Wednesday, September 18, 1968 - At Candlestick Park (Ray Washburn - Starting Pitcher) - Opponent: San Francisco Giants (Bobby Bolin - Starting Pitcher) - Attendance: 4,703
One day after San Francisco Giants pitcher Gaylord Perry no-hit the newly-crowned and possibly-hung-over-National League champion St Louis Cardinals, by a final score of 1-0 - Ray Washburn made baseball history when he returned the no-hit favor. Fortunately, his team was able to score a couple of runs late in this game, to win it by a score of 2-0.
It was the first (and only) time opposing pitchers had ever thrown back-to-back no-hitters - but it really came as no big surprise. After all, this was The Year of The Pitcher. Even the game's best pitcher in '68 - Bob Gibson - knew he'd have to throw at least a nine-inning shutout to stand a reasonably good chance of winning on any given day. As fate would have it, Gibson happened to be the starter on the same day Perry utilized his petroleum jelly skills to maximum efficiency against a bleary-eyed St Louis lineup in Tuesday's series opener at the Stick.
The lone run Gibby allowed in that one - came via a first-inning home run off the bat of Ron Home Run Hunt - who managed to go yard twice that season.
This time, it was Giants starter Bobby Bolin who pitched a fine game (8 IP - 7 H - 2 R - 2 BB - 6 SO) but got no help from a lineup whose offensive production amounted to five scattered walks - then going 0 for 2 with runners in scoring position.
The game was still scoreless after six innings - which meant the Cardinals had been scoreless for fifteen consecutive innings in San Francisco - when Mike Shannon snapped the streak with a double that scored Orlando Cepeda from second base, to give Washburn the necessary run support to achieve personal victory.
Then for good measure, the Redbirds tacked on an insurance run in the eighth - when Curt Flood singled home Dick Schofield from third - who had doubled leading-off the inning.
As Washburn went back to the mound to begin his final inning of work, the partisan Giants gathering seemed to appreciate the historical implications of what was taking place. The first batter - Ron Hunt - who won yesterday's game with a first-inning home run off Gibson - grounded out to second, as Gibson glared in his direction from the visitor's dugout - no doubt reflecting back to the absurdity of his accomplishment on Tuesday.
The next batter - Willie Mays - created a stir whenever he stepped into the batter's box. But he too, was retired on a ground ball to an infielder - third baseman Mike Shannon - today's hitting hero - avoided becoming the goat by handling this chance cleanly for out number two.
With a two-run lead, the presence of the final hitter - Willie McCovey - was maybe a bit less nerve-wracking than usual, since nobody was on base. However, with a two-team back-to-back no-hitter on the line, the nail-biting index was still at record levels. When McCovey's lazy fly ball to Flood in center became the final out of the game - Washburn (13-7) had notched the only no-hitter the Cardinals' pitching staff compiled in 1968.
Of course, it was also one of a franchise-record thirty shutouts registered by the staff that season. Certainly, Cardinal pitchers did their part in helping major league baseball decide to lower the mound for the '69 season. Not surprisingly, no other team has blanked opponents as many as thirty times in a season since The Year of The Pitcher.
In 2014, after Adam Wainwright's latest shutout, St Louis now has twenty-one of 'em - and this season may have a few more to add to that list. Currently, Wainwright & Company have tied the 1943 Cards with those twenty-one shutouts - for the third highest total in franchise history. The second highest total was compiled the very next season - 1944 - when they tossed twenty-six shutouts. The 1985 Cardinals had twenty shutouts, for sole possession of fifth-place. In sixth-place, with eighteen shutouts: The '42 edition,
Those five previous teams had something in common: They made a World Series appearance each time - winning the championship twice - in '42 and '44 - when they beat the Yankees and then the St Louis Browns.
Seventy years later, maybe a rematch of the '44 World Series is in order? The St Louis Cardinals vs the Baltimore Orioles would be interesting. Of course, Cards vs Angels would be even more interesting.
Showing posts with label no-hitter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label no-hitter. Show all posts
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
September 3, 2001 - The Bud Smith No-Hitter
Monday, September 3, 2001 - At Qualcomm Stadium (Bud Smith - Starting Pitcher) - Opponent: San Diego Padres (Bobby Jones - Starting Pitcher) - Attendance: 36,535
When Bud Smith and Bobby Jones last met - in St Louis on August 29 - things didn't go so well for either pitcher - as their pitching lines indicate.
