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The First Pitch: May 19, 2026
J.T. Ginn has a no-hitter through eight innings and, more importantly, has a chance to finish it after the A’s give him a 1-0 lead in the top of the ninth on Lawrence Butler’s pinch-hit, RBI single against the Angels at Anaheim. But Ginn gives up a single to Adam Frazier to start his ninth, ruining the no-hit bid—and then Zach Neto ruins both the shutout and win by drilling a two-run homer to center, giving the Angels a 2-1 win to end their six-game skid.
The come-from-behind win preserves the Angels’ streak of regular season games without being no-hit, which extends to 4,179; that’s the majors’ longest active streak.
For only the seventh time ever in big-league baseball history, a team scores 10 runs in an extra inning. That team is the Mets, who like the Phillies before them are looking to be turning things around after a miserable start.
At Washington, the Mets and Nationals each notch a run in the 11th, before the Mets explode for 10 in the 12th. It’s a 13-batter rally that starts small with a sacrifice bunt, two infield hits and a bunch of singles off D.C. reliever Paxton Schultz, before a pair of doubles off third baseman/batting practice pitcher Jose Vivas caps the scoring. It’s the first time since 1919 that a NL team has scored 10 times in a single extra inning; the record remains 12, notched by Texas in the 15th of a 1983 game against the A’s.
The Cubs see an end to their 15-game win streak at Wrigley Field—their second longest at the fabled ballpark—dropping a 9-3 decision to divisional rival Milwaukee, which closes to within a half-game of Chicago for the NL Central lead. The Brewers pile up early on Cubs starter Shota Imanaga, who allows eight runs on nine hits—including home runs from Christian Yelich and Jake Bauers—over just 4.1 innings.
In his second game at the big-league level, Colt Emerson—who was given an eight-year, $95 million contract by Seattle at the start of the year—launches a three-run homer in the eighth that caps the scoring for the Mariners in a 6-1 victory over the visiting White Sox. Emerson was stationed at Triple-A Tacoma, batting .255 with seven homers, 26 RBIs and 10 steals over 38 games, before being called up the freeway to Seattle; at 20 years and 302 days, Emerson is the youngest Mariner to go deep since Jose Lopez in 2004.
Congrats, Your Box Score Line Was the Best (Hitters Edition)
5-4-4-4—Yandy Diaz, Tampa Bay Rays
A week after collecting his 1,000th career hit, the former batting champ made a relative leap toward 2,000, knocking out a pair of doubles and singles each in the Rays’ 16-6 home rout of the Orioles. It’s the 11th time in Diaz’s career that he’s notched four-plus hits in a game; only Carl Crawford (.296) has a higher career batting average for the Rays than Diaz’s .292.
Congrats, Your Box Score Line Was the Best (Pitchers Edition)
7-4-0-0-2-9—Michael King, San Diego
The King ruled at San Diego’s sand castle, outdueling Yoshinobu Yamamoto and lowering his season ERA to 2.31 in the Padres’ 1-0 win over the Dodgers in the first meeting between the two NL West rivals this season. In two-plus years with the Padres, King is 22-14 with a 2.95 ERA over 55 appearances (54 starts).
It Was Whatever-Something Years Ago Today
1929: A sudden downpour at Yankee Stadium hurriedly drives spectators chasing for the exits; in the resulting crush of fans, two die and 62 are injured. The game is stopped at that moment, with the Yankees leading the Red Sox, 3-0. The incident will make the Yankees reconsider selling standing room only tickets.
1956: The Pirates’ Dale Long homers in the first of eight consecutive games, setting a major league record that will later be matched by Don Mattingly and Ken Griffey Jr.
1999: The Reds and Rockies engage in a wild scoring affair at Denver that’s ridiculous even by Coors Field standards. In winning 24-12, the Reds belt out 28 hits, including nine doubles and six homers (three by Jeffrey Hammonds); the 81 total bases between both teams set a major league mark.
2008: The Red Sox’ Jason Varitek becomes the first catcher in major league history to be behind the plate for four major league no-hitters when he helps steer Jon Lester’s no-no against Kansas City. Varitek also caught no-hitters for Clay Buchholz (2007), Derek Lowe (2002) and Hideo Nomo (2001). Carlos Ruiz will match Varitek in 2015.
2018: The Rays start veteran reliever Sergio Romo as their “opener,” the first of 78 games in which the team would deploy the “bullpenning” tactic of starting a reliever for an inning or two before replacing him with a long reliever. The Rays will win a 5-3 game at Anaheim as Romo pitches the first, followed by Ryan Yarbrough’s 6.1 frames.
You Say It’s Your Birthday
Happy birthday to:
Atlanta pitcher Bryce Elder (27), 2023 All-Star
Seattle outfielder Victor Robles (28), one-time top prospect for Nationals; 107 career steals
Brandon Inge (49), 2010s third baseman; 2009 All-Star and collector of 152 career home runs
Luis Salazar (70), Venezuelan-born third baseman/outfielder during the 1980s
Ed Whitson (71), pitcher of 126-123 record for five teams; once took on his manager Billy Martin in a bar fight and won
Dan Ford (74), steady-hitting outfielder of 11 seasons; scored and knocked in 100 runs each for 1979 Angels
Born on this date:
Eric Show (1956), 101-game winner with fine career 3.66 ERA; spent bulk of career with Padres; died during drug rehab stint at age 37
Curt Simmons (1929), three-time All-Star pitcher; 193 career wins over 20 seasons, 13 of those with Phillies
Gil McDougald (1928), infielder for the Yankees of the 1950s; five-time All-Star; seven home runs in 53 World Series games
Goose Curry (1905), career .301 hitter over 17 Negro League seasons; also won 26 games as a pitcher
Newt Allen (1901), three-time Negro League All-Star infielder, played for two champion Kansas City Monarchs teams 18 years apart
Ed Walsh (1881), Hall-of-Fame workhorse considered as one of the finest Deadball Era pitchers; last hurler to win 40 games in a season; all-time-low career 1.82 ERA; helped define field dimensions for Comiskey Park, which opened in 1910
Shameless Link of the Day
If you think J.T. Ginn had it bad in losing out on no-hit glory, check out these 10 pitchers who thought they had a perfect game in the bag, until…
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