Minnesota Twins' Kevin Slowey: No-No and the Horse You Rode in On

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How can you pull a man from a no-hitter? Ever?

You say you pulled him because his pitch count was too high and you were saving his career?

What about his possible immortality in baseball history?

I am not saying he would have pulled it off, but at least let him pitch until he gives one hit up.

Geez, if I hear another word about pitch counts I am going to puke my guts out. I know I am old school, but my God, who was the man who decided 100 pitches was all a pitcher could take?

In 1963, not when they were throwing balls of sox or pitching from 40 feet, Juan Marichal pitched a 16-inning shutout over the Milwaukee Braves, 1-0. Warren Spahn picked up the loss after going 15 innings of shutout ball.

Marichal faced 59 batters and Spahn looked at 56.

Maybe age or maturity was the factor? I don't think so. Marichal was 25 and Slowey is 26.

Pitch count? Pitch count, is that what you said? Pitch count? I don't want to hear pitch count ever again, do you mark me well?

Kevin Slowey was working on a no-no for the Minnesota Twins yesterday while leading the Oakland Athletics 4-0 in the seventh inning. Manager Ron Gardenhire rode out to the mound on his white horse and told the youngster that his day was done. His tryst with immortality a thing of the past.

Unfortunately for Slowey, he had reached the dreadful 100 pitch count—yea surpassed it by six.

If I were the pitcher and had any competitive bone in my body, I would have said "Hell no! You can't be serious."

Wonder how many pitches Marichal threw? 200-250? Oh yeah, he came back and pitched seven innings five days later.

Most pitchers don't ever get past the fourth or fifth inning with a no-hitter intact during their careers.

Truth be told, he would have probably lost his bid the next inning, but we will never know, will we?


Letting a shutout go to the wayside is one thing—happens every week. But a no-hitter or perfect game is another animal altogether.

As Lady Fate had her way, the reliever Jon Rauch gave up a double to Cliff Pennington after striking out his first batter.

The Twins went on to win 4-2, so I guess all is well in the Twin Cities.

It was only the fourth time in 20 years that a pitcher had been relieved of his duty while crafting a no-hitter.

In 1990, Mark Langston of the California Angels was the only one of the four whose bullpen did its job and finished what he started.

So you can say what you will—arm injury, Tommy John surgery, torn rotator cuff—hell, say it all. The point is history was flirted with yesterday, and someone will have to dig through the archives to pull out the facts that Slowey was pulled while fate held her breath.

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