April 4th, 2008
More Pedro ephemera: perfection and the hand-hunter
Pedro is undoubtedly one of the best pitchers never to throw a no-hitter or a complete game. The story of his 9 perfect innings with the Expos is well-known (he gave up a double to lead off the tenth of the 0-0 game). I didn’t realize that two other near-perfect games started off with hit batsmen: the September 10, 1999 masterpiece (yes, I was there) in which Pedro plunked Chuck Knoblauch to start the game, gave up a right-field Stadium porch HR to Chili Davis in the 3rd, and struck out 17 Yankees while retiring everyone else. (That’s the game Mel Stottlemyre called the best he’d ever seen.) A year later, Petey hit Gerald Williams to lead off a game in Tampa Bay…and proceeded to retire the next 24 batters before John Flaherty squeezed out a single to lead off the ninth. (Here’s some more on that game.)
There is, of course, another odd non-perfect game in Sox history: the June 23, 1917 match in which Babe Ruth walked the leadoff batter, promptly got tossed, and was replaced by Ernie Shore, who went on to retire every batter he faced. (That leadoff walk was wiped out on a double play, so Shore only actually pitched to 26 batters.)
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I think you meant to write that Pedro never threw a no-hitter in a complete game. He’s certainly had plenty of complete games, though we’ll probably never see one again.
Comment by tinisoli — April 11, 2008 @ 12:07 pm
I remember the Tampa Bay “almost” as the night I sat on the porch of a cottage on the shore of Newfound Lake in NH listening to the game on the radio on a faltering signal. ESPN cut to the game late when the no-no was still a possibility (Jinx!) and we saw the 9th inning. I really wanted that, although my favorite Petey games are the 17-strikeout classic against the Yankees, and the warrior performance in relief against the Indians in the 1999 ALDS.
Comment by floridagirl25 — April 16, 2008 @ 1:13 pm