What’s Happening in Baseball Today

The First Pitch: April 30, 2026

At Pittsburgh, the Pirates’ Nate Gonzales represents the game-winning run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth against St. Louis’ Riley O’Brien when he launches a drive to deep left field. But the Cardinals’ Nathan Church secures a 5-4 win when he hops up to keep Gonzales’ deep fly from going over the six-foot wall at PNC Park. 

According to MLB, it’s the 19th home run robbery by an outfielder this season; This is the second this season for Church, joining the A’s Denzel Clarke (two), San Diego’s Jackson Merrill (three) and the Angels’ Jo Adell (three—all in one game) with multiple home run takeaways. The record for an entire single season is 76—though last season, there were 69 by August 25, before people apparently stopped counting. (A cursory search of home run robberies for September, via available video highlights on mlb.com, reveals that there were at least 12 more, adding up to no less than 81 in 2025.) 

There is no official home run database for home run robberies; maybe now is the time to start one.

Congrats, Your Box Score Line Was the Best (Hitters Edition)

4-4-3-3—Hunter Goodman, Colorado  
The powerful catcher, who plays roughly every third game for the Rockies at the DH spot, launched two home runs in a 13-2 drubbing of the Reds in Cincinnati. It’s Goodman’s seventh career multi-homer game over two-plus years—and despite what you might think, four of those two-homer efforts have come on the road, a mile lower than Denver. Of Goodman’s nine overall homers this year, seven have come over his last dozen games—with six of those smacked on the road.

Congrats, Your Box Score Line Was the Best (Pitchers Edition)

7.2.5-1-0-0-9—Gavin Williams, Cleveland                                 
The 26-year-old right-hander rebounded from his worst outing of the year (six runs allowed at Toronto on April 24) with one of his best. An unearned run in the seventh, thanks to a double play-turned-two-base error by Travis Bazzana (in his second MLB game) led to Williams’ lone blemish in the box score. The Guardians’ 3-1 home win over Tampa Bay gave Williams his fifth win of the year; his 53 strikeouts lead all major leaguers.

It Was Whatever-Something Years Ago Today

1922: The White Sox’ Charlie Robertson, who over eight big league seasons will never post a winning record, pitches the majors’ third perfect game of the 20th Century—and the last until Don Larsen’s perfecto in the 1956 World Series—in a 2-0 win at Detroit. Tiger stars Ty Cobb and Harry Heilmann believe Robertson is too good to be true, constantly arguing with umpires (to no avail) that the pitcher is doctoring up the ball. 

1939: Lou Gehrig is hitless in four at-bats and is hitting just .143 (4-for-28) after the Yankees’ 3-2 home loss to Washington. After the team arrives in Detroit for a road series against the Tigers the next day, Gehrig informs the Yankees that he’s doing no good playing every day and asks to sit out for the first time after playing in 2,130 straight contests. Outside of a short appearance during an exhibition contest in Kansas City on June 12, Gehrig will never play again.

You Say It’s Your Birthday

Happy birthday to:

Phil Garner (1949), three-time All-Star second baseman and manager who led the 2005 Astros to their first-ever pennant 

Charley Jones (1852), 19th-Century outfielder who twice led his league in RBIs; member of 1876 Reds in NL’s first season

Shameless Link of the Day

The Texas Rangers currently play indoors to protect fans and the players from the Lone Star State’s ungodly weather elements; here’s the story of Arlington Stadium, their first ballpark—where not a single seat was protected from searing summer sun or drenching downpours.

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