July 6, 1991: Mike Bielecki takes no-hitter into seventh inning as Cubs pound St. Louis

After languishing with the Pittsburgh Pirates from his major-league debut in September 1984 through the 1987 season, Mike Bielecki was traded to the Chicago Cubs in March 1988.1 In 19 games that season, including five starts, he was 2-2 with a 3.35 ERA.

In 1989 the 6-foot-3 right-hander appeared in a career-high 33 games, all starts, and threw a career-best 212⅓ innings. Of his four complete games, three were shutouts.2 He finished 18-7 with a 3.14 ERA and was a key to the Cubs’ unexpected push to the National League East Division title.

The next season, Bielecki fell to 8-11 with a 4.93 ERA in 36 appearances (29 starts) as the Cubs dropped to fourth place in the division.

In 1991 Bielecki bounced between the rotation and the bullpen during the first three months of the season. Three times he was demoted to Chicago’s bullpen only to pitch his way back into the starting rotation.3 In 23 appearances through June 28, he started nine times and finished eight other games (but had no saves).

“I think when I got here, he was in the bullpen,” said Cubs manager Jim Essian, who had taken over for Don Zimmer on May 22. “Then he started a couple games and he didn’t do very well. Then he was back in the bullpen because we wanted to give Les Lancaster a chance to start. But we need him back in the rotation with [Danny] Jackson and [Rick] Sutcliffe out.”4

After missing a scheduled start on July 2 because of an inflamed elbow,5 the 31-year-old Bielecki was 8-6 with a 4.32 ERA when he took the mound on a muggy Saturday night in St. Louis in front of a crowd of 48,313. It was his first start since June 10, when he gave up nine hits and six runs in 2⅔ innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Wrigley Field. Back on April 24, he had started against the Cardinals at Busch Stadium and held them to two hits in seven innings.

The Cardinals entered with a 43-36 record, in third place in the NL East, five games behind the defending division champion Pittsburgh Pirates. Behind a complete game from rookie Frank Castillo, Chicago had won the first game of the three-game series the previous night to improve to 37-43 and close to within 6½ games of the Cardinals for third place.

St. Louis started 35-year-old right-hander Bryn Smith, who was 7-4 with a 3.55 ERA in 16 starts. He needed just seven pitches to get through the first. After Chico Walker singled to start the game, Mark Grace hit a first-pitch fly ball to center. Two pitches later, Ryne Sandberg bounced into a 1-6-3 double play.

After Bielecki worked around a one-out walk to Ozzie Smith in the Cardinals’ first at-bat, he helped give himself the lead. Andre Dawson and George Bell opened the second with singles. Catcher Rick Wilkins, who had made his big-league debut on June 6, struck out on a foul bunt, but Shawon Dunston’s grounder to the shortstop with the runners going put two in scoring position.

With Bielecki on deck, Bryn Smith threw two balls to Doug Dascenzo, and St. Louis manager Joe Torre chose to intentionally walk Dascenzo to fill the bases. Bielecki, just 2-for-17 for the season at the plate,6 fell behind 0-and-2 but coaxed a walk from Smith7 to bring Dawson home with the game’s first run. Walker grounded the next pitch to first baseman Pedro Guerrero, who made an error,8 allowing two runs to score for a 3-0 Chicago lead.

The game then turned into a pitching duel as Bielecki and Smith put zeros on the board from the second inning through the sixth. Bielecki retired all 15 batters he faced. Smith was almost as good, allowing just three baserunners – two on infield errors – and inducing two double plays.

Scott Terry took over on the mound for St. Louis in the seventh, after Smith had been removed for pinch-hitter Rex Hudler. Chicago pounced immediately; Dunston and Dascenzo singled to put runners on the corners. Bielecki delivered his second RBI when his bouncer to second scored Dunston. After Walker grounded out to second, Juan Agosto replaced Terry and retired Grace on the third straight grounder to second baseman Luis Alicea.9

Bielecki entered the top of the seventh having retired 17 straight Cardinals. The streak ended when he walked leadoff batter Ozzie Smith on a full-count pitch.

