Steve Webb
LOS ANGELES, CA — Since the Astros* came up with only the second no-hitter in World Series history on Wednesday night, it got us to thinking about the last time in happened for the Dodgers, on May 4 of 2018. No hitters are rare birds in the first place, but this one was certainly on the wacky side.
To begin with, this game between the Padres and the Dodgers wasn’t played anywhere near San Diego or Los Angeles. Nope, the last time the Dodgers achieved a no-hitter wasn’t even in the United States. Instead it was at the Estadio de Beisbol in Monterrey, Mexico. As such, it was the first no-hitter ever pitched in Mexico and only the sixth outside the US (Montreal hosted three no-no’s back in the day, and Toronto has seen two).
The Dodgers and Padres were south of the border for a three-game set as part of the “Mexico Series” as MLB was trying to get in some outreach into Latin America. Mexican legend Fernando Valenzuela traveled with the team during the trip, bringing the imprimatur of stardom that only he could provide. Before the first game, Fernando, an owner of a no-hitter of his own, took to the mound in front of 21,000 adoring countryman and threw the ceremonial first pitch.
For a while it looked like the game would be interrupted by rain, as a steady downpour was falling in the early innings, but in the end there was no rain delay or cancelation and the game played on as scheduled.
A rookie by the name of Walker Buehler started for the Dodgers that night. After coming off Tommy John surgery after his college career at Vanderbilt, Buehler was making only the third big league start of his young career. His reputation as a clutch big-game pitcher was yet to be forged. At this moment, Buehler was another good-looking prospect that the Dodgers were hoping to get some production out of.
It was a bit of a funky lineup for the Dodgers that night — Austin Barnes got a start at second — but it seemed to work. Matt Kemp drove a run in the top of the first to get the Dodgers on the board, and Chris Taylor and Kike Hernandez went yard in back-to-back at-bats in the second to give Buehler a three-run cushion. The Boys in Blue followed it up with some insurance later in the game on an Alex Verdugo RBI single, which provide the final run in a 4-0 victory for the Dodgers.
But the story of the night was the pitching. Buehler was brilliant for 93 pitches and six innings, but Dave Roberts wasn’t taking any chances with his prized rookie so early in the season. And in a pattern we’ve seen all too often in the career of Dave Roberts, out came the hook.
“I just let him know, understanding how much of the game was left, he was totally complicit with where I was coming from and how important he is for the organization this year,” Roberts said that night. “He completely understood.” Well, maybe not completely.”
Indeed, the hyper-competitive Buehler seemed less than thrilled to be yanked when he was working on a no-no. “It’s one of those where you’re pretty angry to come out, but the bullpen guys we have, I trust it in their hands, and it worked out,” Buehler told SportsNet LA in a postgame interview “I get it 100 times. I understand what they’re doing, but that’s about as tough as it’s ever been for me to be OK to come out of a game.”
So after Buehler it was up to the pen to finish the final three innings of the game. Tony Cingrani gave up a couple of walks, but pitched a scoreless 7th. Yimi Garcia struck out a pair in a 1-2-3 8th inning, and Adam Liberatore did the same in the 9th to seal the win.
“It was amazing,” said Liberatore, also a recent callup at the time. “I knew the position I was in going into that last inning. Just wanted to give it my best effort and throw as hard as I could and just get three outs without blowing it.”
But the night really belonged to Buehler. The closest the Padres came to a hit off him was in the bottom of the third inning after back-to-back one-out walks to pitcher Joey Lucchesi and leadoff man Jose Pirela. Eric Hosmer hit a bullet that was caught by third baseman Kyle Farmer, who then doubled Lucchesi off second base.
“Hard-hit balls are outs, and our defense played unbelievable, obviously,” Buehler said. “It was a cool night.”
We’re with Walker on this one. Look, we get it. It wasn’t Sandy Koufax or Clayton Kershaw. Or even Nomo in Colorado. But it was still pretty cool.