Jones: 1.2 IP - 7 H - 9 R - 4 ER - 1 BB - 0 SO - 2 HR (L - 8-16)
Smith: 3.1 IP - 5 H - 7 R - 5 ER - 4 BB - 4 SO - 1 HR (ND)
Total: 5 IP - 12 H - 16 R - 9 ER - 5 BB - 4 SO - 3 HR
The two bullpens produced similarly horrific results:
Padres: 6.1 IP - 8 H - 7 R - 5 ER - 0 BB - 6 SO - 1 HR
Cards: 5.2 IP - 10 H - 7 R - 7 ER - 2 BB - 7 SO - 3 HR
Total: 12 IP - 18 H - 14 R - 12 ER - 2 BB - 12 SO - 4 HR
The two teams combined for 30 runs - the ninth time in Cardinals' franchise history they've participated in games with a combined total of at least 30 runs. They haven't accomplished that dubious feat since - which is more of a testament to their pitching, which has usually been above average since 2001.
Now, five days after their disastrous starts in St Louis, both pitchers were hoping for significantly better results in this different venue - especially since this game was to be telecast to a nationwide audience on ESPN.
In the top of the first-inning, Albert Pujols - a 21-year old rookie slugger for St Louis - quickly put his hitting prowess on display for all to behold. His thirty-second home run - a two-run shot off Jones staked Smith to a 2-0 lead (Pujols now had 106 RBI). In his most recent start, Smith was unable to secure a 9-4 lead - heading into the third inning. That is to say, he was unable to convince his manager - Tony LaRussa - that he should be allowed to stay in the game long enough to qualify for the win - as San Diego began teeing off on him like he was throwing batting practice.
St Louis tacked on a couple of more runs - one in the fifth - on a two-base throwing error by catcher Ben Davis - trying to nail Placido Polanco at second base on a stolen base attempt. The throw ended up in center field, instead - a well-placed projectile as far as Polanco was concerned - allowing him to dash home with the third run of the game - as Bud Smith not only kept the Padres from scoring - he kept them from hitting safely, as well. Was this really the same Bud Smith who had trouble getting anybody out in the San Diego lineup just five days ago?
The answer to that rhetorical question is, "Yes, indeed. Believe it or not."
The Cardinals closed out the scoring in the seventh. With two out, Fernando Vina walked - then scored on Polanco's double in the left-center field gap. That, of course, was more than enough run production. What a difference five days makes.
Meanwhile, Smith was still managing to prevent the Padres from hitting safely, and the Cardinal defense did its part by committing no errors, whatsoever. Bud did have some control issues, however - walking four batters - Lankford (second-inning), Henderson (third and sixth-innings), then Jiminez (ninth-inning). He also struck out seven along the way.
LaRussa was getting concerned with the relatively high pitch count, but as long as his young hurler continued getting outs, he would remain in the game. When the final out was recorded at 8:55 pm - local time - Phil Nevin on a ground ball right back to the mound, which was fielded cleanly by the young pitcher who tossed to first for the out - Bud Smith had thrown 134 pitches - and he had his first and only no-hitter in his brief career. As a matter of fact, this was the only complete-game shutout he would accomplish in his major league career.
By today's standards, 134 is an extremely high pitch count - which would probably cause most managers to remove him from the game - for precautionary reasons. All that exertion didn't seem to adversely affect Smith, however - at least not this season. This win raised his season's record to 4-2 - he would finish at 6-3. Not bad for a late season call-up.
Smith wasn't so sharp the following season, however, as the Cardinals packaged him, Polanco and reliever Mike Timlin to Philadelphia - in exchange for the great Scott Rolen. That was probably Bud Smith's greatest contribution to the franchise. Unfortunately, he never pitched for Philadelphia - or any other major league team, for that matter.
Meanwhile, the Cardinals contributed another "loss" for Bobby Jones to absorb, as his record fell to 8-17. He'd go on to lead the NL with 19 losses that season - then 2002 would mark the end of his career, as well.
When Bud Smith and Bobby Jones last met - in St Louis on August 29 - things didn't go so well for either pitcher - as their pitching lines indicate.
Jones: 1.2 IP - 7 H - 9 R - 4 ER - 1 BB - 0 SO - 2 HR (L - 8-16)
Smith: 3.1 IP - 5 H - 7 R - 5 ER - 4 BB - 4 SO - 1 HR (ND)
Total: 5 IP - 12 H - 16 R - 9 ER - 5 BB - 4 SO - 3 HR
The two bullpens produced similarly horrific results:
Padres: 6.1 IP - 8 H - 7 R - 5 ER - 0 BB - 6 SO - 1 HR
Cards: 5.2 IP - 10 H - 7 R - 7 ER - 2 BB - 7 SO - 3 HR
Total: 12 IP - 18 H - 14 R - 12 ER - 2 BB - 12 SO - 4 HR
The two teams combined for 30 runs - the ninth time in Cardinals' franchise history they've participated in games with a combined total of at least 30 runs. They haven't accomplished that dubious feat since - which is more of a testament to their pitching, which has usually been above average since 2001.
