IN THE NEWS: Texas Ranger starter Kenny Rogers ties Frank Viola for third place in consecutive home wins when he defeats the Chicago White Sox in Arlington. Rogers has won 19 consecutive home games and hasn't lost on his own turf since June 28, 1997, a span of 1,012 days (through April 4). Ray Kremer of the Pittsburgh Pirates holds the record of 22 consecutive home wins set in 1926-27: Lefty Grove of Boston (1938-41) is 2nd with 20 straight home wins.
IN THE NEWS: The Reds and Brewers play to a 3-3 tie, called in the 6th inning because of rain, in Ken Griffey Jr.'s debut. It is the first tie game on Opening Day in 35 years.
The Rangers defeat the White Sox, 10-4, as OF Gabe Kapler becomes the first player to homer in his first two ABs as a Ranger. C Ivan Rodriguez also hits a pair of home runs for Texas before the largest regular-season crowd in the team's history.
The Braves defeat the Rockies, 2-0. Andres Galarraga homers in his 1st game back after missing the entire 1999 season following cancer surgery.
The Dodgers defeat the Expos, 10-4, behind Eric Karros' grand slam. OF Vladimir Guerrero hits a pair of homers for Montreal as a new major league record for opening day is set with five players having multiple home run games.
IN THE NEWS: The Rockies defeat the Braves, 5-3. Atlanta SS Rafael Furcal goes 2-for-4 in his major league debut, becoming the 1st big league player born in the 1980s. It will come out later that Furcal shaved two years off his birth year, which was really 1978.
Ugueth Urbina strikes out the Dodgers in the top of the ninth on nine pitches tying the ML record. Since it comes in the ninth inning of a 10-4 Expos loss before a small crowd, nobody seems to notice this particular feat.
At the opener in Pittsburgh, Houston's Richard Hidalgo drives in all five runs, four on a grand salm, to lead the Astros to a 5–2 win. Shane Reynolds is the winning pitcher. John Vander Wal has a 2-run pinch home run for the Bucs in the 7th, his 14th career pinch home run.
IN THE NEWS: The Diamondbacks bite the Phillies, 11-3, with Mike Morgan picking up the save. Arizona is his 12th major league team, an ML record. (though Bobo Newsom switched teams more often). He also becomes the 25th player, and 9th pitcher, to appear in four decades. Earlier today, Jesse Orosco of the Cardinals became the 24th player, and 8th pitcher, to do so. (See also Elmer Valo, September 30, 1939)
IN THE NEWS: The Pirates defeat the Astros, 10-1, as OF Brian Giles goes 5-5, including two homers and a triple. Pittsburgh P Francisco Cordova does not give up a hit to Houston until one man out in the 8th inning.
The Royals defeat the Blue Jays, 9-3, as rookie P Chad Durbin allows just one hit in six innings in his 1st big league start, and 2nd big league appearance. The Royals score all nine of their runs in the 6th inning.
IN THE NEWS: 41,583 fans, including George W. Bush, are on hand for the opener at brand-new Enron Field. Enron president Kenneth Lay throws out the first ball. Led by Randy Wolf's seven strong innings, the Phillies top the Astros, 4–1. Octavio Dotel gives up two runs before leaving in the 7th with the loss. Scott Rolen and Ron Gant homer for the Phillies, while Richard Hidalgo goes deep for the Astors.
The Orioles defeat the Tigers, 14-10. The two teams combine to hit five home runs in the 5th inning, tying the major league mark.
The Indians defeat the Devil Rays, 14-5, in Tampa Bay's home opener, scoring nine runs in the 2nd inning. Wade Boggs' uniform #12 is retired by the Devil Rays prior to the game.
A total of 57 home runs are hit in the 15 games played, for a new major league record. The previous mark of 55 was set in 17 games last August 13. There were 36 homers hit in the American League, smashing the previous mark for a single league.
Berley W. Visgar is sentenced to 90 days in jail, and fined $1,000, for jumping OF Bill Spiers in a game played last September 24.
A boy who was struck in the head with a baseball before a Florida Marlins game in 1997 is awarded $1.05 million by a state court jury. Andrew Klein has permanent brain damage since the injury during batting practice as he took part in a pregame "Bullpen Buddies" program with 100 other youngsters at Pro Player Stadium. A line drive hit by Ray Lankford came into the stands and struck Andrew in the left temple.
IN THE NEWS: Toronto's David Wells allows nine hits in shutting out the Rangers, 4–0. Kenny Rogers loses at home ending his 19-game home winning streak, the 3rd longest in ML history. The streaks dates to June 28, 1997 when Rogers was with the Yankees. Since then he's pitched for Oakland and the Mets.
The Dodgers score four runs in the 9th and one in the 10th to defeat the Mets, 6-5. Dodger P Kevin Brown breaks the pinkie on his throwing hand during the game and will be out 3-to-4 weeks.
The Cardinals announce plans for a new $370 million ballpark, possibly to open in time for the 2004 season.
