Post by gam on May 26, 2020 21:38:30 GMT -5
On the local sports talk show today the team interviewed former Pirate Josh Harrison and ended up spending a lot of time talking about a remarkable game played a couple years ago that I might’ve attended had I not been scheduled to leave for Saratoga the following morning to catch up with Hooper, Hezethebest, Jackk and crew. Of course, I wasn’t fully packed and ready for departure, so although I had hoped to catch the Pirates-Dodgers game, I had to pass as I picked up beer and printed PPs.
Rich Hill, journey man pitcher for the Dodgers, probably pitched the game of his life, taking a perfect game into the ninth, but lost that to an error but escaped the ninth. Problem for Hill and the Dodgers was, the Pirates pitchers had also blanked the Dodgers. So, on to the 10th, perfect game gone but no-hitter intact.... until the bottom of the 10th when Harrison got ahold of one and pulled it hard and deep to left field. The ball barely alluded the glove of left fielder Curtis Granderson and had just barely enough to clear the fence. Bucs win 1-0, the Bucco dugout emptying and mobbing Harrison leaving Hill to walk off the field dejected. But I digress, the timing of the interview was interesting because this day in 1959, Pirate pitcher Harvey Haddix pitched what might be the greatest game ever pitched but, like Hill, Haddix lost the game 1-0.
In Haddix’s gem, he pitched not nine, but twelve perfect innings, yet the Pirates, like the Dodgers that August night a few years ago, had also been blanked despite having many scoring chances. It got away from Haddix in the bottom of the 13th in Milwaukee as Haddix first lost the perfect game then the no-hitter and the game on what was ruled a double. I’m pretty sure no one has pitched 12 perfect innings in a game before, so even though Haddix lost it just might qualify as the best game ever pitched by one man.
www.mlb.com/cut4/harvey-haddix-threw-12-perfect-innings-and-lost/c-126504134
Late add: forgot an important point. It came out much later that Milwaukee was actually stealing the Pirates’ signs that night. Haddix was only using two pitches and the Braves figured it out. Picking up the signs with binoculars they signaled the pitch from the bullpen by hanging (or not) a towel over a shoulder to tip-off the pitches.
Rich Hill, journey man pitcher for the Dodgers, probably pitched the game of his life, taking a perfect game into the ninth, but lost that to an error but escaped the ninth. Problem for Hill and the Dodgers was, the Pirates pitchers had also blanked the Dodgers. So, on to the 10th, perfect game gone but no-hitter intact.... until the bottom of the 10th when Harrison got ahold of one and pulled it hard and deep to left field. The ball barely alluded the glove of left fielder Curtis Granderson and had just barely enough to clear the fence. Bucs win 1-0, the Bucco dugout emptying and mobbing Harrison leaving Hill to walk off the field dejected. But I digress, the timing of the interview was interesting because this day in 1959, Pirate pitcher Harvey Haddix pitched what might be the greatest game ever pitched but, like Hill, Haddix lost the game 1-0.
In Haddix’s gem, he pitched not nine, but twelve perfect innings, yet the Pirates, like the Dodgers that August night a few years ago, had also been blanked despite having many scoring chances. It got away from Haddix in the bottom of the 13th in Milwaukee as Haddix first lost the perfect game then the no-hitter and the game on what was ruled a double. I’m pretty sure no one has pitched 12 perfect innings in a game before, so even though Haddix lost it just might qualify as the best game ever pitched by one man.
www.mlb.com/cut4/harvey-haddix-threw-12-perfect-innings-and-lost/c-126504134
Late add: forgot an important point. It came out much later that Milwaukee was actually stealing the Pirates’ signs that night. Haddix was only using two pitches and the Braves figured it out. Picking up the signs with binoculars they signaled the pitch from the bullpen by hanging (or not) a towel over a shoulder to tip-off the pitches.
