August 18, 2003: Steve Trachsel throws his second one-hitter of season to lead Mets past Rockies

The New York Mets were on a five-game winning streak, their longest of the 2003 season, when they took the field on August 18, 2002. After beating the San Francisco Giants in the first two games of a homestand at Shea Stadium, they won the first three games of a Friday-Monday series against the Colorado Rockies, outscoring the Rockies 24-8. Despite the winning streak, New York was still in last place in the National League East Division with a 53-69 record.

Steve Trachsel started Monday afternoon’s game for the Mets. He had been dealing with back issues all season and was not announced as the starter until a few hours before the game. The 31-year-old right-hander was 11-7, giving him three straight seasons with 11 wins since joining the Mets as a free agent in December 2000. His season highlight to date was a one-hitter on June 15 against the Anaheim Angels.

The Rockies, under second-year manager Clint Hurdle,1 were in fourth place in the NL West Division, 14 games behind the San Francisco Giants. Hurdle – whose playing career had included 59 games as a Met in the 1980s – started rookie Chin-hui Tsao, only the second player from Taiwan to pitch in the majors.2 The 22-year-old right-hander had been called up at the end of July and was 2-0 after four starts.

When Chin took the mound in the bottom of the first, some fans in the crowd of 23,856 waved Taiwanese flags in celebration. With one out, rookie shortstop Jose Reyes singled to extend his hitting streak to 17 games. Mike Piazza, who had returned from a groin injury on August 13, hit Chin’s second pitch over the left-field wall for his ninth home run to put the Mets in front, 2-0.

The home run gave Piazza 345 in his career as a catcher, six behind all-time leader Carlton Fisk.3 “I was glad I didn’t go up there and waste these at-bats in Binghamton,” said Piazza of his minor-league rehabilitation assignment.4 

Trachsel retired the first four Rockies batters of the game on fly balls to Cliff Floyd in left.5 Trachsel needed just 10 pitches to set down the side in the second. An infield popout and two groundouts retired Colorado in the third.

New York struck again in its half of the third. Reyes led off with his second single and wasted no time picking up his 12th stolen base. It was Reyes’ 18th game with multiple hits since the All-Star break. “He’s on fire. This kid’s really been making it happen for us,” said Mets manager Art Howe.6

The speedy Reyes took third on Piazza’s fly out. With two outs, Jason Phillips hit his 10th home run to extend the Mets lead to four runs.

After Todd Helton flied out to end another one-two-three inning in the fourth, Helton, the Rockies’ All-Star third baseman, told Trachsel “You know you’re throwing a no-no, don’t ya.”

Trachsel replied, “Don’t worry, there’s a curse here, it’s not going to happen, so don’t worry about it.”7 Trachsel continued to pitch a perfect game through the fifth inning.

Colorado’s Charles Johnson grounded out to third to start the sixth. Tony Womack, a three-time stolen-base champion, then bunted up the third-base line. Trachsel ran to get the ball and whipped it to first to nip Womack. Seventeen Rockies had been retired in a row.

“I just picked it up and winged in the general direction of first base. Luckily, it was there,” said Trachsel.8

Hurdle let Chin, who was 0-for-8 in the majors, bat for himself. Chin hit the first pitch to center. Center fielder Timo Perez did not get a good jump on the ball and it sailed over his head.

“I was playing in because it was the pitcher,” Perez said. “I broke as quickly as I could. It was just over my head. There was no way that I could have caught the ball.”9

Trachsel kicked at the grass in disgust when he saw the ball drop in the outfield. “It was a fastball right down the middle, a mistake on my part. Right off the bat I knew it was a hit,” he said.10 He recovered to get Ronnie Belliard on a fly to left.

The Mets added to their lead in the bottom of the sixth. Joe McEwing singled to center with two outs. Trachsel followed with a single to right to put runners at the corners. Cedeño singled up the middle to plate McEwing.

Hurdle replaced Chin with right-hander Adam Bernero, who had joined the Rockies in a midseason trade with Detroit.11 Bernero walked Reyes to load the bases. Piazza hit the ball to rookie third baseman Garrett Atkins.12 His throw to first was wide and Trachsel and Cedeño scored. Reyes reached third and Atkins was charged with an error.

“It’s fun to do good things and win ballgames,” said Piazza, who was 6-for-15 since returning from the disabled list.13

Floyd singled to bring home Reyes and the Mets were ahead 8-0.

Trachsel retired the next seven batters. In the ninth Greg Norton became the second Colorado player to get on base. First baseman Phillips backhanded a grounder but tossed it away as Trachsel covered the base. The official scorer originally called the play a hit but it was later changed to an error on Phillips.

