On Thursday, May 9, 2019, the 2000 RBI Club, one of the most exclusive milestones in MLB history, welcomed their fifth member. Out of all the milestones in MLB history, the 2000 RBI Club may be the most exclusive. A total of four players have reached that landmark, a level that even some of the greatest run producers that the game had seen can only dream of. On May 9, 2019, a fifth member joined that exclusive group. With his third inning solo home run, Albert Pujols registered his 2000th RBI, further cementing his Hall of Fame credentials. Interestingly, only Babe Ruth is not a member of the 3000 hit club, and Cap Anson is the only member of this group that did not have at least 600 career homers. This is a fraternity that truly spans professional baseball history. From the very first season of the National Association in 1871 to present day, the 2000 RBI Club is a list of some of the biggest stars in MLB history. It is, truly, an incredible accomplishment. Now that Albert Pujols has joined one of the more elite fraternities in MLB history, let us take a look at the other four members of the club.<doc-sep>The early games on Thursday included what will end up likely being the biggest baseball news of the day: Albert Pujols joined an elite club that includes either three or five players, depending upon who you ask. (Yeah, we'll get to that.) The other games weren't bad, either. The Pirates continued to slump; the Astros beat the Rangers thanks to one of the best catches of the season; and the Cubs may have found a formula that works for Yu Darvish's starts. Below you'll find our recap of the day that was in baseball. Make sure to check back in tomorrow, as we'll do it all over again. Select games can be streamed regionally via fuboTV (Try for free). For more on what channel each game is on, click here. Baseball schedule and scores for Thursday, May 9 Angels power up, Pujols joins 2,000 RBI club The milestone of the day was Angels slugger Albert Pujols reaching rarefied air in driving home the 2,000 run of his career. The 2,000-RBI club includes Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, A-Rod, Cap Anson and Pujols, though MLB officially only recognizes Aaron, A-Rod and Pujols since RBI wasn't an "official" stat until 1920. For more on Pujols, the full story is here. Here's the blast that was home run 639 and RBI 2,000: Pujols must have inspired his teammates to drive in some runs, notably via the long ball. The Angels' 13 runs was their highest output of the season. Their 16 hits matched a season high (April 18). They clubbed five home runs, also a season high. How about Tommy La Stella? He hit two homers in this one, giving him nine in just 105 plate appearances this season. Coming into this season, he had 10 homers in 947 career plate appearances. His previous totals by year and plate appearance: 2014: 1 (360 PA) 2015: 1 (75 PA) 2016: 2 (169 PA) 2017: 5 (151 PA) 2018: 1 (192 PA) Not only that, but La Stella previously only had one two-homer game in his career. The one Thursday marked the third of this season. Also of note: Shohei Ohtani picked up his first hit of the season and grabbed another, going 2 for 4 with an RBI. The Angels have won eight of their last 12 and head to Baltimore looking to keep the momentum going. Carrasco bounce-back outing cut short by rain Indians starter Carlos Carrasco has been knocked around a few times this season. His numbers through three starts were brutal, but then he had two straight scoreless outings. His last two times out, though, he was back on the negative side, giving up eight runs on 13 hits in 14 1/3 innings (5.02 ERA). On Thursday afternoon, he looked great and was cruising before the game was called due to pretty heavy rain. Originally, it seemed like the delay would be too long for him to continue past his five scoreless innings (which included two hits and six strikeouts against zero walks). But the game was then called, meaning Carrasco will receive credit for a complete game. Pirates continue to slump due to bad pitching The Pirates lost a blowout against the Cardinals on Thursday, dropping them to 17-17 on the season. Remember when they were in first place? It was due to their pitching. Their recent woes have been fueled by their pitching, too. Click here to get the full story on the situation. Cubs extend streak using piggyback strategy The Cubs won their third consecutive on Thursday, defeating the Marlins by a 4-1 score. Along the way, the Cubs may have found a new template for how to manage Yu Darvish's starts -- and it involves Mike Montgomery. Click here to read our story. Highlight of the day: Reddick robs potential go-ahead home run Josh Reddick must have seen the catch Jackie Bradley Jr. made on Wednesday night, because on Thursday he decided to pull off a little robbery of his own. Take a look at the grab he made in the ninth inning to preserve a two-run lead for the Astros: Houston would hold on and win by that 4-2 score. Giants, Rockies play in the snow The Giants and Rockies entered Thursday's contest with identical 16-20 records. As such, it's fair to write their contest was safely flying underneath the radar. Still, anytime a baseball game played in May features snow, well, we're going to at least highlight it. Take a look at the scene from Coors Field: That is, as the kids say, quite cold. Thankfully, the Rockies whipped up an appropriate image to commemorate the occasion (snow-ccasion? ): Quick hits<doc-sep>Los Angeles Angels first baseman Albert Pujols reached another incredible milestone in his Hall of Fame-worthy career. With a homer during Thursday’s game against the Detroit Tigers, Pujols became just the third player in Major League Baseball history to join the 2,000-RBI club. