Compiled by PAUL MONTELLA
By The Associated Press
Sept. 28
1919 -- In the shortest nine-inning game in major league history, 51 minutes, the New York Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-1.
1920 -- A grand jury indicted eight members of the Chicago White Sox on charges of fixing the 1919 World Series in the "Black Sox Scandal."
1938 -- Gabby Hartnett hit his famous "Homer in the Gloamin" in the ninth inning against Mace Brown to give the Chicago Cubs a 6-5 victory, their ninth straight, at Wrigley Field. It was a key triumph en route to the Cubs' NL pennant.
1941 -- Ted Williams went 6-for-8 in a doubleheader against the Philadelphia A's to finish the season with a .406 average. No player has batted .400 since.
1951 -- Allie Reynolds pitched his second no-hitter of the season as the New York Yankees defeated the Boston Red Sox, 8-0, in the opener of a doubleheader. The Yankees clinched the AL pennant with an 11-3 victory in the nightcap.
1960 -- Ted Williams homered in his final major league plate appearance, against Baltimore's Jack Fisher. Williams did not take a curtain call, but he trotted out to left field in the ninth and was replaced immediately by Carroll Hardy and retired to a standing ovation. It was Williams 521st career home run. The Red Sox rallied for two runs in the ninth for a 5-4 victory.
1974 -- Nolan Ryan pitched his third of seven career no-hitters, striking out 15 batters and beating the Minnesota Twins, 4-0, at Anaheim Stadium.
1975 -- Vida Blue, Glenn Abbott, Paul Lindblad and Rollie Fingers of the Oakland A's combined to no-hit the California Angels, 5-0, on the final day of the season.
1995 -- Greg Harris of the Montreal Expos became the first pitcher in major league history to pitch with both hands. Harris faced four batters, two from his usual right side and two from the left, in the ninth inning of a 9-7 loss to Cincinnati.
1997 -- San Diego's Tony Gwynn tied Honus Wagner's record by winning his eighth NL batting title. Gwynn finished at .372, becoming the first player to win four consecutive NL batting titles since Rogers Hornsby won six straight from 1920-25.
2001 -- Alex Rodriguez of Texas hit his 50th homer in an 11-2 victory over Anaheim and became the 20th player to hit 50 homers in a season.
2006 -- James Loney tied a franchise record with nine RBIs, including a grand slam and a two-run homer, to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 19-11 victory at Colorado.
2007 -- Alfonso Soriano hit his sixth leadoff homer in September during Chicago's 6-0 win over Cincinnati, the most by any major leaguer in any month.
2012 -- Homer Bailey of the Cincinnati Reds threw the season's seventh no-hitter, beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 1-0. The seven no-hitters matched the modern record (since 1900) for one season, tying 1990 and 1991. Bailey walked one and struck out 10. Pittsburgh (76-81) assured itself of a 20th consecutive non-winning season with the loss, extending its major North American professional sports record.
Today's birthday: Ryan Zimmerman 30.
Sept. 29
1913 -- Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators finished the season with 36 victories by virtue of a 1-0 decision over the Philadelphia A's.
1915 -- The Philadelphia Phillies clinched their first NL pennant, beating the Boston Braves, 5-0, behind Grover Alexander's one-hitter.
1954 -- Willie Mays made his famous over-the-shoulder catch of Vic Wertz's long drive to center field and pinch-hitter Dusty Rhodes homered off Bob Lemon in the 10th inning to lead the New York Giants to a 5-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians in Game 1 of the World Series.
1963 -- Stan Musial ended his career by going 2-for-3 as the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2 in 14 innings at Busch Stadium.
1963 -- John Paciorek of the Houston Colt .45s, in his only major league appearance, went 3-for-3 with three RBIs and four runs scored against the New York Mets. A back injury ended his baseball career the next season.
1976 -- John Montefusco of the San Francisco Giants pitched a 9-0 no-hitter over the Braves in Atlanta.
1983 -- Mike Warren of the Oakland A's pitched a no-hitter to beat the Chicago White Sox, 3-0.
1986 -- Minnesota's Bert Blyleven broke Robin Roberts' 1956 record of 46 home run pitches in a season when he gave up a two-out, third-inning homer to Cleveland rookie Jay Bell. It was the first major league pitch Bell had seen. Despite giving up two more homers, Blyleven was the winner when the Twins rallied in the eighth for a 6-5 victory.
