#14: Stieb No-hits the Tribe, 1990
Toronto Blue Jays (3) at Cleveland
Indians (0)
Sunday, September 2, 1990
Cleveland Municipal Stadium
I
remember having a visit from my aunt, uncle and cousin from Toronto on the
Sunday of the Labour Day Weekend back in 1990. I was just a handful of days
away from starting high school and not really sure if I was looking forward to
it or if I was a bit apprehensive about moving on to something new.
About
2:30 or 3:00 in the afternoon, after the family formalities had died down, my
brother, my cousin Ruth-Anne and myself went to the living room and turned on
the TV. The Blue Jays were in Cleveland to play the Indians and we just wanted
to watch the game. The bottom of the fifth inning was wrapping up and when the
score flashed before going to commercial, we noticed that the Indians had not
yet registered a hit.
At
first we got excited, a possibility to see a no-hitter. But then reality set
in: Dave Stieb was pitching. For Blue Jays’ fans who remember watching the team
in the late 1980s, you will also remember that Stieb was cursed when it came to
finishing no-hit bids.
He
had lost two in a row late in the 1988 season, both with two outs in the ninth
and one of them in Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Then there was the lost perfect
game chance against the Yankees at Exhibition Stadium, also with two out in the
ninth. Although I didn’t say anything out loud, I was wondering how far Stieb
would get before he “blew” it.
He
didn’t exactly have his best stuff on this particular attempt, having walked
the lead off man in the first inning. But then the base runner, Alex Cole, was
caught stealing. With two out in the second, Stieb walked his second batter of
the day, Carlos Baerga. But Baerga, too, was caught stealing.
Stieb
struck out the side in the third, then watched Jays’ first baseman Fred McGriff
smack a solo home run to give Toronto a 1-0 lead. The Indians went
one-two-three in the fourth and then the Jays took a 2-0 lead on an RBI double
by second baseman Manny Lee.
We
picked up the game just as another one-two-three inning was coming to a close,
then started to get even more excited when Stieb struck out the side in the
sixth. The Indians went in order again in the seventh, and that’s when we
really got excited. We debated briefly about whether running to tell my dad and
uncle that Stieb was six outs away from a no-hitter but two things stopped us:
the fact that he had gotten closer than this and lost it before, and more
importantly, we didn’t want to jinx it. But I’m sure my dad and uncle were
watching it on another TV anyway.
Even
though the Jays only had a two-run lead, we were wishing their turn up at bat
would pass quickly so we could get nervous, excited and scared again as Stieb
came out for another inning. In the bottom of the eighth, he walked the
lead-off man, his third walk of the day, but then got three fly ball outs. The
fateful ninth was all that was left.
McGriff
popped his second home run of the day to extend the lead to 3-0, but we didn’t
care about that. He just wanted to see if Stieb could finally close out a
no-hitter. Again, the question arose:
should we tell dad and Uncle Jeff? No, we couldn’t leave our spots.
The
Indians first batter in the ninth was Chris James. Stieb got him to fly out to
left-fielder Glenallen Hill. Up next was Candy Maldonado, who would help the
Jays win the World Series a couple of years later. Stieb struck him out.
One
out to go. Of course if he was going to lose his bid, it would happen with two
out in the ninth. Alex Cole was up again for the Tribe. Stieb walked him, his
fourth of the day. It was Jerry Brown’s turn at bat.
On
a 1-1 pitch, Brown lofted a line drive fly ball to right field, where Junior
Felix glided over to it and closed his mitt around the ball for the final out.
While we jumped up and down and screamed “No-hitter! Stieb finally threw a
no-hitter!” I looked at the TV and saw the look of exasperated relief on the
face of the Toronto hurler. As his teammates mobbed him, I knew he deserved it
after all those near-misses.
Stieb
would never again pitch in the post-season for Toronto and was an injured
observer when they finally won the World Series in 1992. The no-hitter was
pretty much his last hurrah as the best pitcher on the team. His skills would
quickly erode, mainly due to the injury troubles. And even though he pitched a
handful of games in the 1991 and 1992 seasons, this beautiful, sunny afternoon
on the south shore of Lake Erie was Stieb’s Blue Jays swan song.
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