Last night’s Mets game was a little weird. It’s not every day that Max Scherzer takes a no-hitter into the fifth inning, then leaves the game after that fifth inning even though all he gave up was a little single to Ha-Seong Kim. The 11-pitch strikeout of Austin Nola to end the fifth took Scherzer’s count up to 97 for the night, and in an April game where the 38-year-old issued six walks to go with his three strikeouts, the five scoreless innings equaled the limit.
No problem for Buck Schowalter, because John Curtiss, Drew Smith, David Robertson, and Adam Ottavino combined to strikeout eight of the 16 batters they faced in the final four innings, allowing only three walks and a ninth-inning single to close out the 5-0 victory.
Altogether, the Padres were 2-for-28 against Mets pitchers in the series opener, with 14 strikeouts. And that’s where we start generating a fun Stathead list.
Last night marked only the fourth time in Mets history that they have shut out an opponent, not allowed an extra-base hit, and recorded strikeouts in at least half of their foes’ at-bats. Where does last night fit into Mets history? Here are the other three games on this particular list.
April 18, 1970: Nolan Ryan never threw a no-hitter for the Mets, but he did record 27 outs in a row without giving up a hit in this game, led off by Phillies second baseman Denny Doyle with a single. Ryan walked Don Money, struck out John Briggs and Deron Johnson, walked Tim McCarver to load the bases, and then struck out Larry Hisle to get out of the first-inning jam. By the time Ryan got the ball back, he had a 3-0 lead… and completely shut down the Phils from there. Philadelphia batters went 1-for-29 with 15 strikeouts and six walks in the 7-0 New York romp.
May 15, 1970: Tom Seaver gave up a third-inning single to Mike Compton, the Phillies’ catcher, and got all the support he needed in the fourth inning when Woodie Fryman threw a wild pitch to score Donn Clendenon and Compton’s throwing error on that play allowed Ron Swoboda to come around as well. Seaver went the distance, striking out 15 as host Philadelphia went 1-for-29 against him at Connie Mack Stadium.
September 29, 2007: Game 161, when it seemed like maybe the Mets had figured it out and were going to salvage that season, a 13-0 demolition of the Marlins featuring two Lastings Milledge home runs and the Mets going 10-for-22 with runners in scoring position. On the mound, John Maine was nails, allowing only a pair of walks while taking a no-hitter into the eighth inning. Paul Hoover broke up the bid with a little infield single, ending Maine’s outing with 14 strikeouts and two walks. Willie Collazo got Alejandro De Aza to fly out to end the top of the eighth, and then Carlos Muniz notched the staff’s 15th strikeout of the day when he got Reggie Abercrombie to end the game. The Fish went 1-for-27, saving all their hits for the next day.
Scherzer’s early exit also is notable because it was the first time the Mets pulled a starter who’d given up one or no hits over the first five innings since Tylor Megill last April 29, in the Mets’ combined no-hitter against the Phillies. Megill and Jacob deGrom each had two starts apiece like that in 2021. The last seven Mets pitchers to do this — Scherzer, Megill all three times, deGrom twice, and David Peterson on August 13, 2020 against Washington — have recorded the win, after no Mets pitcher had gotten a win in such a game in 12 years following a Maine five-and-fly in Washington back in 2008.
Alongside Megill in getting pulled after five innings of no-hit ball? Sid Fernandez on May 15, 1987 against the Giants, when the lefty helped himself with an RBI triple but gave way to Doug Sisk with a 7-0 cushion in the sixth. Sisk gave up three runs, but Roger McDowell came through with the three-inning save.
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