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Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin scored the 800th goal of his career Tuesday night, becoming the third player in NHL history — behind Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe — to reach the milestone.

He also became the first to do it with a single franchise, and it came as part of a hat trick performance in a 7-3 victory over the Blackhawks in Chicago.

“This … it’s huge. It’s huge for hockey, it’s huge for the organization,” a drained Ovechkin told his teammates in the locker room after the win. “And to do it with you guys, it’s special.”

The 37-year-old left winger tallied his historic marker in the third period of his 1,305th career game. It was also Ovechkin’s 20th goal this season, giving him an 18th consecutive campaign with at least 20. Only Brendan Shanahan (19 straight) and Howe (22) have accomplished the same feat.

Tuesday also marked the 162nd multigoal game of Ovechkin’s career, which trails only Gretzky’s mark of 189 games. He picked up his first two of the night in the opening period.

“It’s a special night. To get two goals right away, I could feel the game,” Ovechkin said on ESPN’s “SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt” after the game. “I’m really proud that it’s over. Now, we can move on and focus on the next one.”

The Blackhawks’ faithful feted Ovechkin with a sea of caps after the hat trick, and after the game ended he was congratulated by Chicago stars Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews at center ice, a clear testament to what his accomplishment meant across hockey.

“The fans here did a really good job of taking a second and just honoring something,” Washington coach Peter Laviolette said. “Because they’re hockey fans, and what happened was a hockey moment. It wasn’t about a win or a loss or Chicago against Washington. Somebody did something great and the hockey fans in Chicago noticed.”

In the first period, Ovechkin scored the 136th game-opening goal of his career, breaking a tie with Jaromir Jagr in that category.

Howe became the first player to hit 800 goals on Feb. 29, 1980. He would stand alone there for 14 years until Gretzky grabbed his 800th on March 20, 1994. Ovechkin’s next goal — No. 801 — will tie him with Howe for second-most in NHL history. Gretzky holds the record at 894 goals.

“I’m just trying to think about the next game, the next shift and not what’s going to happen out there,” Ovechkin said. “I’m just going to try to help the team win, and it doesn’t matter how.”

In his run to 800, Ovechkin went through a stretch of scoring four empty-net goals in three games to reach 53 empty-netters in his career. Only Gretzky has ever buried more (56).

Now in his 18th NHL season, Ovechkin has made a habit of racking up records. He has nine 50-goal seasons to his credit — matching Gretzky and Mike Bossy — and became the oldest player (at age 36) when he hit the 50-goal threshold in 2021-22.

His nine Maurice “Rocket” Richard trophies are the most earned by any skater, and Ovechkin is the only player to have won a Stanley Cup (in 2018), a Conn Smythe Trophy (as playoff MVP), a Calder Trophy (for rookie of the year), an Art Ross Trophy (for leading the league in points), a Hart Trophy (as league MVP), a Ted Lindsay Award (for most outstanding player as voted by the NHLPA) and a Rocket over the course of their career.

Ovechkin was drafted first overall by Washington in 2004 and showed an immediate scoring touch notching two goals in his NHL debut on Oct. 5, 2005. His best offensive campaign to date was 2007-08, when he became the 23rd player to score 65 goals in a season while finishing with 112 points.

The Capitals, slowly getting healthy after a sluggish start, have now won five in a row. They will host the Dallas Stars on Thursday.

“As soon as it’s over, we celebrate, we’re happy,” Ovechkin said, “and we move on.”

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Reds’ Burns fans 1st 5 hitters in his MLB debut

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Reds' Burns fans 1st 5 hitters in his MLB debut

CINCINNATI — Rookie Chase Burns became the first starting pitcher in the expansion era to strike out the first five batters he faced in his major league debut.

He was not able to carry the momentum through the rest of the game.

The 22-year old Cincinnati Reds right-hander, the second overall pick in last July’s amateur draft, allowed three runs over five innings Tuesday night in a 5-4, 11-inning win over the New York Yankees.

Burns struck out his first five batters before Jazz Chisholm Jr‘s single. He gave up six hits and struck out eight, the seventh Cincinnati starter to have at least that many in his first career start.

“We watched for everything,” Reds manager Terry Francona said of Burns. “He didn’t get too excited. I think he enjoyed the competition. There’s a lot to like.”

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Burns also joined the Yankees’ Al Leiter and Tampa Bay’s Wade Davis as the only pitchers since 1961 whose first six outs in their debuts were strikeouts. Both gave up a run during the first two innings.

Burns struck out seven of the his first 10 hitters and allowed only one hit until Ben Rice led off the fourth by connecting on a hanging slider that went 413 feet and two-thirds of the way into the right field sun deck at Great American Ball Park.

Aaron Judge followed with a base hit. Burns retired the next two hitters, Chisholm got aboard with a single and Anthony Volpe hit a two-run triple when center fielder TJ Friedl made an ill-advised dive and the ball got by him.

“I think he’s a good pitcher,” Francona said. “I don’t think him giving up a couple runs is going to make somebody fold. If that was the case, we wouldn’t have brought him up.”

