IN THE NEWS: Reds hurler Jerry Arrigo ties a National League record by hitting three Braves in the 2nd inning of a 94 Atlanta win. Reds hurlers plunk two more and the Braves set a post-19th century major-league record of five hit batters in one game. It won't be matched till April 19, 2000.
IN THE NEWS: At Los Angeles, Lee May hits a 2-run homer in the 11th and the Reds beat the Dodgers, 43. For May, second in the National League to Willie McCovey (27) in dingers, it is his 23rd homer, matching his birth date and uniform number (his younger brother Carlos May will also have his birth date as his uniform number). Wayne Granger, the 3rd Red pitcher in the 11th, stops the Dodger rally.
IN THE NEWS: The Dodgers take first place in the National League West by sweeping a doubleheader against the Braves in Los Angeles, winning 67 and 73.
At Montreal, the Phillies lose their 1st road game, 85, after nine straight wins.
IN THE NEWS: Minnesota regains the American League West lead behind the pitching of Jim Perry and a 131 rout of Oakland at Metropolitan Stadium.
AL East leader Baltimore breaks a 3-game losing streak as Dave McNally (12-0) wins his 14th straight game 93 at Detroit. Detroit OF Mickey Stanley plays his 220th straight errorless game and C Bill Freehan picks Paul Blair off 3B unassisted. Blair, on third with a triple, strolls too slowly back to the bag after the bat flies out of the hands of Frank Robinson.
IN THE NEWS: With three runs in the 9th inning, the Mets beat the Cubs 43, cutting Chicago's lead in the National League East to four games. Ron Santo rips into CF Don Young for two misplays in the OF. Santo will apologize tomorrow for criticizing Young, who had left early and didn't take the team bus. Santo will get booed in his first game back at Wrigley.
IN THE NEWS: With one out in the 9th, Chicago's Jimmy Qualls bloops a single to left-CF, the only blemish on Tom Seaver's 40 near-perfect win before a record crowd (59,083) at Shea Stadium.
With the Twins hosting Kansas City, the Royals Bob Oliver attempts to steal 2B with Ellie Rodriguez at bat. Catcher John Roseboro pushes Rodriguez's bat out of the way and his throw to 2B nails Oliver. After huddling eight minutes with his umpire crew, home plate ump John Rice declares Rodriguez out for interference and orders Oliver back to 1B, though (as author Rich Marazzi points out) the rule states that an out nullifies an interference call. The Royals win, 43. Killebrew accounts for all the Twins scoring with a homer.
President Nixon watches the Senators for the 4th time this season, and they finally win one for him, beating the Indians, 30, behind Joe Coleman's 4-hitter.
IN THE NEWS: The Cubs score five runs in the 5th inning to beat the Mets, 62, behind Bill Hands. The win halts the Mets' seven-game win streak and leaves the New Yorkers in 2nd place by four games.
IN THE NEWS: The Red Sox swat the Orioles twice, winning 74 and 123. Reggie Smith is 7-for-9 and stretches his hit streak to 19 games. Carl Yastrzemski has a homer in each game as the Red Sox total 22 hits in the nitecap, including five by Mike Andrews.
Harmon Killebrew hits a pair of homers and a double to boost his RBI total to a American League-high 90. The Twins beat the Pilots, 92.
Fergie Jenkins and the Cubs lose to the Mets, 10. For Jenkins, it is his 4th 10 loss this year.
IN THE NEWS: Undefeated O's ace Dave McNally wins his 13th but needs relief help in subduing the Red Sox, 63. Jim Lonborg, making his first start since breaking his toe June 21, takes to loss. Tony Conigliaro has a pair of homers and Reggie Smith stretches his hit streak to 20 games.
In the 3rd meeting between the two brothers, San Diego's Joe Niekro defeats his brother Phil Niekro of the Braves 10. Joe is 21 over Phil.
IN THE NEWS: At Wrigley, the Cubs top the Mets 10 to give Bill Hands (117) the win over Tom Seaver (144). Billy Williams singles home the winner, boosting the Cubs lead to five 1/2 games. After the last out, Ron Santo jumps up and clicks his heels, igniting a roar from the crowd. The Mets think it's bush.
Joe Coleman posts his 2nd straight shutout and drives in two runs to defeat the Tigers, 30, in Washington. A crowd of 23,831 pushes the Senators attendance to 553,506, exceeding the club's 1968 attendance of 542,042.
IN THE NEWS: The Mets rough up Fergie Jenkins for three home runs, including Al Weis's 2nd in two days, to beat the Cubs 95. The Cubs now lead New York by three 1/2 games. At the end of the game Tom Seaver jumps out of the dugout and clicks his heels several times. The Mets will win tomorrow as well.
Reds OF Lee May hits four homers against the Braves in a doubleheader split. May hits a pair in each game driving in five runs in each. The Reds lose the lidlifter, 98, then take game two, 104.
With President Nixon attending his 5th game of the season, the Senators beat the Tigers again, 73. The Tigers pull off the first triple play of the year when Eddie Brinkman grounds to 3B Don Wert. Tim Cullen, hitting .206, drives in four runs with a single, double and home run.
Reggie Smith collects five straight hits in the opener, stretching his hit streak to 21, and leading the Red Sox to 76 win over New York. He'll gets another hit in the nitecap, a 41 win by New York's Stan Bahnsen (510), but his hit streak will stop tomorrow.
