This date in baseball

1924 Grover Cleveland Alexander won his 300th game as the Chicago Cubs beat the New York Giants 7-3 in 12 innings.

1968 Mickey Mantle hit his last home run in the major leagues, a solo shot against Boston’s Jim Lonborg. Mantle had 536 homers.

1988 Wade Boggs became the first player this century to get 200 hits in six consecutive seasons as the Boston Red Sox pounded Toronto 13-2. Boggs also joined Lou Gehrig as the only players to get 200 hits and 100 walks in three consecutive years.

1992 Philadelphia second baseman Mickey Morandini made the first unassisted triple play in the National League in 65 years, the ninth in major league history, in the Phillies’ 3-2, 13-inning loss to Pittsburgh.

1998 Cal Ripken took himself out of the starting lineup and did not play in the Baltimore Orioles’ loss to the New York Yankees, ending his consecutive-game streak at 2,632 games. After nearly 16 years, Ripken said he decided the time was right to end the streak, which began on May 30, 1982.

2008 Francisco Rodriguez recorded his 60th save in Los Angeles’ 7-3 victory over Texas.

2012 The Washington Nationals brought postseason baseball back to the nation’s capital for the first time since 1933, earning a playoff spot with a 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The city of Washington was last in the postseason 79 years ago, when player-manager Joe Cronin and the Senators lost to the New York Giants in five games in the World Series. 2013 Alex Rodriguez set a major league record with his 24th career grand slam, passing Lou Gehrig with a tiebreaking shot in the seventh inning that sent New York Yankees to a 5-1 victory over San Francisco. 2017 Chris Sale struck out 13 to become the first AL pitcher in 18 years to reach the 300 mark, and the Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles 9-0. 2018 Justin Smoak homered with two outs in the ninth inning to give the Toronto Blue Jays a 9-8 comeback victory over Tampa Bay. Trailing 8-2 to begin the bottom of the ninth, the Blue Jays roared back. Rowdy Tellez hit an RBI double and Danny Jansen chased Jamie Schultz with a three-run home run. Sergio Romo came on and struck out Richard Urena, but pinch hitter Kendrys Morales reached on a bloop single and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. tied it with a two-run home run to left. Smoak followed with a first pitch drive to right, Toronto’s fourth home run of the game.