For Mike Scott, No-Hit Streak Finally Ends After 15 Innings

Houston Astros’ right-hander Mike Scott said he wasn’t disappointed when his two-game, 15-inning no-hit streak concluded Thursday against the San Francisco Giants.

“It could have been worse--we could have lost,” Scott said after the Astros posted a 2-1 victory on Bill Doran’s lead-off homer in the 10th inning.

Scott, who threw a no-hitter against the Giants in Houston on Sept. 25 as the Astros clinched the NL West title, didn’t allow a hit in the rematch until Will Clark led off the seventh inning with a double. Clark later scored on Candy Maldonado’s double, giving the Giants a 1-0 lead.

“I’m not really disappointed,” Scott said, “because you don’t do that (pitch a no-hitter) two games in a row.

“I had pretty good stuff, but I didn’t take it too seriously. I was just trying to get my work in with the playoffs coming up.”

Scott’s work included eight strikeouts for a season total of 306, making him only the fourth National League pitcher ever to surpass 300 strikeouts in a season. The last one to do it was J.R. Richard of the Astros, who struck out 313 batters in 1979.

Scott finished with a two-hitter for seven innings but left the game trailing, 1-0.

The Astros tied the game with two outs in the ninth on Giant reliever Scott Garrelts’ wild pitch with the bases loaded. Doran then connected in the 10th for sixth homer off Jeff Robinson (6-3).

Matt Keough (5-4) was the winner and Dave Smith worked the 10th for his 33rd save.

Scott was attempting to become only the second pitcher in major league history to throw consecutive no-hitters. Cincinnati’s Johnny Vander Meer threw consecutive no-hitters against the Boston Braves and Brooklyn Dodgers June 11 and June 15, 1939.

The closest any pitcher has come to Vander Meer’s unique achievement was Cincinnati’s Ewell Blackwell, who no-hit the Braves on June 18, 1947, and then went 8 innings against Brooklyn in his next start on June 22. Eddie Stanky broke up that bid with a single.