Robert James Bruce is a former starting pitcher

Starting pitcher

In baseball or softball, a starting pitcher is the pitcher who delivers the first pitch to the first batter of a game. A pitcher who enters the game after the first pitch of the game is a relief pitcher....

 in Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

.

Bruce was a mainstay of the expansion

Expansion team

An expansion team is a brand new team in a sports league. The term is most commonly used in reference to the North American major professional sports leagues, but is applied to sports leagues worldwide that use a closed franchise system of league membership. The term comes from the expansion of the...

 Houston Colt .45

Houston Astros

The Houston Astros are a Major League Baseball team located in Houston, Texas. They are a member of the National League Central division. The Astros are expected to join the American League West division in 2013. Since , they have played their home games at Minute Maid Park, known as Enron Field...

 starting rotation in that team's early seasons, tying Turk Farrell

Turk Farrell

Richard Joseph "Turk" Farrell was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who had a 14-year career from 1956 to 1969...

 for the team lead in wins (with 10) in the Colt .45's inaugural 1962 season

1962 Houston Colt .45s season

The Houston Colt .45s season was a season in American baseball, and the first season in franchise history. Harry Craft was named Houston's first manager...

, and becoming the first Houston pitcher to win 15 games, in 1964.

On April 19, 1964, Bruce struck out three batters on nine pitches in the eighth inning of a 6-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Bruce became the seventh National League pitcher and the 12th pitcher in major league history to accomplish the nine-strike/three-strikeout half-inning

Pitchers who struck out three batters on nine pitches

In Major League Baseball, 43 pitchers have thrown a nine-pitch, three-strikeout half-inning, throwing nothing but strikes...

, only one day after Sandy Koufax

Sandy Koufax

Sanford "Sandy" Koufax is a former left-handed baseball pitcher who played his entire 12-year Major League Baseball career for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers...

 achieved the same feat.

External links