June 17, 2003: Mets pitchers nearly perfect in franchise’s 25th one-hitter

On June 15, 2003, Steve Trachsel pitched the 24th one-hitter in New York Mets franchise history, an 8-0 win over the defending World Series champion Anaheim Angels. The Mets’ road trip crossed the country the next day, heading east to face the Florida Marlins in Miami. After a fifth-place National League East Division finish in 2002, New York had changed managers in the offseason. Art Howe, who had managed the Oakland A’s for the previous seven years and led them to the postseason the previous three, replaced Bobby Valentine. Despite the managerial change, however, the Mets had spent most of the 2003 season in fifth place in the NL East.

Going into 2003, Florida had a streak of five straight losing seasons after winning the 1997 World Series. When the Mets arrived in Miami on June 16, the Marlins were on their fifth manager since that championship season: Jim Leyland, John Boles, Tony Pérez, Jeff Torborg, and now Jack McKeon. Torborg, hired for 2002, had gone 79-83 that season. With the 2003 Marlins at 16-22 on May 10, including seven losses in their last eight games, Torborg was fired. Miami owner Jeffrey Loria asked longtime major-league manager and general manager McKeon to replace Torborg. The 72-year-old McKeon had been out of baseball since 2000 and was living in North Carolina.1

On June 16 Florida took the first game of the four-game series with the Mets, giving the Marlins an 18-15 record with McKeon in the dugout. Rookie left-hander Dontrelle Willis2 threw a one-hitter to beat New York, the second one-hitter the Mets had been a part of in as many days. He outdueled future Hall of Famer Tom Glavine, whose four hits allowed included a solo home run by Cooperstown-bound Iván Rodríguez in the fourth, the only run scored in the game.

Jae Weong Seo started for New York the next night. Signed by the Mets in 1998, the right-hander from Korea had Tommy John surgery in 1999, then reached the majors briefly in 2002.3 In 2003 the 26-year-old Seo made the Mets’ starting rotation when several teammates struggled in spring training.4 He entered the game with a 4-2 record, including wins in his last three starts, and a 2.88 ERA.

Seo retired the side in order in the first. With two outs in the second, Florida’s Derrek Lee hit a long fly ball to right. It looked as if it might leave the ballpark, but Jeromy Burnitz made a leap at the wall to rob Lee of a home run for the third out. “I had a good jump on it. Me and my six-inch vertical leap was enough,” said Burnitz of his catch.5 Seo put up two more one-two-three innings in the third and fourth.

Matching Seo zero-for-zero was right-hander Carl Pavano. He had joined the Marlins in July 2002 in a trade with the Montreal Expos.6 The 27-year-old Pavano had a 5-7 record and a 4.53 ERA after losing his most recent start, 4-1, in Milwaukee.

The Mets’ Ty Wigginton singled in the top of the first but was caught stealing. Burnitz singled in the second but went nowhere after Pavano induced a lineout and groundout. Pavano struck out two in the third to retire the Mets in order. He gave up a pair of singles in the fourth, but a 4-6-3 double play ended another Mets scoring opportunity.

New York had another chance in the fifth when Jason Phillips led off with a single and reached second on a balk. But a pair of fly-ball outs and a groundout ended the frame.

When Seo struck out Mike Lowell to open the bottom of the fifth, he had set down 13 Marlins in a row. Juan Encarnación then smashed a liner off the left-field wall, breaking up Seo’s perfect game.7 The ball was so solidly struck that Encarnación had to settle for a single. The Marlins finally had a baserunner, but he was soon erased: After Seo made two pickoff throws to first, Encarnación ran on the third pitch and was thrown out by catcher Phillips.8

Lee followed with another long drive, but center fielder Timo Pérez caught it in front of the 434-foot marker.

“I should hit them a little farther. [Seo] hit his spots and changed speeds well,” said Lee.9

The starters traded three-up, three-down innings in the sixth.

With one out and the count full in the seventh, Burnitz hit the ball over the left-field wall to put the Mets in front, 1-0. It was the 11th homer of the season for Burnitz, who had backed Trachsel with two home runs two days earlier.

“At the time that was a big hit,” said Burnitz. “The way Jae was pitching I thought that would be all we would need.”10

Seo got two groundball outs in the seventh before he asked the trainer to visit the mound. He had split a nail on the index finger of his throwing hand, and it was decided he should leave the game. “I thought it was best for the team,” said Seo.11 Right-hander David Weathers, a 33-year-old, 13-year veteran and a Marlin from 1993 to 1996, took over pitching duties and retired the next four batters.

Pavano set down the Mets in order in the eighth, but Wigginton led off the ninth with a home run, making the score 2-0. When Roberto Alomar reached on shortstop Álex González’s error on Alomar’s bouncer, McKeon replaced Pavano with left-hander Armando Almanza.

Almanza’s first pitch to Cliff Floyd was wild, sending Alomar to second. Floyd then hit a high fly ball to left that Todd Hollandsworth dropped for another error. With runners on second and third, Almanza gave a free pass to Burnitz to set up a double play.

