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In the opening series of the 1998 TCBA Today season, Randy Johnson proved either how good he is, how bad the Newmarket
EH's are, or both! He completely dominated EH''s hitters in pitching the first no hitter of the
season, leading the Bethesda Bambinos to a 9-0 pasting of the EH's. To set the stage, Newmarket had already been outscored 10-3 by Bethesda in the first two games of the season, and Johnson's mound opponent was Jamey Wright - a Grade 1 (the lowest possible rating) starter...a sure win, no doubt for the Big Unit. Johnson's teammates got him two early runs on RBI by Piazza and Belle and he never looked back. Newmarket did not even come close to getting a hit, with only Melvin Nieves doing anything off Johnson, walking once.
Johnson's teammates added runs in 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 9th to make it 9-0 heading to the bottom of the ninth. Johnson was to face Steve Finley, Carlos Garcia and Jim Thome in the 9th. Finley whiffed easily, Sandberg pinch hit for Garcia and walked, Thome followed with a walk and Johnson was in near trouble. Todd Zeile then struck out and Cal Ripken bounced out to end it. Overall, Johnson struck out 7 and walked three.
The game was a real contrast in styles, Johnson was near perfect, while Wright allowed 6 runs on 10 hits in 4 2/3 innings before being injured. This brought the Bambinos recored to 3-0 and the EH's to 0-3.
The Bambinos' offensive stars were Mike Piazza and Jay Bell, who went a combined 9-for-9 on the day.
This was the second time the EH's have been no-hit in the first series of the season. Denny McLain did the trick for the Cleveland Spiders on opening day 1970.
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