Burns averaged 98.1 mph with 48 fastballs, topping out with a pair at 100.1 mph in the first inning. He threw 24 sliders, eight changeups and one curveball. New York was 1-for-9 with six strikeouts in his first time through the order and 5-for-9 with a triple and home run the second time through.

Burns threw 53 of 81 pitches for strikes. His first big league pitch was a 98.4 mph fastball to Trent Grisham that just caught the inside corner of the plate. He got Judge to chase a 91.1 mile slider for the third out in the first inning.

“I guess you have to say Judge. I have watched him. He’s a big dude and one of the best hitters in the game,” Burns said when asked if any one strikeout stood out more than the others. “It was probably my favorite one.”

Burns fell behind 3-0 on three of the first 10 batters before ending up with strikeouts, and started 11 of 21 batters with strikes and induced 12 swing and misses. He is the fifth first-round selection from last year’s draft to reach the majors, joining Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz, Royals outfielder Jac Caglianone, Angels second baseman Christian Moore and Astros outfielder Cam Smith, who was selected by the Cubs before going to Houston in the Kyle Tucker trade last December.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Latz’s no-hit bid could land him in Texas rotation

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Latz's no-hit bid could land him in Texas rotation

BALTIMORE — Jacob Latz might have earned a spot in the Texas Rangers‘ rotation.

Manager Bruce Bochy says he’ll consider it.

“Of course,” Bochy said. “He’s a weapon whether he starts or he’s in the bullpen, but he’s stretched out. You’ve heard me say he’s got starter’s stuff.”

Latz took a no-hitter into the seventh inning Tuesday night against Baltimore, and although the Rangers blew a four-run lead, they recovered to win 6-5 in 10 innings. Latz set career highs in innings pitched (six-plus) and pitches (88) and lowered his ERA on the season to 3.22.

“I don’t know the plans going forward. I was kind of just trying to soak it all up today,” Latz said. “It was just a lot of fun out there.”

In his third career start and second of the season, Latz didn’t allow a hit until Ramon Laureano singled to center to start the bottom of the seventh. A walk later, Latz was removed, but a 4-0 Texas lead didn’t last much longer.

Chris Martin came on and gave up homers to each of his three batters — Gary Sanchez, Ramon Urias and Ryan O’Hearn — and left with the Rangers down 5-4. But a sacrifice fly by Jonah Heim the following inning tied it, and Evan Carter slid home safely on Sam Haggerty‘s grounder in the 10th.

Latz walked three and struck out four — including the last three hitters of the fifth inning. His previous longest outing in the majors was Thursday, when he threw 5 2/3 innings of relief in a loss to Kansas City.

“That’s one of the better jobs in all of baseball — to be a starting pitcher,” Latz said. “I’m not going to say I don’t want to be a starting pitcher. Obviously I do. I’m comfortable either way obviously. If it’s in the rotation, it’s great.”

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Pirates remove Cruz after he loses track of outs

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Pirates remove Cruz after he loses track of outs

MILWAUKEE — Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Oneil Cruz said he lost track of the outs when he didn’t run out a double-play grounder, a move that led to his removal in his club’s 9-3 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night.

The Pirates trailed 7-3 and had a runner on first with one out in the seventh when Cruz grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. Cruz slowed down after the Brewers got the force play at second, and he said afterward he believed that was the third out of the inning.

Pirates manager Don Kelly removed Cruz in favor of a defensive replacement in the eighth inning and said it was due to Cruz’s “energy and effort going down the line.” Cruz said after the game he understood Kelly’s decision.

“DK had all the rights to do what he did, and I’ll back him up on that,” Cruz said through an interpreter. “It was my fault because I thought there were two outs in that situation. That’s why I let off running to first base.”

Kelly said he explained to Cruz the reason for the benching.

“We talked,” Kelly said. “He knows the expectation. Right there, I feel we fell a little short.”

When he was asked whether Cruz would be back in the starting lineup Wednesday, Kelly was noncommittal.

“We’re going to sit down and talk, and we’ll figure that out,” Kelly said.

Cruz, 26, has batted just .156 (12-of-77) with 31 strikeouts this month after having a productive start to the season that included owning a .911 OPS in early May and hitting a 122.9 mph homer against the Brewers on May 25. That homer was the hardest-hit ball since Statcast started tracking that data in 2015.

Cruz is now hitting .208 with a .321 on-base percentage, a .404 slugging percentage, 13 homers, 31 RBIs and 26 steals in 71 games.

“He’s struggling at the plate right now,” Kelly said. “It’s difficult when you’re going through that and trying to figure it out. He’s working hard to do that. That’s one thing we’ve got to be mindful of, is not letting that offense carry over to defense and base running, and the energy and effort that we’re giving on any other aspects of the game as well.”

Cruz said his hitting slump “had nothing to do with what happened today” and isn’t impacting his focus on the basepaths or in the field. But he also said he appreciated Kelly’s instructions to him and noted how he can learn from veteran teammates Andrew McCutchen and Tommy Pham.

“They’re a really good example,” Cruz said. “They always run hard. They always go out there to do their 100%. That’s a teaching point for me. I accepted the way DK came to me and explained it and presented it to me.”

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