1986 -- Chicago Cubs rookie Greg Maddux defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 8-3 in the City of Brotherly Love. The losing pitcher was his brother, Mike, also a rookie. It was the first time brothers faced each other as rookie pitchers.
1987 -- Don Mattingly's major league record sixth grand slam of the season backed the four-hit pitching of Charles Hudson to lead the New York Yankees to a 6-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox.
1996 -- Brady Anderson of the Baltimore Orioles became the 14th player to reach the 50-homer mark in a 4-1 loss at Toronto. Anderson's previous season high was 21.
1996 -- Vinny Castilla of the Colorado Rockies hit his 40th homer in a 12-3 victory at San Francisco. He combined with teammates Andres Galarraga (47 homers) and Ellis Burks (40) to form the first 40-homer trio on one team since the 1973 Atlanta Braves: Davey Johnson (43), Darrell Evans (41), Hank Aaron (40).
1998 -- Mo Vaughn homered twice and tied a record with seven RBIs as Boston ended a 13-game postseason skid, beating Cleveland 11-3 in the AL Divisional Playoff series opener.
2001 -- Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki set the major league rookie record for hits in a season but the Mariners fell to Oakland 8-4. Suzuki got his 234th hit, breaking the previous rookie mark set by Shoeless Joe Jackson with Cleveland in 1911.
2002 -- San Francisco slugger Barry Bonds became the oldest player to win a National League batting title, hitting .370. Bonds had a .582 on-base percentage, easily topping the record of .553 that Ted Williams set in 1941.
2004 -- Major League Baseball announced the Montreal Expos will move to Washington to begin play at RFK Stadium in the 2005 season.
2004 -- Bobby Cox became the ninth manager in baseball history to win 2,000 games when Atlanta scored four runs in the seventh inning and beat the New York Mets 6-3. Of the eight managers who previously reached 2,000 wins, seven are in the Hall of Fame. The lone exception is Tony La Russa, still managing the St. Louis Cardinals. Cox's overall record was 2,000-1,530, and he has guided Atlanta to 13 straight division titles.
2007 -- John Maine flirted with the first no-hitter in New York Mets history before allowing an infield single to Paul Hoover with two outs in the eighth inning of a 13-0 rout of Florida. Willie Collazo and Carlos Muniz completed the one-hitter.
2008 -- Alexei Ramirez set a rookie record with his fourth grand slam of the season, and Chicago beat Detroit 8-2 in a rainout makeup, forcing a one-game tiebreaker against Minnesota for the AL Central tie.
2011 -- The Tampa Bay Rays clinched the AL wild card with a stunning rally, overcoming a late seven-run deficit and then beating the New York Yankees 8-7 on Evan Longoria's home run in the 12th inning. The Rays' win came four minutes after Boston blew a one-run lead in the ninth at Baltimore and lost 4-3. The Red Sox held a nine-game lead over the Rays in early September. Boston became the first team to miss the postseason after leading by as many as nine games for a playoff spot entering September.
2011 -- Chris Carpenter and St. Louis completed one of the more remarkable comebacks in baseball history, clinching the NL wild card with an 8-0 win over Houston and a later loss by Atlanta. The Cardinals got their playoff spot when the Braves fell to Philadelphia 4-3 in 13 innings. St. Louis trailed Atlanta by 10½ games on Aug. 25. The Cardinals won 23 of their last 31 games.
2011 -- New York's Jose Reyes bunted for a base hit in the first inning against Cincinnati and was lifted for a pinch-runner, enough to give him the NL batting title with a .337 average. Ryan Braun, who was at .334 heading into Milwaukee's regular-season finale against Pittsburgh, went 0 for 4 and finished at .332.
2013 -- The Texas Rangers forced a one-game tiebreaker for the second AL wild-card spot, winning their seventh in a row when Geovany Soto hit a tiebreaking RBI double and later homered to beat the Los Angeles Angels 6-2. The Rangers (91-71) added game No. 163 to the regular season, and face Tampa Bay after the Rays assured themselves a tie for a wild-card berth by scoring six runs in the first inning and then holding off the Toronto Blue Jays 7-6.
