Midsummer classic fans have never even got to witness a one-hitter, but the American League staff did take a one-hitter into the ninth inning during the 1990 All-Star Game at Chicago’s Wrigley Field.

The possibility of an All-Star no-no had been killed early when the San Francisco Giants’ Will Clark tagged the Oakland As’ Bob Welch for a first inning single. Welch managed to keep the NL hitless for the rest of his two-inning stint, and Dave Steib, Bret Saberhagen, Bobby Thigpen, Chuck Finley held the fort through eight when Dennis Eckersley was called on for the save.

Eckersley gave up a lead-off single to the Phillies’ Lenny Dykstra before retiring the next three to getting the save and preserve the only two-hitter in All-Star history.

Final score: American League 2, National League 0.

That year, of course, was the one that the Mets came into existence. And although the former Washington Senators actually began their tenure in Minnesota in 1961, the Twins notched Minnesota’s first no-hitter in 1962, when Jack Kralick held the Kansas City Athletics hitless during a 1-0 shutout on Aug. 26.

The Twins’ all-time no-no list is rounded out by Dean Chance and Scott Erickson (who both hold spots on our No-hitters … before they came to the Mets page) and Eric Milton.

And, if you count the team’s Washington Senators’ games as part of the franchise, the score bumps up to 7-0 (Walter Johnson no-hit Boston on July 1, 1920 and Bob Burke tossed a no-no against them on Aug. 8, 1931).

Here’s the summary of the Mets no-nos … none.

And, we’re tied with the stacked Phils at 3-1, so my superstitious side is refusing to remove the Opening Day bunting from the Mast during our win streak!

David Wright had a 3-for-5 night with 2 RBIs and a solo homer.

Josh Thole went 3-for-4 and had knocked in the go-ahead run in the 9th, but the Mets needed to retake the lead in the 10th. Singles by Jose Reyes, Angel Pagan and Wright gave the Mets a 4-3 lead, and Willie Harris doubled in two insurance runs.

Blaine Boyer brought the heat in the bottom of the 10th for the save despite letting in one run.

Mets starter Jon Niese lost his no-no on the opening batter on a Chris Coghlan single, advancing our count to 7,808 game without a no-hitter.

We came close last night in the Mets’ opening night 6-2 loss to the Florida Marlins. The Marlins’ Josh Johnson held the Mets’ hitless until the seventh, when Willie Harris led off with a double.

By then, we were already dejected after watching John Buck blast a bases-loaded 2-2 mistake by starter Mike Pelfrey over the right-center field wall in the fourth. Pelfrey otherwise pitched pretty well, but a loss is a loss.

Here’s a look at some Mets no no-hitters milestones beginning with Game 1 back in 1962 and culminating with Game 7,500 on April 27, 2009, when Oliver Perez gave up a first-inning single to the Washington Nationals’ Ronnie Belliard.

As always, a huge thumbs-up to Retrosheet for running such an incredible baseball statistics site that allows for such research.

April 11, 1962, Busch Stadium, St. Louis
The St. Louis Cardinals’ Julian Javier singles to left off Mets starter Roger Craig for the first New York Mets game without a no-hitter. Few at the time probably recognized the significance of this moment, focusing instead on the franchise playing its first-ever game. But then few probably realized that we’d be talking about the stat 7,499 games later.

Information used here was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by Retrosheet. Interested parties may contact Retrosheet at www.retrosheet.org.

David Cone got the the start, and he held on to a no-hitter through four innings before getting into a jam in the fifth. He issued a lead-off walk to Milt Thompson, let him steal second, walked Geronimo Pena and then let both runners reach scoring position on a wild pitch.

Cone gained his composure to strike out Rich Gedman and pitcher Omar Olivares, but Ray Lankford tagged him for a singled to center to make it 2-0 Cardinals. That one hit would kill Cone’s no-hitter, shutout and earn him his 13th loss of the season.

Cone did away with the Cardinals in the sixth and seventh innings and reliever Jeff Innis took care of the eighth after Cone was lifted for a pinch hitter, but the Mets couldn’t notch just one unearned run in the ninth, falling a run short.

The only other Mets’ one-hit loss came on Sept. 3, 2006, Mets’ one-hitter No. 29.

Sept. 10, 1991 – New York Mets 9, Montreal Expos 0 – Shea Stadium
No-no killed by Ken Williams’ fifth-inning single

With the 2011 season quickly approaching, we’re getting back to our occasional series chronicling the Mets’ 35 one-hitters.

We last talked about No. 17, David Cone’s Aug. 29, 1988 one-hitter against the San Diego Padres, which was broken up by a fourth-inning Tony Gwynn double. That brings us up to 1991, a year that saw three Mets one-hitters, all in the span of 10 days. (As always, you can see the full list of Mets’ one-hitters here.)

Pete Schourek was a top Mets’ starting pitching prospect, but injuries forced him into a relief role for the start of the 1991 season. He made his Mets debut on April 9, pitching 1 1/3 innings of scoreless ball in relief of Frank Viola.

On Sept. 10 of that year, Schourek had a perfect game through 5 2/3, after getting Tim Wallach to fly out to center and Larry Walker to line out to right field. But he lost the perfecto by issuing a two-out base-on-balls to Andres Galarraga, then lost the no-no when Ken Williams singled to center.

He escaped the fifth-inning jam by getting Gil Reyes fly out to center, then let another runner reach scoring position in the sixth by walking Delino DeShields and following it with a wild pitch. But Schourek retired the next 10 batters to record the Mets’ 19th one-hitter.

Schourek struck out seven batters while Howard Johnson and Mickey Sasser provided the offense, with Johnson knocking in three runs and falling just a triple short of the cycle, and Sasser going 3-for-5 with a home run.

In 1995 as a Cincinnati Red, Schourek had an 18-7 season in which he finished second for the National League Cy Young award, but he never reached that level again.