This date in baseball
June 23
1917 In baseball's greatest relief effort, Ernie Shore of the Boston Red Sox came in for Babe Ruth with nobody out and a man on first. The base runner was cut down stealing and Shore retired all 26 batters he faced to gain a 4-0 victory over Washington. Ruth walked Eddie Foster to open the game and was ejected after arguing with umpire Brick Owens.
1950 Hoot Evers' winning home run in the ninth inning gave the Detroit Tigers a 10-9 victory over the New York Yankees as the teams combined for 11 home runs, a major league record. The Yankees hit six and the Tigers five.
1963 Jimmie Piersall, playing for the Mets in New York, hit his 100th career home run and celebrated by running around the bases backward.
1971 Rick Wise of the Philadelphia Phillies pitched a no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds and hit two home runs. Wise became the first pitcher to hit two home runs while throwing a no-hitter.
1973 Pitcher Ken Brett of the Philadelphia Phillies hit a home run in the fourth consecutive game that he pitched in June. He beat Montreal 7-2.
1984 Chicago's Ryne Sandberg hit two late-inning home runs off St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Bruce Sutter to tie the game twice as the Cubs went on to win 12-11 in 11 innings. Sandberg led off the ninth inning with a solo home run to tie the game 9-9 then hit a two-run, two-out home run in the 10th to tie the game 11-11. Willie McGee hit for the cycle and drove in six runs for St. Louis.
2008 Felix Hernandez hit the first grand slam by an American League pitcher in 37 years, then departed with a sprained ankle before he could qualify for a win in Seattle's 5-2 victory over the New York Mets. The shot to right-center off Johan Santana was the first home run by a pitcher in Mariners history, and the first slam by an AL hurler since Cleveland's Steve Dunning went deep against Oakland's Diego Segui on May 11, 1971.
2013 David Wright hit a home run, tripled and matched a Mets record with four extra-base hits to back Matt Harvey start in an 8-0 victory over Philadelphia. Wright went 4 for 5 with 2 of New York's season-high 7 doubles.
2020 After the Players Association ratified proposed covid-19 safety protocols, an abbreviated 60-game season was announced to begin July 23rd or 24th.
-- The Associated Press