Aug. 31
1915 _ Jim Lavender of the Chicago Cubs pitched a 2-0 no-hitter in the first game of a doubleheader against the New York Giants.
1935 _ Vern Kennedy of the Chicago White Sox pitched a no-hitter to beat Cleveland 5-0. Kennedy also had a bases-loaded triple.
1937 _ Rudy York of the Tigers hit his 17th and 18th home runs of the month to set a major league record as Detroit beat Washington 12-3.
1950 _ Brooklyn’s Gil Hodges tied a major league record by hitting four homers against the Boston Braves in the Dodgers’ 19-3 rout. Hodges also added a single for 17 total bases and drove in nine runs. His first homer was a two-run shot off Warren Spahn in the second inning. He followed with a three-run homer in the third off Norman Roy and a two-run homer off Bob Hall in the sixth. Hodges had a single in the seventh and a two-run shot off Johnny Antonelli in the eighth. Carl Furillo was on base for each of the home runs. Brooklyn pitcher Carl Erskine singled in the second, third, fifth and sixth innings.
1959 _ Sandy Koufax of Los Angeles struck out 18 Giants for a National League record as the Dodgers beat San Francisco 5-2.
1974 _ In a Northwest League game, Portland manager Frank Peters rotated his players so each man played a different position each inning. The strategy worked for an 8-7 win over Tri-Cities.
1990 _ The Griffeys _ 20-year-old Ken Jr. and his dad, Ken, 40 _ made major league history, leading Seattle to a 5-2 victory over Kansas City. The Griffeys were the first father and son to play together in the big leagues.
2001 _ Pitcher Danny Almonte who dominated the Little League World Series with his 70 mph fastballs was ruled ineligible after government records experts determined he actually is 14, and that birth certificates showing he was two years younger were false. The finding nullified all the victories by his Bronx, N.Y., team, the Rolando Paulino Little League All-Stars, and wiped out all its records _ including Almonte’s perfect game and an earlier no-hitter.
2004 _ Omar Vizquel went 6-for-7 to tie the American League record for hits for a nine-inning game in Cleveland’s 22-0 victory over the New York Yankees. The 22-0 beating, was the largest loss in the history of the Yankees’ organization. Cleveland matched the largest shutout win in the major leagues since 1900, set by Pittsburgh against the Chicago Cubs on Sept. 16, 1975.
2005 _ Florida’s Jeremy Hermida became the first player in more than a century and the second to hit a grand slam in his first major league at-bat, connecting in the seventh inning off the St. Louis Cardinals’ Al Reyes.
2005 _ Albert Pujols hit an RBI triple in St. Louis’ 10-5 victory over the Florida Marlins, giving him 100 RBIs this season. Pujols became the first player in major league history to hit at least 30 home runs and drive in 100 runs in his first five seasons in the majors.
2006 _ The Chicago White Sox became the first major league team to hit 200 home runs in seven straight seasons following A.J. Pierzynski’s homer in a 5-3 loss to Tampa Bay.
2007 _ Minnesota’s Scott Baker came within three outs of a perfect game and two outs of a no-hitter, leading the Twins to a 5-0 win over the Kansas City Royals in the second game of a doubleheader. Baker walked John Buck to open the ninth and allowed a single to pinch-hitter Mike Sweeney. The 25-year-old right-hander recovered to get the one-hitter.
2008 _ Milwaukee’s CC Sabathia pitched a one-hitter in his latest dominant start, allowing only an infield single by Andy LaRoche in the fifth inning of a 7-0 victory over Pittsburgh.
2010 _ Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman reached 102 mph during one perfect inning, and Cincinnati beat Milwaukee 8-4. Chapman joined the Reds’ bullpen and matched the hype his first time out, throwing four pitches clocked at 100 mph or better.
2011 _ Two milestone home runs _ Chipper Jones’ 450th and Derek Lowe’s first _ gave Atlanta the early lead and Lowe combined with three relievers on a three-hitter in a 3-1 victory over Washington. Craig Kimbrel pitched the ninth for his 41st save, setting a major league rookie record.
Today’s birthdays: Matt Adams 25; Juan Nicasio 27; Ramon Ramirez 31; Ramon Santiago 35; Frank Robinson 78.
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