This Day in Braves History; Braves win 23rd straight game started by Kris Medlen

Braves Franchise History

1914: The Robins stop Grover Cleveland Alexander’s win streak at nine games, defeating the, Phillies 2 - 1, behind Jeff Pfeffer. Alex is done in by three Phillies errors. In front of a handful of fans, the pennant-winning Braves top the Giants, 7 - 1 in the first of two. Boston then beats up Christy Mathewson for six runs in three innings, but the game ends in a 7 - 7 tie. For the second year in a row Matty (24-13) will finish with more victories than walks (23).

1916: In the opener of a doubleheader, Giants pitcher Rube Benton takes a no-hitter into the 8th inning before Braves 1B Ed Konetchy repeats his performance of two days ago by lacing a hit, the only Boston safety. Benton wins the one-hitter, 4 - 0, for New York’s record 26th win in a row. Boston then wins the second game, 8 - 3, behind Lefty Tyler to snap the historic streak. Jeff Tesreau, in relief of Slim Sallee, is ineffective. Despite the winning streak, and an earlier skein of 17 victories on the road, New York finishes in 4th place.

1917: The Cubs finish the season with a 9 - 2 loss to the visiting Braves. Vic Saier, out with a broken leg he suffered on April 15, starts at 1B, and goes 3 for 4 in his last game as a Cub. He’ll play in 1919 with the Pirates.

1921 Prior to the Braves-Giants game, the Giants Old Timers take on the Giants regulars in a 5-inning contest. Twenty thousand fans cheer as former stars Christy Mathewson, Roger Bresnahan, Hooks Wiltse, Art Devlin, Larry Doyle and Fred Tenney whip the current Giants, 2 - 0. The regular game is called because of rain after one inning, but only 4,000 fans ask for a refund.

1933: With the visiting Phillies leading 1 - 0 in the 4th, Boston’s Wally Berger clouts a grand slam and the Braves hold on to win, clinching 4th place. It is Boston’s highest finish in 14 years.

1951: Larry Jansen of the Giants holds on to defeat the Braves 3 - 2 in Boston as Bobby Thomson hits his 30th home run of the year, and Don Mueller and Monte Irvin each drive home a run.

1956: Red Schoendienst of the NY Giants gets the 2,000th hit of his career, but the Giants lose 4 - 2 to the Braves.

1965: Don Drysdale (23-12) pitches a 3-hitter and blanks the Braves 4 - 0. Los Angeles has now won 13 straight games, seven by shutouts

1967: Manager Billy Hitchcock (77-82) is fired by the Braves.

1969: With a 3 - 2 win over the Reds, the Braves clinch the first ever National League West division title.

1979: The Niekro brothers each win their 21st game and tie for the National League lead in wins. Phil Niekro wins for the Braves, 7 - 2, over the Reds, while Houston’s Joe Niekro tops the Dodgers, 3 - 2.

1983: The Dodgers beat the Giants, 4 - 3, and the Padres beat the Braves, 3 - 2, giving Los Angeles the National League West title. Orel Hershiser pitches the final two innings in relief of Fernando Valenzuela to record his first ML save.

1997: Atlanta scores single runs in the 1st and 2nd innings and Greg Maddux makes them stand up as the Braves hold off the Astros, 2 - 1, to take the lead in their playoff series.

1998: In the 1st game of their NLDS series, the Braves defeat the Cubs, 7 - 1, as Michael Tucker and Ryan Klesko homer to back John Smoltz’s pitching.

2009: Ricky Nolasco of the Marlins records nine consecutive strikeouts on his way to a team-record 16 in 7 2/3 innings in a game against the Braves. He is only the fourth pitcher in the major leagues to strike out nine consecutive opponents, after Mickey Welch, Tom Seaver - who set the record with 10 in 1970 - and Jake Peavy. The Marlins hold on for a 5 - 4 win.

2012: Kris Medlen sets a new major league record as, for the 23rd consecutive time, the Braves are winners in a game he has started. The Braves defeat the Mets, 6 - 2, as Medlen improves to 10-1 on the season, his only defeat having come in relief. The previous record of 22 was shared by Hall of Famers Carl Hubbell and Whitey Ford

2020: In the National League, for the first time a game remains scoreless for 11 or more innings as the only run in the opening game of the Fourth Series between the Reds and the Braves comes in the bottom of the 13th inning, with Freddie Freeman driving in Cristian Pache with a single off Amir Garrett, long after a thrilling early duel between starting pitchers Max Fried and Trevor Bauer.

MLB History

1962: The Mets end their inaugural season with their 120th loss (a 20th century record) as Joe Pignatano hits into an eighth-inning triple play in his last career at-bat.

1980: A’s OF Rickey Henderson sets the American League single-season stolen base record with his 97th in a 5 - 1 win over the White Sox, breaking Ty Cobb’s record of 96 set in 1915. Henderson will finish the season with 100 stolen bases.

1992: George Brett of the Royals gets the 3,000th hit of his career, stroking four safeties in Kansas City’s 4 - 0 win over California. Moments later, Brett is picked off base by Tim Fortugno. Rick Reed is the winner, firing the 2nd successive shutout for the Royals.

1999: For the 23rd time this season, Diamondback fireballer Randy Johnson strikes out at least 10 batters to tie Nolan Ryan’s 1973 major league record for the most double-digit strikeout games in a season. The tall left-hander whiffs 11 Padres in seven innings in a 5 - 3 victory to bring his season-ending total to 364, which ranks fourth all-time.

2011 The Red Sox announce that they have parted ways with manager Terry Francona. Francona managed the Sox for 8 seasons, including two World Series championships in 2004 and 2007, but his tenure ended with the team’s dramatic collapse this September, which cost it what appeared to be a certain spot in the postseason

2017 Andrew Romine of the Tigers becomes the 5th player to play all nine positions in a game, doing so on the road against the Twins. He only spends a third of an inning as the catcher - the only position he had never played before - but still manages to allow a passed ball. As a pitcher, however, he retires the only batter he faces, Miguel Sano, with the Tigers hanging on to a 3 - 2 lead in the bottom of the 8th. That will be the final score, as the Tigers get a rare win to close an awful month of September that saw them go 6-23.

2018: Following the Angels’ last game of the season, manager Mike Scioscia announces he is stepping down after 19 years at the helm, joining Toronto’s John Gibbons, who made a similar announcement a few days earlier. Iconic Twins player Joe Mauer, who makes a token appearance at catcher today for the first time since 2013 before being pulled form the game, also appears to have played his last game.

Information for this article was found via Baseball Reference, NationalPastime.com and Today in Baseball History.