1991 Fleer Update #U-90

Darryl Kile's First Start Houston 1 Cincinatti 0 (13) April 24, 1991

1991 Upper Deck # 774

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	R	H	E
Cincinatti Reds	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
Houston Astros	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	10	0

Well, sure, this game has gotta be considered the second greatest starting debut by an Astro hurler just up from the farm, with JR Richard's debut taking its rightful place as the best. But despite Kile's out of the blue fantastic pitching (and I'd be interested in how he mixed in his curveball, which appears to have been a kind of secret weapon for DK early in his career), this game teetered on the edge of disaster for four innings, until Ken Oberkfell finally came through in the clutch. And I don't use the word disaster lightly, either; despite the fact that Houston was going nowhere in 1991, while still being very happy about their future, games like these can taint both an organization and a player for years to come. "Astros waste rookie Kile's no-hit effort" or some such could've been the headline. That's not gonna stay with people?
So after Kile was pulled by Art Howe, it became important for the Astros to win the game. Fortunately, they did, thus securing that "second greatest debut" thing for Kile. But there was so much more that made the game fascinating to take apart: Notice that you have an ex-Astro (Billy Doran) breaking up the no-hitter, while another player who once broke up an Astro no-hitter in the ninth (Ken Oberkfell) drives in the only run of the game. Notice also how young the Astros are. Oberkfell, Ramirez and Candaele were the only Astros over 30 the day this game was played. It is I guess not surprising that as good as the young Astros in this game ended up being (25 All-Star appearances between them, with a couple MVP awards thrown in, and don't forget the no-hitter Kile got), that one of the greybeards ended up driving in another with the game's only run.

Cincinatti Reds AB R H RBI Billy Hatcher, lf 4 0 0 0 Herm Winningham, cf 4 0 1 0 Barry Larkin, ss 4 0 0 0 Paul O'Neill, rf 3 0 0 0 Hal Morris, 1b 5 0 0 0 Luis Quiñones, 3b 5 0 1 0 Scott Scudder, p 0 0 0 0 Mariano Duncan, 2b 5 0 0 0 Jeff Reed, c 5 0 0 0 Jack Armstrong, p 2 0 0 0 Bill Doran, ph 1 0 1 0 Ted Power, p 0 0 0 0 Glenn Braggs, ph 1 0 0 0 Don Carman, p 0 0 0 0 Rob Dibble, p 0 0 0 0 Chris Sabo, 3b 1 0 0 0 Cincinatti totals 40 0 3 0

Houston Astros AB R H RBI Eric Yelding, ss, cf 6 0 0 0 Steve Finley, cf 4 0 1 0 Rafael Ramirez, ph, ss 2 1 2 0 Craig Biggio, c 5 0 1 0 Ken Caminiti, 3b 6 0 1 0 Luis Gonzalez, lf 5 0 1 0 Dwayne Henry, p 0 0 0 0 Ken Oberkfell, ph 1 0 1 1 Jeff Bagwell 5 0 1 0 Karl Rhodes, rf 5 0 2 0 Mark McLemore, 2b 4 0 0 0 Darryl Kile, p 2 0 0 0 Al Osuna, p 0 0 0 0 Dave Rohde, ph 0 0 0 0 Curt Schilling, p 0 0 0 0 Casey Candaele, ph, lf 0 0 0 0 Houston totals 46 1 10 1