Sep 10, 2014; Arlington, TX, USA; Los Angeles Angels first baseman Albert Pujols (5) hits a triple and drives in a run during the first inning against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Park in Arlington. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
A whole lot of action, oddities, and accomplishments have taken place since the 2014 season opened back on March 22 with a contest held at the Sydney Cricket Grounds in Australia. That season opener featured a Clayton Kershaw lead 3-1 victory for the Los Angeles Dodgers over the Arizona Diamondbacks. From there he’d sail through the regular season as the game’s best pitcher, ranking up sensational stats while making himself a favorite for the NL Cy Young Award.
Let’s take a look at just a few other handpicked events.
On April 21st the Houston Astros entered play batting just .192. Facing Seattle’s Felix Hernandez, the Astros banged out nine hits to defeat the Mariners’ ace 7-2. The win meant that half of Houston’s six wins on the season had come against former Cy Young winners: Hernandez, R.A. Dickey, and C.C. Sabathia.
A day later, Albert Pujols reached the 500 home run milestone. At about three months past his 34th birthday he became the third youngest player to hit that many shots. Only Alex Rodriguez and Jimmie Foxx got there quicker, reaching 500 at the age of 32. Pujols became the 26th player to hit 500 home runs.
On that same day a game displayed that Major League Baseball is truly in an era of free swingers, at the Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins fanned a collective 28 times without drawing a single walk. The Elias Sports Bureau reported that was the most strikeouts without a walk in any big league game dating back to 1900. The two teams played a three game set which featured 78 total strikeouts (41 by Miami, 37 by Atlanta).
Jose Abreu finished up the month of April with 10 HR and 32 RBI, both tops in baseball. He now owns the record for the most RBI by a rookie in the season’s first month. The old mark was held by Pujols (27 in 2001). Abreu also set rookie records with his 10 home runs, as well as his number of total base and extra base hits in the season’s opening month.
The 15th of May saw Johnny Cueto throw a three hitter to become the first pitcher since Harry Krause of the 1909 Philadelphia Athletics to work seven or more innings while allowing two or fewer runs scored in each of his first nine starts.
Five days later Masahiro Tanaka had his regular season unbeaten streak come to an end at 42 games. He’s now 6-1 on the year after going 24-0 during his final season in Japan.