Stieb Finally Breaks Through : Baseball: Toronto pitcher no-hits the Indians, winning, 3-0. Four times before he had a no-hitter going into the ninth inning and had come up short.

Dave Stieb has always been good enough to throw a no-hitter, just never lucky enough--until Sunday.

After coming so close so often--four times he went into the ninth inning--Stieb no-hit the Cleveland Indians, Toronto winning, 3-0.

“I wasn’t real nervous. I’ve been there quite a few times,” Stieb said almost matter-of-factly. “I was struggling with my control a little bit the whole game. They helped me out by swinging at some balls in the dirt. I could have been in some more jams.

“I had much better stuff the other times, much better control. I always knew it took a lot of luck to get a no-hitter.”

Cleveland didn’t come close to a hit against the 33-year-old right-hander. The closest call was Ken Phelps’ hard grounder down the right-field line in the eighth inning, which was foul by several feet.

Stieb had lost three no-hitters with two out in the ninth.

This time, Jerry Browne closed it out by hitting a line drive to Junior Felix in right field. Stieb wiped his brow, raised his arm and was mobbed by his teammates as the crowd of 23,640--many of them Toronto fans who had made the five-hour drive to Cleveland--gave him a standing ovation.

Stieb (17-5) struck out nine and walked four, becoming the first Toronto pitcher to pitch a no-hitter. The 17 victories matched his career high, accomplished three times before.

Cleveland was last held hitless by Dean Chance of Minnesota on Aug. 25, 1967. The last no-hitter pitched in Cleveland Stadium was Len Barker’s perfect game against Toronto on May 15, 1981.

Stieb’s no-hitter was the ninth in the majors this year, a record.

“Maybe it’s not that tough to get one this year,” he said. “That’s why I got one.”

On Sept. 24, 1988, Stieb had a no-hitter with two out in the ninth inning in Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium before Julio Franco, then of the Indians, hit a routine ground ball that took a bad hop over the head of second baseman Manny Lee for a hit.

“I didn’t want a ground ball this time,” Lee said. “I wanted to see a fly ball. I didn’t want that to happen again.”

Cleveland’s hitters agreed that Stieb was less than awesome. The no-hitter came against a team that has lost seven consecutive games.

“The way we’ve been playing, to see that happen, I guess, probably doesn’t surprise too many people,” Phelps said. “I’ve seen him throw better. He’s been so close so many times, I guess it was bound to happen.”

Stieb also lost no-hitters with one out to go against Baltimore on Sept. 30, 1988 (when Jim Traber singled) and New York on Aug. 4, 1989. He had a perfect game against the Yankees before yielding a double to Roberto Kelly.

This time, Stieb got the last three outs with ease. Pinch-hitter Chris James flied out, and Candy Maldonado, another pinch-hitter, struck out, putting Stieb in a familiar situation.

Stieb walked rookie Alex Cole on four pitches before Browne lined out to Felix.

Stieb first flirted with a no-hitter in 1985, when he pitched eight hitless innings against Chicago before giving up a leadoff home run in the ninth.

Sunday, only seven balls were hit out of the infield.

Stieb got his second shutout and complete game of the year, striking out the side in the third and sixth innings. He reduced his earned-run average from 3.07 to 2.91.

Seven of this year’s nine no-hitters have come in the American League, a record for a major league. Mark Langston and Mike Witt of the Angels combined to no-hit Seattle, Randy Johnson of Seattle did it against Detroit, Nolan Ryan of Texas did it against Oakland and Dave Stewart of the Athletics did it against the Blue Jays.

Andy Hawkins of the Yankees pitched a losing no-hitter against Chicago and Melido Perez of the White Sox pitched a rain-shortened no-hit game against New York.

Fernando Valenzuela of the Dodgers and Terry Mulholland of Philadelphia have pitched no-hitters in the National League.

Though he has been pitching for 12 years, all five of Stieb’s one-hitters have been thrown since 1988.

The victory left the Blue Jays 6 1/2 games behind first-place Boston in the American League East. The Red Sox defeated the New York Yankees Sunday night, 7-1.

1990 NO-HITTERS

DATE PITCHER, TEAM RESULT Mark Langston (7 innings) April 11 and Mike Witt (2), Angels Angels 1, Seattle 0 June 2 Randy Johnson, Seattle Seattle 2, Detroit 0 June 11 Nolan Ryan, Texas Texas 5, Oakland 0 June 29 Dave Stewart, Oakland Oakland 5, Toronto 0 June 29 Fernando Valenzuela, Dodgers Dodgers 6, St. Louis 0 July 1 Andy Hawkins, N.Y. Yankees Chicago 4, N.Y. Yankees 0 July 12 Melido Perez, Chicago (AL) Chicago 8, New York 0 Aug. 15 Terry Mulholland, Philadelphia Philadelphia 6, San Francisco 0 Sept. 2 Dave Stieb, Toronto Toronto 3, Cleveland 0

DAVE STIEB’S NEAR MISSES

DATE OPPONENT HOW LOST Sept. 24, 1988 Cleveland Julio Franco, two-out single Sept. 30, 1988 Baltimore Jim Traber, two-out single Aug. 4, 1989 New York Roberto Kelly, two-out double (perfect game)

Each of these no-hitters was broken up in the ninth inning.