Today's birthdays: Tyler Thornburg 26; Heath Bell 37.
Sept. 30
1927 -- Babe Ruth hit his 60th home run of the season in the eighth inning off Tom Zachary to lead the New York Yankees to a 4-2 victory over the Washington Senators.
1934 -- Dizzy Dean beat the Cincinnati Reds, 9-0, for his 30th victory of the year as the St. Louis Cardinals clinched the NL pennant.
1947 -- In the first televised World Series, the New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 5-3, in the opening game.
1951 -- Jackie Robinson homered in the 14th inning to give the Brooklyn Dodgers a 9-8 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies, tying the New York Giants for first place in the National League and forcing a playoff.
1962 -- Willie Mays homered to give the San Francisco Giants a 2-1 victory over the Houston Colt 45s in the season's final day. That, coupled with the Los Angeles Dodgers' 1-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, forced a playoff for the NL pennant. The Giants won in three games.
1972 -- Roberto Clemente doubled off Jon Matlack during Pittsburgh's 5-0 victory over the New York Mets. The hit was the 3,000th and last for the Pirates star, who was killed in a plane crash during the offseason.
1984 -- California's Mike Witt tossed 97 pitches in a perfect game against the Texas Rangers, winning 1-0.
1988 -- Orel Hershiser of the Los Angeles Dodgers broke Don Drysdale's record of 58 consecutive scoreless innings by shutting out San Diego for 10 innings. The Padres won in the 16th inning, 2-1. Hershiser, who extended his streak to 59 innings, had five consecutive shutout victories in September.
1988 -- Dave Stieb of the Toronto Blue Jays lost a no-hit bid with two outs in the ninth for the second consecutive start and finished with a 4-0 one-hitter over the Baltimore Orioles. Stieb faced the minimum 26 batters until Jim Trabor lined a single down the right-field line about 3 feet from the glove of first baseman Fred McGriff.
1992 -- George Brett became the 18th player to get 3,000 hits in the Kansas City Royals' 4-0 win over the California Angels.
1995 -- Albert Belle of the Cleveland Indians hit his 50th home run of the season and became the only player in history to hit 50 homers and 50 doubles in the same season.
1997 -- Tim Raines, Derek Jeter and Paul O'Neill hit consecutive homers in the sixth inning against Cleveland, making the New York Yankees the first team to hit three straight homers in a postseason game. O'Neill's homer made it 8-6, the final score of the Yankees' Game 1 victory in the AL division series.
1998 -- John Smoltz became the winningest pitcher in postseason history, allowing five hits in 7 2-3 innings as the Atlanta Braves cruised to a 7-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs in Game 1 of their NL Divisional Playoff series.
2004 -- Cincinnati Reds slugger Adam Dunn set the major league record for strikeouts in one season with 190 when he fanned in his first two at-bats against the Chicago Cubs. Dunn struck out against Chicago starter Mark Prior in the second and fourth innings, breaking the previous mark for whiffs of 189 set by Bobby Bonds in 1970.
2004 -- The New York Yankees clinched their seventh straight AL East title, beating the playoff-bound Minnesota Twins 6-4 for their 100th victory of the season.
2005 -- Ichiro Suzuki became the sixth player in major league history to collect 200 hits in five straight seasons in Seattle's 4-1 win over Oakland.
2007 -- The New York Mets missed the playoffs when Tom Glavine was tagged for seven runs during the first inning of a season-ending 8-1 loss to Florida. No major league team had owned a lead of seven games or more with 17 to play and failed to finish in first place. New York, which had that margin on Sept. 12, matched the largest lead blown in September. The 1938 Pittsburgh Pirates (Sept. 1) and 1934 New York Giants (Sept. 6) also led by seven games in the final month only to tailspin. New York's loss coupled with Philadelphia's 6-1 win over Washington gave the division title to the Phillies.
2008 -- John Danks pitched eight innings of two-hit ball to help the Chicago White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins 1-0 in a 163rd-game tiebreaker for the division title. Jim Thome homered and Ken Griffey Jr. threw out a runner at the plate with a tough tag by A.J. Pierzynski. The White Sox joined the Cubs in the postseason, the first time since 1906 that both Chicago teams are in.
