Fast Starts

Some good starts for Cleveland players:

April 16, 1939: Earl Averill homered his first at-bat in majors. It was against the Tigers.

April 16, 1957: Rogers Maris went three for five in his first major league game. It was against the White Sox. Two days later his grand slam in the 11th inning beat the Tigers and easily made up for his three earlier strikeouts. In all, he opened his career by hitting in his first nine games.

July 30, 1969: Outfielder Frank Baker, starting his first game, went four for five with a triple. In his first 32 at-bats, he hit .432 with three triples and two homers.

1971: Gomer Hodge had four hits in four at-bats during his first three games.

Sept. 29, 1986: Jay Bell hit the first big league pitch he ever saw for a homer. Twins' Bert Blyleven was the victim.

Aug. 23, 2002: Capped his first start with his second hit of the day, a two-run walk-off homer against Mariners. He hit it lefthanded. Next day he homered righthanded.

Sept. 2, 2006: Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a grand slam on the first big league pitch he saw. It came against Rangers and reportedly was unprecedented.