With one out in the top of the sixth inning, Cito Gaston of the San Diego Padres hit a Tom Seaver pitch into the glove of the New York Mets' Art Shamsky in right field.

Ten batters later, no other San Diego batter had managed to hit another fair ball against the New York ace. And when the game was over, Seaver walked off the Shea Stadium mound with 19 strikeouts and a National League pitching masterpiece.

On April 22, 1970, Seaver authored a two-hitter against the Padres for a 2-1 win. He fanned 19 of the 31 batters he faced, including the last 10 in a row.

After Gaston's flyout, Seaver fanned Al Ferrara – whose second-inning home run accounted for the Padres' only run on the night – to end the inning. Seaver then struck out Nate Colbert, Dave Campbell and Jerry Morales in the seventh, and followed that up by striking out Bob Barton, Ray Webster and Ivan Murrell in the eighth. Van Kelly and Gaston fanned for the first two outs in the ninth – and Ferrara ended the game as the victim of Seaver's 19th strikeout.