Johnson Fans Twelve,
Needs Only One Run

Randy Johnson faced 30 batters on a sunny afternoon at Dodger Stadium. He struck out 12 of them. He allowed two singles and a walk. He needed one run from his offense, got it in the third inning, and that was the end of the conversation.

The line score reads 1–0, which tells you almost nothing about how thoroughly Johnson controlled this game. Three baserunners in nine innings. Five of the nine frames were perfect. The last four innings were all 1-2-3, Johnson retiring the final 12 batters he faced in order. Seventy-eight of his 108 pitches were strikes — a 72.2 percent rate that made beantown’s swings look optional.

Three baserunners in nine innings. Twelve strikeouts in 108 pitches. Five perfect frames — the last four in a row.

The first inning signaled what was coming. Randy Winn lined a single to lead off the game — the first of just two hits Johnson would allow all day — and then the strikeouts began. Bobby Bonnell went down. Miguel Cabrera went down. Joe Medwick went down. Three consecutive punchouts to strand the leadoff single. Johnson had his first baserunner and his response was to erase the next three batters without discussion.

The second and third innings were perfect. So was the sixth. So was the seventh. So were the eighth and ninth. Johnson carved through the lineup as though working from a script he had already finished writing.

His only walk came in the fourth, to Cabrera, and Johnson treated it the way he treated Winn’s single in the first — by striking out everyone around it. Bonnell went down to open the inning. After the walk, Medwick struck out. Then Strawberry struck out. Three strikeouts sandwiching a base on balls. Cabrera was stranded and irrelevant.

The fifth inning produced the game’s last baserunner. Nomar Garciaparra singled, the second and final hit off Johnson. Tucker Barnhart struck out for the first out. Wes Farrell grounded into a double play. The threat lasted two batters. From that moment forward, no one from beantown would reach base again.

The lone run that decided this game came in the bottom of the third. Smith singled and stole second. Lewis walked. Jack Cust punched a single between first and second, and Smith came home. It was scrappy, small-ball manufacturing on a day when one run was always going to be enough.

Darryl Strawberry, beantown’s cleanup hitter, went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts. He never put the ball in play. Mark Ellis struck out twice. Bonnell struck out twice. Medwick struck out twice. Cabrera struck out twice. Six of the nine batters in beantown’s starting lineup struck out at least once. Lopez, who pinch-hit in the eighth, struck out on his only plate appearance. Johnson was an equal-opportunity executioner.

Gavin Floyd deserves more than a footnote. Beantown’s starter pitched eight full innings, surrendered five hits and a single earned run, and absorbed the loss. A 1–0 defeat on a day when your pitcher goes eight strong is as cruel as baseball gets. Floyd did his job. He happened to be standing across from Randy Johnson.

Johnson’s record moved to 13–4. His ERA settled at 2.26. It was not a perfect game. It was three baserunners away from one. On this afternoon at Dodger Stadium, the margin was barely worth mentioning.