Padres are Cursed when it Comes to No-Hitters
By Bill Center
By Bill Center
I’m reaching for the white flag.
I’m beginning to think it will never happen. The Padres might play 100 seasons without a no-hitter. And I’m blaming Preston Gomez.
In the second year of the Padres, Gomez ticked off baseball’s No-Hit God.
Today is the 44th anniversary of what could easily have been the Padres first no-hitter. But founding Padres manager Gomez pulled the plug on Clay Kirby’s bid. I view everything since as being the Curse of Clay Kirby.
Odrisamer Despaigne never had a chance Sunday. Remembering what happened on July 21, 1970 in Mission Valley forced the No-Hit God to take action. He pulled the plug after 7 2/3 innings.
Cruel, yes. Inevitable, yes. Despaigne’s bid tied for the fifth-closest no-hit close call in Padres history. But the crushing double by Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy was almost a forgone conclusion.
It wasn’t going to happen. In 7,265 games — and counting — since their birth in 1969, the Padres have never had a no-hitter. They are the only team in the Major Leagues without a no-hitter.
Why? Preston Gomez is my call.
Fast backward 44 years.
Kirby had just turned 22 when he faced the Mets on July 21, 1970. He got off to a rough start. Two first-inning walks, a double steal and a ground out gave the Mets a 1–0 lead in the first. But the Mets didn’t get a hit. I fact, they didn’t get a hit through eight innings.
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But when Kirby’s spot came up with two out and no one on in the bottom of the eighth, Gomez sent Cito Gaston out to hit for Kirby. The 10,373 fans on hand were irate. And things didn’t get better when Gaston struck out.
“You have to play to win,” said Gomez, whose 1970 team finished 63–99. But others in the Padres dugout argued that logic. “Clay had a chance to make history,” then Padres hitting coach Bob Skinner recalled recently. “We wanted to see Clay go for it. But Preston believed you always played to win. There was no moving him.”
Jack Baldschun came on relief of Kirby in the ninth and gave up a single to the first Met he faced (Bud Harrelson). The Mets scored two more in the ninth and won 3–0.
In a five-day span near the end of the 1971 season, Kirby would take two more no-hitters into the eighth. Both times he gave up a hit in the penultimate inning.
That set the stage for all the no no-hiiters to come.
I have two favorite close calls.
On July 18, 1972, right-hander Steve Arlin went 8 2/3 innings without allowing a hit. With light-hitting Philadelphia infielder Denny Doyle at the plate, Padres manager Don Zimmer ordered third baseman Dave Roberts to move in to protect against the bunt. Even with two strikes, Zimmer kept Roberts in on the grass. Doyle hit a high-hopper that bounced over Roberts’ head. Had Roberts been playing in his normal spot, he would have easily fielded the ball.
And on Sept. 22, 2006, right-hander Chris Young was throwing a no-hitter with one out in the ninth at Petco Park when Pittsburgh pinch-hitter Joe Randa hit a two-run homer to center.
Padres pitchers have 28 one-hitters. Despaigne became the 20th Padre to take a no-hitter into the eighth. But no no-hitters . . . ever . . . and counting.
PADRES PUZZLER: What two Padres pitchers have taken three no-hitters into the eighth?
OH, DESPAIGNE: After allowing one run on two hits in 7 2/3 innings Sunday, right-hander Odrisamer Despaigne is 2–1 with a 1.31 ERA in five Major League starts. The 27-year-old Cuban has allowed 20 hits and 11 walks in with 17 strikeouts in 34 1/3 innings. He is the first Padres pitcher — and 10th Major League pitcher since 2014 — to work at least six innings in his first five starts without allowing more than two runs in any game. The last to do it was Jered Weaver in 2006.
CLOSING TIME: Right-hander Joaquin Benoit is 1–1 in two appearances since taking over as the Padres closer when Huston Street was traded to the Angels Friday night. Benoit was beaten by the Mets Friday night when he allowed a run on a hit and two walks in the top of the ninth. Sunday he threw a perfect ninth against the Mets to pick up the win.
GRANDER BACK-TO-BACK: Catcher-first baseman Yasmani Grandal hit homers in consecutive games for just the second time in his career the past two days against the Mets. Both drives put the Padres ahead 1–0 and both were 400-foot plus drives to right-center — the deepest spot at Petco Park. His 440-foot shot Saturday night was the longest home run this season at Petco Park. Sunday’s homer off Zack Wheeler travelled 414 feet.
WALKING OFF WINNERS: Sunday afternoon’s win over the Mets was the Padres’ fifth walk-off win of the season and their 81st since the start of the 2005 season. That is the third-highest total in the Major Leagues over the last 9 ½ seasons. It was also the third walk-off hit of Seth Smith’s career.
PUZZLER ANSWER: Clay Kirby (July 21, 1970; Sept. 13, 1971, and Sept. 18, 1971) and Chris Young (May 30, 2006; Sept. 22, 2006, and Sept. 7, 2008).
