Burlington Bees at Springfield Cardinals
August 13th, 1993
| Burlington |
|
|
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
0 |
0 |
2 |
| Springfield |
|
|
0 |
1 |
0 |
|
0 |
1 |
2 |
|
0 |
0 |
X |
|
|
4 |
8 |
0 |
E-Pages, Hmielewski, LOB BUR-0, SPR-6, 2B-Taylor, Gulan, SB-Johns
Cardinals
| Name |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
SO |
Decison |
| T.J. Mathews |
9 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
11 |
W (10-8) |
HB-Pacheco (Landinez), Alcantara (Mathews), WP-Pacheco, CI-Pages
U-Inman, Krieger
T-2:20
A-1,744
Springfield State Journal Register
August 14th, 1993
by Hal Pilger
Friday the 13th?
"This is the best day of my life so far" Springfield Cardinals pitcher T.J. Mathews said Friday night after he hurled a nine inning no hit, no run game against the Burlington Bees in the Cards' 4-0 Midwest League victory at Lanphier Park.
Mathews carried a perfect game into the eighth inning and retired the first 22 batters he faced before hitting Israel Alcantara with a slide that slipped.
Mathews, 10-8, then induced Charles Lee to ground into a second-to-short-to-first double play and set down the order in the bottom three of the Burlington order 1-2-3 in the ninth, striking out number 9 hitter Rich Harr on a 3-2 pitch to end the game.
It was the 11th strikeout of the game for Mathews, matching a season high he accomplished twice previously. Once was against Burlington, a team he's beaten three times without a loss. He also had an eight inning one hitter against the Bees.
"I really like to pitch against a lot of the righ hand hitters, and there were only two left handed hitters in the lineup tonight" noted Mathews, who consistently got ahead in the count, even in the later innings.
"I think my strenght is throwing the fastball and the slider. With a bunch of left handers in there. I have to work more with my changeup, and that's the pitch I have the most trouble with of my four pitches. I really didn't have to throw it too much tonight"
"The slider was my out pitch, definately. I felt good. Whenever I did have to throw my changeup or my knuckle-curve I got them over".
Mathews, a Columbia High School graduate who as a junior pitched his team to the Class A state championship at Lanphier Park, hurled his gem in front of about 15 or 20 friends and his mother and father-former major leaguer Nelson Mathews, who played for the Chicago Cubs and Kansas City Athletics.
Before entering the clubhouse Mathews stopped to sign autographs for a number of awe-struck youngsters. But no one was more impressed with his effort than the two opposing managers.
"He was very aggressive on the mound", said Burlington manager Lorenzo Bundy. " He went right at our hitters, had command of his fastball and his slider and thre them for strikes. He didn't beat himself."
"I think he got to a point where he could taste it. It was one fo the finest pitching performances I've ever seen in the last few years, and i've seen some dominating performances by guys who are in the big leagues now" Bundy said. " This ranks right up there"
Commented Springfield manager Mike Ramsey, " That's probably the best game I've ever seen pitched really at any level"
"I've been involved as a played with two no hitters. One was with Springfield when Silvio Martinez pitched one at Omaha (in the Class AAA American Associaiton) and I saw Bobby Forsch do it in St. Louis"
"But i'm not sure i've ever seen a guy that dominant from start to finish" Ramsey said. "He only had a three ball count on two hitters. He was ahead all night."
"He was one pitch from perfect. He was outstanding."
The Cards collected eight hits and scored one run in the second, one in the fifth and two in the sixth. Eddie Williams had an RBI single in the second and a sacrifice fly in the sixth to drive in two of the runs.
DaRand Stovall, Gary Taylor and Mike Gulan each went 2 for 4, with Gulan's sixth inning double driving in Taylor, who had doubled.