2009 -- Matt Palmer combined with four relievers on a one-hitter and the Los Angeles Angels beat Texas 5-0. Palmer gave up a leadoff single in the first inning to Julio Borbon, but that was it. Darren Oliver struck out the side in the sixth before Jose Arredondo, Kevin Jepsen and fellow rookie Rafael Rodriguez each pitched a hitless inning.
2011 -- Matt Moore dominated in his second major league start, pitching seven innings of two-hit ball as the improbable Tampa Bay Rays opened the playoffs with a 9-0 victory over the defending AL champion Texas Rangers. Kelly Shoppach homered twice and drove in five runs for Tampa Bay.
2012 -- The Atlanta Braves won for a major league record 23rd straight time in games started by Kris Medlen, beating the Mets 6-2 in the regular-season home finale for Chipper Jones.
2012 -- The Pittsburgh Pirates ensured they'd finish with a record 20th straight losing season when they blew a ninth-inning lead in a 4-3 defeat to Cincinnati. The Pirates extended their major North American professional sports record. Pittsburgh was 16 games over .500 on Aug. 6, but has lost 18 of 23 to fall to 77-82.
2013 -- David Price pitched his fourth complete game this year, Evan Longoria hit a two-run homer and Tampa Bay beat the Texas Rangers 5-2 in the AL wild-card tiebreaker game, the 163rd game for both teams.
Today's birthdays: Brian Moran 26; Kenley Jansen 27; Seth Smith 32.
Oct. 1
1903 -- The Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Boston Red Sox, 7-3, in the first World Series game. Jimmy Sebring hit the first series home run. Deacon Phillippe was the winning pitcher and Cy Young the loser.
1932 -- Babe Ruth, as legend has it, called his home run against Chicago's Charlie Root in the fifth inning of Game 3 of the World Series, won by the New York Yankees 7-5 at Wrigley Field. Ruth and Lou Gehrig each hit two homers for the Yankees.
1946 -- For the first time in major league history, a playoff series to determine a league's championship was played between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Cardinals took the first game 4-2 as Howie Pollet held the Dodgers to two hits, a homer and an RBI single by Howie Schultz.
1950 -- The Philadelphia Phillies clinched the NL pennant on Dick Sisler's three-run homer against Don Newcombe in a 4-1 victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers on the season's last day.
1961 -- Roger Maris ended a season of personal torment by hitting his 61st home run against Tracy Stallard of the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. The homer eclipsed Babe Ruth's 34-year-old single-season home run record. The Yankees won, 1-0.
1967 -- The Boston Red Sox won the American League pennant with a 5-3 win over the Twins on the final day of the season. Boston's Carl Yastrzemski went 4-for-4 and finished with 44 home runs, 121 RBIs and a .326 average to win the batting Triple Crown.
1978 -- The Cleveland Indians beat the New York Yankees 9-2 on the last day of the season to force a one-game playoff between the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox won their eighth straight game with a 5-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.
1988 -- Tony Gwynn went 2-for-3 to raise his league-leading batting average to .313 but hurt his hand in a 6-3 victory over the Houston Astros. Gwynn is the first NL batting champion to win the title with an average below .320. The previous lowest was Larry Doyle's .320 in 1915.
2000 -- Detroit's Shane Halter became the fourth major leaguer to play all nine positions in a game, and capped his adventure by scoring the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Tigers over Minnesota 12-11.
2004 -- Ichiro Suzuki set the major league record for hits in a season, breaking George Sisler's 84-year-old mark with a pair of early singles as the Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers 8-3. Sisler set the hits record of 257 in 1920 with the St. Louis Browns over a 154-game schedule. Suzuki broke it in the Mariners' 160th game of the year.
2006 -- Joe Mauer finished 2-for-4 to become the first catcher to win an AL batting title as Minnesota beat the Chicago White Sox 5-1. Mauer finished at .347, four points ahead of New York shortstop Derek Jeter.
2007 -- Matt Holliday and the Colorado Rockies pulled off the most dramatic comeback of the year. Holliday scored on Jamey Carroll's shallow fly ball, capping a stunning, three-run rally in the 13th inning against Trevor Hoffman and leading the Rockies over the San Diego Padres 9-8 in a tiebreaker for the NL wild card.
