Some no-hitters are rarer than others, and the Atlanta Braves have one such game in their history.
While this franchise has been headquartered in Georgia, the Atlanta Braves have just three no-hitters to their credit. As we noted yesterday, one of these was unusual in that it featured a knuckleball thrower. Today’s featured game is also a bit odd, but for an entirely different reason.
Another footnote to this oddity was that it happened 10 years to the day before the 9/11 attack. An unrelated footnote, to be sure, but true nonetheless.
In the history of major league baseball, there has been 305 recognized no-hit, no-run games. Of these, 262 came since the Modern Era began (1901, coincident with the start of the American League).
So that’s more than two per year over the 120 seasons since 1901… rare, but not that unusual.
Of these, 23 were perfect games… close to 9% of the no-nos. Want something more rare than that? How about the Unassisted Triple Play? That’s happened 15 times since the first one recognized in 1909.
However, we’ve still got that beat: today we’ll look back at a game result that’s happened only fourteen times in MLB history: games featuring multiple pitchers… the “Johnny Wholestaff” effort.
The Combined No-hitter
Why is this so odd? A couple of obvious reasons:
- Before the 1960’s or 70’s, it was a starting pitcher’s game. If the starter was twirling a no-hitter, he was staying in the game to the bitter end — barring injury.
- In fact, that’s generally still true, though there have been multiple incidents where a manager has pulled his starter after 6 or 7 innings despite having yielded no hit.
Accordingly, all but one of the 14 combo-no-no’s have occurred since 1967, and 10 of them have happened since 1990.
That requires a quick note about that first such game – from 1917. Babe Ruth was the starting pitcher that day, but he didn’t last very long: he was tossed after arguing with the home plate umpire after walking the very first batter. Ernie Shore then came in and proceeded to retire the next 26 hitters… with that lone runner erasing himself via a ‘caught stealing’ on Shore’s first pitch.
Otherwise, you might be surprised how many Braves, ex-Braves, and future Braves have been involved in these 14 games:
- Gregg Olson closed out a 2-0 no-hitter for the Orioles just six weeks prior to the 1991 Braves’ no-no. He was a Brave in 1994.
- Billy Wagner closed a 2003 combo game for the Astros. Another former Brave was also involved that day: Octavio Dotel (2007), who pitched the 8th… but then again, he played for nearly half the MLB teams!
- Kevin Millwood was the 6-inning starter for a 1-0 Seattle combination no-hitter in 2012. He was removed from the game thanks to a minor injury.
- The Braves were the victims of one such game in 2014 where Cole Hamels started and went six innings… but threw 108 pitches to get only that far before three relievers kept things going.
The 1991 game
So with that, let’s look at the 1991 contest — during the first year of the Atlanta Braves’ run of dominance that led to the World Series that season.
As with the Niekro no-no, this game took place in Atlanta against the San Diego Padres. However, this was a much better San Diego club than the one Niekro faced in 1973: they were 71-68 at the time and featured a lineup that included Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn (batting .317) and near-HOFer Fred McGriff, who lead their team in OPS while batting cleanup.
The Braves led off with Otis Nixon, and included a lot of familiar names: Treadway, Lemke (a late defensive replacement), Pendleton, Justice, Gant, Bream, and Belliard among others.
Unlike the blow-out that Niekro had, this game was a 1-0 nail-biter throughout, with the lone run coming on a Terry Pendleton home run.
Oddly enough, Padre starter Greg Harris went the distance (8 innings) for the visitors, scattering 7 hits, striking out 7, and walking just 2. That lowered his ERA for the season to 2.13, en route to a 2.23 season… but not enough innings to gain Cy Young consideration (which Tom Glavine won that year).
But starter Kent Mercker only threw 73 innings himself that year and Bobby Cox elected to remove him from the game after six innings despite an 82-pitch domination of the Padres that resulted in no hits, 2 walks, and 6 strikeouts… lowering his own ERA to 2.21.
One of those walks came in the first innings — to Gwynn, of course — and the other in the third. Harris sacrificed that runner to second base, the only Padre hitter to get that far on the day.
Beyond that, it was 1-2-3 for Mercker over the rest of his day. Perhaps a long flyout to left by Darrin Jackson to cap his night spooked Cox, but it’s actually likely that a short start was the plan all along.
Mark Wohlers came in for both the 7th and 8th innings as both managers started their maneuvers with pinch hitters and double-shifts the order of the day to try and generate more offense.
Wohlers induced 3 flyball outs in the 7th and two more in the 8th along with a groundout as the crowd of 20,000+ was definitely getting into the event.
That completed his work and left it to Alejandro Pena to close out the game in the 9th, albeit with a bit of drama.
A groundout to Lemke at second was followed by a flyout to left field for two quick outs on 6 pitches.
Darrin Jackson then reached with the no-no (and the game) on the line as Terry Pendleton was unable to field a grounder to third… the only error of the game for Atlanta.
That brought up the last man that Braves fans wanted to see at the plate: Tony Gwynn.
On the second pitch, Gwynn — the leading hitter in the National League — lined a shot to deepish left field. However, the Braves had an “extra” centerfielder out there named Otis Nixon. He glided over toward the gap and secured the ball for the win.
Three pitchers. No hits for the Padres. A 1-0 victory for the Atlanta Braves, to push their record to 79-60 during one of the most magical seasons their fans had experienced.
It was improbable and unusual, but it helped lead Atlanta to a division title during their “worst to first” season. We’ll talk about starter Kent Mercker a bit more tomorrow.