Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 2, 1990 TAG: 9007020091
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: CHICAGO LENGTH: Medium
Andy Hawkins, who just three weeks ago was on the verge of being released by the team, pitched a no-hitter but lost to the Chicago White Sox 4-0 when the Yankees committed three errors in the eighth inning.
No other major-league player has ever pitched a no-hitter and lost so decisively without going into extra innings.
In baseball's season of no-hitters, Hawkins pitched the sixth. It was also the third in a span of 48 hours. On Friday night, Dave Stewart of the Oakland Athletics and Fernando Valenzuela of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitched no-hitters. But they won.
Hawkins suffered the defeat when a two-out fly ball hit by Robin Ventura with the bases loaded was dropped in left field by a Yankee rookie, Jim Leyritz, allowing three runs to score.
Ventura scored another run when Jesse Barfield, blinded momentarily by the sun, dropped a fly ball hit to right by Ivan Calderon.
Hawkins wasn't certain how to separate his emotions afterward. Fans cheered him when the game was over and his teammates applauded him when he entered the clubhouse, but he never allowed himself to smile.
"I'm stunned; I really am," he said, still standing on the field. "This is not even close to the way I envisioned a no-hitter would be. You dream of one, but you never think it's going to be a loss. You think of Stewart and Fernando, coming off the field in jubilation. Not this."
Hawkins is not alone, however. Thirteen other no-hitters have been losses. Two of those were nine-inning games, the last on April 30, 1967, when Steve Barber and Stu Miller of the Baltimore Orioles held the Detroit Tigers hitless but lost 2-1. And, on April 23, 1964, Ken Johnson of Houston no-hit Cincinnati but suffered a 1-0 defeat.
Hawkins is the eighth pitcher in Yankee history to throw a no-hitter, the first since Dave Righetti beat the Boston Red Sox 4-0 on July 4, 1983.
"I told him to just think of it as a no-no," Righetti said, using baseball slang for "no-hitter." "It's something he'll never forget the rest of his life. But you're really not sure how to feel. The guys clapped for him when he came in, but I don't think anybody really knows how to act."
Clearly, Hawkins did not. When he walked into the Yankee dugout after the eighth inning, he consoled Leyritz and accepted handshakes and pats from teammates, but he seemed drained and disappointed.
"Everybody congratulated me," he said, "but I gave up four runs and lost. I'm stunned that I threw a no-hitter, and I'm stunned that I got beat. I'll have to sleep on this."
The Yankees were almost no-hit themselves. Greg Hibbard, the starting pitcher for the White Sox, retired the first 16 batters he faced before Bob Geren reached base on an infield hit in the sixth. Hawkins, meanwhile, set down the first 14 White Sox hitters, walked two and opened the eighth by getting Ron Karkovice and Scott Fletcher to hit pop flies.
Then everything seemed to come apart. Sammy Sosa hit a bouncer to third, which Mike Blowers dropped. The scoreboard initially flashed that it was a hit, causing players and coaches in the Yankee dugout to wave wildly toward the press box. But the official scorer, Bob Rosenberg, ruled the play an error.
"I kind of went on a psychological see-saw," Hawkins said, "but then I got back into the game."
But he also walked Ozzie Guillen and Lance Johnson, loading the bases.
Hawkins then got Ventura to hit a fly ball to left, which should have ended the inning. But Leyritz, after circling toward the warning track, dropped the ball after it fell into his glove.
"He hit it right at me," said Leyritz, who seemed strangely cavalier afterward. "I made a wrong move to the wrong side, and it got caught in the wind. I didn't think I could catch up to it. When I did, it hit the top of my glove.
"You get down on yourself because you hate to lose a no-hitter on something like that, but that's baseball. Tomorrow is another day."
The game was only the third Leyritz had started in left field. Merrill rested Mel Hall, his regular left fielder, against Hibbard and moved Leyritz from third base to left. Blowers started at third.
But Hawkins said he could not fault his fielders.
"It's a tough outfield wind," he said. "Jimmy did his best. I know he's upset, but he has no reason to be."
One more run crossed the plate on Calderon's fly ball, which Barfield lost in the high sun.
Hawkins finally retired Dan Pasqua on a pop fly to short to end the eighth, but when he finally reached the dugout and sat down, all he had was a four-run deficit. And after the Yankees failed to rally in the top of the ninth inning he had a loss, too.
"You can't put it into words," New York manager Stump Merrill said. "The guy gives you that kind of performance, and we give the other team six outs in the inning. But he still pitched a no-hitter for me." No-hit information. B2 Baseball roundups.
Keywords:
BASEBALL
by CNB