This day in sports: Don Sutton earns 209th win, moving into tie atop Dodgers' list
The Dodgers’ Don Sutton retired 20 consecutive New York Mets on this date in 1979 to pick up his 209th win, tying him with Don Drysdale for the team record in a 7-2 victory at Dodger Stadium.
Steve Garvey and Ron Cey gave Sutton all the run support he needed by each hitting three-run home runs in the Dodgers’ third victory in a row over the Mets.
“Just to be mentioned with guys like Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax is a thrill,” Sutton said after the game. He would go on to win 324 games in his career, 58 of them shutouts and five of them one-hitters.
In a Major League Soccer match that was postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic, LAFC was scheduled to play the Earthquakes at San Jose on Saturday.
Baseball games postponed included the San Diego Padres and the Dodgers playing the second of three games at Dodger Stadium. The Angels would have visited Baltimore for an afternoon tilt against the Orioles.
Here is a look at memorable games and outstanding sports performances on May 9:
1930 — Gallant Fox, ridden by Earl Sande and trained by James “Sunny Jim” Fitzsimmons, wins the Preakness Stakes by three-quarters of a length over Crack Brigade. Gallant Fox is the only Triple Crown winner to win the Preakness eight days before the Kentucky Derby, which he won by two lengths.
1944 — Jockey Walter Warren is involved in a rare feat in thoroughbred racing when he rides two horses to dead heat first-place finishes at Sportsman's Park outside Chicago. In the sixth race, Warren guides Maejames to a dead heat finish with Piplad, and in the eighth he is aboard Susan Constant in another dead heat with Three Sands.
1961 — Jim Gentile of the Baltimore Orioles hits grand slams in the first and second innings of a 13-5 rout of the Minnesota Twins at Metropolitan Stadium. It is the Orioles' first visit to Minnesota since the Washington Senators franchise moved to the North Star State.
1987 — Baltimore's Eddie Murray hit his second home run of the game off right-hander Bob James to become the first big league player to hit home runs from both sides of the plate in consecutive games. Earlier, Murray homered off Joel McKeon in the Orioles 15-6 win at Comiskey Park. The night before he connected off right-hander Jose DeLeon and left-hander Ray Searage.
1993 — The Phoenix Suns beat the Lakers 112-104 in overtime, making them the first NBA team to lose two playoff games at home and come back to win three straight in a five-game series. Charles Barkley scores 31 points and Kevin Johnson adds 24 for the Suns, who outscore the Lakers 17-9 in overtime.
2006 — Joffrey Lupul makes NHL playoff history when he scores all four goals for the Ducks in a 4-3 overtime win against the Colorado Avalanche in Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals at Denver. Lupul scores once in the second period and twice in the third before scoring at 16:30 of overtime.
2009 — LeBron James scores 47 points to lift the Cleveland Cavaliers to an 97-82 win over the Atlanta Hawks. It is the Cavaliers’ NBA record-setting seventh straight double-figure win, surpassing the mark set by the Indiana Pacers in 2004.
2010 — Left-hander Dallas Braden pitches a perfect game, the 19th in major league history, for the Oakland Athletics, who beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-0 at the Oakland Coliseum. Braden strikes out six batters and gets support from third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff, who has two hits, including a solo home run.
2011 — The ATP and WTA tennis rankings are released with no American man or woman player in the top 10 for the first time in the 38-year history of the rankings. Mardy Fish and Andy Roddick are Nos. 11 and 12, respectively, while the Williams sisters, Serena and Venus, are ranked Nos. 17 and 19, respectively.
Sources: The Times, Associated Press.
