David Cone

Aug. 29, 1988 – New York Mets 6, San Diego Padres 0 – Shea Stadium
No-no killed by Tony Gwynn’s fourth-inning double

David Cone, who went 20-3 with a 2.22 ERA in 1988, was obtained from the Kansas City Royals a year earlier in a rather lopside trade (the Mets gave up backup catcher Ed Hearn, Rick Anderson and Mauro Gozzo). Cone was hardly alone in pitching a one-hitter in 1988, with 22 thrown during the season (Toronto’s Dave Steib threw two), the most since 1979.

And the San Diego Padres’ Tony Gwynn was responsible for the lone hit in two of 1988’s one-hitters.

On June 6 of that year, Gwynn stepped up to the plate against Tom Browning of the Cincinnati Reds with one out in the ninth and killed his no-no effort.

On Aug. 29, Gwynn killed Cone’s no-no in the fourth inning with a double for the club’s 4,281st no no-hitter.

A runner had reached third in the second inning on a walk and two errors, but Cone got Tim Flannery to line to third to end the inning, then retired the next four batters before Gwynn’s double. Cone allowed just a sixth-inning walk en route to the Mets’ 17th one-hitter in history.

He would get his first no-hitter, a perfect game, as a New York Yankee in 1999.

Sid Fernandez (6) and Roger McDowell (3)

May 11, 1985 – New York Mets 4, Philadelphia Phillies 0 – Shea Stadium
No-no killed by Von Hayes’ fourth-inning single

Native Hawaiian Sid Fernandez was no stranger to the no-hitter when he came to the Mets, having pitched a no-no in his first start for Kaiser High School in Honolulu and two for the Florida State League’s Vero Beach Dodgers.

But “El Sid” struggled during Spring Training in 1985 and began the season at AAA Tidewater.

In his first start back with the parent club, Fernandez took a no-no into the fourth inning before the Phillies’ Von Hayes broke up his effort with a single. Fernandez was a bit shaky with his control, walking six while striking out nine, but he made it through the sixth inning before turning the game over to Roger McDowell.

McDowell pitched three scoreless innings to finish off the shutout for the Mets’ 16th one-hitter.

This game was significant for another reason. Mets’ slugger Darryl Stawberry injured his thumb while trying to make a shoe-top catch and wound up spending six weeks on the DL. The team had began the season 18-8 with Strawberry in the lineup, but posted a 20-23 record during his absence.

The Mets would finish the season three games back from the St. Louis Cardinals in the N.L. East standings, and would have to wait another season for their second World Championship.

Ron Darling (7)and Jesse Orosco (2)

April 16, 1985 – New York Mets 2, Pittsburgh Pirates 1 – Three Rivers Stadium
No-no killed by Johnny Ray’s leadoff single

Any chance of a no-hitter on April 16, 1985 disappeared quickly as Mets’ starter Ron Darling gave up a leadoff single to Pirates second-baseman Johnny Ray.

The hit would be the only Darling would allow this night, but it wasn’t enough to secure him a victory.

The Mets had established a 1-0 lead when George Foster doubled in the second inning and Howard Johnson singled him home, and they were able to hold onto that lead until the eighth.

Darling issued a base-on-balls to Sixto Lezcano, and after pinch-runner Bill Almon stole second, he walked pinch-hitter Joe Orsulak. Manager Davey Johnson brought in reliever Jesse Orosco, who walked pinch-hitter Lee Mazzilli. Almon scored later in the inning on a Bill Madlock ground-out, and the game was tied at 1.

Pirates starter Jose DeLeon also pitched a gem, but Mazzilli batted for him in the top of the eighth so the game fell into the hands of John Candelaria. Mookie Wilson tagged him for a leadoff triple, and Keith Hernandez knocked him in on a sacrifice fly to center. Mets 2, Pirates 1.

Orosco closed out the ninth, and the Mets had their 15th one-hitter – the first multiple-pitcher one in franchise history.

Looking for some happier Mets postseason memories? Was just flipping channels and found Game 3 of the 1986 National League Championship series on MLB Network.

Dwight “Doc” Gooden

Sept. 7, 1984 – New York Mets 10, Chicago Cubs 0 – Shea Stadium
No-no killed by Keith Moreland’s fifth-inning single

Rookie sensation Dwight “Doc” Gooden walked leadoff batter Bob Dernier to start this game and Dernier immediately moved into scoring position by stealing second, but Gooden settled down to strike out Ryan Sandberg and Gary Matthews and then got Leon Durham to ground out to end the inning.

Gooden kept the bases empty until the fifth inning when Keith Moreland stepped up to the plate and killed Gooden’s no-hitter with a slow roller to third ruled an infield hit by the official scorer. I’ll leave the pictures, descriptions and accounts of that hit to a couple of NoNoHitters.com readers who where at Shea that night.

From Steve: “You should know that Keith Moreland’s hit against Dwight Gooden in September 1984 – I was there – was an absolutely positively *&%$#$ %*$&!#% ERROR by Ray Knight on a slow roller toward third base. Knight gloved it, double clutched and could have rolled it to first and beaten the Kranepool-esque Moreland and gotten him. Knight never threw, I never forgave him or the official scorer, who was a total and complete brainless nitwit (G rated) to score it a hit. For confirmation, you can ask Rick Sutcliffe, who has said on the air a number of times that it should have been a no-hitter.”

Another view from NoNoHitters.com reader Mark: “I too was at that game, and I too yelled and screamed at Knight for not having the common sense and decency to at least throw the ball away in an attempt to draw an error on that play, since it was obvious that Gooden was unhittable that night. Still, even I acknowledge that had to be scored a hit, whatever Rick Sutcliffe might say.”