2008 -- The Red Sox, behind Jason Bay's two-run homer off John Lackey in the sixth inning, beat the Los Angeles Angels 4-1 in the opener of their AL playoff series. It was Boston's 10th straight postseason win against the Angels dating to 1986. Boston tied a major league record for consecutive postseason wins over the same opponent, a mark Oakland set against the Red Sox from 1988-03.
2009 -- Pitcher Chris Carpenter hit a grand slam and drove in six runs to lead St. Louis to a 13-0 victory over the Reds. Carpenter's first career homer capped a five-run second inning for the Cardinals. He added a two-run double during a four-run fifth to match the career RBI total he brought into the game. The last pitcher to have six RBIs in a game was Micah Owings for Arizona at Atlanta on Aug. 18, 2007.
2009 -- Francisco Rodriguez of the New York Mets became the first pitcher since Lee Smith in 1995 to allow two game-ending grand slams in the same season. Justin Maxwell's two-out homer capped a five-run ninth inning off the All-Star closer and gave Washington a 7-4 victory.
2011 -- Robinson Cano hit a grand slam and drove in six runs, rookie Ivan Nova pitched brilliantly into the ninth inning in an unusual relief appearance and the New York Yankees shook off a 23-hour rain delay to beat the Detroit Tigers 9-3 in their suspended playoff opener.
2013 -- Francisco Liriano tossed seven dominant innings and the Pittsburgh roared past Cincinnati 6-2 in the NL wild-card game. Russell Martin hit two home runs, Marlon Byrd also connected and McCutchen reached base four times.
Today's birthdays: Xander Bogaerts 22; Chris Johnson 30; Matt Cain 30; Mark McGwire 51.
Oct. 2
1908 -- Addie Joss of the Cleveland Indians pitched a perfect game, defeating the Chicago White Sox, 1-0.
1916 -- Grover Alexander pitched a 2-0 three-hitter against the Boston Braves for his 16th shutout and 33rd victory of the season.
1920 -- The only tripleheader in this century was played, with the Cincinnati Reds defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first two games. The Pirates won the nightcap, which was called after six innings because of darkness.
1938 -- Bob Feller struck out 18 Detroit Tigers to set a single-game record that stood until Steve Carlton broke it in 1969.
1968 -- Bob Gibson set a World Series record by striking out 17 Detroit Tigers in Game 1.
1978 -- In a one-game playoff for the AL East title, Bucky Dent hit a three-run homer off Mike Torrez to lead the New York Yankees to a 5-4 victory over the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.
1986 -- Dwight Gooden of the New York Mets became the first pitcher in baseball to strike out 200 batters in each of his first three seasons as he fanned seven en route to an 8-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
1991 -- The Toronto Blue Jays clinched the American League East title and became the first team in sports history to draw 4 million fans in one season.
1995 -- The Seattle Mariners, behind Randy Johnson's three-hitter, beat California 9-1 in a one-game playoff for the AL West title.
2001 -- Albert Pujols of St. Louis went 3-for-4 to set an NL rookie record with 353 total bases in a 5-1 victory over Milwaukee.
2001 -- Sammy Sosa became the first player in major league history with three 60-homer seasons, but the Reds held on for a 5-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs. Sosa hit a solo shot in the first inning.
2005 -- Roy Oswalt got his 20th win to lead the Houston Astros over the Chicago Cubs 6-4, clinching the NL wild-card berth and capping a historic comeback. Houston started the season 15-30 and became the first team since the 1914 Boston Braves to make the postseason after falling 15 games under .500.
2008 -- Evan Longoria homered in his first two at-bats and the surprising AL East champion Tampa Bay Rays were a big hit in their postseason debut, beating the Chicago White Sox 6-4 in their AL playoff opener.
2009 -- B.J. Upton became the first player in Tampa Bay history to hit for the cycle. He went 5 for 5 with a career-high six RBIs in a 13-4 win over the New York Yankees.
2013 -- Tampa Bay posted another must-have win on the road, beating the Cleveland Indians 4-0 in the AL wild-card game. The Rays playing in their third city over four days, advanced to the best-of-five division series.
Today's birthdays: Aaron Hicks 25; Matt Reynolds 30.
