That date in baseball
May 6
1915 As a Boston pitcher, Babe Ruth had three hits, including his first major league home run when he connected to Jack Warhop of the New York Yankees at the Polo Grounds.
1917 Bob Groom of the Browns replicated teammate Ernie Koob’s feat of the day before by earning a 3-0 no-hitter victory over the Chicago White Sox in Game 2 of a doubleheader in St. Louis.
1934 Carl Reynolds, Moose Solters, Rick Ferrell and Bucky Walters hit four straight triples in a 12-run fourth inning for the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park en route to a 14-4 victory over the Detroit Tigers.
1941 In his last game before entering the United States Army, Detroit’s Hank Greenberg hit two homers with three RBIs to help the Tigers to a 7-4 victory over the New York Yankees.
1951 Cliff Chambers of the Pittsburgh Pirates went 3-0 no-hitter in Game 2 of a doubleheader against the Boston Braves.
1953 Bobo Holloman of the St. Louis Browns went 6-0 no-hitter against the Philadelphia Athletics in his first major league start. He never pitched another full game in the majors.
1955 Roberto Clemente smashes Willie Mays birthday party on his second visit to the Polo Grounds, hitting a 430ft triple over the birthday boy’s head in the middle of a decisive rally in a 3-2 victory for the Pirates on the Giants.
1968 San Francisco Giants relief pitcher Lindy McDaniel sets a National League record by playing his 225th consecutive game without making an error. The streak includes 108 successfully managed chances since June 16, 1964.
1974 Oakland Athletics pitcher Paul Lindblad’s 385-game error-free major league streak comes to an end when he makes an errant pitch in a 6-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.
1982 Seattle Mariners’ Gaylord Perry becomes the 15th major league pitcher with 300 wins when he beats the New York Yankees 7-3 at Kingdome.
1984 Cal Ripken of the Baltimore Orioles hit for the cycle in a 6-1 win over the Texas Rangers. Ripken completed the cycle with a solo home run in the ninth.
1994 Anthony Young won as a starter for the first time in over two years as the Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 10-1. The win ended Young’s 29-game losing streak as a starter. Young’s previous win as a starter came on April 9, 1992 with the New York Mets.
1998 Rookie Kerry Wood tied the major league record with 20 strikeouts in a nine-inning game, throwing one hit to lead the Chicago Cubs over the Houston Astros 2-0.
2005 San Diego’s Trevor Hoffman became the third pitcher in major league history to reach 400 saves in the Padres’ 6-5 win over St. Louis. Hoffman joined Lee Smith (478) and John Franco (424) in the 400 save club.
2007 Hideki Matsui doubles to left field in an at-bat against Jarrod Washburn. It is his 2,000th hit between Major League Baseball and Nippon Pro Baseball.
2012 The Baltimore Orioles completed a three-game sweep at Boston with a 9-6 win in 17 innings. In the first major league game since 1925 in which both teams put a position player on the mound, Baltimore designated hitter Chris Davis overcame a terrible 0-for-8 day at the plate by pitching two scoreless innings and picking up the win over Darnell McDonald, an outfielder Boston called up once the Red Sox’s bullpen was also depleted. Adam Jones hit a three-run homer in the top of the 17th against McDonald.
2012 Albert Pujols hits his first American League home run, breaking the longest unhomerun drought of his career, when he ties the Blue Jays’ Drew Hutchison with a runner in the 5th inning of the Angels’ 4-3 win.
2015 Outfielder Bryce Harper has the first three-home run game of his career as he leads the Nationals to a 7-5 victory over the Marlins.
2021 The Angels designate veteran slugger Albert Pujols for assignment, with the aim of granting him his unconditional release. Pujols is in the final season of a 10-year, $253 million contract, but his production has dropped significantly in recent years and he has recently become a bench player. Pujols, 41, is the active leader in games played, hits, home runs and RBI. He states that he hopes to find another team that will give him a chance to start. The Dodgers will ship him in a few days.
— The Associated Press
