No-Hitter, the Yankee Way: Hawkins’ Gem Is a 4-0 Loss : Baseball: Three errors in the eighth inning pave the way for a White Sox victory as season’s sixth no-hitter goes for naught.

New York Yankee pitcher Andy Hawkins found it impossible to sort out his emotions as he stood on the field, discussing his no-hitter. And there was not a person in the stadium who could help him.

None of the participants had ever seen a losing no-hitter in the major leagues. It happened Sunday in Comiskey Park, however, and Hawkins was the victim.

Hawkins (1-5) pitched the sixth no-hitter of the season, holding the Chicago White Sox hitless for all eight innings of his assignment. But on a windy day with a cloudless sky, an eighth inning that included three Yankee errors and two walks led to a 4-0 White Sox victory before 30,642.

The most costly error was by rookie Jim Leyritz, who was making his third start in left field. Leyritz could not handle a bases-loaded fly ball by Robin Ventura. Winds clocked at 16 m.p.h. pushed the ball to Leyritz’s right and off the tip of his glove for a two-base error that resulted in all three runners scoring.

The last losing no-hitter in the major leagues came April 30, 1967, when the Baltimore Orioles’ Steve Barber and Stu Miller combined to lose, 2-1, to the Detroit Tigers.

The only other losing no-hitter in a regulation game was pitched by Ken Johnson of the old Houston Colt .45s. Johnson lost his no-hitter, 1-0, to the Cincinnati Reds April 23, 1964.

Hawkins could live without that type of notoriety.

“I’m stunned, I really am,” said Hawkins, who spent six seasons with the San Diego Padres before signing as a free agent with the Yankees in 1989. “That’s not even close to the way I envisioned a no-hitter in the big leagues.

“You expect to walk off the field and shake everybody’s hands just like you’ve seen a thousand times before--like we’ve seen in the last two days with Fernando (Valenzuela) and Davey (Stewart). They came off the field in jubilation. They had a no-hitter and they had a win. And that’s the way it should be.”

Until the eighth, the White Sox had had only three baserunners, all on walks. There were two out when the trouble began in the eighth. The way Yankee Manager Stump Merrill looks at it, Hawkins was forced to get 27 outs in eight innings.

“You can’t put it in words how you feel when a guy gives you that kind of performance,” Merrill said. “We ended up giving them six outs in the (eighth) inning. He pitched a nine-inning, complete-game, no-hitter for me.”

White Sox right fielder Sammy Sosa started by bouncing a grounder barely inside the bag at third. Mike Blowers tried to make a backhanded stab, dropped the ball, and could not get Sosa with his rushed throw.

The Comiskey Park scoreboard operator granted Sosa a hit. But Bob Rosenberg, the official scorer, did not make a ruling until seeing the replay. Rosenberg charged Blowers with an error.

“The only difficult time I had was when they started changing things around on the scoreboard,” said Hawkins, who acknowledged that he was aware of the no-hitter by the fifth or sixth inning. “They called it a hit, changed it to an error, and I went on a psychological seesaw there.”

Hawkins then issued back-to-back walks to Ozzie Guillen and Lance Johnson. Johnson’s came on four consecutive pitches and loaded the bases. But Hawkins did not lose his composure. He made what he called “a good first pitch” and Ventura lofted the fly ball toward Leyritz.

“The ball got caught up in the wind a little bit and just carried,” Leyritz said. “When I caught up with it, I didn’t get my glove all the way on it.”

After the game, Hawkins tried to console Leyritz.

“Jimmy was upset, but he had no reason to be,” Hawkins said. “He did everything he could to catch that ball. He gave his best.”

The third error was a virtual replay in right field. Jesse Barfield got a glove on Ivan Calderon’s fly ball, but dropped it and Ventura scored the fourth run.

Barry Jones (10-1) was credited with the victory after pitching only the eighth inning for the White Sox. Starter Greg Hibbard had a perfect game going until Bob Geren’s infield single with one out in the sixth. Hawkins, from Waco, Tex., had some good years with the Padres. In 1985, he won his first nine decisions and finished 18-8.

But this season has been tough. His only victory came May 6 against the Angels.

After back-to-back rough outings against the Kansas City Royals and the Boston Red Sox earlier, Yankees management told Hawkins to either accept an assignment with the club’s triple-A affiliate in Columbus or face being released.

Hawkins found his way back in the starting rotation only after Mike Witt went on the disabled list June 9 because of an elbow injury.

Of his no-hitter, he said: “It lets a lot of folks know they were dead wrong about Andy Hawkins.”

LOSING NO-HITTERS * May 9, 1901: Earl Moore of Cleveland pitched 9 hitless innings vs. Chicago White Sox before Sam Mertes singled. Cleveland lost in 10 innings, 4-2.

* Aug. 1, 1906: Harry McIntire of Brooklyn pitched 10 2/3 hitless innings against Pittsburgh before Claude Ritchey singled. Brooklyn lost in 12 innings, 1-0.

* April 15, 1909: Leon Ames of New York Giants pitched 9 1/3 hitless innings against Brooklyn before Charles Alperman singled. The Giants lost in 13 innings, 3-0.

* Aug. 30, 1910: Tom Hughes of New York Yankees pitched 9 1/3 hitless innings against Cleveland before Harry Niles singled. The Yankees lost in 11 innings, 5-0.

* May 14, 1914: James Scott of Chicago White Sox pitched 9 hitless innings against Washington before Chick Gandil singled. The White Sox lost in 10 innings, 1-0.

* May 2, 1917: James (Hippo) Vaughn of the Chicago Cubs pitched 9 1/3 hitless innings against Cincinnati before Larry Kopf singled. The Cubs lost in 10 innings, 1-0, with the Reds’ Fred Toney throwing a no-hitter.

* Sept. 18, 1934: Bobo Newsom of the St. Louis Browns pitched 9 2/3 hitless innings against the Boston Red Sox before Roy Johnson singled. The Browns lost on one hit in 10 innings, 2-1.

* May 26, 1956: John Klippstein (7 innings), Hershell Freeman (1 inning) and Joe Black (3 innings) of Cincinnati pitched 9 2/3 hitless innings until Jack Dittmer doubled. Cincinnati lost in 11 innings, 2-1.

* May 26, 1959: Harvey Haddix of Pittsburgh pitched 12 perfect innings against Milwaukee before Felix Mantilla, leading off the 13th, reached base on an error. After a sacrifice and an intentional walk, Joe Adcock doubled to score Mantilla, ending the game, 1-0.

* April 23, 1964: Ken Johnson of Houston pitched 9 hitless innings against Cincinnati but lost, 1-0.

* June 14, 1965: Jim Maloney of Cincinnati pitched 10 hitless innings against the New York Mets before Johnny Lewis hit a home run to lead off the 11th. The Reds lost in 11 innings, 1-0.

* April 30, 1967: Steve Barber (8 2/3 innings) and Stu Miller ( 1/3 inning) of Baltimore pitched 9 hitless innings in a 2-1 loss to Detroit.

* July 1, 1990: Andy Hawkins of the New York Yankees pitched 8 hitless innings against the Chicago White Sox in a 4-0 loss.

* KEN JOHNSON: Former Houston pitcher recounts his no-hit loss. Larry Stewart’s story, C8