September 3, 2006: Four pitchers combine for Mets’ 29th one-hitter in loss to Oswalt, Astros

The New York Mets took the field at Minute Maid Park against the Houston Astros on September 3, 2006, for the final game of a six-game road trip. After winning the first two games of the series, New York was looking to complete a sweep and build on their 16½-game lead in the National League East Division.

The Mets had added several players before the 2006 season – Carlos Beltrán, Shawn Green, and Chris Woodward – to improve their offense, and it had worked. New York had barely exceeded the NL average with 4.46 runs per game in 2005, but the ’06 Mets’ 5.15 scoring average topped everyone but the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves. Two Mets, center fielder Beltrán and shortstop José Reyes, went on to notch the franchise’s first Silver Slugger honors in four years.1

Houston, one year removed from its first World Series appearance,2 was in third place in the NL Central Division, seven games behind the St. Louis Cardinals.

Several days earlier, the Mets were close to a trade for Houston ace Roy Oswalt, whose 3.12 ERA was third in the NL.3They were hoping to conclude a three-team trade with the Astros and the Baltimore Orioles, but the deal fell apart at the August 31 trade deadline.4

Oswalt took the mound for the series finale. The 28-year-old right-hander had a 10-8 record, including a win over the Mets at Shea Stadium on July 23.

At Minute Maid Park, he faced a New York lineup without two of its best hitters. Beltrán, a former Astro and future Hall of Famer, made a great catch in the Mets’ win the previous night but ran into the fence and hurt his knee. Third baseman David Wright did not play because Randolph gave him a day off. Oswalt dispatched the Mets in order in the first three innings, striking out four in a row in the second and third.

Orlando Hernández,5 acquired in a May trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks, started for the Mets.6 New York brought in Hernández to improve their rotation and felt like the four-time World Series champion’s postseason history would be beneficial.7 “I know he can pitch,” said Mets manager Willie Randolph when the trade was announced. “He’s a competitor. The later the season gets, the more of an impact he has on your team.”8

The 40-year-old right-hander had gone 7-5 since joining the Mets. But he had not pitched since August 20 due to fatigue. At the time, Hernández said “(It’s) my first time in the last three years I’ve thrown consecutively more than maybe 25 starts. I (am) feeling good but I’m a little tired.”9 Randolph said Hernández “wanted the ball” when he announced the lineup before the game.10

Hernández gave up a two-out walk to Mike Lamb in the first, but two pitches later a groundout ended the frame.

The Astros put together a stiffer threat in the second. Aubrey Huff led off with a single and was running on a full-count pitch to Luke Scott. Scott took ball four, but catcher Mike Difelice threw down to second anyway, and when the throw went into center field, Huff continued to third. With Astros at the corners and no outs, Hernández struck out Adam Everett, and Brad Ausmus popped out to short. Scott stole second to put both runners in scoring position, and Hernández walked Oswalt to load the bases. He got out of the jam by striking out Willy Taveras.

Hernández walked future Hall-of-Famer Craig Biggio in the third but got the next three batters out on an unassisted groundout to first, a strikeout, and flyout to center. He retired the Astros in order through the next two innings.

Meanwhile, Oswalt had another perfect sprint through the Mets’ batting order, putting up one-two-three innings in the fourth, fifth, and sixth, and the game remained scoreless.

After getting Lamb to fly out to start the bottom of the sixth, Hernández walked Lance Berkman and Huff. Randolph went to the mound to talk to Hernández. “He was pitching his heart out. It was his game to win,” said Randolph after the game.11

But Hernández hit Scott to load the bases, and Randolph went to his bullpen for Roberto Hernández. The 41-year-old right-hander—no relation to Orlando Hernández—was picked up in a deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates at the trade deadline.12 He entered with a 2.61 ERA in 11 appearances since the trade.

Everett laid a squeeze bunt past the mound on the third-base side. Berkman scored to put the Astros ahead, 1-0. “I didn’t try to think about it too much. When the ball came, I tried to get it down any way I could,” said Everett.13

“I wish (Roberto Hernández) was left-handed,” Randolph said. “I think he would’ve caught it. It’s a very risky play. They were fortunate on that. It was a terrible bunt, but he put it in the right spot. Very rarely will you see a squeeze with the bases loaded. It worked.”14

Hernández intentionally walked Ausmus to load the bases again but got out of the inning when Oswalt grounded out to second.

Oswalt took his perfect game into the seventh, but the speedy Reyes led off with a bouncer to shortstop. Everett, an outstanding defensive player, tried to barehand it but couldn’t hold on. It was scored a single, and the Mets had their first baserunner.

“Reyes is going to get hits like that, so it’s not a fluke that it happens,” said Astros manager Phil Garner.15 Oswalt shrugged off the hit when asked about it, saying, “I knew I had a long way to go, nine outs to go. Mentally, it’s tough. You make one mistake over the plate and [the Mets] can hurt you.”16

Endy Chávez—playing center in Beltrán’s place—sacrificed Reyes to second. Cliff Floyd’s groundout to second pushed Reyes to third. After Oswalt gave an intentional pass to Carlos Delgado, Green’s liner to second ended the Mets’ chances to tie the game.