IN THE NEWS: The Twins defeat the Royals, 13-7. In the process, they become the 1st teams in history to each hit back-to-back-to-back home runs in the same game. Ron Coomer, Jacque Jones, and Matt LeCroy hit consecutive blasts for Minnesota in the 6th inning, followed by three in a row by Carlos Beltran, Jermaine Dye, and Mike Sweeney of Kansas City an inning later.
IN THE NEWS: The Rockies beat the Reds, 7-5, despite Ken Griffey Jr.'s 400th career home run. Griffey is the youngest in history to reach that milestone.
IN THE NEWS: The Dodgers edge the Giants, 6-5, in the first game played at Pacific Bell Park in San Francisco. SS Kevin Elster leads the Dodger attack with three home runs.
The Tigers sink the Mariners, 5-2, in the first game played at Comerica Park in Detroit.
The Red Sox defeat the Twins, 13-4, scoring eight runs in the 2nd inning.
IN THE NEWS: Richard Hidalgo has three hits, three RBI, two doubles and a home run to lead the Astros to a 7-5 win over the Cardinals. The game is tied, 5-5 in the bottom of the 7th, before Hidalgo gives the Astros the lead with a 2-RBI double. Jim Edmonds ties Chick Hafey's club record by reaching base safely 12 consecutive times. Hafey set the record in 1929.
IN THE NEWS: The Mets outlast the Pirates, 8-5, in 12 innings. C Mike Piazza gets five hits for NY, including a double and two home runs.
Adam Kennedy ties a major-league record in pacing Anaheim to a 16–10 win at Toronto. Kennedy hits a home run and triple, both with the bases loaded, to tie a record held by eight National Leaguers and two in the American League. His hits come in consecutive innings.
IN THE NEWS: The Orioles defeat the Twins, 6-4, as Cal Ripken gets the 3,000th hit of his illustrious career. Ripken goes 3-for-5 in becoming the 24th player to reach the milestone, and the 7th to get 3,000 hits and 400 home runs.
Pedro Martinez (7 IP, five H, two R/ER, one BB, nine SO) paces the Red Sox to a 14–2 win over the A's Tim Hudson. Carl Everett had three hits, including two doubles, and four RBI. Three sons of former major-league umpires work the game: Jerry (son of Shag) Crawford, Mike (son of Lou) DiMuro and Brian (son of Tom) Gorman.
IN THE NEWS: The Mariners rout the Blue Jays, 19-7, as SS Alex Rodriguez strokes three home runs, drives in seven runs, and scores 5.
The Padres defeat the Astros, 13-3, as OF Al Martin sets a team record by scoring five runs in the contest.
The Indians defeat the Rangers, 2-1, behind Chuck Finley. Finley, the only pitcher in history to fan four batters in an inning on two occasions, performs the feat for a 3rd time, fanning four Texas batters in the 3rd inning.
The Cardinals and Rockies split a doubleheader, with St. Louis winning the 1st game, 9-3, and the Rockies taking the 2nd, 14-13. Colorado scores eight runs in the 6th inning of the nightcap, while St. Louis 2B Fernando Vina strokes five hits for the Cards.
Texas Rangers OF Rusty Greer has surgery to remove bone chips from his right ankle. He will be out of action from 4-6 weeks.
IN THE NEWS: The Angels defeat the Blue Jays, 16-10, as 2B Adam Kennedy drives home eight runs for Anaheim. 2B Craig Grebeck, OF Raul Mondesi, and 1B Carlos Delgado hit back-to-back-to-back home runs for the Blue Jays in the 6th inning.
The White Sox outslug the Mariners, 18-11, scoring 11 runs in the 4th inning.
The Giants defeat the Reds, 13-9, as OF Barry Bonds scores five runs for SF.
IN THE NEWS: The Astros top the Dodgers, 10-3, as LA starting P Orel Hershiser ties a modern major league record by hitting four batters in only one 1/3 innings of work. OF Richard Hidalgo is hit by two of Hershiser's pitches, and is also plunked by reliever Matt Herges, to tie another ML mark. The five HPB also ties another 20th century mark by both pitchers and batters, done by Atlanta and Cincinnati on July 2, 1969.
IN THE NEWS: The Reds defeat the Giants, 11-1, as Pokey Reese gets five hits, including a double. Ken Griffey Jr. hits a pair of home runs for Cincinnati.
The Marlins defeat the Pirates, 3-2 in 14 innings, with P Vic Darensbourg getting the win in relief. It is Darensbourg's 1st major league win, ending the longest streak of winless appearances at the start of a career at 123. His career record in the majors before today was 0-8.
The Indians defeat the A's, 9-5. John Jaha strikes out five times for Oakland to tie a major league mark, last done by Jim Thome on April 9.
The Blue Jays come back to beat the Angels, 12-11. Anaheim, down 11-2, scores eight runs in the 6th inning.
IN THE NEWS: The Twins defeat the Rangers, 10-5, as Ron Coomer slugs two home runs and drives home seven runs for Minnesota.
The Angels down the Devil Rays, 9-6. Mo Vaughn and Tim Salmon hit back-to-back homers for Anaheim in the 4th inning, then repeat the feat in the 9th. Troy Glaus also homers in those same two innings, marking the 1st time in major league history that three players homer in the same inning twice in the same game. The three players with two home runs in the game ties another ML record.
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