This Day in Angels Baseball: July 16, 1972

July 16, 1972 at County Stadium in Milwaukee the California Angels beat the Milwaukee Brewers 1-0. Vada Pinson would knock in the lone run in the game for the Angels, scoring Ken Berry, with a sacrifice fly. Rudy May pitched a complete game, allowing 2 hits and striking out 7. May came to the Angels in 1964 in the trade that sent Bo Belinsky to the Philadelphia Phillies. May made his major league debut in 1965, starting 19 games with a 4-9 record, but would spend the next 3 years in the minors. May came back to the Angels as a full time starter from 1969-1973, having his best year with the Angels in 1972, posting a 12-11 record, 2.94 ERA, 10 complete games and striking out 169. May still ranks in the top ten in Angels history in games started, complete games, shutouts and strikeouts. The Angels sold May to the New York Yankees in June of 1974.

July 15, 2003 at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago in the 74th All-Star game, the American League beat the National League 7-6. Angels players appearing in the game for coach Mike Scioscia’s team were starters Troy Glaus and Garret Anderson and relief pitcher Brendan Donnelly. Glaus was 0-3 in the game and Anderson, who had just beat Albert Pujols in the home run derby the day before, was 3-4 with 1 run and 2 RBI, hitting a double and home run to earn MVP of the game. Anderson would join Leon Wagner (1962) and Fred Lynn (1983) as Angels to win the All-Star game MVP. Donnelly, who was a rare example of a non-closer selected to the team, pitched the 8th inning, striking out 1 and would get the win. Donnelly is the only Angel pitcher to win an All-Star game. Donnelly was signed by the Angels at the beginning of 2001 and made his MLB debut in 2002. Donnelly served as the main set-up man to Troy Percival and in his 5 seasons with the Angels had a 23-8 record, 2.96 ERA and 295 strike outs in 295 innings pitched. Donnelly would be traded to the Red Sox in December of 2006.

Also on July 15 in 1973, the Angels beat the Detroit Tigers 6-0 at Tiger Stadium. The Angels got 2 RBI each from Al Gallagher and Winston Llenas as Nolan Ryan threw his second no-hitter in 60 days, walking 4 and striking out 17. Ryan would win 21 games and pitch 2 no-hitters in 1973, also striking out his career best 383 that year.