page_title: 2011 in baseball
section_title: May
hierarchical_section_title: 2011 in baseball / Events / May
caption_attribution_description: Baseball player Gary Carter. © Rubenstein, photographer Martyna Borkowski
context_page_description: The following are the baseball events of the year 2011 throughout the world.
context_section_description: May 1 – At the end of the eighth inning of ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball broadcast between the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies, ESPN's Dan Shulman announces that Osama bin Laden, mastermind behind the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, has been killed by U.S. Special Forces in Pakistan. As news spreads throughout Citizens Bank Park, the sellout crowd begins chanting the U-S-A! cheer. The Mets go on to win the game 2–1 in fourteen innings.
  May 3 – At U.S. Cellular Field, Francisco Liriano of the Minnesota Twins pitches the first no-hitter of the season over the Chicago White Sox. Despite walking six batters, he is helped out by three double plays. A fourth-inning home run by Jason Kubel off Edwin Jackson (himself a no-hit pitcher on June 25, 2010) accounts for the game's only run. The game is Liriano's first complete game in 95 Major League starts and the first no-hitter by a Twin since Eric Milton in 1999 (fifth Minnesota no-hitter in their 50-year history). The White Sox, meanwhile, were also no-hit by the Kansas City Royals' Bret Saberhagen in 1991.
  May 7 – At Rogers Centre, the Detroit Tigers' Justin Verlander no-hits the Toronto Blue Jays 9–0, the second no-hitter of the season. Verlander's no-hitter occurs just four days after Francisco Liriano (see above) pitched a no-hitter against the Chicago White Sox.  Verlander retires the first 22 batters he faces before a walk to J. P. Arencibia spoils his bid for a perfect game. Arencibia is then erased on Edwin Encarnación's double play ground ball, allowing Verlander to face the minimum 27 batters. The no-hitter is the second in Verlander's career; he also no-hit the Milwaukee Brewers on June 12, 2007. Verlander becomes the second Tigers pitcher since Virgil Trucks, and the thirtieth pitcher in the history of baseball, to throw multiple no-hitters. Like the White Sox, victims of Liriano's no-hitter four days earlier, the Blue Jays were also no-hit in 1991, on May 1 by Nolan Ryan—the seventh and last no-hitter of Ryan's career.
  May 12 – In a 9–5 victory over the Colorado Rockies, the New York Mets' Carlos Beltrán clubs three home runs, hitting at least one from each side of the plate. He is the eighth Met to accomplish this feat. The others are José Reyes, Edgardo Alfonzo, Gary Carter, Darryl Strawberry, Claudell Washington, Dave Kingman and Jim Hickman.
  May 13 – Minnesota Twins legend Harmon Killebrew announces that his esophageal cancer has progressed to the point where he is no longer able to fight the disease, and that he will settle into hospice care for the final days of his life. He dies at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona on May 17, with his wife, Nita, and their family at his side.
  It is with profound sadness that I share with you that my continued battle with esophageal cancer is coming to an end. With the continued love and support of my wife, Nita, I have exhausted all options with respect to controlling this awful disease. My illness has progressed beyond my doctors' expectation of cure.
  May 14 – Alex Cabrera of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks hits his 350th career home run in Japanese baseball. At 1,169 games, Cabrera is the quickest player in NPB history to 350 homers. Previously, he was also the quickest to hit 150 homers (380th game); 200 homers (538th game); 250 homers (733rd game; tied with Ralph Bryant), and 300 homers (934th game). Cabrera also missed being the quickest to 100 homers by one game (Bryant holds the record at 246 games).
  May 18 – The San Francisco Giants are named the "Professional Sports Team of the Year" by Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal and Sports Business Daily at the 2011 Sports Business Awards Ceremony in New York City.  Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins, is named "Sports Facility of the Year".
  May 20 – Four "very small" tumors are discovered on the brain of Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter during an MRI. Preliminary results from biopsies performed on a single tumor on May 27 at Duke University determine that it appears to be malignant. He dies in 2012, at the age of 57.
  Randy Poffo known by his ring name Ra
caption: Hall of famer Gary Carter & his wife, Sandy
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