Now, five days after their disastrous starts in St Louis, both pitchers were hoping for significantly better results in this different venue - especially since this game was to be telecast to a nationwide audience on ESPN.
In the top of the first-inning, Albert Pujols - a 21-year old rookie slugger for St Louis - quickly put his hitting prowess on display for all to behold. His thirty-second home run - a two-run shot off Jones staked Smith to a 2-0 lead (Pujols now had 106 RBI). In his most recent start, Smith was unable to secure a 9-4 lead - heading into the third inning. That is to say, he was unable to convince his manager - Tony LaRussa - that he should be allowed to stay in the game long enough to qualify for the win - as San Diego began teeing off on him like he was throwing batting practice.
St Louis tacked on a couple of more runs - one in the fifth - on a two-base throwing error by catcher Ben Davis - trying to nail Placido Polanco at second base on a stolen base attempt. The throw ended up in center field, instead - a well-placed projectile as far as Polanco was concerned - allowing him to dash home with the third run of the game - as Bud Smith not only kept the Padres from scoring - he kept them from hitting safely, as well. Was this really the same Bud Smith who had trouble getting anybody out in the San Diego lineup just five days ago?
The answer to that rhetorical question is, "Yes, indeed. Believe it or not."
The Cardinals closed out the scoring in the seventh. With two out, Fernando Vina walked - then scored on Polanco's double in the left-center field gap. That, of course, was more than enough run production. What a difference five days makes.
Meanwhile, Smith was still managing to prevent the Padres from hitting safely, and the Cardinal defense did its part by committing no errors, whatsoever. Bud did have some control issues, however - walking four batters - Lankford (second-inning), Henderson (third and sixth-innings), then Jiminez (ninth-inning). He also struck out seven along the way.
LaRussa was getting concerned with the relatively high pitch count, but as long as his young hurler continued getting outs, he would remain in the game. When the final out was recorded at 8:55 pm - local time - Phil Nevin on a ground ball right back to the mound, which was fielded cleanly by the young pitcher who tossed to first for the out - Bud Smith had thrown 134 pitches - and he had his first and only no-hitter in his brief career. As a matter of fact, this was the only complete-game shutout he would accomplish in his major league career.
By today's standards, 134 is an extremely high pitch count - which would probably cause most managers to remove him from the game - for precautionary reasons. All that exertion didn't seem to adversely affect Smith, however - at least not this season. This win raised his season's record to 4-2 - he would finish at 6-3. Not bad for a late season call-up.
Smith wasn't so sharp the following season, however, as the Cardinals packaged him, Polanco and reliever Mike Timlin to Philadelphia - in exchange for the great Scott Rolen. That was probably Bud Smith's greatest contribution to the franchise. Unfortunately, he never pitched for Philadelphia - or any other major league team, for that matter.
Meanwhile, the Cardinals contributed another "loss" for Bobby Jones to absorb, as his record fell to 8-17. He'd go on to lead the NL with 19 losses that season - then 2002 would mark the end of his career, as well.
Thursday, August 14, 2014
August 14, 1971 - The Bob Gibson No-Hitter
Saturday, August 14, 1971 - At Three Rivers Stadium (Bob Gibson - Starting Pitcher) - Opponent: Pittsburgh Pirates (Bob Johnson - Starting Pitcher) - Attendance: 30,678
Bob Gibson had never given much thought to his prospects of pitching a no-hitter. It didn't happen in '68 - when he had one of the most dominant seasons by a starting pitcher in baseball history. Now, three years later - at the age of thirty-five - he was still a very good pitcher, but well past his prime. His only concern was trying to catch the first-place Pittsburgh Pirates - a team loaded with talent and holding a 5.5 game lead over St Louis prior to this game.
The Cardinals jumped all over Pirates starter Bob Johnson for five runs on four hits in just one-third of an inning - knocking him out of the game after Joe Hague knocked a three-run home run out of the park. In that small sample size, Johnson's earned run average was 135.00 - in case you were wondering.
