Ubaldo Jimenez's no-hitter against Braves was magical. The 20-inning affair between the Cardinals and Mets was just plum-crazy.
Atlanta Braves catcher Brian McCann found himself in a 0-2 hole against the Colorado Rockies ace Jimenez. It was the bottom of the ninth at Turner Field and two were out. McCann fouled off a wicked slider and a blazing fastball to stay alive then, after taking a changeup low, tapped a heater to Clint Barmes at second base. Barmes came up with the grounder and tossed to Todd Helton at first base.
Helton, a career-long Rockie, thrust his arms in the air and motioned to Jimenez. The 26-year old righthander was mobbed by Helton and fellow teammates in the middle of the diamond as Braves fans applauded his accomplishment. He had just thrown the first no-hitter in Colorado Rockies history. And, if it can be believed, his performance was somehow trumped on a wild day of baseball.
The St. Louis Cardinals took on the New York Mets in mid-afternoon, with rookie Jaime Garcia facing off against Mets ace Johan Santana. Both pitched extraordinary, shutting down the opposition to the tune of five hits and no runs in 14 combined innings.
The game remained notched at zero as the relief cores of both teams performed admirably. Pitcher after pitcher filled the scoreboard with goose-eggs. Twelve innings went by and no score. Fourteen innings, after Mets reliever Hisanori Takahashi escaped a first-and-third jam, went by with excitement but no execution. Then came the wackiness of the 18th.
By this point, St. Louis had run out of pitchers.
Kyle Lohse, one of their starting pitchers, came in to play left field while shortstop Felipe Lopez replaced Ryan Franklin on the mound. Lopez, who hit a grand slam on Friday, hadn’t pitched before professionally, but somehow some way, pitched like he had. Throwing in the low 80’s, he got Henry Blanco to pop up, benefited from pitcher Raul Valdes trying to stretch a single into a double following a 10-pitch battle and then coaxed Mike Jacobs into flying out.
To the 19th they went following a scoreless bottom of the 18th by St. Louis’s bats.
Lopez did not remain on the mound. Instead, outfielder Joe Mather took a crack at pitching. His inning was far more eventful and, after more than six hours of baseball, it featured the game’s first run.
After walking Jose Reyes to begin the frame Luis Castillo, who probably could have taken four pitches and walked to first base, helped him out by sacrifice bunting Reyes to second. It was an out the Cardinals might not have gotten if New York had been patient.
Still, the Mets scored, as Jeff Francouer’s flyout sent Reyes speeding home following an intentional walk and a hit batter. It was now 1-0 Mets. All New York had to do was throw a scoreless bottom of the 19th and the two games worth of baseball would be over.
Francisco Rodriguez couldn’t deliver and end the wild affair. Ryan Ludwick, who isn’t fleet of foot, was caught stealing second after a leadoff single, but even catching this break couldn’t keep the Mets closer from bringing the game to a conclusion. Albert Pujols, who had been retired five times and walked four times already, notched his first hit, crushing a double to left field.
Lohse, their rotation’s third starting pitcher who was masquerading as a left-fielder, productively grounded out by moving Pujols to third, setting up a game-tying single with two-out by catcher Yadier Molina. To the 20th it went.
The Mets once again took advantage of Mather, slapping two singles to begin the inning. Jose Reyes scored on a sacrifice fly. The Cardinals, once again, had to match New York in the bottom of the frame.
The game was meant to never end. But it did, as Mike Pelfrey, the Mets ninth pitcher, worked around a two-on, two-out situation to send an extremely weary Cardinals-partisan crowd home and the Cardinals themselves into the clubhouse. All, along with the dog-tired Mets and their fans, presumably fell sound asleep.
Twenty innings, six hours and 53 minutes. Two position players pitched in the same game since 1990, when the Montreal Expos Dave Martinez and Junior Noboa did so against the Houston Astros. It was amazing and one of the strangest games in Major League Baseball history. And that’s the only way Jimenez’s no-no manages to play second fiddle.
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