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September 16, 1988
Tom Browning is Perfect
Second Time's The Charm |
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RIVERFRONT STADIUM, CINCINNATI, OHIO -- On many other nights, this game might not even have been played. Rain drenched Cincinnati for much of the evening, but since the Los Angeles Dodgers were making their final trip of the season to Cincinnati, both teams waited for the showers to subside.
Starters: Tim Belcher vs Tom Browning
WP: Tom Browning (16-5) LP: Tim Belcher (10-5)
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The two-hour, 27-minute delay didn't bother the pitchers. Cincinnati's Tom Browning methodically began retiring every Dodger he faced, recalling a night barely three months earlier -- June 6, to be exact -- when he maintained a perfect game for 8 1/3 innings against the San Diego Padres. Tony Gwynn broke up that perfecto by singling on a 3-0 pitch.
This time, Browning's dominance was virtually matched by Los Angeles' Tim Belcher, who took a no-hitter into the sixth inning. With two outs, Belcher, who had yielded nothing more than one measly walk, surrendered a double into the right-field corner by Barry Larkin. Chris Sabo then grounded to third baseman Jeff Hamilton, whose low throw scooted past first base for an error that enabled Larkin to cross home plate. That was it for the evening's scoring.
Browning endured no such lapses. Alfredo Griffin's fly-out to open the game was just one of nine balls Browning allowed to be hit to the outfield. Browning never went to three balls on any batter and threw 21 first-pitch strikes to the 27 hitters he faced. He made it so easy for his defense that only one challenging play arose: In the fifth, Los Angeles' Mike Marshall hit a chopper to third base. Chris Sabo backhanded the ball and threw out Marshall by a half step.
Browning would not be denied as the ninth inning arrived. He retired Rick Dempsey on a fly ball to the warning track and Steve Sax on a grounder to shortstop. After Tracy Woodson swung through a 2-2 pitch for Browning's seventh strikeout, the Reds sprinted from the dugout to engulf their triumphant left-hander.
"I remember Ron Oester tackling me and, after that, honestly, it felt like an out-of-body experience," Browning said. "It was like I was 15, 20 feet above the pile and looking down at it."
It was the 12th perfect game in Major League history and the first in the National League since Sandy Koufax stopped Chicago, 1-0, on Sept. 9, 1965. The last perfect game in the Majors had been thrown by California's Mike Witt against Texas on Sept. 30, 1984.
Copyright 1988 by the Office of the Commissioner of Major League Baseball
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David Cone