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The First Pitch: April 14, 2026
There are nine players on the day with multiple-homer efforts—one shy of the all-time record—and three of them do it at Yankee Stadium. Two of those players are the Angels’ Mike Trout and Yankees’ Aaron Judge—both three-time MVP winners—while the other is Trent Grisham, who doesn’t even enter the game until the fifth as a pinch-hitter. But it’s a ninth-inning wild pitch by the Angels’ Jordan Romano that leads to the deciding run, scoring Jose Caballero from third shortly after Grisham’s second homer, a two-run blast, had tied the game for the Yankees. The 11-10 victory ends New York’s five-game losing streak.
For Judge, it’s his 47th career multi-homer game—moving ahead of Mickey Mantle for second on the all-time Yankees list. Remaining well ahead of Judge at the top is, but of course, Babe Ruth (68).
It’s a night to forget for Garrett Crochet—though it’s going to be hard for him not to remember the shellacking he gets from the Twins at Minnesota. Crochet can’t make it past the second, removed with two outs after allowing a career-high 11 runs (10 earned) on nine hits and three walks; he strikes out none, the first time he’s failed to collect a single K in a start. The Twins’ 13-6 win gives them a 10-7 record, tied with divisional rival Cleveland (9-3 winners at St. Louis) for the AL’s best. (Yes, 10-7 is the league’s best record.)
The Pirates are learning to score runs when Paul Skenes is on the mound. At home against the Nationals, the Buccos rack up five runs early, then really pile it on in the sixth with a 10-spot, on their way to a 16-5 rout. Skenes gives up just one hit—a solo CJ Abrams homer in the first—over six otherwise flawless innings, striking out six.
The Pirates have scored at least seven runs in each of Skenes’ four starts this year—he’s won three of them—and that matches the total number of games they did that in 32 Skenes starts last year.
Congrats, Your Box Score Line Was the Best (Hitters Edition)
4-2-3-5—Jeremiah Jackson, Baltimore
The budding second baseman was dangerous not only to the opposing Diamondbacks, but to his own manager when he sliced a sharp foul ball off the face of Craig Albernaz—who survived with a nasty abrasion on his right cheek. After that nasty incident, Jackson turned his more intentional fury on Arizona—first with a grand slam in the sixth that cut the DBacks’ lead to a mere run, then a solo shot in the eighth to provide the Orioles with insurance in a comeback 9-7 home win. Jackson’s first career multi-homer game gives him three round-trippers on the year, to go along with 11 RBIs in just 14 games.
Congrats, Your Box Score Line Was the Best (Pitchers Edition)
8-2-0-0-0-2—Justin Wrobleski, Los Angeles Dodgers
The young right-hander is keeping the rehabbing Blake Snell’s spot in the rotation more than just warm. After a fine five-inning start at Toronto last week, Wrobleski was outstanding against the struggling (six straight losses) Mets, keeping them quiet through eight innings on just 90 pitches. He only faced one batter above the minimum.
It Was Whatever-Something Years Ago Today
1910: A big baseball fan in every sense of the word, 300-pound President William Howard Taft makes numerous visits to ballparks around the country during 1910—and inadvertently begins a couple of baseball traditions. In Washington’s home opener, Taft is persuaded by Senators manager Jimmy McAleer to throw out the first pitch, the first of many tossed over the years by American presidents at Opening Day games. Later, in the seventh inning of an eventual one-hitter being thrown by Senators starter Walter Johnson, Taft stands up to stretch—and the crowd, believing he is getting up to leave, stands up with him out of respect. The moment basically plants the seeds for the seventh-inning stretch.
1911: Cleveland pitcher Addie Joss, 31, dies of tubercular meningitis—a week after the illness had scratched him from an Opening Day start. The Naps’ home opener three days later will be postponed as it occurs on the same day as Joss’ funeral in Toledo—and his teammates demand on paying their respects in person rather than playing ball. In nine years, Joss produced 160 wins, 97 losses and a 1.89 earned run average—the second best in the history of the game.
1953: After 82 years in Boston, the Braves play their first game in Milwaukee with a 3-2, 10-inning win over the Cardinals before 34,357 at brand-new County Stadium. Warren Spahn goes the distance for the win, while Bill Bruton smashes a walk-off homer.
1967: Red Sox pitcher Billy Rohr, making his first-ever appearance on a major league mound, is one strike away from a no-hitter at New York against the Yankees before Elston Howard breaks it up with a single. Rohr completes the game with a one-hit shutout, 3-0. Howard is rewarded by Yankees fans with a chorus of boos; later in the year he’ll be traded to the Red Sox. Meanwhile, Rohr’s star will fall as fast as it had risen, winning only two more games in a career that ends a year later in Cleveland.
1976: Naomi Martinez is at home watching the Cubs and Mets on TV when the Mets’ Dave Kingman launches a monster shot over the Wrigley Field ivy, the bleacher bums, Waveland Avenue—and off her living room wall. Another three feet and the ball would have smashed Martinez’s window and the TV set as well. Kingman’s blast, at 550 feet, is arguably considered the longest in Wrigley history; the Cubs (and Ms. Martinez) survive to win, 6-5.
2005: Washington D.C. celebrates the return of major league baseball after a 43-year absence as the Nationals—formerly the Montreal Expos—defeat Arizona, 5-3. Vinny Castilla smacks a double, triple and home run while driving in four of the Nationals’ runs.
You Say It’s Your Birthday
Happy birthday to:
Kyle Farnsworth (1976), reliever of 893 appearances
Steve Avery (56), worthy asset of 1990s Atlanta rotation; career 96-83 record; 5-3 with a 2.90 ERA over 18 postseason appearances, taking 1991 NLCS MVP honors
Brad Ausmus (57), three-time Gold Glove-winning catcher; 1,579 career hits over 18 seasons; manager of five seasons, for Tigers and Angels
David Justice (60), left-handed slugger of 305 home runs; 1990 NL Rookie of the Year; three-time All-Star; briefly married to actress Halle Berry; 2000 ALCS MVP
Greg Maddux (60), Hall-of-Fame ace with 355 wins, four Cy Young awards, four ERA titles, and 18 Gold Gloves—most ever by a pitcher; remarkably low ERA numbers defied live-ball madness of the 1990s
Born on this date:
Pete Rose (1941), baseball’s all-time hit leader with 4,256—but yet to be enshrined in Cooperstown due to his pervasive gambling while manager of the Reds; earned, somewhat derisively at first, nickname of Charlie Hustle for his nonstop running on the bases—even after drawing a walk; three-time batting champ; 1963 NL Rookie of the Year; 1973 NL MVP; topped 200 hits a record 10 times; in-your-face competitor, as Ray Fosse and Bud Harrelson found out
Don Mueller (1927), two-time All-Star outfielder with career .296 batting average on 1,292 hits
Shameless Link of the Day
Here’s the story on Crosley Field, home of the Reds from 1912-70.
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