2000 in Baseball - Events - April–May

April–May

• April 3
  • Andrés Galarraga hits a home run in his first game back after missing the entire 1999 season following cancer surgery, as the Atlanta Braves defeat his former team, the Colorado Rockies, 2–0, at Turner Field.
  • A new major league record for Opening Day is set with five players having multiple home run games. Gabe Kapler becomes the first player to hit home runs in his first two at-bats in a Texas Rangers uniform and his teammate Iván Rodríguez also adds a pair of homers in a 10–4 Texas victory against the Chicago White Sox. Vladimir Guerrero hits a pair of homers for the Montreal Expos, but the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat Montreal, 10-4, behind Eric Karros' grand slam. Jason Giambi of the Oakland Athletics hits two home runs against the Detroit Tigers. Despite Giambi's effort, Detroit edges the Athletics, 7–4.

• April 4 - Montreal Expos closer Ugueth Urbina ties a major league record by striking out the side on nine pitches. His victims are F. P. Santangelo, Devon White and Mark Grudzielanek in the ninth inning, as Montreal defeats the Los Angeles Dodgers, 10–4, at Montreal's Stade olympique.

• April 7 - A total of 57 home runs are hit in the 15 games played, for a new major league record. The previous mark of 55 is set in 17 games on August 13, 1999. There are 36 homers hit in the AL, smashing the previous mark for a single league.

• April 9 - The Minnesota Twins defeat the Kansas City Royals 13-7. In the process, they become the first teams in major league history to each hit back-to-back-to-back home runs in the same game. Ron Coomer, Jacque Jones and Matt LeCroy hit consecutive homers for Minnesota in the 6th inning, followed by three in a row by Carlos Beltrán, Jermaine Dye and Mike Sweeney of Kansas City an inning later.

• April 10 - The Colorado Rockies punch out the Cincinnati Reds, 7–5, despite Ken Griffey, Jr.'s 400th career home run. At age of 30, Griffey is the youngest player in major league history to reach that milestone.

• April 11 - The Los Angeles Dodgers edge the San Francisco Giants, 6–5, in the first game played at Pacific Bell Park in San Francisco. Shortstop Kevin Elster leads the Dodgers attack with three home runs.

• April 11 - The Detroit Tigers sink the Seattle Mariners, 5–2, in the first game played at Comerica Park in Detroit.

• April 15 - The Baltimore Orioles defeat the Minnesota Twins, 6–4, as Cal Ripken, Jr. 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 seventh to get 3,000 hits and 400 home runs.

• April 16 - Cleveland Indians starter Chuck Finley, who is already the only pitcher to strike out four batters in one inning twice, does it for the third time as the left-hander strikes out Tom Evans, Royce Clayton, Chad Curtis (who takes first on a passed ball) and Rafael Palmeiro in the third inning. Finley beats the Texas Rangers 2–1 with the help of back-to-back ninth-inning home runs from Manny Ramírez and Jim Thome.

• April 21 - The Anaheim Angels melt the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 9–6. Mo Vaughn and Tim Salmon hit back-to-back home runs for Anaheim in the fourth inning, then repeat the feat in the ninth. Troy Glaus also homers in those same two innings, marking the first 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 major league record.

• April 23 - In the New York Yankees' 10–7 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays, Yankees' Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada each hit home runs from both sides of the plate, marking the first time in major league history that a pair of teammates accomplish the feat in the same game.

• April 26 - Vladimir Guerrero hits his 100th career home run helping the Montreal Expos beat the Colorado Rockies 9–2.

• April 29 - The San Francisco Giants finally win, beating the Montreal Expos 2–1 for their first victory at Pacific Bell Park. The Giants are the first team to lose six straight game to begin play in a newly constructed home park.

• April 30 - Randy Johnson of the Arizona Diamondbacks compiles what might have been the best first month for a pitcher in major league history, going 6-0 with an 0.91 ERA, three complete games and a pair of shutouts.

• April 30 - The St. Louis Cardinals defeat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4–3, as Mark McGwire and Jim Edmonds hit home runs. St. Louis finishes the month with 55 homers, a new record for the month of April. It also ties the National League mark for homers in any month. Major league batters also set a record for most home runs in a month by hitting 931 in April – the total is 140 more than the number hit in 1999.

• May 10 - Rickey Henderson becomes the 21st major leaguer to garner 10,000 at-bats in his career. Henderson finishes the night with 10,002 at bats and trails only Cal Ripken, Jr. among active players.

• May 11 - The Milwaukee Brewers crash into the Chicago Cubs, 14–8, in the longest nine-inning played in National League history. But not only is Milwaukee's four-hour, 22-minute drubbing of Chicago, because it also features one of the longest home runs in the history of Wrigley Field. A picture circulated by the Associated Press puts it this way: "Rick Frohock celebrates on the rooftop of a three-story building on Waveland Ave. behind the left-field bleachers of Wrigley Field after catching a home run hit by Chicago's Glenallen Hill against the Brewers. It is believed to be the first time a ball lands on top of the apartment building." Hill's shot is estimated at 490 feet by the next day's press accounts and eventually measured at 500 feet.

• May 12 - Boston Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martínez, who posts 17 strikeouts in his last start on May 6 against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, strikes out 15 batters in a 9–0 shutout over the Baltimore Orioles, to tie an American League pitching record for the most strikeouts over two games. The mark is set in 1968 by Luis Tiant, while pitching for the Cleveland Indians.

• May 18 - Mark McGwire hits three home runs and drives in seven runs in a St. Louis Cardinals 7–2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. The three homers move McGwire past Mickey Mantle into eighth place on the all-time list with 539.

• May 19 - The Pittsburgh Pirates defeat the St. Louis Cardinals, 13–1, as catcher Jason Kendall hits for the cycle to become the only Pirate ever to do so at Three Rivers Stadium.

• May 20 - Rickey Henderson of the Seattle Mariners hits a leadoff home run in the Mariners' 4–3 loss to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Safeco Field. Henderson joins Ted Williams and Willie McCovey as the only players who have hit at least one home run in four different decades. Henderson signs with the Mariners the day before, after being released by the New York Mets on May 13.

• May 23 - The Baltimore Orioles pull the Seattle Mariners, 4–2. Seattle's Rickey Henderson draws his 2,000th career walk in the ninth inning, making him the third player to reach that level in the majors, just behind Babe Ruth and Ted Williams.

• May 29 - Second baseman Randy Velarde of the Oakland Athletics turns an unassisted triple play, just the 11th in major league history, on a line drive smashed by the New York Yankees' Shane Spencer. With runners on first and second running with the pitch, Velarde tags Jorge Posada as he nears second base, then touches the bag to retire Tino Martinez. New York wins the game, 4–1. In 1995, while playing with the Yankees, Velarde turns an unassisted triple play against the Los Angeles Dodgers in spring training before the 1994-95 strike begins.