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27 up, 27 down for Cone
Posted July 18, 1999
NEW YORK -- On a day Don Larsen was celebrated at Yankee
Stadium, David Cone pitched a perfect game of his own.
Cone dazzled the Montreal Expos with a wide assortment of pitches
Sunday, throwing the 14th perfect game in modern history to lead the
Yankees to a 6-0 victory.
On the very same field where Larsen pitched a
perfect game against Brooklyn in Game 6 of the
1956 World Series - the only one in Series history
- Cone pitched the first no-hitter in the three-year
history of interleague play.
"Once we got that big lead, I really relaxed," Cone
said.
The closest the Expos came to putting a runner
on was when Jose Vidro hit a hard grounder up
the middle with one out in the eighth. Second
baseman Chuck Knoblauch, who has 16 errors
this season, ranged to his right to field the ball,
pivoted and made a perfect throw to first
baseman Tino Martinez to just get Vidro.
Cone (10-4), who got his first shutout in exactly
four years, didn't go to a three-ball count all day
and struck out 10.
When David Wells pitched the only other
regular-season perfect game in Yankees' history,
against Minnesota on May 17, 1998, Cone sat
next to Wells between innings, calming down his
teammate.
Cone was given a standing ovation when he
walked out to the mound in the ninth, and the
crowd of 41,930 remained on its feet.
Cone struck out Chris Widger, then retired
pinch-hitter Ryan McGuire on a fly to left that
Ricky Ledee almost dropped.
Needing just one more out, pinch-hitter Orlando
Cabrera worked the count to 1-1, then hit a
popup that third baseman Scott Brosius gloved in
foul territory halfway toward the plate for the final
out.
"Until he caught that last ball, I wasn't going to
relax," Cone said.
When Brosius caught the last out, Cone dropped
to his knees and the Yankees rushed out of the
dugout and mobbed him. They then lifted them on
their shoulders and carried to the edge of the
dugout as the crowd waved wildly.
Larsen, still the
only man to throw
a World Series
no-hitter, watched
on from a luxury
box behind the
plate and
applauded the
latest chapter in
the Yankees'
storied history.
Cone threw 88 pitches, nine fewer than Larsen needed for his
no-hitter against the Dodgers.
Cone had pitched three one-hitters in his career, the last on May 22,
1994 against the Angels. But he had never pitched a no-hitter, much
less a perfect game.
The fans sensed the possibility of perfection in the seventh inning.
After Cone got Wilton Guerrero to ground out to third, he got ahead of
James Mouton 1-2. With the fans on their feet urging Cone on, Mouton
swung threw a nasty slider that broke more than one foot off the plate.
Cone used the same pitch to get Rondell White to end the seventh
and received his first of many ovations.
The free-swinging Expos made Cone's job easy, making out early in
the count. Cone did the rest with a biting slider, a devastating splitter
and a hopping fastball.
With his wide assortment of arm angles, a lineup that didn't have any
players who had faced him before was overmatched.
Cone twice had long breaks between innings but didn't appear fazed.
After a five-run second inning by the Yankees off Javier Vazquez (2-5),
Cone came back and struck out the side on 12 pitches in the third.
There was a 33-minute rain delay with one out in the bottom of the
third. Cone needed only seven pitches to get through the fourth.
New York backed him the the big second off Vazquez, recalled from
Triple-A Ottawa before the game. Chili Davis walked with one out and
Ledee hit the next pitch halfway up the upper deck in right field for his
third homer.
Joe Girardi added an RBI double in the inning and Derek Jeter capped
the scoring with a two-run homer, his 16th.
Notes: Yankees pitched three no-hitters at Yankee Stadium from its
opening in 1923 through 1982: Monte Pearson against Cleveland
(1938), Allie Reynolds against the Indians (1951) and Larsen. Since
then then there have been five: Dave Righetti against Boston (1983);
Jim Abbott against Cleveland (1993), Dwight Gooden against Seattle
(1996); and Wells and Cone. ... It was the first perfect game against
the Expos and fourth no-hitter. Larry Dierker pitched one for Houston
on July 9, 1976; Bob Forsch did it for St. Louis on Sept. 26, 1983; and
Tommy Greene did for Philadelphia on May 23, 1991.
Joe Torre turned 59 Sunday and improved to 6-8 as a manager on his
birthday.
List of perfect games thrown in
Major League Baseball History
Name
Game
League
Score
Date
Cy Young
Boston vs.
Philadelphia
AL
3-0
May 5,
1904
Addie Joss
Cleveland vs.
Chicago
AL
1-0
Oct. 2,
1908
Charles
Robertson
Chicago vs.
Detroit
AL
2-0
April
30,
1922
x-Don
Larsen
New York (AL)
vs. Brooklyn
(NL)
NL
2-0
Oct. 8,
1956
Jim Bunning
Philadelphia vs.
New York
NL
6-0
June
21,
1964
Sandy
Koufax
Los Angeles vs.
Chicago
NL
1-0
Sept. 9,
1965
Catfish
Hunter
Oakland vs.
Minnesota
AL
4-0
May 8,
1968
Len Barker
Cleveland vs.
Toronto
AL
3-0
May
15,
1981
Mike Witt
California vs.
Texas
AL
1-0
Sept.
30,
1984
Tom
Browning
Cincinnati vs.
Los Angeles
NL
1-0
Sept.
16,
1988
Dennis
Martinez
Montreal vs. Los
Angeles
NL
2-0
July
28,
1991
Kenny
Rogers
Texas vs.
California
AL
4-0
July
28,
1994
David Wells
New York vs.
Minnesota
AL
4-0
May
17,
1998
David Cone
New York vs.
Montreal
AL
6-0
June
18,
1999
x-World Series
Special Mention
Prior to modern era
John
Richmond
Worcester vs.
Cleveland
NL
1-0
June
12,
1880
John Ward
Providence vs.
Buffalo
NL
5-0
June
17,
1880
Unofficial perfect games
y-Ernie
Shore
Boston vs.
Washington
AL
4-0
June
23,
1917
z-Harvey
Haddix
Pittsburgh vs.
Milwaukee
NL
0-1, 13
innings
May
26,
1959
a-Pedro
Martinez
Montreal at San
Diego
NL
0-1, 10
innings
June 3,
1995
y-Entered game after starter Babe Ruth walked Ray
Morgan, and following an argument, was ejected by
umpire Brick Owens. Morgan was caught stealing and
Shore retired the remaining 26 batters.
z-Pitched 12 perfect innings, lost in 13th on an error,
sacrifice bunt, walk and double.
a-Pitched 9 perfect innings, allowed leadoff double in
10th and was replaced by Mel Rojas, who finished
one-hitter in 1-0 win.
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