Ryan Fans 12 in No-Hit Bid, Settles for Win

Nolan Ryan was planning on a party Wednesday night in the Astrodome. The Houston Police Department was bracing for one.

Ryan did all he could to make one happen, pitching eight innings of one-hit ball and striking out 12 before departing in the Astros’ 6-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants.

The win, however, did not trip the light fantastic. Because the Reds beat the Atlanta Braves, 4-1, at Cincinnati, the Astros merely guaranteed they would finish no worse than in a first-place tie in the National League West.

Although the title-clinching would have to wait at least a day, the Houston police were taking no chances. They ringed the field with mounted patrolmen, anticipating a charge from the crowd of 37,611 that never came.

“Yeah, I saw ‘em,” Giant third baseman Bob Brenly said of the horsemen. “But I’m not going to be like the Mets. I’m not going to get in an argument with the Houston Police Department. They can do whatever they want.”

Brenly might as well have said the same of Ryan, who conjured up visions of his sixth career no-hitter until rookie Mike Aldrete hit Ryan’s third-best pitch, a change-up, on a soft line into center field for a single with one out in the seventh.

The next batter, Bob Melvin, grounded into an inning-ending double play. Ryan, who is four months and a week short of his 40th birthday, then struck out the side in the eighth before being lifted for pinch-hitter Terry Puhl in the bottom of the inning.

“As hard as he’s throwing, he might pitch till he’s 50,” Giant Manager Roger Craig said of Ryan. “He might cool down to 90 m.p.h. in five more years.”

Charlie Kerfeld pitched the ninth and gave up a two-out single to Chili Davis, then Aldrete rolled out, eliminating the Giants from the division race. With 10 games left to play, the Astros lead the Reds by 10 games, the Giants by 11.

“I came to the ballpark tonight planning to have a celebration,” said Ryan, even though he had to settle for his 11th win against 8 losses and for a beer instead of bubbly. “I wasn’t planning on having an off-night.”

Neither, it was obvious, was the local constabulary, no doubt mindful of the scene of destruction in New York last week when fans dug up Shea Stadium after the Mets clinched in the East.

Craig, who doubles as a rancher when he’s not managing, was asked if he noticed the Houston horses.

“Did I see ‘em? I was eyeballing ‘em,” Craig said. “The best dang horses in the world.”

But since the Astros didn’t clinch, did Craig think their presence was unnecessary?

“Horses don’t know that,” Craig said.

Ryan suggested, tongue in cheek, that instead of hindering fan rowdiness, maybe the Astros ought to help them.

“Maybe, like I read in some fan magazine, they ought to hand out carpet knives so they can tear it up,” he said.

Aldrete, a rookie outfielder who had never faced Ryan before this game, shredded the no-hitter after walking his first time up and tapping out to the mound on his second.

“Coming into the game, I was told to watch out for his 95-m.p.h. fastball and to go with that, the nastiest curveball I’ve ever seen,” Aldrete said. “I thought that was all he had.

“But the pitch I did hit, he takes something off it. I don’t know if it’s his changeup or sinker or a slip, but he had thrown me one in my first two at-bats, too.

“I knew he had (the no-hitter) from the third inning on. I wanted to be the one to break it up, for pride’s sake.”

Ryan, who has thrown nine one-hitters in his 19-year career, is used to near-misses.

“That’s why I really don’t think about one (a no-hitter) until the last couple innings,” Ryan said. “I fell behind him with a curveball, figured he’d be sitting on my fastball, so I threw him a changeup, and he hit it off the end of his bat. He hit it well enough to be a hit.”

Astro first baseman Glenn Davis hit one far enough off Giant pitcher Randy Bockus for his 30th home run, becoming only the second Houston player to get 30 or more home runs in a season. Jim Wynn did it twice.

Ryan even tried stealing a base in the second inning but was thrown out.

“You know how it is--some of us just have the green light,” he said.