August 21, 1969, Montreal: Padres 1, Expos 0 (box score)
Joe Niekro, Jerry Robertson, and a whole lot of zeroes. That was the story on a late-August Thursday in Montreal.
The Expos had an early opportunity in the second, when Coco Laboy reached third with one out on an error by left fielder Al Ferrara, but couldn’t score. In the sixth, they put runners at the corners with two out, but Laboy popped up to catcher Chris Cannizzaro to end the threat. Other than that, Montreal never came close.
The Padres, for their part, didn’t have much more success against the rookie right-hander Robertson. In the fifth, Cito Gaston reached second on an error by Laboy to start the inning. After Cannizzaro sacrificed Gaston to third, though, Tommy Dean struck out into a double play (Gaston was caught trying to steal home) to keep the game scoreless.
In the ninth, the Padres again put a runner on third with one out. This time, Ferrara grounded to shortstop and Larry Stahl popped out to end the inning.
In the 10th, San Diego finally broke through against Robertson. Gaston led off with an infield single. Cannizzaro sacrificed him to second, and Tommy Dean drew a walk. With Niekro batting (!), Robertson uncorked a wild pitch, advancing the runners to second and third. Niekro then hit a fly ball to left that was deep enough to plate Gaston for the game’s only run.
Both pitchers went the distance, allowing 11 hits between them over 10 innings. Niekro improved to 7-11 on the season, while Robertson dropped to 4-10. Small consolation though it may have been, the Padres were gaining ground on their fellow expansion team from north of the border, and now only 1 1/2 games separated the two in their battle for worst team in baseball.
Sounds like an exciting game. Gems like this, no matter how rare, probably made the fans a bit happier even then. I know, these days, that kind of games are exciting.