The long holiday weekend saw some rare baseball feats.
Both the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Stephen Drew and the Seattle Mariners’ Adrian Beltre hit for the cycle on Monday, marking only the second time in Major League history that two players have accomplished the feat on the same day, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The Detroit Tigers’ Bobby Veach and the New York Giants’ George Burns did it on Sept. 17, 1920.
And the Milwaukee Brewers want ace pitcher C.C. Sabathia credited with a no-hitter after throwing a complete-game one-hit shutout on Sunday. Sabathia tried to barehand a short grounder in front of the mound and could not come up with the ball to throw out the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Andy Laroche.
The official scorer ruled it a single, and the Brewers want that call changed so Sabathia gets a retroactive no-hitter, something that’s never been awarded.
We’ll allow that if baseball also reviews another fifth-inning play ruled a hit that killed a no-hitter. On Sept. 7, 1984, Mets’ third-baseman Ray Knight grabbed a slow-roller hit by the less-than-fleetfooted Keith Moreland, double-clutched and never threw. It was the only “hit” allowed by Dwight Gooden in the Mets 10-0 win over the Chicago Cubs.
Maybe we shouldn’t be holding 14-year grudges, but when we’re looking at a 46-plus-year streak, 14 years doesn’t seem all that long ago.
Anyway, for a comparison of these two rare feats, see our No-hitters vs. Hit for cyclepage.
