Jose Mesa becomes the 11th pitcher in major league history to appear in 1,000 games. This is a rough one as he allows a three-run game-losing home run to Jesus Flores.
2006 – Craig Biggio smacks the 50th leadoff homer of his career in an 8-5 victory over the Reds. Lance Berkman goes deep twice and drives in four. Berkman’s 91 RBIs lead the league. However, the floundering Astros sit five games under .500, five games out of the wild card race and with five teams in between Houston and Cincinnati.
After waiting through a 2-hour 43-minutes rain delay in Atlanta to start the game, Greg Maddux becomes the 13th pitcher in history to register 3,000 strikeouts. Taking an inside fastball in the top of the 3rd inning, Omar Vizquel of the Giants becomes the historic victim of the crafty 39-year old Braves right-hander.
Carl Everett becomes the first Ranger to hit two home runs in one inning. The Texas designated hitter homers twice in the nine-run 7th inning during the 12 – 4 rout of visiting Oakland.
Rookie pitcher Chris George, 21, becomes the first lefthander to start for Kansas City in 239 games. He loses to the Mariners, 4 – 0. The winner is Joel Pineiro, who allows one hit in six innings to win his first major league decision.
The White Sox send pitcher James Baldwin to the Dodgers for three minor leaguers, P Onan Masaoka and Gary Majewski, and OF Jeff Barry.
The Dodgers re-obtain oft-injured pitcher Ismael Valdes from the Cubs for minor leaguers Jamie Arnold and Jorge Piedra. The Dodgers swapped Valdes to the Cubs last year. Piedra was a top prospect in 1998, hitting .383 at Great Falls, while reaching base in 54 straight games.
The Phillies send their number one starter, Curt Schilling, to Arizona for first baseman-outfielder Travis Lee and pitchers Omar Daal, Vicente Padilla, and Nelson Figueroa. Next season, the 33 year-old right-hander will play a major role in Arizona’s world championship, posting a 22-6 record while hurling a league-leading 256.2 innings for his new team.
The Blue Jays defeat the Indians, 8 – 1, as David Wells wins his major league-leading 16th game. Bartolo Colon takes the loss for Cleveland, despite striking out the first six batters to face him to tie Bob Feller’s team record.
The Diamondbacks bring up Mexican star Erubiel Durazo, 25, to replace slumping 1B Travis Lee. Durazo, whose contract was purchased from the Monterrey Sultans last December after he hit .350, tore up the minors (AAEl Paso Diablos, .403, 14 home run in 64 games; AAA Tucson Sidewinders, .407, 10 home run, 30 G). He’ll do the same in the National League hitting .329, with 11 homers, in 52 games.
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