No Hits, a Miss : Gibson’s Misplay Ruled an Error; Saberhagen Finishes With a Gem Against White Sox, 7-0

The scoreboard told Bret Saberhagen his no-hitter was over. The scoreboard lied.

Saved by a scoring decision that even his manager seemed to question, Saberhagen gratefully finished what he thought had ended--the first no-hitter of his career and the seventh this season.

For an instant in the Kansas City Royals’ 7-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox, it seemed he had lost the no-hitter.

With one out in the fifth inning, Dan Pasqua hit a line drive that sliced away from Kirk Gibson in left field. Gibson ran back to the warning track, jumped at the last second and the ball grazed off his glove, allowing Pasqua to reach second base.

“I didn’t know what the official scorer was going to do,” Saberhagen said.

Before the scorer made his decision, the hit column on the scoreboard flashed from zero to one. But after watching several replays, scorer Del Black ruled it a two-base error on the Gibson.

Saberhagen saw the scoreboard show a hit and never saw the change when a red “E” went up on the board.

But when the fans cheered, “You can pretty well tell by the crowd’s reaction. I heard the crowd and I figured what happened,” he said.

It wasn’t until he reached the dugout at the end of the inning that he saw for sure that the no-hitter was still intact.

Black said he called it an error “because I thought the ball was catchable. He was there waiting for it. It didn’t appear he was straining to catch it.”

Kansas City Manager Hal McRae did not say it should have been a hit. But he didn’t say it was an error, either.

“I thought he overran the ball,” McRae said. “I thought the ball sliced back over his head and he lost the ball. Well, let’s not talk about it. It’s something we shouldn’t talk about.”

Gibson and Pasqua offered other versions.

“On a play like that, I put myself into the position to make the play and I didn’t make it, so the error is appropriate, whether or not it would have been a good catch or not,” Gibson said.

Said Pasqua: “I hit it pretty well. I didn’t crush it, but I hit it good enough to get a hit out of it. But I guess the official scorer thought different.”

Saberhagen, 27, pitched his greatest game six weeks after coming off the disabled list because of tendinitis in his right rotator cuff.

“This is terrific, but there will never be anything better than the World Series,” Saberhagen said.

Saberhagen was the most valuable player of the 1985 World Series and a Cy Young Award winner in 1985 and 1989, but the closest he came to a no-hitter was five two-hitters.

After Gibson’s error, Ron Karkovice hit a long fly to left that hooked foul. But Saberhagen (10-6) struck out Karkovice and sailed the rest of the way. He struck out five and walked two.

Saberhagen got a standing ovation from the crowd of 25,164 when he took the mound to start the ninth and quickly finished the fourth no-hitter in Royals’ history. Tim Raines grounded to second base, Joey Cora flied to right and Frank Thomas grounded to second.

Steve Busby pitched two no-hitters for the Royals and Jim Colborn had the other one.

The Royals scored two runs in the first inning and chased Charlie Hough (7-8), who had beaten Kansas City three times in a row, with a three-run second.

1991 No-Hitters

Date Pitcher Team Opp. Scr May 1 Nolan Ryan Texas vs. Toronto 3-0 May 23 Tommy Greene Philadelphia vs. Montreal 2-0 July 13 B. Milacki, M. Flanagan M. Williamson, G. Olson Baltimore vs. Oakland 2-0 July 26 *Mark Gardner Montreal vs. Dodgers 0-1 July 28 **Dennis Martinez Montreal vs. Dodgers 2-0 Aug. 11 Wilson Alvarez Chicago vs. Balt. 7-0 Aug. 26 Bret Saberhagen Kansas City vs. Chicago 7-0

*Gardner allowed two hits in the 10th inning and was the losing pitcher in the Dodgers’ 1-0 victory.

**perfect game.