But Bielecki still had not allowed a hit – a feat a Cardinals fan made sure Bielecki knew by leaning over the Cubs dugout and yelling, “Hey, you’ve got a no-hitter going. Did you know that?”10

Bielecki was aware, admitting later, “In the fifth, I looked up at the scoreboard to see what the Pirates were doing. I kind of noticed the no-hitter, but it was still so early. In the seventh, I walked Ozzie Smith again and I kind of knew what was going on.”11

One out later, the drama was over when Bielecki hung a slider to Guerrero, who hammered the ball 426 feet into the center-field bleachers12 to cut the Cubs’ lead to 4-2. The blast was just the second ball hit by the Cardinals to leave the infield. Guerrero’s home run was his third in his last five games but was just his seventh of the season – still the most to that point for the Cardinals, who went on to hit a major-league low 68 home runs in 1991.13

“If you’re gonna bust it up, bust it up like that,” mused Bielecki.14 “I watched, I knew what was going on. But after that, I just had to forget about it and get back to what I was doing.”15

After Bielecki retired Gerald Perry and Todd Zeile on grounders, the Cubs struck for three runs in the eighth to make the score 7-2. Sandberg led off with a walk and scored when Dawson launched a homer to deep left-center. Jerome Walton, who had entered in left when Bell came out after the top of the sixth with an inflamed knee,16 doubled and was bunted to third by Wilkins. Cris Carpenter relieved Agosto and allowed a double to Dunston that scored Walton.

Bielecki pitched a scoreless eighth but surrendered singles to Tom Pagnozzi and Milt Thompson. In the dugout, he informed Essian that he felt twinges in his elbow;17 in the ninth inning he was replaced by Heathcliff Slocumb.

When Slocumb took the mound, the game was out of reach because Chicago had plated five more runs. The Cubs greeted reliever Bob McClure with four consecutive hits: singles by José Vizcaíno18 and Grace, an RBI single by Sandberg, and an RBI double by Dawson.

Willie Fraser relieved McClure but was no more effective. Walton doubled19 to bring in Sandberg and Ced Landrum, who had run for Dawson. One out later, Walton advanced to third and then home on wild pitches by Fraser to make the score 12-2.

Slocumb disposed of the Cardinals in the ninth, allowing just a single to Guerrero.20

“It’s nice to get back out there and get a win for the club,” said Bielecki of his start. “And it’s nice to get some confidence back. It hasn’t been easy, being shuffled around like I have been.”21

“That felt good,” he added. “I’ll do either one, but I think I can help the ballclub more as a starter. I’d like to go out in the second half and get 15 starts and try to help get this pitching staff straightened out.”22

After the All-Star break, Bielecki’s next 15 appearances were starts but he was just 4-5 with a 4.85 ERA. On September 29 he was traded to the Atlanta Braves and pitched 1⅔ innings in two relief appearances.23

In 1992 Bielecki was 2-4 with a 2.57 ERA in 19 games (14 starts) as the Braves advanced to the World Series and lost to the Toronto Blue Jays in six games. Bielecki did not appear in the postseason.

Beginning with the 1993 season, Bielecki signed a series of free-agent contracts that took him to Cleveland (1993), back to Atlanta (1994), to the California Angels (1995), and back to Atlanta for a third time (1996-97). In 1996 he helped the Braves to the World Series and appeared in two games as the Braves lost to the New York Yankees in six games.

Bielecki ended his career with a mark of 70-73 and a 4.18 ERA in 347 games, including 178 starts.

Author’s Note

The author and his wife attended this game and the previous day’s game just four weeks after their wedding.

Sources

In addition to the references cited in the Notes, the author consulted data from Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN199107060.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1991/B07060SLN1991.htm

The author also consulted the WGN-TV broadcast of the game, which he has on compact disc.

