Remember when: Baltimore Orioles had two pitchers hit grand slams — in the same playoffs
On this day in 2008, Seattle Mariners pitcher Félix Hernández hit a grand slam home run against New York Mets off Johan Santana in his 10th career at-bat, becoming the first AL pitcher to accomplish the feat in 37 years.
Pitchers smacking grand slam homers is surely rare. But even rarer is when it happens in the same playoffs from two different pitchers on the same team. That happened in the 1970 playoffs when Orioles pitcher Dave McNally became the first pitcher to ever hit a grand slam in a World Series game. Before that, O's pitcher Mike Cuellar hit a grand slam in the ALCS against the Minnesota Twins to help cap off a seven-run fourth inning.
On October 3, 1970, Baltimore's Cuellar hit his homer off Minnesota's Jim Perry in Game 1 of the ALCS.
Then just 10 days later McNally hit his in Game 3 of the World Series off Cincinnati's Wayne Granger.
Sports video of the day
On this day 17 years ago, Barry Bonds stole second base against the Los Angeles Dodgers, becoming the first player in MLB history to record 500 career home runs and 500 steals.
Sports on TV today
Soccer (live): Premier League, Leicester City-Brighton at 12:55 p.m. ET and Tottenham-West Ham at 3:10 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network
Boxing (live): Andrew Moloney vs. Joshua Franco, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN
Tennis (classic): Serena Williams vs. Venus Williams, 2017 Australian Open women's final, 6 p.m. ET, ESPN2
Baseball (classic): 1995 World Series Game 6, Atlanta Braves vs. Cleveland Indians, 3 p.m., FS1
Football (classic): Super Bowl XXXII, Denver Broncos vs. Green Bay Packers, 4:30 p.m. ET, NFL Network
What we're reading
- NANCY ARMOUR: Noose in NASCAR garage strengthens resolve to fight racism
- GABE LACQUES: Who's to blame if COVID-19 keeps sports shuttered?
- NWSL CHALLENGE CUP: Team pulls out due to positive COVID-19 tests
- SOUNDING OFF: ESPN commentator fuming over noose in NASCAR garage
- KEN GRIFFEY JR.: Why Hall of Famer always hated the Yankees
- LEGACY: Brett Favre compares Colin Kaepernick to Pat Tillman
- TEAM-UP: Yale researchers, NBA partner to study saliva-based COVID-19 test
Follow Paste BN Sports reporter Scott Gleeson on Twitter @ScottMGleeson.