No-hitter No. 7: Heat treatment conquered pain

C Mike Stanley
Texas 3, Toronto 0
The game: Ryan retires 27 of 29 batters in the first no-hitter by a Rangers pitcher at Arlington Stadium. He ties his own club record of 16 strikeouts and survives a close call in the sixth, when center fielder Gary Pettis charges in to catch a sinking shallow fly off the bat of the Blue Jays' Manny Lee.
The catcher: "As each inning went on, you could see it in his eyes. You could hear him talking to himself. You could see that he really sensed it and knew what to do with it. That was the exciting part. Watching Nolan and the way he went after it."

ARLINGTON - Nolan Ryan, feeling every bit a 44-year-old man, began Wednesday with an aching back.

He finished with another piece of history.

Ryan, going "into a zone where normal people don't go," according to Rangers pitching coach Tom House, pitched the record seventh no-hitter of his career, beating the Toronto Blue Jays, 3-0, before 33,439 fans at Arlington Stadium. No one else in major league history has thrown more than four no-hitters.

"This was the furthest thing from my mind," Ryan said. "When I woke up, I had more aches and pains. I physically had a bad day. Old age.

"I never say I have no-hit stuff. I know all it takes is one pitch. I took each inning as it came along. When I went into the ninth, I just felt like I was going to go right at them and be real aggressive and try not to make a mistake."

Ryan struck out 16 batters and missed a perfect game - retiring 27 consecutive batters from start to finish - by two walks on full-count pitches. He asked his defense to come up with one difficult play, and center fielder Gary Pettis ran down Manny Lee's shallow fly ball for the second out of the sixth inning.

Ryan was so dominant that the Blue Jays hit only four balls out of the infield. Ryan compared the quality of his pitches to his second no-hitter, a 17-strikeout performance against Detroit on July 15, 1973. The Blue Jays must live with the memory of this game until Tuesday, when they will face Ryan again at the Toronto SkyDome.

"They were overmatched, and it was no fault of theirs," Rangers shortstop Jeff Huson said. "They just got in the way of a train."

Ryan, with the crowd on its feet in a full-throated frenzy, finished by throwing his 122nd pitch - a hissing 93-mph fastball - past a swinging Roberto Alomar for a strikeout. As they did last year when Ryan pitched a no-hitter against defending world champion Oakland, the Rangers charged from the dugout and carried Ryan off the field.

In the clubhouse, the Rangers had their private celebration. Manager Bobby Valentine broke out a bottle of champagne that had been on a wall in his office since 1986. Valentine had vowed not to open the champagne until the Rangers reached a World Series. This was no time to wait on an even bigger miracle.

"I'm just relieved it's over with," Ryan said. "I had hoped I'd get in this position to do it at home for these fans. I'm just thankful it worked out."

The Dallas Morning News

Nolan Ryan is carried off the field after throwing his seventh no-hitter.

To grasp the magnitude of what Ryan accomplished, consider his final victim. When Ryan pitched his first two no-hitters with California in 1973, his second baseman was Sandy Alomar. Roberto Alomar is Sandy Alomar's 23-year-old son who as a child asked Ryan to help him become a pitcher.

"I won't be flipping baseballs when I'm 44," said Toronto starter Jimmy Key, who allowed Ruben Sierra's two-run home run in the three-run third inning. "The only thing I hope is I'm able to throw my kids batting practice."

There were doubts Ryan would see the middle innings. He woke up with a stiff back and took aspirin all day before coming to the park. They did not help.

Ryan went through extra pre-game stretching and wore a heating pack on his back during the scouting meeting to go over hitters. While warming up, Ryan turned to House, another 44-year-old, and complained about his accumulated years.

"I don't know how you feel at 44, but I feel old today," Ryan said to House. "My back hurts. My finger hurts. My ankle hurts. Everything hurts. I've been taking Advil since noon, and it isn't helping."

RYAN REPLAY

No-hitter No. 7 May 1, 1991

The aches were an omen. Ryan pitched his no-hitter last year shortly after coming off the disabled list because of a stress fracture in the back. As it did in that game, adrenaline took over.

"It kicked in in the first inning," Ryan said, "and it went better as the game went along."

Ryan carried an extra burden. This was his first start of the season on four days' rest; he normally pitches on five days' rest. He threw a draining 131 pitches in a loss to Cleveland on Friday.

Ryan grew stronger under the workload. He struck out five of the final 10 hitters.

Toronto presented a lineup full of Ryan fodder. Two of the starters - Glenallen Hill and Mark Whiten - had never faced Ryan. The other seven starters were a combined 9-for-66 lifetime against him.

Ryan had a few touchy moments in the first, going to two full counts and walking Kelly Gruber. Ryan escaped the first by getting Joe Carter on a pop-up. In the second, Ryan gave signs of his dominance.

He struck out the side, all on called third strikes. The curveball froze John Olerud and Whiten. Hill could not react to a fastball low and away and on the corner. Huson and third baseman Steve Buechele ran off the field together and shared the same thought.

"Right then, you could tell he could do it," Buechele said. "This wasn't like last year's game. There was a lot of pressure in that game. This was like being a spectator, he was so dominant."

Ryan became more effective with the fastball, hitting a high of 96 mph on a pitch to Carter in the fourth. Ryan had nine strikeouts with the fastball, six with the curveball and one with the change-up.

Ryan had a string of 18 consecutive outs end with a two-out walk to Carter on a full-count pitch in the seventh. With Buechele at his side on the mound, Ryan took a few moments to gather himself after the walk and retired Olerud on a pop-up to the infield.