A Fascinating History of Extra Inning No-Hitters the Pittsburgh Pirates Were Part of

May 26th, 1959

This one is probably the one many baseball fans are most familiar with. Right handed Pirates’ starter Harvey Haddix threw 12 straight perfect innings in what would be one of the greatest single game pitching performances of all time. In fact, to this day, this outing by Haddix is known as ‘the greatest game ever pitched’.

The only problem? It ended in the Pirates losing.

Haddix might have been perfect through 12, but the Milwaukee Braves were matching punch for punch. Braves’ starter Lew Brudette went 13 innings as well, but gave up 12 hits. Even though Bill Mazeroski, Dick Schofield, and Don Hoak had multi-hit games, they just couldn’t string their hits together.

Entering the 13th inning, the game was still tied at zero. The Pirates had 12 hits while the Braves hadn’t even had a base runner all day. But Hoak made an error at third base to open the door. Eddie Matthews Jr. stepped to the plate, and did exactly what you would expect with a guy with a career 512 home runs, and .509 slugging percentage. Eddie placed down a sac-bunt, moving Mantilla to second base. Then Hank Aaron stepped to the plate, and was intentionally walked for pretty obvious reasons.

Then an unlikely hero stepped into the batter’s box in the form of Joe Addock. A guy who had a solid career, but not one that wouldn’t seem like a hero in a line-up with Eddie Matthews Jr. and Hank Aaron. He hit a double, driving in Mantilla. Brudette finished the game, meaning the Braves won the game 1-0, and in the most unlikeliest of fashions: an error by a guy who was considered a top defensive third baseman in the MLB, a bunt from a guy who would later become part of the 500 home run club, and a double from a guy who was overshadowed by huge names in the line-up.

Baseball, man.