Oct. 3
1897 -- Cap Anson closed out a remarkable 27-year career, which started in the National Association in 1871. He hit two home runs against St. Louis. He was 46, the oldest player to homer in the majors.
1946 -- The St. Louis Cardinals won the National League pennant by beating the Brooklyn Dodgers 8-4 and sweeping the best-of-three playoff.
1947 -- Floyd Bevens of the Yankees held the Dodgers hitless until two were out in the ninth, when pinch-hitter Cookie Lavagetto doubled in two runs for a 3-2 Brooklyn victory in the fourth game of the World Series.
1951 -- Bobby Thomson hit a three-run homer off Ralph Branca of the Brooklyn Dodgers with one out in the bottom of the ninth to give the New York Giants a dramatic 5-4 playoff victory and the National League pennant.
1962 -- The San Francisco Giants rallied for four runs in the ninth inning to win the third game of the tie-breaking playoffs, 6-4, over the Los Angeles Dodgers and move on to the World Series.
1971 -- Bob Robertson's three home runs led the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 9-4 trouncing of the San Francisco Giants, tying the National League playoffs at 1-1.
1987 -- Benito Santiago's 34-game hitting streak, a rookie record, ended as the San Diego Padres snapped a nine-game losing streak with a 1-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
1990 -- George Brett became the first player to win a batting title in three different decades. Brett went 1-for-1 in Kansas City's 5-2 loss to the Cleveland Indians to win the American League title with a .329 average. Brett also won AL batting titles in 1976 and 1980.
1990 -- Willie McGee became the first player to win a batting title in a league in which he didn't finish the season. McGee, who had a .335 average when St. Louis traded him to Oakland on Aug. 28, won his second National League crown when Dave Magadan of the New York Mets failed to catch him on the season's final day.
1993 -- The Toronto Blue Jays became the first team in American League history to have teammates finish 1-2-3 in the batting race. John Olerud led the league with a .363 batting average. Paul Molitor finished at .332 and Roberto Alomar closed the year at .326.
1999 -- On the final day of the season, Mark McGwire hit his 65th home run, moving past Ted Williams and Willie McCovey into 10th place on the career list with 522. McGwire finished with a two-homer edge over Chicago's Sammy Sosa, who hit his 63rd in the same game.
2002 -- Alex Cabrera hit his 55th home run, tying the Japanese record set by Sadaharu Oh in 1964 and matched by Tuffy Rhodes last year. Cabrera ended the season with 55 homers.
2006 -- Frank Thomas went 3-for-4, hitting two home runs to send Oakland to a 3-2 victory over Minnesota. The 38-year-old Thomas became the oldest player to have a multihomer game in postseason history.
2008 -- J.D. Drew stunned Francisco Rodriguez with a two-run homer in the ninth inning, and the defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox beat the Los Angeles Angels 7-5 for a 2-0 lead in their first-round AL playoff series. Boston won its 11th consecutive postseason game against the Angels, outscoring them 80-33 and setting the record for most postseason victories in a row over one opponent. The Red Sox won their ninth consecutive postseason game overall.
2012 -- Miguel Cabrera became the first player in 45 years to achieve the batting Triple Crown in Detroit's 1-0 victory over Kansas City. Cabrera went 0 for 2 with a strikeout, then left in the fourth inning of the regular-season finale. He finished with an American League-leading .330 average, 44 homers and 139 RBIs, becoming the 15th player to achieve the milestone and the first since Boston's Carl Yastrzemski in 1967.
2012 -- Houston ended its National League tenure with a 5-4 loss to the Chicago Cubs. The Astros set a franchise record for losses in a season, finishing 55-107, one more loss than last year. In the first series between 100-game losers in the major leagues since 1962, Bryan LaHair homered in the second and broke a 4-all tie in the ninth with a homer against Hector Ambriz. The Astros became the first team with 106 or more losses in consecutive seasons since the 1964-65 New York Mets.
2012 -- Evan Longoria homered three times and Tampa Bay beat Baltimore 4-1, ending the Orioles' bid to force a one-game tiebreaker for the AL East title.
2012 -- Dan Johnson hit his first three homers of the season and Chicago added two more in the game as the White Sox routed the Indians 9-0. Johnson hit two two-run homers off David Huff.
Today's birthday: Dave Winfield 63.
