June 1, 2012: The New York Mets host the St. Louis Cardinals at Citi Field in Flushing Meadow-Corona Park, Queens, New York City. The starting pitchers are 2 of the best in baseball at the time: Johan Santana for the Mets, and Adam Wainwright for the Cards.
Santana walked 2 batters with 1 out in the top of the 2nd inning, but worked out of the jam. He issued a leadoff walk to Matt Holliday in the top of the 4th, but stranded him. The Mets took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the 4th. Santana walked Matt Adams to lead off the top of the 5th, but stranded him.
Former Met Carlos Beltrán led off the top of the 6th. He hit a drive down the left-field line, just fair -- but 3rd base umpire Adrian Johnson incorrectly ruled it a foul ball. As a result, Santana had another chance, and got him to ground to 3rd. He finished that inning having not allowed a hit -- at least, not officially.
The Mets put the game away in the bottom of the 6th: Kirk Nieuwenhuis led off with a single, David Wright drew a walk, and Lucas Duda hit a home run. They added 3 more runs in the 7th, to lead, 8-0.
Part of Mets' lore is that, in their entire history, now an even 50 years, they had never had a pitcher throw a no-hitter for them, despite several close calls. Tom Seaver, alone, had taken a no-hitter into the 9th inning and was unable to finish it on 3 separate occasions: In 1969 (a perfect game with 2 outs to go), 1972 (2 outs to go) and 1975 (1 out to go).
Even worse was a list of pitchers who left the Mets, and then pitched a no-hitter: Nolan Ryan 7 times between 1973 and 1991, Seaver himself in 1978, Mike Scott in 1986, Hideo Nomo in 2001 (having also done so before he was a Met, in 1996), Philip Humber a few weeks before Santana (a perfect game); and, perhaps most gallingly to Met fans, Dwight Gooden in 1996 and David Cone in 1999, the latter a perfect game, both for the Yankees.
Had instant replay been available in 2012, the Cardinals would have appealed Beltrán's line drive, and there would have been very little drama for Santana going into the 9th inning. Given his injury history -- the 2-time Cy Young Award winner with the Minnesota Twins had already missed the entire previous season, and notable chunks of the 2 before that -- he probably wouldn't even have been left in, with relievers trying to finish the shutout.
In the 9th inning, he got Holliday to fly to center, and Allen Craig to fly to left. David Freese, whose home runs had been key to the Cardinals winning the previous year's World Series, took Santana to a full count, before he struck out swinging.
The Mets had won, and they had their "no-hitter," officially the 1st in New York Mets history. Their fans celebrated as if they had just won the Pennant.
It was the 136th win in Santana' career. He would win only 3 more, later that season, reaggravated an injury, and never pitched another regular-season professional game.
Indeed, prior to his 33rd birthday, he was 133-69 for his career. After it, he was 6-9. When acquired in 2008, Met fans thought he was going to make the difference. The only difference he made was in their no-hitter history -- and even that carries a massive asterisk.
On April 29, 2022, 60 years after the franchise debuted, the Mets finally got a legitimate no-hitter, although it took 5 pitchers to do it.
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June 1, 2012 was a Friday. Football was out of season. In the NBA, Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals was played. The Boston Celtics beat the Miami Heat, 101-91 at the TD Garden in Boston, to close to within 2 games to 1. But the Heat would win the series in 7 games, and then beat the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals.
In the NHL, the Stanley Cup Finals were between Games 1 and 2, and the Los Angeles Kings would go on to beat the New Jersey Devils in 6 games.
And these other games were played in Major League Baseball:
* The New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers, 9-4 at Comerica Park in Detroit. CC Sabathia was the winning pitcher, defeating Casey Crosby, who was making the 1st of what turned out to be only 3 major league appearances.
Alex Rodriguez hit his 637th career home run. Curtis Granderson went 2-for-5 with a home run and 4 RBIs against his former team. Derek Jeter went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a walk. Quintin Berry and Delmon Young each had 3 hits for the Tigers.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Miami Marlins, 6-4 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Kyle Kendrick outpitched Mark Buehrle. Hunter Pence went 3-for-4 with a home run and 2 RBIs. Héctor Luna went 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs. Carlos Ruiz went 3-for-4. Jimmy Rollins went 1-for-5 with an RBI.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-2 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. David Ortiz hit his 391st * career home run.
* The Tampa Bay Rahs beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-0 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. David Price pitched 7 1/3rd innings of 4-hit shutout ball, and 3 relievers completed the 7-hit shutout.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Minnesota Twins, 7-1 at Progressive Field in Cleveland.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Seattle Mariners, 7-4 at U.S. Cellular Field (now Rate Field) in Chicago.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 8-2 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee.
* The Kansas City Royals beat the Oakland Athletics, 2-0 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Felipe Paulino pitched 3 innings of 6-hit shutout ball, and 3 relievers completed the 3-hit shutout.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Houston Astros, 4-1 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston.
* The Colorado Rockies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 13- 3 at Coors Field in Denver.
* The San Diego Padres beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 7-1 at Petco Park in San Diego.
* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Texas Rangers, 4-2 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-3 at AT&T Park in San Francisco.
* And the Atlanta Braves and the Washington Nationals were rained out at Nationals Park in Washington. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on July 21. The Braves won the opener, 4-0. Ben Sheets pitched 6 innings of 5-hit shutout ball, and Kris Medlen and Chad Durbin finished the 6-hit shutout. The Nats won the nightcap, 5-2.
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