Seattle Mariners Top 5 (Near) No-No’s In Franchise History

3. Johnson’s Farewell Almost No-No- July, 16th, 1998

The Mariners would trade Randy Johnson at the 1998 trade deadline to Houston, but before he left, he gave us something to remember him by: a near no-no.

Two weeks before the trade, The Big Unit would step to the mound against the Los Angeles Angels. It would be the third to last time we would ever see him in a Mariner uniform.

Through the first three innings, Johnson cruised by unscathed. In the fourth,  he would have to endure one of the most unusual innings he would ever pitch. In that frame the first batter reached

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on an error. The next would take one more bag on a walk. Then, following a pop-out, Johnson would balk. Somehow though, by innings end, Johnson still had a no-hitter in tact.

The tallest Mariner would struggle in the 6th, walking a couple more batters. Yet, he was still in line for the no-hitter. That was until, with one out in the eighth.

Johnson would face his former teammate, five outs away from pitching his second no-no. Brent Gates, the career .264 hitter would be the man to crack Johnson’s blank slate. Gates would get enough power behind the bat to push the ball onto the outfield grass. The no-no was gone.

He would finish strong after the hit, and finish with an impeccable line of: 9IP, 1H, 3BB, 11K.