two games of their first-place rivals. Before the game, Los Angeles trades C A.J. Ellis and minor leaguer Tommy Bergjans to the Phillies for veteran Carlos Ruiz. Ellis was the personal catcher of ace Clayton Kershaw, but as he is currently sidelined with an injury and Ellis is batting south of the Mendoza Line, the Dodgers feel it necessary to make a move to strengthen the position.
Calling his tweet completely unacceptable, ESPN pulls analyst Curt Schilling from the network’s Little League World Series broadcasts. The former major league pitcher’s post, which was quickly deleted, connected Muslim extremism to Nazi Germany.
2014 – The Orioles hit back-to-back-to-back homers in the 5th inning of their game against the Rays, as Delmon Young hits a three-run shot, followed by long balls by J.J. Hardy and Chris Davis. Nick Markakis and Steve Pearce had hit back-to-back homers off Jake Odorizzi in the 3rd, to mark the first time in team history that the Orioles have recorded the two combinations in the same game. They win easily, 9 – 1, with Chris Tillman the beneficiary of the long ball explosion.
The Dodgers lose a series for the first time in 2 1/2 months, as Jake Peavy three-hits them in an 8 – 1 win for Boston.
For the first time in nearly six decades, a player homers to support his brother’s effort on the mound when Jordan Danks goes deep in the fourth inning in the White Sox’ 5-2 win over Texas, with his sibling, John, throwing six innings to earn the U.S. Cellular Field victory. In 1955, A’s catcher Billy Shantz also homered in a game in which his batterymate was his brother Bobby.
In a match-up of two leading playoff contenders, Atlanta tops the Cardinals, 5 – 2, as Mike Minor wins his 13th and Andrelton Simmons homers. Allen Craig has three hits in a losing cause.
Jordan Danks homers and John Danks gets the win as the White Sox top Texas, 5 – 2. No player had homered in support of his brother’s win since Walker Cooper and Mort Cooper in 1947.