Belliard flied out to left and René Reyes grounded out to short for the final two outs. The loss was the fifth in a row for the Rockies, dropping their record to 61-66. “A bad stretch at a bad time,” said Helton. “We didn’t do anything right. We gave games away, we found ways to lose. It was an overall terrible performance when we needed a good one.”14

Trachsel – in 103 pitches and 2 hours and 28 minutes – earned his second one-hitter of the season, the first time a Mets pitcher had accomplished that feat.

He became the fourth pitcher – following Tom Seaver, Gary Gentry, Jon Matlack, and David Cone – with multiple one-hitters as a Met.15 It was the third one-hit complete game of his career; as a Chicago Cub, he had one-hit the Houston Astros in 1996.16

“Based on the balls that were hit, I was surprised that there was only one hit given up. They hit a lot of balls hard right at guys,” said Trachsel. “It wasn’t like I was fooling them. They hit a lot of at-’em balls.”17

Trachsel acknowledged the difficulty of getting a no-hitter, saying, “I don’t strike out guys like Nolan Ryan or Mark Prior. They probably go out there all the time thinking they can pitch a no-hitter. That’s the last thing I think about. When you make guys hit the ball, some of them are going to get through.”18

Trachsel’s win gave him 12 for the season, one more than in his previous two seasons with the Mets. It also tied him with Al Leiter for the most wins on the team. Trachsel eventually finished with a 16-10 record, his best during his six years in New York.

The win was the sixth in a row for the Mets. They were 6-0 on the homestand while outscoring their opponents 46-14. It was their first four-game sweep at Shea since sweeping the Cincinnati Reds in 1997.19

“The hitting is contagious from top to bottom, and they’re fun to watch,” said Howe. “Reyes is making it happen for us. But today it was all about Trachsel.”20

The Mets would win four more series in 2003 but continued to struggle. After going 7-19 in September, they finished with a 66-95 record, fifth in the NL East. Howe, who had been hired from the Oakland A’s after New York fired Bobby Valentine at the end of the 2002 season, was unable to replicate his success in New York.21

Trachsel remained with the Mets through the 2006 season. He went 66-59 with a 4.09 ERA in 160 games – all starts.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Victoria Monte and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Photo credit: Steve Trachsel, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author used Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for the box score and other material.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN200308180.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2003/B06150ANA2003.htm

Notes

1 Hurdle had become the Rockies manager after Buddy Bell was fired 22 games into the 2002 season. His record in 2002 was 67-73.

2 Chin-Feng Chen was the first player from Taiwan to play in the majors. He appeared in 19 games with the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2002 to 2005.

3 Piazza surpassed Fisk on May 5, 2004, with his home run at Shea Stadium against the San Francisco Giants. It was his 352nd home run as a catcher and his 363rd overall. Piazza finished his career with 427 home runs, 396 of them as a catcher.

4 Peter Botte, “Reyes Runs Rockies Ragged and Hitting Streak to 17,” New York Daily News, August 19, 2003: 78.

5 Floyd had played through several injuries in 2003, the latest being an Achilles tendon injury. He left the game in the ninth when Howe sent in Raúl González as a defensive substitution. Floyd’s season was finished and he had surgery shortly after the game.

6 Botte, “Reyes Runs Rockies Ragged and Hitting Streak to 17.”

7 Peter Botte, “Trach Hits Snag in Perfection Bid,” New York Daily News, August 19, 2003: 78.

8 “Trach Hits Snag in Perfection Bid.”

9 Bill Finley, “Not Perfect, but Trachsel and the Mets Will Take It,” New York Times, August 19, 2003: D1.

10 Bob Herzog, “A One-Hit Wonder,” Newsday (New York), August 19, 2003: 94.

11 Bernero was traded by the Detroit Tigers to the Colorado Rockies for Ben Petrick on July 13, 2003.

12 Atkins made his major-league debut on August 3, 2003.

13 Bob Herzog, “A One-Hit Wonder.”

14 Troy Renck, “Shutout Stamps Season on Skids,” Denver Post, August 19, 2003: D1.

15 Tom Seaver threw five one-hitters with the Mets and Trachsel, Gentry, Matlack, and Cone had two apiece.

16 On May 13, 1996, Trachsel and the Cubs beat Houston 6-0 at Wrigley Field.

17 Associated Press, “Another New York Blackout,” Fort Collins Coloradan, August 19, 2003: 14.

18 Bob Herzog, “A One-Hit Wonder.”

19 The loss was the fifth in a row for the Rockies, dropping their record to 61-66. They flew to Miami to play the Florida Marlins and swept the three-game series. But they would win only one more game in August and go 9-14 in September to finish fourth in the NL West.

20 Bob Herzog, “A One-Hit Wonder.”

21 Howe managed Oakland to a 600-533 record over seven years. The A’s made the postseason in his last three years as manager but lost in the AL Division Series each year.