IN THE NEWS: After White Sox lefty Jerry Nyman walks in a run with the bases loaded, Rod Carew steals home for the 7th time, as the American League-West leading Twins sweep a twin bill, winning 98 and 63 from the White Sox. Carew ties Pete Reiser's major-league record for steals of home in a season, a record since given back to Ty Cobb (8 steals in 1912) in 1991 after further research.
Despite four homers by Montreal, the Pirates beat the Expos, 87, scoring three in the 8th and three in the 9th. The Pirates only homer comes in the 8th innings with Matty Alou on 2B and Dan McGinn pitching, when Willie Stargell splashes a pitch over the RF fence into the municipal swimming pool at Jarry Park.
IN THE NEWS: Sal Bando is 5-for-5 and drives in the first four runs in the A's 82 win over Seattle. Don Mincher drives in both runs off Catfish Hunter (8-7).
IN THE NEWS: Red Sox pitcher Ray Jarvis drives in two runs and beats the Orioles, 61. The only score for the O's is a homer by Don Buford with Dave May on 1B. May holds up to watch Tony Conigliaro fall into the RF stands in a vain attempt to catch the drive and Buford passes May. May scores but Buford is called out and is credited with a single.
Tommy John scatters eight hits in the White Sox 61 win over the Royals. The Sox outfield records no putouts behind John.
At Crosley Field, the Astros take a 90 lead after batting in the 6th, only to lose, 109. The Reds score a run in the 6th, two in the 7th, and tie it with six in the 8th. Cincy wins it in the 11th when Ted Savage drives in a run off Jack Billingham.
IN THE NEWS: Phillie Dick Allen's suspension ends, but he incurs a $12,000 fine.
The Twins and Pilots suspend an 16-inning game at 77.
At War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo, a knife-wielding gang takes over the club house during batting practice. The International League game is postponed due to "threatening weather."
IN THE NEWS: San Francisco's Gaylord Perry connects for his first hit of the year, and his first ML homer to beat the Dodgers, 73. The victim of Perry's dinger is Claude Osteen. Last year, Alvin Dark had remarked to sports writer Harry Jupiter about Perry's hitting, "They'll put a man on the moon before he hits a home run." Perry's homer comes about 20 minutes after the club house receives word that Neil Armstrong has set foot on the moon.
Jim Perry does his brother one better by winning two games today in Minnesota's sweep of the Pilots. Playing two more innings to complete yesterday's suspended game, the Twins score four runs in the 18th to win, 117, then follow with a 40 win. Perry tosses 11 innings of shutout ball to win the pair. The loser in both games is John Gelnar. In the extra inning game, the two teams strand a major-league record 44 runners, with the Twins contributing 23. (The Mets and Cards will leave 45 runners on during a September 11, 1974 marathon.) The two wins means the Twins go into the All-Star break with a four game lead over the A's in the American League West.
Atlanta blanks San Diego 100 to grab a one-game lead over Los Angeles and San Francisco in the National League West.
IN THE NEWS: A gala All-Star Game banquet in Washington is one of baseball's great events. An all-time team and all-time living team is announced. Babe Ruth is selected Greatest All-Time Player, and Joe DiMaggio, Greatest Living Player.
IN THE NEWS: At Wrigley, Ken Holtzman tops Don Sutton for the 4th straight timethree this yearas Chicago beats the Dodgers, 53. For a frustrated Sutton, it is a Cubs-record 13th straight loss to Chicago stretching back to his rookie year.
IN THE NEWS: Tony Conigliaro of the Red Sox suffers a wrenched back while hitting a home run against the Seattle Pilots. The injury forces him to walk slowly around the bases before being replaced. The Red Sox win 76.
IN THE NEWS: Seattle suffers another heartbreaker, losing 53 to Boston in 20 innings at Sicks Stadium. Joe Lahoud hits a 2-run home run in the top of the 20th for Boston, and Tommy Harper matches in the bottom of the inning for the losers. Jim Lonborg is the winner.
In the team's biggest shutout victory ever, Baltimore routs the White Sox, 170, as Jim Hardin wins over Billy Wynne. Hardin allows just two hits while the Birds bang out 20, good for 39 total bases. Frank Robinson drives in five runs and hits a pair of homers.
IN THE NEWS: Yankee reliever Jack Aker's string of 33 scoreless innings comes to an end as the A's rally for three runs to top the Yankees, 65. Vida Blue, the A's starter, receives credit for his first ML victory.
IN THE NEWS: Its a bad day for the Mets at Shea. In the 1st of two games, Houston scores 11 runs in the 9th inning, eight coming home on grand slams by Jimmy Wynn and Denis Menke, to trounce the Mets 163. This is the first time this century in the National League that two grand slams have come in the same inning, with Mets pitchers Cal Koonce and Ron Taylor teeing up the honors. (The last time in the American League was July 18, 1962.) Taylor also serves up a single to Houston relief P Fred Gladding, the only hit of Gladding's career in 63 ML at bats and 450 games. Game two is no different as the Astros tally 10 runs in the 3rd inning to thrash the Mets, 115. Curt Blefary triples with the sacks full and pitcher Larry Dierker (13-8) homers with a man on.
Using five homers, the Braves thrash the Phils, 63, in game 1. Felipe Alou and Hank Aaron homer and Bob Tillman, hitting .187, hits three in a row. Aaron's blast is the 537th of his career and moves him past Mickey Mantle on the all-time list. The Phils win the nitecap, 43. Dick Allen homers in the 2nd inning and follows a Johnny Callison homer in the 8th with his 2nd shot of the game.