It's the Dodgers' Turn to Cry : Expos' Martinez Pitches 15th Perfect Game Ever

By BILL PLASCHKE

July 29, 1991 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

It was not until Marquis Grissom, throat dry and hands trembling, finally clutched the 27th consecutive out in center field Sunday that the perfect pitcher became human.

Dennis Martinez, engulfed in the arms of teammates, could not stop crying.

“It was like I was dreaming,” Martinez said. “It was like it was somebody else down there instead of me.”

As the Dodgers will testify, yes, that was him, retiring every hitter, fooling them with curveballs and sinkers and nerve.

In his 15th major league season, Martinez pitched the 15th perfect game in major league history Sunday to give the Montreal Expos a 2-0 victory before 45,560 at Dodger Stadium.

Twenty-seven Dodgers came up, 27 Dodgers went down. There were 17 groundouts, five strikeouts, two foul outs and only three fair balls hit out of the infield.

In slightly more than two hours, Martinez pitched the game of a lifetime.

“After it was over, my mind went blank. I did not know what to do or what to say,” Martinez said. “So I say nothing. I just cry.”

It was the first no-hitter by an opposing pitcher in the 30-year history of Dodger Stadium. It was the first perfect game since Tom Browning of the Cincinnati Reds pitched one against the Dodgers on Sept. 16, 1988, the last year the Dodgers won the division.

After Mark Gardner’s losing effort for the Expos Friday, it was the second nine innings of no-hit ball against the Dodgers during the weekend. But Gardner is in only his second major league season.

For Martinez, 36, his moment is now. Maybe that is why, even though he is a recovering alcoholic, he was given a beer shower by teammates in the clubhouse.

“I thank God for giving this to me so late in my career,” said Martinez, who underneath his jersey wore a T-shirt reading, “Old and Bold.”

“Sometimes I think these things are just meant to happen,” Martinez added. “I feel joy. Happiness. I think, maybe this will never happen again.”

Martinez came close to walking only three hitters. He only threw as many as two balls to six other hitters.

“To stand there and watch him work . . . it was unbelievable,” Expo shortstop Spike Owen said.

In the fourth inning Martinez was visited on the mound by trainers because of a twinge in his back, but he worked it out. He needed a good throw to first base on a bunt by Juan Samuel in the seventh inning, so he made it.

Martinez finally seemed to tire in the ninth inning. Leadoff hitter Mike Scioscia hit a hard fly ball to left field. Then, with two out, pinch-hitter Chris Gwynn hit a line drive barely foul down the third base line.

By then, Martinez’s young teammates were more nervous than he was.

“I don’t think anybody wanted the ball hit to them,” Grissom said. “I was so over-excited out there, I was just thinking, ‘Please, no line drives, nothing hard.’ I don’t want to be the one to ruin history.”

On the bench, the hard-luck Gardner could not sit still.

“I was nervous. I was on the edge of my seat. My hands were all clammy,” he said. “What happened to me, I did not want to happen to him.”

Then on a 1-and-2 pitch, Gwynn drove a ball toward right-center field that hung up in the haze. To at least one person, it sounded like extra bases.

“It was scary,” said Martinez, who turned and stared at the ball. “I thought it was hit well. Then, it went nowhere.”

Grissom said he knew he could catch it, if only he could calm down. “It was a routine fly ball,” he said. “But I had to get over there and get it. I had to forget what was at stake.”

When the ball dropped into his glove, Martinez leaped into the air. And he wasn’t the only one.

Larry Bearnarth, the pitching coach, was so excited he cut his finger on the dugout roof.

“Can you believe that?” Bearnarth said. “As soon as he got the last out, I jumped up in the air and boom! my finger hit something. I guess that shows you what I think about Dennis Martinez.”

Afterward Martinez showed the cheering fans what he thought of them by wading through a mob in the box seats, signing autographs in his street clothes.

“I feel so happy today to see the happiness of everybody around me,” Martinez said.

And why not? Martinez is a national hero in his native Nicaragua who resurrected his career in Montreal in 1987 after Baltimore had given up on him despite nine standout seasons there.

As recently as 1987, thought to have a sore shoulder and carrying the stigma of alcoholism, he was pitching in the minor leagues for the Expos.

But since then he has gone 66-47 with the major league club, including 11-6 this year with a National League-leading 2.05 earned-run average.

“I look back and see the faith that I had, and the reaching out for help that I did, and I think, it is paying off now,” Martinez said. “There is a lot of people out there who are suffering and dying, and I’d like them to know that it’s never too late. Maybe with this game, I can reach out to those people.”

Martinez was helped Sunday by the hazy background, the fast pace of the game and two unearned runs against Mike Morgan.

The Expos ended Morgan’s no-hit bid in the sixth inning with a leadoff single to center field by Ron Hassey, then scored twice in the seventh on two errors by shortstop Alfredo Griffin sandwiched around a run-scoring triple by Larry Walker.

Those runs also stopped the Dodger pitchers’ consecutive scoreless-innings streak at 38, tying a club record set in 1966.

“Once we got those runs, we said, ‘Thank goodness we aren’t going to have another Mark Gardner night,’ ” Owen said. “Those runs took the pressure off Dennis while the rest of us starting thinking about the perfect game.”

With Morgan being the fastest worker on the Dodgers--this game took 2 hours 14 minutes--Martinez wasn’t given much time to stiffen up on the bench, which also helped.

“I have to think that was an important factor,” Owen said. “Everything went so fast, he never lost his rhythm.”

Another factor, according to the Dodgers, is that Dodger Stadium is toughest on hitters during afternoon games. It is even harder when Martinez is pitching, because in his windup he tucks the ball in his glove until the last possible moment.

“The first couple of batters came back to the bench and said it was hard to see, and I knew it would be a long day,” Griffin said. “And with Martinez hiding the ball like he does, it was tough to pick up the spin.”

Or anything else as Martinez’s pitches danced their way into history.

“I’m worried about what will happen when I get to San Francisco tonight and start thinking about this,” Martinez said, smiling. “Who knows what I will do then.”

* ALLAN MALAMUD: Finding a silver lining. C8

* REACTION: Residents of Martinez’s hometown in Nicaragua celebrate his success. C10

Dodger Attendance

Sunday: 45,560

1991 (47 dates): 1,974,543

1990 (47 dates): 1,722,320

Increase: 252,223

1991 average: 42,012

Play-by-Play

A look at Dennis Martinez’s perfect game.

FIRST INNING

* Brett Butler struck out.