Happy 64th birthday to former San Diego Padres pitcher Chris Welsh, who took a Friars no-hitter into the seventh inning in 1982.
Welsh was nursing a 2-0 lead over the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday, June 23, 1982. After he took the Riverfront Stadium mound for the seventh inning, Cesar Cedeño led off with a double to kill Welsh’s no-hit bid, advance the Padres no no-no count to 2,110 games and spark a three-run rally.
“After throwing six innings of no-hit ball, maybe my whammy wore off,” Welsh told the AP after the game. “Maybe my luck ran out. For me to pitch six innings of no-hit ball, I’ve got to be lucky.”
Gary Lucas came in to end the seventh inning and the Padres tied the game in the top of the eighth, but the Reds’ Paul Householder hit a two-run homer off Eric Show in the bottom of the eight to lead the Reds to a 5-4 victory.
Welsh spent the ’81, ’82 and part of the ’83 seasons with the Padres before his contract was purchased by the Montreal Expos. The next month after his no-no bid against the Reds, Welsh reached the fifth but saw his no-hitter broken up with one out by the New York Mets’ Ellis Valentine. In his other Padres outings, Welsh twice reached the fourth inning and lost seven no-nos in the third, 12 in the second and 16 in the first (8 on the leadoff batter).
