Zero Hits off Cone in Return

David Cone needed six outs to claim the most coveted prize of a pitcher’s career. Maybe a couple of pop-ups. Maybe a few grounders. Or, if he was fortunate, a strikeout or two. What were six outs compared to having his shoulder cut open, an artery spliced and nearly four months of grueling rehabilitation?

The aneurysm, and the havoc it had wrought, vanished from Cone’s mind Monday as he zeroed in on a possible no-hitter in a 5-0 victory over the Oakland Athletics. But New York Yankee Manager Joe Torre and pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre did not forget the trauma their pitcher, and friend, had endured. Even though Cone swept through the A’s with uncanny ease for seven innings in his first major-league start since May 2, Torre made the most difficult decision a manager can make when he kept his surgically repaired ace on the bench for the eighth.

The target was 100 pitches, and Cone needed 85 to complete seven innings. Having fallen short of his prescribed pitch limit, Cone might have been entitled to at least one more inning, but the manager would not yield.

“If I leave him in there to throw 105 pitches and he wakes up with a sore arm tomorrow,” Torre said, “I’d never forgive myself for that.”

Cone calmly accepted the decision, sitting with a wry smile in the dugout, and never second-guessed his manager when the question was posed to him afterward.

“I told Joe and Mel,” Cone said, “if they leave the decision up to me, I’m going out there. I’m not even going to think about the ramifications down the road. Fortunately, they’re smarter than I am. They were trying to protect me, and I appreciate that.”

Cone struck out six and walked three--two of those in the first inning--and was saved by spectacular defensive plays in the seventh by third baseman Charlie Hayes and center fielder Bernie Williams, who reached over the center-field fence to rob Geronimo Berroa of a homer.

Reliever Mariano Rivera easily got through the eighth but lost the no-hitter with one out in the ninth. Shortstop Derek Jeter backhanded Jose Herrera’s grounder deep in the hole, but his throw was a split-second late to get the speedy Herrera, who slid headfirst into the bag. An exasperated Torre, fishing for a call, briefly argued with umpire Larry McCoy without success.

Rivera failed to clinch what would have been the club’s second no-hitter this season--Dwight Gooden shut down the Mariners on May 14--but realized the importance of the victory for a team on the ropes. The victory was only the Yankees’ third in eight games on this West Coast trip and ninth in their past 24 games.

Cone improved to 5-1, shaving his earned-run average to 1.72. The cool-headed Cone admitted to feeling a few pangs of anxiety before the start, and was shocked when he saw his father, Ed, seated behind the Yankee dugout. His dad set up the surprise visit through Cone’s wife, Lynn, and made eye contact a number of times during the breaks between innings.

After a sluggish first inning in which he walked two, Cone overpowered the A’s.

“It didn’t look like he missed a beat at all,” said Scott Brosius, who popped out twice against Cone. “He had movement on the fastball, a good slider. It looked like he hadn’t stepped off the mound. He looked like the Cone of old.”

Hayes hit a solo homer in the seventh and Cecil Fielder opened the eighth with his 33rd homer, giving him his fifth 100-RBI season and first since 1993.