McKeon now brought in right-hander Allen Levrault.12 Phillips hit a single up the middle to score Alomar. After Tony Clark struck out, José Reyes hit a sacrifice fly to left. Floyd scored another run.

Roger Cedeño pinch-hit for Weathers and singled to center. Burnitz crossed the plate to make the score 5-0. Perez flied out for the third out.

Howe turned to closer Armando Benítez to pitch the bottom of the ninth.13 The right-handed Benítez got González to ground out and Hollandsworth to fly to center. Benítez struck out pinch-hitter Andy Fox for the final out, with the game taking just 2 hours and 17 minutes to complete.

Pavano, who had matched Seo until Burnitz’s seventh-inning homer, took the loss. “Pavano had to deal with what Tom Glavine dealt with last night,” said Howe afterward. “Sometimes you’re in the wrong spot in the rotation.”14

The Mets gave up one hit, issued no walks, and made no errors. It was the 25th one-hitter in the franchise’s 41-season history. Through the 2025 season, it was the only time their pitching staff had faced the minimum 27 batters in a nine-inning game. “I didn’t realize it was a team record, but I did know it was a well-pitched game,” said Howe. “We’ve been pitching up a storm lately.”15

“We play a lot of games, and they all tend to blend together,” said Weathers. “But that was pretty special, to face only 27 guys. Give the credit to [Seo] – he did all the work.”16

For the third straight game, New York had been involved in a one-hitter. “Maybe [Brad] Penny will throw a one-hitter [tomorrow]. I hope [Al] Leiter doesn’t throw a one-hitter and we’ll be all right,” said Marlins center fielder and leadoff hitter Juan Pierre.

“That’s the crazy thing about baseball, a tale of two nights. I don’t think we looked as bad as they did against Dontrelle [Willis] the other night, but it was the same effectiveness.”17

A one-hitter was not in the cards the next night for either team as the Mets beat Florida, 10-5. The 2003 season turned out to be the second of three straight fifth-place finishes for the Mets. Benítez was traded to the New York Yankees for three prospects on July 16. Weathers was traded to the Houston Astros in June 2004, and Seo was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in January 2006.

The day after the Mets left town in June 2003, the Marlins upgraded their offense by promoting 20-year-old Miguel Cabrera from Double A and installing him in left field. Florida won at a .605 clip under McKeon and finished with a 91-71 record to earn the NL wild card. The Marlins beat the San Francisco Giants in the NL Division Series and the Chicago Cubs for their second NL championship. They went on to defeat the Yankees in the World Series, making McKeon the oldest manager at that time to win a World Series championship.18

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Bruce Slutsky and copy-edited by Len Levin.

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/FLO/FLO200306170.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2003/B06170FLO2003.htm

Notes

1 McKeon had managed the Kansas City Royals, Oakland A’s, San Diego Padres, and Cincinnati Reds. He also was the general manager of the Padres from 1981 to 1988, earning the moniker Trader Jack for his willingness to trade players.

2 Willis went on to win the 2003 NL Rookie of the Year award with a 14-6 record and a 3.30 ERA.

3 Seo became the eighth Korean player appear in a major-league game when he pitched a scoreless eighth inning on July 21, 2002. Chan-ho Park was the first, pitching for the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 8, 1994.

4 Pedro Astacio had biceps tendinitis and David Cone was experiencing hip pain.

5 Harvey Fialkov, “Mets Return Fire with Own One-Hitter,” South Florida Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale), June 18, 2003: C1.

6 The Expos traded Pavano, Graeme Lloyd, Mike Mordecai, Justin Wayne, and a minor-league player to the Marlins for Cliff Floyd, Wilton Guerrero, Claudio Vargas, and cash.

7 Anthony Rieber, “One by One by One,” Newsday (Long Island, New York), June 18, 2003: 56.

8 Phillips was called up from the Triple-A Norfolk Tides in May after Mike Piazza suffered a groin injury that forced him to miss over two months of the season. Phillips originally played backup to Vance Wilson while also playing first base.

9 Harvey Fialkov, “Mets Return Fire with Own One-Hitter.”

10 Peter Abraham, “Mets Are One-Hit Wonders,” White Plains (New York) Journal News, June 18, 2003: C1.

11 Charlie Nobles, “Mets Face the Minimum in Another One-Hitter,” New York Times, June 18, 2003: D1.

12 Levrault pitched in two more games for the Marlins, his last two major-league appearances, on June 18 and 27. Florida released him on July 12, 2003.

13 Benitez was the sole Mets player chosen for the 2003 All-Star Game.

14 Harvey Fialkov, “Mets Return Fire with Own One-Hitter.”

15 Charlie Nobles, “Mets Face the Minimum in Another One-Hitter.”

16 Peter Abraham, “Mets Are One-Hit Wonders.”

17 Fialkov.

18 In 2022 at age 73, Dusty Baker managed the Houston Astros to the World Series championship.