One Run, No Hits for Both Teams During Florida State League Game

There were no big hits in Clearwater’s 1-0 victory over Winter Haven on Sunday in the Class A Florida State League. In fact, there were no hits at all.

In what apparently is the first professional baseball game in 40 years without a hit, Andy Carter and the Clearwater Phillies managed to beat Scott Bakkum and the Winter Haven Red Sox.

Phil Geisler and Troy Rusk led off the Clearwater seventh with walks. Gene Schaal bunted the runners into scoring position and Ken Sirak squeezed home Geisler.

Minor league records are incomplete, and it is uncertain how many games have been played without any hits. But there was at least one such game without a hit. On Aug. 20, 1952, in the New York-Penn League, Frank Echtberger of Bradford, Pa., beat Jim Mitchell of Batavia, N.Y., 1-0 in nine innings.

The closest thing to a complete, double no-hitter in the majors was on May 2, 1917, when Cincinnati’s Fred Toney and Chicago’s Hippo Vaughn each pitched nine hitless innings. The Reds won, 1-0, in the the 10th with two hits off Vaughn, and Toney finished without allowing a hit.