Oct. 4
1906 -- The Chicago Cubs won their 116th game of 152 played for a winning percentage (.763) since unmatched. The Cubs were 60-15 on the road for an .800 winning percentage.
1925 -- Fans saw the unusual spectacle of two managers, both famous hitters, pitch against each other in the season finale. Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers threw one perfect inning and George Sisler of the St. Louis Browns worked two scoreless frames in Detroit's 11-6 victory.
1941 -- The New York Yankees took a 2-1 lead in the World Series with a 2-1 win over Brooklyn. Freddie Fitzsimmons held the Yankees to four hits through seven innings. With two outs in the seventh, opposing pitcher Marius Russo hit a line drive off Fitzsimmons' knee that broke the kneecap. The ball caromed to shortstop Pee Wee Reese to end the inning. Hugh Casey came out to pitch in the eighth for Brooklyn and gave up two runs, and Russo hung on to win.
1948 -- The Cleveland Indians beat the Boston Red Sox 8-3 in a one-game AL playoff. The pitching of Gene Bearden and the hitting of Lou Boudreau were chiefly responsible for the championship victory.
1955 -- The Brooklyn Dodgers won their first World Series with Johnny Podres blanking the Yankees 2-0.
1964 -- The St. Louis Cardinals clinched the NL pennant with an 11-5 triumph over the New York Mets to end the closest pennant race in NL history.
1969 -- The major leagues staged their first divisional championships as the New York Mets beat the Atlanta Braves 9-5 and the Baltimore Orioles nipped the Minnesota Twins 4-3 in 12 innings in the opening games.
1987 -- The Detroit Tigers took advantage of one of the great collapses in baseball history to win the AL East title, beating the Toronto Blue Jays 1-0 behind the six-hit pitching of Frank Tanana. The Blue Jays lost their last seven games of the season, including three straight in the season-ending series in Detroit.
1999 -- The New York Mets, behind the strong pitching of Al Leiter, clinched the last remaining postseason berth by beating the Cincinnati Reds 5-0 in a one-game playoff for the NL wild card.
2001 -- Texas' Alex Rodriguez hit his 52nd homer in a 16-1 loss at Seattle to become the fourth player with 50 home runs and 200 hits in the same season, joining Babe Ruth (1921), Hack Wilson (1930) and Jimmie Foxx (1932).
2005 -- Reggie Sanders hit a grand slam and set an NL division series record with six RBIs to help St. Louis beat San Diego 8-5 in the first game of their division series.
2009 -- Minnesota beat Kansas City 13-4 to force a one-game playoff with Detroit. The slumping Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox 5-3.
2009 -- Alex Rodriguez homered twice and drove in an AL-record seven runs in a 10-run sixth inning as New York pounded Tampa Bay 10-2. Rodriguez hit a three-run homer off Wade Davis, giving the Yankees a 3-2 lead. He added his 18th career grand slam later in the inning after Andy Sonnanstine issued an intentional walk to league co-home run champion Mark Teixeira to load the bases.
2011 -- Adrian Beltre hit three straight home runs and the Texas Rangers powered themselves back into the AL championship series, beating the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 to win their playoff series. Beltre became just the seventh player to homer three times in a postseason game.
2011 -- Rookie Paul Goldschmidt hit a grand slam and tied a franchise postseason record with five RBIs to lead Arizona to an 8-1 win and cut Milwaukee's lead to 2-1 in the best-of-five NL division series. It was only the third rookie slam in postseason history, following the Yankees' Gil McDougald in Game 5 of the 1951 World Series and the Yankees' Ricky Ledee in Game 4 of the 1999 AL championship series.
2013 -- Jon Lester allowed three hits in 7 2-3 innings and the Boston Red Sox took advantage of poor Tampa Bay defense in a five-run fourth to beat the Rays 12-2 in Game 1 of the AL division series. Every Boston starter got a hit and scored a run, the first time a team had done that in the postseason since 1936. Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and the Yankees did it in the World Series.
Today's birthdays: Casey Kelly 25; Lonnie Chisenhall 26; Drew Stubbs 30; Kurt Suzuki 31; Jered Weaver 32; Tony Gwynn, Jr. 32; Joe Thatcher 33; Kyle Lohse 36.
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