What may be regarded as the most noteworthy of Smith's accomplishments on the baseball diamond occurred on July 12, 1997. Smith hit a 3-run home run off of John Hudek in the bottom of the 10th inning in a 0-0 game to give the Pittsburgh Pirates a 3-0 win over the Houston Astros. The home run also ended the first extra-innings combined no-hitter in MLB history. Francisco Córdova no-hit the Astros in the first 9 innings, while reliever Ricardo Rincón pitched a hitless 10th inning for the Pirates.