May 21

Baseball has a new phenom as 19-year-old Juan Soto of the Nationals, making his first start ever in the outfield after striking out as a pinch-hitter in his debut the day before, crushes the first pitch he sees from Robbie Erlin of the Padres for a three-run homer. He goes 2-for-4 in 10 – 2 win by Washington. He is the first teenager to homer since teammate Bryce Harper did so in his rookie year in 2012.

The Brewers’ Will Smith is ejected for having rosin and sunscreen on his forearm in the 7th inning of Milwaukee’s 10 – 1 loss to the Braves. Smith explains that he simply forgot to wipe off his arm before leaving the bullpen when called into the game. He will receive an eight-game suspension as well. The Braves are only up 2 – 1 when Smith gets thrown out, but the Braves tee up against his successors, Neal Cotts and Michael Blazek, to run away with the game.

What does the Cubs’ Jeff Samardzija have to do to get a win? Today, the major leagues’ ERA leader pitches 7 scoreless innings, but Hector Rondon blows a 2 – 0 9th-inning lead against the Yankees to send the game into extra innings. In the 13th, Yankees pitcher Preston Claiborne lays down a perfect sacrifice bunt in his first major league plate appearance as part of a two-run rally, Jose Veras throws a wild pitch to let in a first run and back-up catcher John Ryan Murphy drives in another with a single as the Bronx Bombers end up on top, 4 – 2. Samardzija is 0-4 in spite of a 1.46 ERA.

The A’s manage only one hit, a fourth-inning solo home run from Brandon Moss, but it is enough to beat Tampa Bay at Tropicana Field, 3-2, for their fifth straight and 11th victory in its past 12 games. Oakland is the first American League team to win with a home run as its only hit since Jim Thome’s solo shot in 2006 gave the White Sox a 1-0 victory over the Cardinals at U.S. Cellular Field.

Mike Trout of the Angels is the first batter to hit for the cycle this season, driving in 5 runs in a 12 – 0 rout of the Mariners. Josh Hamilton chips in with a homer and a triple, and Howie Kendrick also goes deep in support of Jerome Williams.

On the other end of the success scale, Dusty Robinson goes 0 for 8 with 7 strikeouts for the Stockton Ports of the California League in his team’s 11 – 9 win over the Lake Elsinore Storm. Pitcher Wade Kirkland hits a walk-off two-run homer to end the game. Robinson is the first player to strike out seven times in a game since Russ Laribee did so in the longest game in Organized Baseball history on April 18, 1981; Laribee needed 12 plate appearances over 33 innings to accumulate all of those Ks, however.

P Mike Leake hits his first career homer, Drew Stubbs hits a pair, and Zack Cozart adds a fourth solo shot off Mike Minor to power the Reds to a 4 – 1 win over the Braves. Juan Francisco also homers against his former teammates to account for the game’s other run, as Leake picks up his first win after starting the year 0-5. One supremely lucky fan, Caleb Lloyd, sitting in the right field bleachers at Great American Ballpark, catches Leake’s home run ball, and then catches Cozart’s as well when he goes yard back-to-back, to become an instant folk hero. Stubbs also follows with a homer, but that ball eludes the great Caleb’s grasp.

Today, youth beats experience, when Giancarlo Stanton tees off against ageless Jamie Moyer and crushes one of his pitches into the left-field scoreboard for a grand slam at Marlins Park, temporarily disabling part of the display. Stanton’s mighty blast leads Miami to a 7 – 4 win over Colorado.

Cincinnati fan Caleb Lloyd catches both home run balls hit in consecutive at-bats, just three pitches apart, by starter Mike Leake and shortstop Zack Cozart during the fourth inning of the Reds’ 4-1 victory over Atlanta at Great American Ball Park. The 20 year-old Thomas More College junior keeps neither as he gives the infielder’s ball to Nick Rise, a friend who had helped get the tickets to the game, and, at the request of the Reds, gives the pitcher, who hit his first career round-tripper, the other in exchange for a tour of the Reds’ clubhouse and an autographed bat and ball signed by the grateful hurler.

Wearing the uniforms from the 1918 World Series, the Cubs score 8 runs in the 8th inning, taking advantage of three Boston errors, to win, 9 – 3, at Fenway Park. Two of the runs score on a botched rundown of Alfonso Soriano, which acounts for two of the miscues. Losing P Matt Albers gives up 6 runs without retiring a batter. The game is marred by an injury to Cubs CF Marlon Byrd, who suffers multiple fractures when beaned by Alfredo Aceves.