Giants' Jonathan Sanchez tosses no-hitter against Padres

San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Jonathan Sanchez was having a season to forget. He entered his start against the San Diego Padres with a 2-8 record and a 5.30 ERA, while allowing 44 runs and 46 walks in 69 innings pitched.

The 26-year old avenged not only a disappointing season, but a disappointing career with one magical night. One he probably thought would never happen. One he won’t forget.

With one out in the ninth inning, Sanchez fired in a fastball that Padres pinch-hitter Edgar Gonzalez didn’t miss. San Diego’s best hitter didn’t hit the high offering well enough, though.

Aaron Rowand, a former Gold-Glove winner, followed the ball off the bat, sprinted backwards, reached the warning track in dead center-field, leaped, and caught the liner Gonzalez desperately wanted to drop for a hit. It would have been the first hit of the game for the Padres.

Sanchez hardly reacted to the catch. He was in a zone and knew the extraordinary play would have little significance if he didn’t retire rookie Everth Cabrera.

The home-crowd, filled to the rafters of San Francisco’s AT&T Park, stood as one, clapping frantically once Rowand tracked down the fly-ball. The camera focused on Sanchez’s family. Each looked on anxiously. The 30,000 other fans that packed the stadium did as well. The raucous crowd wanted this for him, as much as he needed it for himself, his career.

In each of his first three seasons, Sanchez flirted with a 5.00 ERA, failing to consistently provide for the Giants. Once a highly touted prospect, he quickly became trade bait. San Francisco tried and tried to find a trade partner, and was close to dealing him to the New York Mets before the deal fell through.

Despite his uncertainty with the franchise that drafted him in the 27th round (820th overall) in the 2004 Amateur Draft, he found himself in the rotation to start this 2009 season. The Giants had faith in him, that he would turn into the pitcher that they named their 2nd top prospect in 2007.

Sanchez featured a 95-mph fastball with late life, which overwhelmed the light-hitting Padres early and often, but not Gonzalez late. He offset this pitch with a slider with a tailing action that moves away from right-handed hitters and in to lefties. This combination put him into the history books.

Rowand’s out preserved Sanchez’s no-hit bid, but Juan Uribe’s eighth inning fielding error ruined his chance for the major league’s first perfect game since Randy Johnson, his current teammate, did so against the Atlanta Braves while with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2004. Despite Uribe’s gaffe, Sanchez stayed composed, which gave him the opportunity to salvage the next best thing: a no-hitter.

Cabrera, a 22-year old shortstop with 22 career hits, would need his 23rd to end Sanchez’s dream.

Sanchez missed inside with a curveball, then badly with a slider in the dirt. He persevered, and in a hitters’ count fired in a fastball that nipped the outer-part of the strikezone. Another was similarly placed, and Cabrera managed to just fight it off.

Down to his last strike, Cabrera would have to battle, and attempt to, at the least, foul off anything remotely close. He had to guess Sanchez would pump in an adrenaline-filled fastball, but it was hard to tell.

This was because he didn’t swing. Instead, Sanchez threw a high slider which caught the highest part the strikezone. Cabrera looked mystified as home-plate umpire Brian Runge signaled strike-three.

Sanchez threw his arms in the air as catcher Benji Molina sprinted to the mound for a joyous celebratory hug. His teammates soon followed, mobbing the lefthander in the middle of the diamond. Sanchez, after the ambush, walked aimlessly toward the third base line. He wasn’t jumping for joy. He didn’t know what to do. He was in awe, unable to comprehend his feat.

It took a while to soak in. This was understandable, considering three weeks ago he was demoted to the bullpen, and that, if not for an injury to Johnson, he wouldn’t have taken the mound. The unlikeliest of pitchers made the most of this unlikely opportunity, notching not only the first no-hitter of the season, and the first no-hitter by a Giant in 33 years, but a no-hitter that resurrected a baseball career that, just two hours and 22 minutes earlier, was hanging by a thread.