Gooden did prove unhittable that night (save Moreland’s squibbler), striking out 11 Cubs while walking four for the Mets’ 14th franchise one-hitter.

It would be 12 years later – in the Bronx, not Queens – that Gooden would finally get a no-no during the Yankees’ May 14, 1996 2-0 victory over the Seattle Mariners.

Terry Leach

Oct. 1, 1982 – New York Mets 1, Philadelphia Phillies 0 (10 innings) – Shea Stadium
No-no killed by Luis Aguayo’s fifth-inning triple

Terry Leach retired the first seven batters on Oct. 1, 1982, before giving up a pair of walks to shortstop Ivan De Jesus and pitcher John Denny, but he got out of the inning with his no-hitter intact by getting to Garry Maddox fly out to left and Pete Rose to ground into a force-out.

Leach held onto the no-hitter until one out in the fifth when Luis Aguayo hit a triple, but Leach worked his way out of the inning with the shutout still going.

Denny, too, made it through nine innings with a one-hitter alive, with Mets’ slugger Dave Kingman getting the lone Mets’ hit by leading off the second inning with a single to right.

The Mets scored the game’s lone run in the top of the tenth off reliever Porfi Altamirano, who walked Kingman and gave up a Gary Rajsich single that advanced pinch-runner Rusty Tillman to third. Hubie Brooks scored Tillman on a sacrifice fly, and Leach closed out the 10th for the one-hit shutout.

Tom Seaver

April 17, 1977 – New York Mets 6, Chicago Cubs 0 – Shea Stadium
No-no killed by Steve Ontiveros’ fifth-inning single

Baseball was the last thing on New York City residents’ minds the Sunday that Tom Seaver got his fifth and final one-hitter as a New York Met.

Early in the morning of April 17, 1977, an unknown killer shot 18-year-old Valentina Suriani and her 20-year-old boyfriend, Alexander Esau in the Pelham Bay neighborhood of the Bronx, leaving a handwritten letter nearby signed “Son of Sam.” David Berkowitz would later be identified and arrested on Aug. 10, 1977.

The Yankees played in Milwaukee that day, but baseball went on in Queens as Seaver kept a no-no intact into the fifth inning. Steve Ontiveros, who had walked in the second inning, stepped up with one out and hit a soft liner that right-fielder Ed Kranepool played on one hop, advancing the Mets’ streak without a no-hitter to 2,434 games.

Fifty-nine days later, the Mets would deal Seaver to the Cincinnati Reds for Pat Zachry, Doug Flynn, Steve Henderson and Dan Norman, and another year and a day after that, Seaver would finally got his elusive no-hitter as a Cincinnati Red.

Jon Matlack

June 29, 1974 – New York Mets 4, St. Louis Cardinals 0 – Shea Stadium
No-no killed by John Curtis’ third-inning single

It was Old-Timers Day in Flushing Meadows, but it was the young southpaw Jon Matlack who stole the show this day for the Shea Stadium crowd of more than 37,000. Matlack, getting the start against the St. Louis Cardinals’ John Curtis, had already walked a couple of batters when Curtis (a .159 hitter that year) stepped up to the plate in the third inning and hit a one-out single to left, breaking up the 2,011th potential Mets’ no-hitter.

Matlack walked one more batter en route to a 4-0 win over the first-place Cards, although the defending National League champion Mets improved to just 30-42 – 8 games back in the N.L. East standings.

Here is the tenth installment of our periodic feature on the Mets’ 33 one-hitters.

Jon Matlack

July 10, 1973 – New York Mets 2, Houston Astros 0 – Shea Stadium
No-no killed by Tommy Helms’ sixth-inning double

Mets’ southpaw Jon Matlack, who won one game in the ‘73 National League Championship Series and started three games (1-2) in the World Series, retired the first 15 batters he faced at Shea this night, and the crowd of nearly 20,000 might have started thinking that it could be the night that the Mets would break the curse.

But Tommy Helms led off the sixth inning with a double, and the Mets’ dubious streak added one more game to reach 1,878. Matlack allowed two more baserunners – both walks – but Duffy Dyer threw out Jim Wynn on a steal attempt and the Mets sent Doug Rader to the bench on a double-play, so Matlack faced just 28 batters – one more than the minimum for a complete game.

Oddly, Matlack’s opponent on the mound, Jerry Reuss, faced just 29 batters during his eight innings of work (the Mets didn’t need to bat in the ninth). That’s an amazing accomplishment considering Reuss gave up six hits and five walks, as he helped turn four 1-4-3 double plays, and Astros’ catcher Skip Jutze threw out two runners at second.

Dyer scored the game’s only run with a third-inning single up the middle to score Rusty Staub.

Here is the eighth installment of our periodic feature on the Mets’ 33 one-hitters.

Tom Seaver

July 4, 1972 – New York Mets 2, San Diego Padres 0 – first game of Shea Stadium doubleheader
No-no killed by Leron Lee’s ninth-inning single

Seaver again took a no-hitter into the ninth inning this day, although he walked two batters in the fourth and two batters in the eighth so the perfect game was off the board.

Seaver took the mound in the ninth and got Dave Roberts to ground out before Leron Lee lined a ball up the middle to end the no-no bid. He then got Nate Colbert to ground into a 6-4-3 double play to end the game for a 2-0 complete-game shutout, Seaver’s fourth career one-hitter.

Seaver struck out 11 batters, and the Mets scored their only runs with two outs in the third when Jim Fregosi and Ed Kranepool drew bases-loaded walks from the Padres’ Clay Kirby.