Boston Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek wanted a slider. Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling wanted to throw a fastball. A’s third-base coach Rene Lachemann signaled batter Shannon Stewart to take the first pitch. Stewart wanted to swing.
At stake were Schilling’s first no-hitter and the protection of a 1-0 lead with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning Thursday afternoon.
Schilling shook off Varitek. Stewart blew off Lachemann. Just like that, a confluence of decision-making by four people conspired to undo Schilling’s no-hit bid as Stewart lined Schilling’s pitch past second baseman Alex Cora and into right field.
Schilling regrouped and induced Mark Ellis to pop out to Cora two pitches later for a bittersweet victory that prevented the A’s from sweeping the four-game series from the Red Sox at McAfee Coliseum.
“I was sure,” Schilling said of his confidence in securing the no-hitter. “I had a plan. I shook (Varitek) off. I get to think, ‘What if?’ for the rest of my life.”
Schilling retired 27 of the 29 hitters he faced. Seventy-one of his 100 pitches were strikes, and he issued no walks.
His bid for a perfect game ended with two outs in the fifth when Dan Johnson’s seemingly routine ground ball hit off the heel of shortstop Julio Lugo’s glove and fell to the ground. Lugo recovered but not in time to get off a throw.
“You name it, he had it going for him today,” Johnson said of Schilling. “He was just on.”
Oops, they did it again
It is not the first time a Boston pitcher shook off Jason Varitek in the ninth inning only to see a no-hitter get broken up. Pedro Martinez did it in 2000 against Tampa Bay, giving up a single to John Flaherty on a fastball instead of the curve for which Varitek called. “Hindsight is always 20-20,” Varitek said.
