Camden Yards may have had trouble with its electricity last night, but there was no lack of sparks and power on the field. After a 43-minute power outage delayed the start of the game, Boston pitcher Hideo Nomo lit up the stadium with a no-hitter against the Baltimore Orioles to give the Sox a 3-0 win.
Nomo, making his Red Sox debut after coming over as a free-agent during the offseason, struck out 11 and walked three. He became only the fourth pitcher in major league history to throw a no-hitter in both leagues, as he accomplished the feat as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers in September of 1996.
The game was the first no-hitter by a Red Sox in over 35 years and was pitched earlier in the season than any other no-hitter in major league history. It was also the first no-hitter ever thrown in Camden Yards.
Second baseman Mike Lansing saved the game with one out in the ninth when he made a back-handed catch of a Mike Bordick fly ball to shallow left centerfield. All three Boston runs came off the bat of Brian Daubach, who had a two-run homer in the third and a solo shot to lead off the eighth.
But the real story was Nomo, who had a string of ten consecutive outs that included five straight strike-outs during the middle of the game. Nomo, a former National League rookie of the year, has been only mediocre for the past few seasons, was an unlikely hero on a team that is built around Pedro Martinez, a beloved Red Sox pitcher.
While Nomo's performance may have caused melodramatic Sox fans to wait one more day before throwing their playoff hopes into the Charles River, the dissent within the clubhouse that began during spring training continued yesterday. Dante Bichette, who served as the team's full-time designated hitter last September, gave the team a play-me-or-trade-me ultimatum after being benched by manager Jimy Williams during the first two games of the season.
