ON THIS DATE

MAY 9

1901: Earl Moore of the Cleveland Indians pitched nine hitless innings against the Chicago White Sox before giving up two hits in the 10th to lose 4-2.

1937: Ernie Lombardi of the Cincinnati Reds went 6-for-6 in a 21-10 rout of the Phillies in Philadelphia.

1943: Due to the poor grade of rubber cement used to make baseballs because of wartime rubber shortages, a different type of ball is put into play today, with dramatic results. In eight games, six home runs are hit, compared to a total of nine homers tallied in the season’s first 72 games.

1961: Jim Gentile of the Baltimore Orioles hit consecutive grand slams in the first and second innings of a 13-5 rout of Minnesota.

1973: Johnny Bench of the Reds hit three home runs off Philadelphia’s Steve Carlton for the second time in his career. Bench drove in seven runs in Cincinnati’s 9-7 victory.

1984: The Chicago White Sox and Milwaukee Brewers played for 8 hours, 6 minutes in the longest game. After playing 17 innings the previous day, the teams met again before a regularly scheduled game, making the total 34 innings for two days. Harold Baines homered off Chuck Porter with one out in the bottom of the 25th for a 7-6 victory. Tom Seaver won both games for the White Sox.

1986: The Phillies release Dave Stewart after the right-hander compiles 6.57 ERA appearing in eight games as a reliever. At the end of the month, the 29-year-old free agent signs with the A’s, where he’ll average 21 victories a season from 1987-1990.

1987: Baltimore’s Eddie Murray became the first major leaguer to homer from both sides of the plate in consecutive games as the Orioles beat the Chicago White Sox 15-6 at Comiskey Park.

1999: Marshall McDougall hit six consecutive homers and knocked in 16 runs —both NCAA records —in Florida State’s 26-2 rout of Maryland. The second baseman opened with an RBI single, then hit six straight homers. After his base hit, McDougall had a solo homer in the second inning, a three-run shot in the fourth, a solo homer in the sixth, a three-run shot in the seventh, a grand slam in the eighth and a threerun shot in the ninth.

2002: Mariano Rivera establish a new franchise record when he saves his 225th game, preserving the Yankees’ 3-1 victory over the Devil Rays at Tropicana Field. The right-handed reliever hurls 1.1 innings to surpass the previous mark set in 1990 by Dave Righetti.

2006: Tampa Bay prospect Delmon

Young was suspended for 50 games without pay by the International League for throwing a bat that hit a replacement umpire in the chest. IL president Randy Mobley said he believed the suspension was the longest in the league’s 123-year history. The suspension is retroactive to April 27, the day after Young tossed his bat in a Triple-A game while playing for Durham.

2010: Dallas Braden pitched the 19th perfect game in major league history, a dazzling performance for the Oakland Athletics in a 4-0 victory over the

Tampa Bay Rays. He struck out six in the 109-pitch performance, throwing 77 strikes in his 53rd career start.

2015: Bryce Harper did it again, extending his remarkable homer streak with a two-run shot in the bottom of the ninth inning that sent the Washington Nationals over the Atlanta Braves 8-6. Harper homered for the sixth time in his last three games, one off the major league record set by Shawn Green in 2002.

2019: Albert Pujols, with a solo homer in the top of the third inning in the Angels’ 13-3 victory over the Tigers at Comerica Park, joins Hank Aaron and Alex Rodriguez in becoming just the third player in baseball history to record 2,000 career RBIs. Babe

Ruth and Cap Anson also reached the plateau, but the runs batted in did not become an official statistic until 1920.