September 28, 1988: The San Diego Padres beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 2-1 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. It takes 16 innings, before Mark Parent hits a home run.
Orel Hershiser pitched the 1st 10 innings for the Dodgers, and held the Padres scoreless. This gave him 59 consecutive scoreless innings, breaking the record of 58 and 2/3rds, set in 1968 by another Dodger pitcher, Don Drysdale. Twenty years later, Drysdale was on hand for the game, as a Dodger broadcaster.
Left to right: Orel Hershiser, Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda,
Don Drysdale
Drysdale was renowned as one of the best-hitting pitchers the game had ever seen. Hershiser lived up to that by getting a hit in this game.
Jesse Orsoco pitched a scoreless 11th for the Dodgers, Tim Crews a scoreless 12th and 13th, and Ken Howell a scoreless 14th and 15th. But the Dodgers didn't score, either. Finally, in the top of the 16th, Padre pitcher Dave Leiper allowed a single to Mickey Hatcher, and 2 groundouts that both moved the runner over. José González reached on a throwing error by Bip Roberts, and the Dodgers had a 1-0 lead.
But walks can really hurt a team, especially the leadoff variety. In the bottom of the 16th, Howell walked Roberts. He struck out Stan Jefferson, and Roberts was caught stealing in a strike-'em-out-throw-'em-out double play. But Howell walked Carmelo Martínez, and was replaced by Ricky Horton. He gave up the home run to Mark Parent to blow the game for the Dodgers.
The loss wasn't that big a deal for the Dodgers, as they'd already clinched the National League Western Division title. They went on to beat the New York Mets in the NL Championship Series. Hershiser pitched 8 more scoreless innings in Game 1, but since it was in the postseason, it didn't count, so it's not 67 straight. The Mets got to him in the 9th, and won the game. But Hershiser and the Dodgers won Game 7 and the series. Hershiser then shut out the Oakland Athletics in Game 2 of the World Series, and pitched a complete game, albeit allowing 2 runs, in Game 5 to clinch.
Hershiser had last allowed a run in a regular-season game on August 30, against the Montreal Expos. He had subsequently pitched complete-game shutouts against the Atlanta Braves, the Cincinnati Reds, the Braves again, the Houston Astros and the San Francisco Giants. That was 5 straight shutouts. However, both Drysdale and the man whose record he broke, Walter Johnson with 55 2/3rds straight in 1913, still the American League record, had pitched 6 straight shutouts.
Since Hershiser's streak was considered to still be intact at the end of the 1988 regular season, it carried over into Opening Day of the next season, April 5, 1989. But after getting 2 outs in the 1st inning, the Reds scored a run off him, ending the streak at 59 2/3rds.
Drysdale, who had a record of 209-166 in a career cut short by injury at age 33, is in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Hershiser, with a record of 204-150, and was still pitching at age 41, is not.
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September 28, 1988 was a Wednesday. These other games were played in Major League Baseball that day:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Baltimore Orioles, 2-0 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Bob Milacki pitched a 3-hit shutout, beating Lee Guetterman. The hits were a double by Don Slaught and singles by Don Mattingly and Rafael Santana.
* The New York Mets lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-3 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Darryl Strawberry and Kevin McReynolds hit home runs, but the Phils knocked Dwight Gooden out of the box after 5 innings. Ron Jones homered for the Phils. Mike Schmidt, wrapping up what turned out to be his last full season, did not play in the game.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Montreal Expos, 3-1 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox, 1-0 at Fenway Park in Boston. Jimmy Key pitched a 2-hit shutout. The only run came in the 8th, on a sacrifice fly by Kelly Gruber.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the Houston Astros, 4-3 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. This one was even longer than Dodgers vs. Padres, going 17 innings, before Andrés Thomas singled home Dion James. Tom Glavine, not yet a star, started for the Braves, going 7 innings. Nolan Ryan, wrapping up his last season with the Astros, did not get into the game.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2-1 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-2 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Texas Rangers, 3-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the California Angels, 4-3 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Robin Yount went 1-for-4. Paul Molitor went 0-for-4.
* The Oakland Athletics beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-2 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 6-1 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
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