Today in Jays History: Brandon Morrow Throws One-Hitter

14 Years Ago

Brandon Morrow threw 8.2 no-hit innings. The Jays would win 1-0. It is likely the best pitching performance I ever watched.

With two out in the ninth, Evan Longoria hit a ground ball between second and first. Aaron Hill made a super effort to get to the ball and got a glove on it, but it bounced off the glove and into right field. He wouldn’t have a play at first if he had caught the ball. I’ll put a gif of the play at the bottom of the post. Hill hoped the official scorer would call it an error, but it wasn’t.

It was a fantastic start; Morrow struck out 17 (one shy of the Blue Jays franchise record, owned by Roger Clemens) and walked just 2. He faced four batters above the minimum. From the recap, his 100-Game Score tied for the fourth-best game score since the lively ball era started in 1920. The guys with better game scores? Kerry Wood (105), Nolan Ryan (101, against our Jays), and Sandy Koufax (101). Pretty good company.

He threw 137 pitches, something a pitcher with his injury troubles shouldn’t do. I would have taken him out after the hit, but he went on to get Dan Johnson to strike out to end the game. Most managers would have pulled him after the single (and 132 pitches), but Cito wanted him to walk off the field with a complete game.

The no-hitter almost ended in the second of the ninth inning; Rays Jason Bartlett hit a fly ball to the wall in center field, and Vernon Wells made a terrific catch. If there hadn’t been a no-hitter, I was sure that Vernon would have played it off the wall. Vernon ended up with a dislocated toe but would miss just one game. With 17 strikeouts, our defence didn’t need to make many great plays, but Vernon’s was as good a catch as you’ll see.

On the offensive side, the Jays only had five hits. Our run came in the first inning. Yunel Escobar took a one-out walk (after leadoff hitter DeWayne Wise lined out). Escobar went first to third on a ground out and scored on Wells’ single. Morrow made that run stand-up.

The other rather incredible moment in the game was Jose Molina’s stolen base. That would be Molina’s only steal of the season, but he would steal 2 more for us next season (and 20 in his 15-year career).

Anyway, it was Morrow’s day. In the recap, I said:

For Morrow, it was his first complete game and his first shutout. And he is just 26; he’ll have more days like this.

I was wrong.

Brandon played in 100 games, making 93 starts, and had a 34-31 record and a 4.40 ERA in five seasons with the Jays. After leaving the Jays, he played with three teams: the Padres, Dodgers, and Cubs. You’ll remember he appeared in all seven World Series games in 2017 with the Dodgers.

His last season was 2018. He played in 334 games, starting 113. He had a 51-43 record, 40 saves, a 3.96 ERA, 368 walks and 877 strikeouts.

The Hill play:

It is also Al Woods’ 71st birthday. Al was an original Blue Jays, playing in the very first game. He came into the game in the 5th inning to have a pinch-hit home run.

He spent six seasons (1977 to 1982) with the Blue Jays, playing 595 games (mostly as a left fielder), hitting .271/.325/.385 with 24 home runs. His best season was .300/.364/.480 with 15 home runs in 109 games, for a 125 OPS+ (his only season above 100). I remember it because I played Strat-O-Matic Baseball, and he was the best hitter on that team.

I wish I knew enough about him for a full post, but the above is all I know about him. He was traded to the A’s after the 1982 season, but they released him before the season and became back to the Jays, playing in Triple-A for two years. In 1985, he signed with the Twins, playing for them in Triple-A, with a brief (28 at-bats) in the majors.