Though Good, Even Great, Martinez Only Near-Perfect : Baseball: Montreal pitcher retires all 27 batters in nine innings, before Roberts doubles in 10th of Expos’ 1-0 victory.

Pedro Martinez is approaching perfection, but he needs a little more support from his Montreal Expo teammates.

Martinez pitched nine perfect innings Saturday night, but his bid for a perfect game ended when Bip Roberts led off the bottom of the 10th with a double to right field in the Expos’ 1-0 victory in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

“It feels really good, but it still hasn’t sunken in yet,” Martinez said. “With the way the game went, I’m just happy that we won the game.”

The Expos almost didn’t.

Martinez had to go the extra inning because Montreal had only three hits against the Padres’ Joey Hamilton in a scoreless first nine.

As well as Hamilton pitched, though, it was clear that Martinez was in control in his second touch with near-perfection as an Expo.

He had pitched 7 1/3 perfect innings against the Cincinnati Reds in his Montreal debut in 1994, losing that perfect game when he hit Reggie Sanders with a pitch, which started a fight. Brian Dorsett broke up the no-hitter with a single in the ninth inning.

On Saturday, Martinez was even better--but still not perfect.

“There’s not much you can say. It’s one of the best I’ve seen,” said Padre Manager Bruce Bochy. “We only hit a couple of balls all night. It was a hell of a game to pitch.”

Martinez threw 93 pitches in the first nine innings, 65 for strikes. He struck out nine Padres, and only one, Scott Livingstone, threatened to break up his perfect game.

As the game wore on, it was apparent something special was happening. Martinez, a free spirit, figured it out a bit later than some.

“When I heard the crowd yelling at me coming off the field [after the seventh inning], I looked at the scoreboard and saw the zeros,” he said.

“It was really good tonight. I was able to keep my concentration on every hitter throughout the game.”

Another zero in the eighth. Then, with one out in the ninth inning, Livingstone hit a ball to the right field wall, where it was flagged down after a long run by Tony Tarasco.

“That was great,” Martinez said of Tarasco’s catch. “I saw that, I thought I was meant to do it.”

Other than Livingstone’s line drive, the closest San Diego came to a hit was when Roberts led off the fourth inning with a soft liner to Jeff Treadway. Jody Reed lined out to third baseman Mark Grudzielanek leading off the sixth, and Brad Ausmus ended the eighth inning with a line drive right at Tarasco.

Martinez became the first pitcher to take a perfect game into extra innings since Harvey Haddix did it for Pittsburgh in 1959, but, like Haddix, Martinez will receive credit for neither a perfect game nor a no-hitter because of a rule change in 1991 that defined no-hitters as games of nine innings or more that ended with no hits.

That cut 50 games from the list of no-hitters, including that of Haddix, perhaps the most renown. He went 12 innings for the Pirates, then lost to the Milwaukee Braves in the 13th on May 26, 1959.

When told of Haddix’s feat 36 years ago, Martinez said, “Oh, that’s tough. But I still don’t know who he is.”

Martinez’s fate was a little better.

The Expos had taken a 1-0 lead against reliever Brian Williams (0-3) in the top of the 10th inning when Shane Andrews singled, Lou Frazier walked and Treadway singled to right.

Then in the bottom of the inning, Roberts led off with his double on a 1-and-1 pitch.

“It was a lucky hit to a lucky spot,” Roberts said. “I was just able to hit it this time, to get it where they weren’t standing.”

It was a good pitch.

“I don’t regret throwing that pitch because I got him out on that pitch before,” said Martinez, who got Roberts to fly out in his previous three at-bats.

Manager Felipe Alou decided Martinez had enough and summoned Mel Rojas to get the final three outs.

Rojas, who got his 11th save in 13 opportunities, threw a wild pitch that allowed Roberts to reach third. Steve Finley then grounded out to first, and Tony Gwynn hit a sharp grounder to second baseman Treadway, who threw Roberts out by at least three steps. The game then ended on Ken Caminiti’s foul pop.

“That’s big league pitching at its best right there. Not much you can say except superb and awesome. Tip your hat,” Gwynn said.

The last perfect game in the majors was by Kenny Rogers of Texas against the Angels on July 28, 1994, a 4-0 victory.

The last perfect game in the National League was by Dennis Martinez--no relation to Pedro--of the Expos, on July 28, 1991, a 2-0 victory at Dodger Stadium.

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Lost in Time

Pitchers who pitched nine or more no-hit innings before losing the no-hitter in extra innings:

* May 9, 1901--Earl Moore, Cleveland vs. Chicago White Sox (pitched nine hitless innings before Sam Mertes singled; lost on two hits in the 10th, 4-2).

* June 11, 1904--Robert Wicker, Chicago Cubs vs. New York Giants (pitched nine hitless innings before Sam Mertes singled; won on one hit in 12 innings, 1-0).

* Aug. 1, 1906--Harry McIntire, Brooklyn vs. Pittsburgh (pitched 10 2/3 hitless innings before Claude Richey singled; lost on four hits in 12 innings, 1-0).

* April 15, 1909--Leon Ames, New York Giants vs. Brooklyn (pitched 9 1/3 hitless innings before Charles Alperman singled; lost on seven hits in 13 innings, 3-0).

* Aug. 30, 1910--Tom Hughes, New York Yankees vs. Cleveland (pitched 9 1/3 hitless innings before Harry Niles singled; lost on seven hits in 11 innings, 5-0).

* May 14, 1914--James Scott, Chicago White Sox at Washington (pitched nine hitless innings before Chick Gandil singled; lost on two hits in 10 innings, 1-0.

* May 2, 1917--James Vaughn, Chicago Cubs vs. Cincinnati (pitched 9 1/3 hitless innings before Larry Kopf singled; lost on two hits in 10 innings, 1-0).

* Sept. 18, 1934--Bobo Newsom, St. Louis Browns vs. Boston Red Sox (pitched 9 2/3 hitless innings before Roy Johnson singled; lost on one hit in 10 innings, 2-1).

* May 26, 1956--John Klippstein (seven innings), Hershell Freeman (one inning) and Joe Black (three innings), Cincinnati at Milwaukee Braves (Jack Dittmar doubled with two out in the 10th and Black lost on three hits in 11 innings, 2-1).

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

* June 14, 1965--Jim Maloney, Cincinnati vs. New York Mets (pitched 10 hitless innings before Johnny Lewis homered to lead off the 11th; lost on two hits in the 11th, 1-0).

* July 26, 1991--Mark Gardner, Montreal at Dodgers (pitched nine hitless innings, lost in 10, 1-0.

* June 3, 1995--Pedro Martinez, Montreal at San Diego (pitched nine perfect innings before allowing a leadoff double to Bip Roberts in the 10th; Mel Rojas got final three outs, won in 10, 1-0).