Pirates pitcher Kingham nearly perfect in his debut
Nick Kingham accomplished something Sunday that only one major-league pitcher had achieved in the past century.
In his big-league debut, Kingham carried a perfect game into the seventh inning to lead the Pirates to a 5-0 win over St. Louis in Pittsburgh. He joined Johnny Cueto (then with the Reds) in 2008 as the only pitchers in the past 100 years with one hit allowed, at least nine strikeouts and no walks in his debut.
“That’s how you plan it up, not to let anybody on,” Kingham said. “It’s incredible how it happened. Just kind of starting from the get-go, it went well . ... It’s corny, but it took everybody. I’m really fortunate and really happy about it.”
The 26-year-old righthander retired 20 straight before Paul DeJong singled down the left-field line with two outs in the seventh.
The crowd responded with an ovation before Kingham retired Marcell Ozuna. The fans stood and cheered while Kingham walked off the field and waved. He finished with nine strikeouts on 98 pitches, 72 for strikes.
More than the numbers, Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle was pleased with Kingham’s poise.
“It was his next start. Watching him, it was just his next start,” Hurdle said. “It had to be more than that. He compartmentalized very well.”
Elias Diaz went 3-for-4 with three singles and two RBIs as the Pirates won their fifth straight game and completed a three-game sweep of the Cardinals hours after Kingham was recalled from Triple-A Indianapo- lis for a spot start.
The Elias Sports Bureau said no pitcher in the Expansion Era — since 1961 — had taken a perfect game bid so far in his debut. Wayne Simpson of the Reds in 1970 and Ken Cloude of the Mariners in 1997 each set down their first 16 batters.