Houston added a second run, also without getting a hit, in the bottom of the seventh. Taveras walked and stole second. Biggio’s sacrifice moved him to third. With Darren Oliver now on the mound for New York, Jason Lane hit a sacrifice fly to deep center to score Taveras and make it a 2-0 game.

New York had another chance to score on Oswalt in the eighth. José Valentin led off with a single. Oswalt retired the next two batters. Pinch-hitter Michael Tucker doubled to put two runners in scoring position. Garner brought in Chad Qualls, who got the final out when Reyes grounded to short.

Guillermo Mota, the fourth Mets pitcher, entered in the eighth. He walked Scott, who stole second and reached third on a groundout. Scott was stranded after Ausmus grounded out to short.

Brad Lidge was called on to get his 29th save for Houston. He struck out Chávez and got Floyd to line out to left. Down to the final out, Delgado hit a solo home run, his 35th of the season and 404th of his career, to deep left field to make the score 2-1. Green ended the game by grounding to second.

Oswalt, who went on to finish first in the NL with a 2.98 ERA, said “Overall, stuff-wise, this was probably the best I’ve had in a while. I had all four pitches working.”17

“You kind of had a feeling (Oswalt) just might pull [a no-hitter] off. Even as good as (the Mets) are hitting, he was throwing well,” said Garner. “And when he has his pitches working for him the way he did, I thought he might have a chance.”18

The four Mets pitchers gave up just one hit, Huff’s single in the second. It was the second time that the Mets lost when their pitching staff allowed just one hit. The first time was on September 14, 1991, when the only hit was a two-run single by the Cardinals’ Ray Lankford off David Cone. As of 2026, it was the only time that the Astros – who joined the NL with the Mets in 1962 – had ever won a game while getting one hit or fewer.

The loss was just the third for the Mets in the past 16 games. In addition to the return of Hernandez, they headed home with future Hall of Famer Tom Glavine back in the rotation and expecting another injured starter and future Hall of Famer, Pedro Martinez, to be activated soon.19 New York finished first in the NL East and returned to the postseason for the first time since 2000. They lost in the NL Championship Series to St. Louis, the eventual World Series champions.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Bruce Slutsky and copy-edited by Mike Eisenbath.

Photo credit: Orlando Hernández, 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/HOU/HOU200609030.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2006/B09030HOU2006.htm

Notes

1 Catcher Mike Piazza was a Silver Slugger in 2002.

2 Houston was swept by the Chicago White Sox in the 2005 World Series.

3 Oswalt trailed the Cardinals’ Chris Carpenter (2.87) and Josh Johnson of the Florida Marlins (2.99).

4 Newspaper accounts said the Mets were going to trade top prospect Lastings Milledge to Baltimore, the Orioles would send Miguel Tejada to Houston, and Oswalt would go to New York. At the last minute, Houston cancelled the trade and signed Oswalt to a five-year, $73 million dollar contract. David Lennon, “Just About Unhittable,” Newsday (New York), September 4, 2006: A46.

5 Hernandez was popularly called El Duque by the press.

6 Arizona traded Hernández to the Mets for Jorge Julio on May 24, 2006.

7 Hernandez had pitched in the postseason for the New York Yankees from 1998-2002. He was 9-3 with a 2.51 ERA during that stretch. Hernandez also pitched four scoreless innings and gave up just one hit in relief for the White Sox in the 2005 postseason when they won the World Series.

8 David Lennon, “El Duque Fills Big Hole,” Newsday, May 25, 2006: 80.

9 Peter Botte, “Tired Duque Skipped,” New York Daily News, August 25, 2006: 80.

10 John Delcros, “Mets No Match for Oswalt,” White Plains (New York) Journal News (New York), September 4, 2006: 5C.

11 Delcros, “Mets No Match for Oswalt.”

12 Hernández and Óliver Pérez were traded to the New York Mets for Xavier Nady on July 31, 2006.

13 Brian McTaggart, “It’s a 1-Hit Wonder,” Houston Chronicle, September 4, 2006: C1.

14 Michael Morissey, “Wizard Os Near Perfect; Oswalt Stifles Amazin’s in Houston,” New York Post, September 4, 2006, https://nypost.com/2006/09/04/wizardof-os-near-perfect-oswalt-stifles-amazins-in-houston/.

15 Brian McTaggart, “It’s a 1-Hit Wonder,” Houston Chronicle, September 4, 2006: C1.

16 Glen Duncan, “Oswalt Too Hot for Mets,” Glen Falls (New York) Post-Star, September 4, 2006: A46.

17 Duncan, “Oswalt Too Hot for Mets.”

18 McTaggart, “It’s a 1-Hit Wonder.”

19 Glavine experienced numbness in his ring finger due to a blood clot in his left (pitching) shoulder. He missed a few weeks as the situation was resolved and returned in early September. Martinez strained his right calf in August, forcing him to miss one month of the season. He later suffered a season-ending tear in his left calf in late September.