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31 Years Ago Today
Blue Jays starter Dave Stieb had taken no-hitters into the 9th inning three times, so I would imagine that when Stieb walked to the mound in the ninth, on September 2, 1990, in Cleveland, he was wondering ‘what will happen this time.’ The first three times:
- On September 24, 1988, in Cleveland, Julio Franco hit a grounder that took a surprisingly high hope and went over second baseman Manny Lee’s head.
- In Stieb’s next start, in Toronto against the Orioles, Jim Traber hit a 2-out soft fly that landed between the infielders and outfielders.
- On August 4, 1989, in the first season of SkyDome, with 2-outs in the ninth inning,g of could have been a perfect game, Roberto Kelly lines a double up the gap.
But the fourth time was the charm.
In the ninth, Stieb:
- Got pinch-hitter Chris James to fly out (a pretty deep fly out).
- Struck out pinch-hitter Candy Maldonado.
- Walked Alex Cole (Stieb walked 4, unusual for him).
- And he induced Jerry Browne to fly/line out to right fielder Junior Felix.
Here is the final out:
Cleveland didn’t exactly have a ‘murderer’s row’ back in 1990. Their clean-up hitter, Ken Phelps (likely more famous for a mention in Seinfeld than his baseball career), was hitting .155/.288/.198 at the time. Moreover, 5 of their starters had OPS numbers lower than .700.
Stieb didn’t feel he was at his best that day. From the Toronto Star game story:
I didn’t have great control. I couldn’t find my release point in the early innings. I hung pitches but got away with them. They helped me out a few times by swinging at bad pitches. They hit balls right at people.
The win was Stieb’s 17th of the season, against 5 losses. He finished the game with a 2.91 ERA. He would finish the season 18-6 with a 2.93 ERA, his most wins in a season, setting a new team-high.
I was a massive fan of Stieb. He was competitive. He would have been a good match for Jose Bautista, but, unlike Jose, he would stare down teammates that make mistakes. It is too bad that we didn’t have a better team when he was at the top of his game. I’m not sure if he was a bad teammate in other ways, but I’d imagine that behavior wouldn’t endear himself to the others on his team.
But I wasn’t on the team, and I just saw him as the best player on my team and the best pitcher in baseball at the time. I admired his drive to win. And, for most of his career, there weren’t many other Jays worth cheering.
It is still the only no-hitter in Blue Jays history.
Batting | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | PA | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mookie Wilson DH | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .264 | .304 | .354 | .658 | |
Tony Fernandez SS | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .258 | .343 | .377 | .720 | CS |
Kelly Gruber 3B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | .261 | .315 | .474 | .788 | |
Fred McGriff 1B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .309 | .416 | .565 | .981 | 2·HR |
Pat Borders C | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .293 | .325 | .514 | .838 | |
Glenallen Hill LF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | .235 | .287 | .449 | .736 | |
Ken Williams CF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .153 | .203 | .197 | .400 | 2B |
Manuel Lee 2B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .242 | .281 | .346 | .627 | 2B |
Junior Felix RF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .271 | .340 | .458 | .798 | |
Dave Stieb P | ||||||||||||
Team Totals | 34 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 35 | .235 | .257 | .471 | .728 |
Batting | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | PA | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | Details |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alex Cole CF | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | .328 | .404 | .388 | .792 | CS |
Jerry Browne 2B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .266 | .339 | .372 | .711 | |
Dion James LF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .276 | .347 | .371 | .718 | |
Ken Phelps DH | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | .155 | .288 | .198 | .486 | |
Brook Jacoby 1B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .283 | .358 | .418 | .776 | |
Carlos Baerga SS | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | .240 | .285 | .362 | .647 | CS |
Cory Snyder RF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | .234 | .266 | .402 | .668 | |
Tom Brookens 3B | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | .235 | .288 | .311 | .598 | |
Chris James PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .299 | .343 | .444 | .788 | |
Joel Skinner C | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | .250 | .289 | .324 | .614 | |
Candy Maldonado PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .269 | .330 | .437 | .767 | |
Bud Black P | ||||||||||||
Jesse Orosco P | ||||||||||||
Steve Olin P | ||||||||||||
Team Totals | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 29 | .000 | .138 | .000 | .138 |
Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | BF | Pit | Str | Ctct | StS | StL | GB | FB | LD | Unk | GSc |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dave Stieb, W (17-5) | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 0 | 2.91 | 29 | 123 | 75 | 35 | 17 | 23 | 6 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 92 |
Team Totals | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 0 | 0.00 | 29 | 123 | 75 | 35 | 17 | 23 | 6 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 92 |
Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | BF | Pit | Str | Ctct | StS | StL | GB | FB | LD | Unk | GSc |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bud Black, L (10-9) | 7 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 3.63 | 27 | 121 | 79 | 56 | 13 | 10 | 8 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 63 |
Jesse Orosco | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3.72 | 4 | 18 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | |
Steve Olin | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.04 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
Team Totals | 9 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 3.00 | 35 | 147 | 93 | 66 | 15 | 12 | 11 | 17 | 4 | 0 | 63 |