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Pujols trails only Hank Aaron (2,297) and Alex Rodriguez (2,086) on the all-time list. The 19-year veteran passed Barry Bonds: (1,996), Lou Gehrig: (1,994) and Babe Ruth (1,992) during the 2019 season. Despite a decline in health and overall production, Pujols has remained a force when it comes to driving in runs. He has topped 95 in every season he has played at least 140 games. That includes totals of 119 and 101 in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Decorated career Though his production has dipped during his later years, Pujols is no stranger to reaching milestones. In 2017, he became the ninth member of the exclusive 600 home run club by launching a grand slam at Angel Stadium. In 2018, he reached 3,000 career hits. For his career, Pujols is a .300 hitter, checking in at (.302/.382/.553 update this). Along the way Pujols had earned numerous accolades and awards. As a member of the St. Louis Cardinals, Pujols took home the NL Rookie of the Year award in 2001 and won three NL MVP awards. He's a two-time World Series champion, winning both with the Cardinals in 2006 and 2011, and a 10-time All-Star. Based on production and his lack of a connection to performance-enhancing drugs, Pujols is a sure-fire Hall of Famer. Los Angeles Angels' first baseman Albert Pujols is the third player in MLB's 2,000-RBI club, joining Hank Aaron and Alex Rodriguez. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) Pujols' true RBI rank There has been some controversy and confusion concerning where Pujols ranks on the all-time RBI list. The root issue is that RBIs did not become an official statistic until the 1920 season, which means the Elias Sports Bureau’s official stats list notably lower RBI totals for players whose career pre-1920. The most notable players in this instance being Babe Ruth and Cap Anson. On the other hand, the website Baseball-Reference has retroactively accrued the pre-1920 RBI totals for Ruth and Anson. According to that website, Ruth's career RBI total is 2,214, which would rank second all time. Baseball-Reference also considers Anson, who played from 1871-1897, a member of the 2,000 club. He's listed with 2,075. Story continues Elias has refrained from applying those numbers because of concerns about accuracy when compiling stats prior to 1920. So while we can safely assume Ruth produced well beyond 2,000 RBIs, there's no way of knowing the true number. As such, he'll remain below Pujols on Elias’ all-time rankings. More from Yahoo Sports:<doc-sep>On Thursday in Detroit, Angels slugger Albert Pujols became -- depending on your method of record-keeping -- either the third or fifth player in MLB history to rack up at least 2,000 RBI (more on Pujols in this week's Star Power Index). The record-setting ribbie came on Pujols' sixth home run of the season: Here's the unofficial career RBI leaderboard: Player Career RBI Hank Aaron 2,297 Babe Ruth 2,214 Alex Rodriguez 2,086 Cap Anson 2,075 Albert Pujols 2,000 Pujols' uncertain standing on the all-time leaderboard is due to the fact that the RBI didn't become an official stat until 1920. While we can pretty accurately back-count RBI, MLB and Elias don't count RBI before 1920. That means Cap Anson's RBI are off their board entirely (his playing career ended following the 1897 season), and Babe Ruth's total is reduced by more than 224 (his retroactive RBI total from 1914 through 1919). And that's why Pujols is third on MLB's RBI leaderboard but fifth on that of Baseball-Reference. As you can see the ball landed in the less than packed left field seats at Comerica Park. As Tony Paul of the Detroit News writes, a Tigers fan named Ely Hydes -- a 33-year-old law student who lives in Detroit -- eventually secured the ball. As is standard practice when a fan retrieves a milestone ball, stadium security got involved, and officials from both teams bargained with him to get the ball for the player of note. In this instance, Hydes wanted no part of it. In the end, he resisted all entreaties and kept the ball either to give to his brother or to his son, who'll be born soon. More from Paul: The problem, said Hydes and his friends, was that the team representatives, including the Tigers' head of security, made a hard sell from the beginning, putting the pressure on Hydes. Among the interactions, they informed him that per MLB policy, because the ball was hit into the seats and because of chain-of-custody concerns, it could not be officially authenticated. That, of course, meant that Hydes would have trouble selling the ball at auction, but Hydes insists he has no interest in doing that ("I don't want money," he said). Paul's story has an interesting recap of what happens to a fan when he or she catches a milestone ball and how teams try to persuade them to hand it over, so give it a read. As for Pujols, here's one piece of memorabilia he'll have to do without.<doc-sep>
Los Angeles Angels slugger Albert Pujols has passed yet another milestone in his storied baseball career. And this one may be his most impressive accomplishment yet. With a solo homer in the top of the third inning Thursday in Detroit, Pujols became just the third player in baseball history to reach 2,000 career RBI. "We end up winning the game and winning the series. That's more special," he said. "It's a great moment to be out there, the third one on the list." Now in his 19th major league season, Pujols trails only Hank Aaron (2,297) and Alex Rodriguez (2,086) on the all-time RBI list. His exact placement on that list, however, is open to some interpretation. Runs batted in did not become an official statistic until 1920, so MLB's official stats provider – the Elias Sports Bureau doesn't count any from before that season in the record book. However, Baseball-Reference.com, has retroactively compiled stats dating to the 19th century, most notably crediting Babe Ruth with another 224 RBI to push his career total to 2,214 and put the Babe second behind only Aaron. In that case, Pujols would rank fifth, just behind Hall of Famer Cap Anson, who played from 1871 to 1897. Either way, it'll be a long time before anyone comes close to Pujols' RBI totals. The closest active player to him is Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers, who ranks 32nd with 1,647 RBI. "To win games, you have to drive runs in," Pujols said. "I know right now there's a lot of geniuses that don't want to give credit to RBIs." Pujols is also one of 32 players in MLB history with 3,000 career hits and he ranks sixth on the all-time home run list with 639. Contributing: The Associated Press Follow Gardner on Twitter @SteveAGardner