Sunday, April 28, 2002
Mariners 1, Yankees 0
The Associated Press
SEATTLE — Yankees pitcher Ted Lilly heard about baseball's first no-hitter of the season on the bus ride to Safeco Field on Saturday. “I was kind of thinking to myself, "That would be kind of fun,”' Lilly said. And he nearly did it. Lilly came close to pitching the day's second no-hitter in the major leagues, but lost his bid and the game, too.
Desi Relaford singled with one out in the eighth inning, driving in the game's only run and giving the Seattle Mariners their only hit in a 1-0 victory over the New York Yankees.
Earlier Saturday, Boston's Derek Lowe pitched the major leagues' first no-hitter of 2002, a 10-0 win over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Only once in modern major league history have two no-hitters been thrown in one day.
“I went at it today with everything I had and came up a little short,” Lilly said. “Obviously, I'm disappointed.”
Lilly (0-2), who had never pitched more than seven innings as a starter in the majors, walked Dan Wilson with one out in the eighth inning, and pinch-runner Luis Ugueto took second on a wild pitch.
Relaford then lined a single into right field on a 2-2 pitch as Ugueto was stealing third. Ugueto slid head first into third, but couldn't hear third base coach Dave Myers because of noise from the largest regular-season crowd in the history of the ballpark.
He could see Myers' signal though.
“I heard the people so loud,” Ugueto said. “I looked around and saw the ball in right field and the coach signaled me keep going.”
Lilly immediately backed up home on Relaford's hit, then hung his head a little bit as he returned to the mound.
“Everybody embraced him,” manager Joe Torre said. “He stayed in the dugout until the end of the game and said 'Let's go, let's score some runs!”'
Freddy Garcia (3-2) allowed five hits in eight innings, struck out eight and walked one, and Kazuhiro Sasaki finished for his seventh save in eight chances.
Garcia got out of trouble twice. He struck out the side in the eighth after a leadoff double by John Vander Wal. In the sixth, Derek Jeter hit into a double play after Alfonso Soriano reached third on a three-base error by right fielder Charles Gipson.
“He had to pitch well,” manager Lou Piniella said. “Their guy pitched excellent. One hit over eight innings and lost the game. Our guys hung in there.”
Jeter singled with one out in the ninth and Robin Ventura walked with two outs, but Sasaki struck out Rondell White to end the game.
Lilly, who struck out eight and walked one, began the season as a reliever in the Yankees' bullpen, but is in the rotation because Sterling Hitchcock has been sidelined since spring training and Andy Pettitte is on the disabled list with a sore left elbow. Lilly, a 26-year-old left-hander, wound up with the Yankees' 58th one-hitter in his first career complete game.
“Early in the game, we helped him out by swinging at some bad pitches,” Piniella said.
After hitting Jeff Cirillo with a pitch in Seattle's second at-bat, Lilly retired 17 straight batters before plunking Cirillo again in the seventh.
White had saved the no-hit bid with a diving catch of Bret Boone's liner to left in the seventh inning. Wilson hit one to the warning track in right field in the fifth that was caught by Vander Wal.
Relaford entered the game hitting just .216 in 35 at-bats this season. He had lined out to second base in the third inning and flied out to left field in the sixth.
Relaford thought he would see a fastball, and he was right.
“I had a couple strikes on me and I had to relax,” Relaford said. “He gave me a good pitch to hit and I put a good swing on it.”
Seattle played without right fielder and leadoff hitter Ichiro Suzuki, who cut his left knee Friday after running into the right-field fence. He had four stitches and was held out for precautionary reasons.
The only day since 1900 there ever were two major league no-hitters thrown was June 29, 1990, when Oakland's Dave Stewart accomplished the feat against Toronto and the Los Angeles Dodgers' Fernando Valenzuela did it against St. Louis.
Notes: Lilly's longest stint in the major leagues had been 7 2-3 innings in relief against Tampa Bay last Sept. 26. ... It was the first time the Yankees were shut out this season. ... Yankees manager Joe Torre needs three wins to become the fifth manager in team history to win at least 600 games. ... The 46,047 fans who attended Saturday's game marked the biggest regular-season crowd in Safeco Field history. The previous largest was 46,036 on opening day this year. ... The last no-hitter against Seattle was by the Yankees' Dwight Gooden in 1996. ... The last time Seattle was one-hit in a game was by Texas' Charlie Hough on Aug. 15, 1989. The Mariners won 2-0.
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Mariners 1, Yankees 0 
