Clock Strikes Midnight; Mendoza's No-Hitter Stands
Published on July 19, 2011 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Omaha Storm Chasers News Release
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Luis Mendoza fired the first Omaha no-hitter in 23 years Monday night, but the prevailing story was the back-and-forth ruling that left observers unsure of how to mark his achievement. Controversy notwithstanding, Mendoza pitched a 4-0, no-hit, complete-game, nine-inning shutout over the Memphis Redbirds, walking four batters and striking out seven in the contest. It was his second-career Pacific Coast League no-hitter, one of 10 pitchers in the 109-year history of the league to accomplish the feat and one of just five hurlers to throw two of the nine-inning variety. He joins Tacoma's Dick Estelle (1964-65) as the only PCL pitchers to throw two nine-inning no hitters in the past 95 years.
Moments after celebrating his historic performance, Mendoza was notified that a ninth-inning error by leftfielder David Lough had been changed to a hit, and his no-hitter was no more. One hour later it was back to a no-no, this time apparently for good. The reversal and subsequent "un-reversal" left Storm Chasers players, coaches, management and fans riding a rollercoaster of emotions, with nobody sure of how to react.
The Storm Chasers' Twitter and Facebook pages saw a flurry of activity throughout the late evening, as word spread first of the no-hitter, then the error-to-hit change and later the hit-to-error reversal. One thing was certain; nobody had ever seen anything quite like this in their baseball-viewing lives.
Even as the no-hitter became official again, there remained a window open that could result in a reversal of the un-reversal. As explained in the league rules, should a team or scorer request a league review of a play, there could be additional action taken to either recommend or mandate a change. In the unlikely scenario it reaches that point, more controversy could erupt.
With the victory - that, in fact, is not up for review - the Storm Chasers (53-43, 9-4 head-to-head) clinched the divisional tie-breaker over the Redbirds (49-47, 4-9 head-to-head) and increased their lead in the American Conference Northern Division to four games over Memphis. Omaha is also 10 games above .500 for the first time during the 2011 campaign.
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