Chris Capuano tosses the best game of his career, throwing a two-hit shutout while striking out 13, as the Mets defeat the Braves, 6 – 0.
The Rangers open a key three-game series with the Angels with an 11 – 7 win at home, stopping the Halos’ 6-game winning streak. Nelson Cruz homers twice and drives in 6 runs in support of Derek Holland’s pitching. David Murphy adds a grand slam for the Rangers, who stretch their lead in the AL West back to three games.
Teams are bracing for the arrival of Hurricane Irene, scheduled to hit the Northeastern states over the next two days. The Mets cancel their games scheduled for both days as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg orders a partial evacuation of the city’s coastal areas and a shutdown of its transit system in anticipation of the storm. The Red Sox decide to move up their Sunday game against the A’s to a Saturday afternoon doubleheader, while the Orioles are planning to cancel a Saturday doubleheader against the Yankees by playing one of the games as part of a Sunday doubleheader, and the second on what should have been an open date on September 8th. The Yankees are unhappy about losing what was their last scheduled rest day of the season, but their proposal to play a game instead at 10:00 am on Saturday is rejected. The Phillies also move games around, electing to play a scheduled Sunday game against the Marlins on Saturday afternoon, and moving Saturday’s evening game to September 15th. All of these scheduling changes are made before the first drop of rain even falls.
Alex Ramirez becomes the first player in Nippon Pro Baseball to drive in 100 runs for eight straight seasons, breaking Sadaharu Oh’s record set from 1963 to 1969. Ramirez’s three-run homer off Kazuki Yoshimi in the 1st puts him over the century mark in a 10 – 4 Yomiuri Giants win over the Chunichi Dragons.
Albert Pujols of St. Louis hits the 400th homer of his career, off Jordan Zimmermann of the Nationals in the 4th inning. Pujols becomes the 47th major leaguer to hit that many and is the third-youngest to do so after Alex Rodriguez and Ken Griffey Jr. However, the hit is a distant memory by the time the game reaches its conclusion after 13 innings with an 11 – 10 Nats win. Ian Desmond drives in Nyjer Morgan from third base with a single through a drawn-in infield to end the roller-coaster game, giving him 3 hits and 4 RBI on the night as Blake Hawksworth takes the loss. 15 pitchers see action during the game. The Cards take a 10 – 8 lead in the top of the 9th with a four-run outburst, only to see Roger Bernadina blast a two-run homer off Ryan Franklin to send the contest into extra innings. The Cards have now lost 8 of 11.
Cedric Hunter of Portland has a great day at the plate in a 17 – 12 win over Tacoma in the Pacific Coast League. He collects a franchise-record 8 RBI with a pair of three-run homers, a double and a single both plating a run, and another single for good measure. Dusty Ryan, with a grand slam, and Sean Kazmar also homer for Portland, while five Tacoma players do the same, including Mike Carp who hits two.
2009 – Three home plate umpires are needed to call Toronto’s 3 – 2 win over Tampa Bay. Jerry Crawford is struck by a foul tip in the 2nd and has to leave the game, then his replacement, Tom Hallion is struck by a Scott Kazmirfastball. After a 20-minute delay during which he is attended to by training staff from both clubs, Hallion moves back to the bases, and Brian O’Nora assumes the role of home plate official. Toronto wins in the bottom of the 9th when J.P. Howell uncorks a wild pitch after loading the bases with three walks.
Teddy Roosevelt gets off to a fast start, and it appears that T.R. will finally beat his Mount Rushmore teammates, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and George Washington to win his first-ever President Race at Nationals Park. When the blue do-rag clad presidential character sporting dreadlocks stops to high-five fans sitting in the right-field stands, with the public address announcer explaining the mascot’s behavior as ‘Teddy being Teddy,’ the big lead disappears.
The Phillies, trailing 7-0 early in the game, rally to beat the Mets at Citizens Bank Park, 8-7. Chris Coste, who goes 4-for-4 after entering the game as a pinch hitter in the 8th inning, delivers the walk-off single in the bottom of the 13th to put Philadelphia back into first place, a half a game ahead of New York.
2007 – In what would be his last game as Astros manager, Phil Garner sees Houston rally for a 5-4 victory over the Pirates. It pulls the Astros .001 out of the division basement at 58-73. Ty Wigginton’s two-run homer in the eighth is the difference. The next day, Garner and General Manager Tim Purpura are fired. Garner finishes his Houston tenure with a 277-252 record that includes two LCS appearances and one National League pennant. Before the game, the Astros retire Jeff Bagwell’s number 5 in an emotional ceremony.