PITTSBURGH -- Jim Bibby, the Pittsburgh Pirates' veteran ace right-hander, wasn't about to pop any champagne to celebrate his second career one-hitter Tuesday night, a 5-0 victory over the Atlanta Braves.
'I'm excited about it, but I'm not going to jump up and click my heels together. I'd have felt the same way if we'd won, 2-1,' Bibby said after his triumph snapped the Pirates' three-game losing streak. 'It just felt good to win.'
Bibby's performance was nearly perfect. After leadoff batter Terry Harper opened the game with a single that Pirate Manager Chuck Tanner called a 'pool cue shot,' Bibby retired 27 straight batters.
It was the second shutout and second complete game this season for Bibby, now 2-2.
'I don't feel any different than any time I win,' Bibby said. 'Maybe I've been in the game too long. No, I'm just kidding, but I feel the same as always.'
Bibby was a member of the Texas Rangers when he pitched his other one-hitter against Kansas City in 1973 -- the same year he tossed a no-hitter against Oakland and a two-hitter against California.
But back then Bibby got the batters out with a blazing fastball that he estimates he threw at 100 m.p.h. or better. Tuesday night he said he used good location to get his outs. His fast ball, he joked, 'was about 60 mph tonight.'
'I had that feeling that I was in control,' he said. 'Sometimes you know when you can throw to the inside corner or the outside part of the piate. And tonight I could tell I could hit the corner, throw the ball where I wanted to. Even when I got behind a big hitter like (Chris) Chambliss, I knew I could go for that outside spot and get it there.'
Bibby's hitting was almost as good as his control. He had two doubles in three at bats, scoring the Pirates' second run in the fifth inning off Braves' knuckleballer Phil Niekro, 2-2, and driving in Steve Nicosia with the fifth run in the sixth.
Nicosia was on base with a double that had driven in Mike Easler aad Phil Garner, chasing Niekro.
Omar Moreno singled in the Pirates' first run in the second, and Lee Lacy doubled in Bibby in the fifth.
The Pirates, who had been in a team-wide hitting slump, used Monday's off-day for some extra batting practice and the results paid off. They got 11 hits, 10 of them off Niekro, who usually is very tough against Pittsburgh.
'The funny thing,' said Pirate right-fielder Mike Easler, 'is that Niekro had a good knuckler tonight. In fact, he had one of his better one. I think the off day really helped us.'
