THIS DATE IN BASEBALL

SEPT. 5

1908: Brooklyn’s Nap Rucker pitched a 6-0 no-hitter against Boston. Rucker struck out 14 and walked none.

1918: Babe Ruth pitched a six-hitter for the Boston Red Sox, who beat the Chicago Cubs 1-0 in the opening game of the World Series. The Series was started early because of World War I.

1954: Roswell’s Joe Bauman of the Longhorn League hit three home runs to give him 72 for the season. Bauman never made it to the majors.

1955: Brooklyn pitcher Don Newcombe connected for his seventh homer of the season for a National League record for home runs by a pitcher. The Dodgers, behind Newcombe’s power and 20th win, beat the Phillies 11-4.

1971: J.R. Richard tied Karl Spooner’s major league record by striking out 15 San Francisco Giants in his first major league game for the Houston Astros. 1982: Roy Smalley hit a pair of threerun homers, one from each side of the plate, as the Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals 18-7.

1998: Mark McGwire became the third player in baseball history to reach 60 home runs, as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-0. He joined Babe Ruth and Roger Maris with 60 homers in a single season.

2002: Alex Rodriguez became the fifth player in major league history to record successive 50-homer seasons, hitting two in Texas’ 11-2 rout of Baltimore. Rodriguez, who hit 52 homers last season, joined Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Ken Griffey Jr.

2003: Mike Maroth became the first major league pitcher in 23 years to lose 20 games in a season when Detroit lost to Toronto 8-6. Maroth (6-20) allowed eight runs and nine hits in three-plus innings. Oakland’s Brian Kingman went 8-20 in 1980.

2009: Pittsburgh’s Ross Ohlendorf became the 40th major league pitcher to strike out the side on nine pitches in an inning, but didn’t figure in the decision as the Pirates lost 2-1 to St. Louis in 10 innings.

2018: Shohei Ohtani homered twice during a huge night at the plate after getting bad news about his pitching arm, and the Los Angeles Angels beat the Texas Rangers 9-3. Perhaps headed for Tommy John surgery, the two-way rookie sensation went 4 for 4 with three RBIs, four runs and a stolen base to power the Angels. Ohtani’s homers were towering drives into the right-field seats. With his second twohomer game, the designated hitter tied Kenji Johjima’s 2006 major league record of 18 homers by a Japanese rookie.