The other enshrined four: Mets who broke up no-hitters in the ninth
Hubie Brooks, July 31, 1983 – In the second game of a doubleheader, Pittsburgh Pirates starter Jose DeLeon entered the ninth inning dominating the Mets lineup, striking out 11 while not yielding a single Mets hit. DeLeon got the first ninth-inning out when center fielder Mookie Wilson lined out to right field, but Hubie Brooks stepped up to the plate and singled to left to kill the no-no. DeLeon got out of the inning by getting Keith Hernandez to hit into a double play and the game remained scoreless after nine.
Workhorse 6-foot-4 righthander Kent Tekulve held the Mets scoreless for two more innings, giving up only a 10th inning single to Darryl Strawberry. Manny Sarmiento got the call in the bottom of the 12th and gave up a leadoff single to Wilson. After Brooks advanced Wilson on a sacrifice bunt, Sarmiento intentionally walked Hernandez. George Foster hit a grounder and the Pirates got the force at second but couldn’t complete the double play and allowed Wilson to score, giving the Mets a 1-0 victory.
It’s not often a starter can pitch 11 scoreless innings and not get the win, but that’s just what Mike Torrez did this day. The victory went to Jesse Orosco, who began the day with a 5-5 record and ended it at 7-5, having earned the “W” in both games of the doubleheader, which both went 12 innings.
(Visit No-Hitters Broken Up in the Ninth Inning Since 1961 written by Stew Thornley for a list of all Major League ninth-inning breakups and some other no-no trivia.)
Some information used here was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by Retrosheet. Interested parties may contact Retrosheet at www.retrosheet.org.
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That double-header sweep of the Buccos in ’83 was amazing. What’s incredible is that the Mets nearly won the *1st* game in the exact same way. In the bottom of the 11th, Mookie Wilson drew a leadoff walk, Jesse Orosco (hitting second after a double-switch) bunted him over and Keith Hernandez was intentionally walked. George Foster grounded to short, but Mookie was flying around third, and if Foster had been able to make it down to 1B ahead of Johnny Ray’s relay throw, Mookie would have scored from 2B on an attempted double play, something I had never seen until then. But Foster wasn’t fast enough down the line, and the Pirates got the 6-4-3 DP (Dale Berra to Ray to Gene Tenace, of all people, at first) and got out of the inning. The Mets won it anyway, in the 12th, on Bob Bailor’s RBI single, scoring Strawberry.
Skip to the second game. 12th inning, and, as noted above, Mookie walks (again), is bunted to second (again), and Keith is intentionally walked (again) to bring up Foster (who must have been burning from the snub). This time, Foster hits the ball to Ray, who flips to Berra for the force on Keith, but George busts it down the line as Mookie flies around 3B, and when he beats the throw to Jason Thompson, Mookie scores. (I can’t even remember if Thompson had time to throw home; Retrosheet doesn’t mention it.)
A delightful case of almost-deja-vu, or “try, try again”, I suppose.