The next pitcher for Pittsburgh - Bob Moose - made it through the the fourth-inning before running into more trouble in the fifth. Ted Kubiak's two-run double scored Torre and Simmons - and Kubiak eventually scored from third on Gibson's sacrifice fly.
The next "Bob" to enter the game - Bob Veale - made it through eight innings - and like Moose, gave up three runs in his last inning of work. A bases loaded walk to Dal Maxvill preceded Gibson's two-run single - padding the lead to 11-0.
All those unnecessary runs weren't the big story in this game. By the time the Cardinals had scored their final run of the game, Gibson still hadn't allowed a hit. The first batter to reach base was Milt May - who stuck out on a wild pitch in the second-inning - then reached first before Simmons could even make a throw. Gibson would strike out two other batters in the inning - en route to a ten strikeout game.
The only other base runners for Pittsburgh came via the base on balls: Jackie Hernandez in the third-inning - Willie Stargell in the fourth - and Bob Robertson in the seventh.
The strikeout victims: Stargell (three times) - Robertson (twice) - May, Hernandez, Moose, Sands and Clines (one apiece).
The only "non-Bob" to pitch in this game was Gibson's former teammate - Nelson Briles - who was the pitcher the Cardinals added to the starting rotation back in '67 - when Gibson suffered a broken leg on a vicious line drive off the bat of Roberto Clemente. Briles pitched a scoreless ninth, then watched in admiration from the Pirates' dugout as his former mentor - Gibby - got the final three outs to get that elusive no-hitter.
Gibson's final pitch of the game was a called third strike to Willie Stargell - who may not have liked the call - but deep down inside, was happy to see his fierce rival make history.
For the joyous Cardinals, they would close out the four game series sweep on Sunday - with a come-from-behind 6-4 win - to close within 3.5 games of first in the NL East. But that would be as close as they'd get, as the Pirates regrouped from this temporary setback to easily take the division title - then went on to win a classic seven-game World Series over Baltimore.
Bob Gibson had never given much thought to his prospects of pitching a no-hitter. It didn't happen in '68 - when he had one of the most dominant seasons by a starting pitcher in baseball history. Now, three years later - at the age of thirty-five - he was still a very good pitcher, but well past his prime. His only concern was trying to catch the first-place Pittsburgh Pirates - a team loaded with talent and holding a 5.5 game lead over St Louis prior to this game.
The Cardinals jumped all over Pirates starter Bob Johnson for five runs on four hits in just one-third of an inning - knocking him out of the game after Joe Hague knocked a three-run home run out of the park. In that small sample size, Johnson's earned run average was 135.00 - in case you were wondering.
The next pitcher for Pittsburgh - Bob Moose - made it through the the fourth-inning before running into more trouble in the fifth. Ted Kubiak's two-run double scored Torre and Simmons - and Kubiak eventually scored from third on Gibson's sacrifice fly.
The next "Bob" to enter the game - Bob Veale - made it through eight innings - and like Moose, gave up three runs in his last inning of work. A bases loaded walk to Dal Maxvill preceded Gibson's two-run single - padding the lead to 11-0.
All those unnecessary runs weren't the big story in this game. By the time the Cardinals had scored their final run of the game, Gibson still hadn't allowed a hit. The first batter to reach base was Milt May - who stuck out on a wild pitch in the second-inning - then reached first before Simmons could even make a throw. Gibson would strike out two other batters in the inning - en route to a ten strikeout game.
The only other base runners for Pittsburgh came via the base on balls: Jackie Hernandez in the third-inning - Willie Stargell in the fourth - and Bob Robertson in the seventh.
The strikeout victims: Stargell (three times) - Robertson (twice) - May, Hernandez, Moose, Sands and Clines (one apiece).
The only "non-Bob" to pitch in this game was Gibson's former teammate - Nelson Briles - who was the pitcher the Cardinals added to the starting rotation back in '67 - when Gibson suffered a broken leg on a vicious line drive off the bat of Roberto Clemente. Briles pitched a scoreless ninth, then watched in admiration from the Pirates' dugout as his former mentor - Gibby - got the final three outs to get that elusive no-hitter.
Gibson's final pitch of the game was a called third strike to Willie Stargell - who may not have liked the call - but deep down inside, was happy to see his fierce rival make history.
For the joyous Cardinals, they would close out the four game series sweep on Sunday - with a come-from-behind 6-4 win - to close within 3.5 games of first in the NL East. But that would be as close as they'd get, as the Pirates regrouped from this temporary setback to easily take the division title - then went on to win a classic seven-game World Series over Baltimore.
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