It was on this day in 1981 that
the Toronto Blue Jays were on the wrong end of a perfect game thrown by the
Cleveland Indians’ Len Barker. The game was played at the old Cleveland
Municipal Stadium in front of only 7290 fans, and the final score was 3-0 for
the Indians. Cleveland scored two runs in the bottom of the first and one in
the bottom of the third. Barker never reached ball three against any Toronto
hitter and he struck out eleven batters.
The losing pitcher for Toronto
was Luis Leal. It was the first time the Jays had suffered a defeat in such
fashion, but it would not be the last. The next would be on June 29, 1990 when
they were no-hit by Dave Stewart of the Oakland Athletics, with the final score
being 5-0. A year later, Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers would record his
seventh career no-hitter on May 1, 1991, blanking Toronto 3-0.
The fourth and last time, it
would be Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers who would no-hit the Jays on
May 7, 2011 (final score 9-0 for the Tigers).
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