RetroSimba

(Updated Sept. 27, 2019)

Reggie Cleveland may have been an unlikely candidate to nearly pitch the Cardinals’ first perfect game. Ken Rudolph may have been one of the unlikeliest batters to keep him from achieving perfection.

On Sept. 27, 1973, Cleveland faced the minimum 27 batters in pitching a one-hitter against the Cubs at St. Louis.

Rudolph, a catcher batting eighth, was the only Cubs player to reach base. He singled in the sixth, then was erased on a double play.

Cleveland, 25, hadn’t won since Aug. 22, losing four consecutive decisions, but the right-hander threw just 78 pitches in subduing the Cubs.

“I had an unbelievable fastball,” Cleveland said to The Sporting News. “I put it where I wanted almost every time and the ball kept jumping.”

Said Cardinals catcher Ted Simmons: “That’s as good a one-hit perfecto as you’ll ever see. Reggie didn’t make a really bad pitch all night.”

Cleveland retired the first 16 Cubs batters. With one out in the sixth, Rudolph, who entered the game with a .196 batting average, singled sharply to left.

“Rudolph hit a good pitch, a slider low and away,” Simmons said.

The next batter, pitcher Burt Hooton, bunted. Cleveland fielded the ball and threw to shortstop Mike Tyson for the force on Rudolph at second base. Tyson fired the relay to second baseman Ted Sizemore, covering first, to complete the double play.

In the bottom of the inning, Lou Brock lined a two-run home run into the seats in right against Hooton, producing the game’s only scoring.

“That was the first changeup I’ve hit out of the park in five years,” Brock said to the Chicago Tribune.

Cleveland set down the Cubs in order in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, finishing the gem in 1 hour, 40 minutes.

“The fastball was the best I’ve ever had,” Cleveland told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The ninth inning was relatively drama-free. Glenn Beckert flied out, Pete LaCock struck out and Adrian Garrett grounded out. Boxscore

The final out by Garrett provided a twist.

Four years earlier, May 27, 1969, Cleveland’s wife gave birth to their first child, a daughter. That night, Cleveland, pitching for the Cardinals’ minor-league Arkansas affiliate, pitched a one-hitter versus Shreveport, facing the minimum 27 batters. The lone hit was a second-inning single by Adrian Garrett.

The one-hitter versus the Cubs was the last game Cleveland pitched for the Cardinals. He was traded to the Red Sox after the season. A year later, October 1974, the Cardinals acquired Rudolph to be Simmons’ backup.