in baseball
- July 16: Cleveland Indians catcher Víctor Martínez hit 3 home runs, singled twice, drew a walk, and drove in a career-high seven runs in a perfect 5-for-5 game, recorded his first career multi-homer game, as the Indians belted eight homers-21 hits in an 18-6 rout of the Seattle Mariners. Matt Lawton, Casey Blake, Ben Broussard, Travis Hafner and Jody Gerut added shots. Lawton, Martínez and Blake homered in consecutive at-bats in the third inning. It was the first time Cleveland had hit three consecutive homers since Jim Thome, Albert Belle, and Julio Franco accomplished the feat on September 12, 1996. Broussard, Martínez, Hafner and Gerut all homered in the ninth inning as the Indians matched their team record for home runs in one game, previously accomplished at Milwaukee on April 25, 1997. Cleveland also set a new Safeco Field HR record, surpassing the six homers hit by the Kansas City Royals in 2003. The major league record for home runs in a game is 10, set by the Toronto Blue Jays in 1987.
- June 28: David Bell hit for the cycle as the Phillies slugged their way to a 14-6 victory over the Expos. Bell went 4-for-4, scored two runs, and knocked a career-high six RBI. He became the third player to hit for the cycle this season, joining Pirates' Daryle Ward and Brewers' Chad Moeller. Coincidentally, Ward and his father Gary Ward accomplished the feat and when Bell achieved the honor, he joined his grandfather, Gus Bell, who did it on June 4, 1951.
- July 16: With his solo home run in the eighth inning of Phillies 5-1 victory over the Mets, Bobby Abreu joined Willie Mays, Bobby Bonds and Barry Bonds by reaching the elite 20-homers/20-steal plateau for a sixth straight season. That quartet are the only players to have six straight 20-20 seasons in MLB history. Abreu also became the only member of the quartet with no family connection to Barry, his dad Bobby, or his godfather Willie.
- July 29: Mets outfielder Eric Valent became the eighth player in Mets history to hit for the cycle to lead his team to a 10-1 victory over the Montreal Expos at Olympic Stadium. Valent went 4 for 4 with a walk and drove in three runs and scored three times in becoming the fourth player in the majors this season to hit a single, double, triple, and home run in a game -- joining Milwaukee's Chad Moeller, Pittsburgh's Daryle Ward, and Philadelphia's David Bell.
- August 8: At Comerica Park, Boston Red Sox outslugged the Detroit Tigers 11-9, despite knuckleballer Tim Wakefield giving up a record-tying six home runs. Wakefield became the sixth pitcher since 1900 to yield six homers in a game, but the first since George Caster of the Philadelphia Athletics against the Red Sox on Sept. 24, 1940. The others were Larry Benton (New York Giants, 1930), Hollis Thurston (Brooklyn Dodgers, 1932), Wayman Kerksieck (Philadelphia Phillies, 1939) and Al Thomas (St. Louis Browns, 1936). Both teams combined for 10 homers. For Boston, Kevin Youkilis homered twice and David Ortiz belted one. For Detroit, Ivan Rodriguez and Eric Munson each connected twice, and one each to Carlos Peña, Dmitri Young and Craig Monroe. In 1886, Charlie Sweeney of the St. Louis Maroons in the National League gave up seven homers in a game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
- August 17: Mark Teixeira became the second player in the Texas Rangers history -- and first in more than 19 years -- to hit for the cycle, leading Texas to a 16-4 rout of the visitors Cleveland Indians. He went 4-for-5 and drove in a career-high seven runs for the club's first cycle since Oddibe McDowell accomplished the feat on July 23, 1985, against the Indians at Arlington Stadium. Teixeira is the fifth player to hit for the cycle this season, joining Milwaukee's Chad Moeller, Pittsburgh's Daryle Ward, Philadelphia's David Bell and Eric Valent of the New York Mets.
- August 31: Omar Vizquel went 6-for-7 to tie the American League record for most hits in a nine-inning game as the Cleveland Indians rolled to a 22-0 rout of the Yankees, who endured the worst shutout loss in league history. The only players with seven hits in a nine-inning game are Rennie Stennett (Pittsburgh, 1975) and Wilbert Robinson (Orioles, 1892). Cleveland matched the largest shutout in the majors since 1900, set by Pittsburgh against the Cubs on September 16, 1975. The Yankees had never lost by more than 18 runs, falling 24-6 at Cleveland on July 29, 1928, and 19-1 at home against Detroit on June 17, 1925. Previously, the Yankees' biggest shutout loss was 15-0 at home against the White Sox on May 4, 1950. Cleveland set a team record for largest shutout win, topping its 19-0 rout of Boston on May 18, 1955.
- October 1: Ichiro Suzuki surpassed George Sisler's 84-year-old record of 257 hits in a single season. After this game, Ichiro had collected 259 hits in the season with two games left; he finished the season with 262 hits.
- October 2: The Anaheim Angels clinched his first AL West Division division title in 18 years after a 5-4 victory over the Oakland Athletics. The Angels also earned their first playoff berth since 2002, when they won the World Series as the wild card. The Angels, who trailed Oakland by on game four days before, were tied for the first place when the three-game series started, and many expected the race to come down to the last day of the season, but Anaheim ended the suspense with two consecutive victories.
- October 3: The Houston Astros charged into the playoffs with their 18th consecutive home victory by beating Colorado 5-3 to win the National League wild card. Houston won the final seven games of the regular season and nine of the last 10 to complete an amazing late-season push for the playoffs under manager Phil Garner, who replaced Jimy Williams at the All-Star break. The Astros were a season-worst 56-60 on August 14. Since then, the team compiled a major league-best 36-10.
- October 9: At Minneapolis, the New York Yankees rallied for four runs to tie the game in the eighth, then pushed across the winning run in the 11th on a wild pitch. The 6-5 win against the Twins gave them a 3-1 AL Division series victory and sends them back to Yankee Stadium, where they will open against the Red Sox in the best-of-seven ALCS.
- October 11: The Houston Astros posted a 12-3 triumph over the Atlanta Braves in the decisive fifth game of the National League Division Series. Winning a postseason series for the first time in the 43-year history of the franchise, the Astros earned a spot in the best-of-seven NL Championship Series against the St. Louis Cardinals.
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