Notes

1 After a 19-3 record in Triple-A Hawaii in 1984 and a September call-up to Pittsburgh, Bielecki made the Pirates rotation to start the 1985 season. He made six starts before getting demoted to Hawaii in mid-May, then recalled in September. As it turned out, Bielecki pitched the entire 1985 season with back pain but did not tell the Pirates. A postseason examination by a team doctor revealed a herniated disk and Bielecki underwent surgery. He recovered to make Pittsburgh’s Opening Day roster in 1986 and went 6-11 with a 4.66 ERA in 27 starts. Bielecki was cut during spring training in 1987 and sent back to Pittsburgh’s Triple-A team, which was now in Vancouver, where he was 12-10 record in 26 starts. With trade rumors swirling, Bielecki was called up in mid-August for eight starts to end the 1987 season. On March 31, 1988, the Cubs obtained Bielecki for minor-league pitcher Mike Curtis, who never reached the major leagues. Bob Hertzel, “Young Blue Eyes: Bielecki Can Be Star Attraction for Pirates,” Pittsburgh Press, March 31, 1985: D6; Bob Smizik, “… And They’re Planning to Leave Bielecki Behind,” Pittsburgh Press, August 10, 1987: D1; Bob Hertzel, “Bielecki Certain He Can Pitch in Majors,” Pittsburgh Press, March 12, 1988: C1.

2 Bielecki had just one other shutout in this career. It came on April 16, 1992, with the Atlanta Braves when he struck out nine and limited Los Angeles to two hits in a win at Dodger Stadium.

3 Andrew Bagnato, “Bielecki Bounces Back with a Flourish,” Chicago Tribune, July 7, 1991: 3-2.

4 Dan O’Neill, “Bielecki Hopes Cubs Have a Start on Bigger Things,” St. Louis Post Dispatch, July 7, 1991: F1.

5 Bagnato.

6 Bielecki ended 1991 3-for-46 (.065). For his 14-year career he hit .078 (22-for-282).

7 Entering the game, Smith had walked just 22 batters in 106⅓ innings.

8 The play could have been scored a hit. The ball was sharply hit, bounced off the dirt in the cutout of the artificial turf in front of Guerrero, and hopped over his glove. The Cardinals, the NL’s top fielding team, made three errors in this game and total of eight over the last four games. Associated Press, “Cubs, Bielecki Blasts Cards, 12-2,” South Bend (Indiana) Tribune, July 7, 1991: B6.

9 Alicea was hitting .393 at Triple-A Louisville when he was called up on June 14. Dan O’Neill and Rick Hummel, “Perry Answers Bell, Plays Left Field,” St. Louis Post Dispatch, July 7, 1991: F1.

10 Bagnato.

11 Associated Press, “Cub Pitcher Happy with Three-Hitter,” Lincoln (Nebraska) Journal Star, July 7, 1991: 1D.

12 Hummel.

13 Guerrero hit just one more homer in his final 145 at-bats in 1991 and one in 146 at-bats in 1992, his last season in the major leagues. Zeile led the Cardinals with 11 home runs in 1991 and was the only Cardinals player to reach double figures.

14 Bagnato.

15 O’Neill.

16 Hummel.

17 The twinges turned out not to be serious. After the All-Star break, Bielecki remained in the Cubs rotation until he was traded in September.

18 Vizcaíno had replaced Walker at third base to begin the bottom of the seventh.

19 Walton’s drive hit the top of the wall in left, about a foot from being a home run.

20 Entering the game, Guerrero was a career .339 hitter with 16 home runs against the Cubs. He was 6-for-14 in this three-game series.

21 O’Neill.

22 O’Neill.

23 Bielecki was traded with catcher Damon Berryhill for minor-league pitchers Yorkis Pérez and Turk Wendell. Because they were acquired after the August 31 deadline, Bielecki and Berryhill were ineligible to appear on Atlanta’s playoff roster.