The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Newcomb falls one out short of no-hitter as Braves win 4-1
On the same afternoon a former Braves star took his place in Cooperstown, a current Brave fell just short of entering the franchise’s record book.
Left-hander Sean Newcomb held the Dodgers hitless for 82/3 innings before finishing one out short of the fourth no-hitter in Atlanta Braves history.
With two out in the ninth inning and a 2-2 count, the Dodgers’ Chris Taylor ended the no-hit bid with a clean single into left field, out of the reach of Braves third baseman Johan Camargo.
“I was happy to get to that point and annoyed it was just a ground ball through the hole,” Newcomb said. “In hindsight, you’d like to throw a different pitch or something. But I ... will just take that and go forward.”
Braves manager Brian Snitker lifted Newcomb, who had thrown 134 pitches, after Taylor’s hit. Reliever Dan Winkler allowed a run-scoring single before finishing Atlan- ta’s 4-1 victory.
Newcomb’s near-miss leaves the Braves with just three no-hitters since the franchise moved to Atlanta in 1966: by Phil Niekro vs. the San Diego Padres on April 5, 1973; a combined effort by Kent Mercer, Mark Wohlers and Alejandro Pena vs. the Padres on Sept. 11, 1991; and by Mercker vs. the Dodgers on April 8, 1994.
Newc o mb’s bid came against a heavy-hi t ting Dodgers team that leads the National League in home runs and ranks second in the league in OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage).
“It’s one of those lineups you’ve got to bring your ‘A’ game against to put up some zeroes and give your team a chance to win,” Newcomb said. “You kind of step it up against teams like that.”
Newcomb retired the Dodgers’ first 15 batters of the game in order. The Dodg- ers got their first baserun- ner when Yasiel Puig walked to lead off the sixth inning, but Newcomb then got the next three batters in order, striking out two of them, to strand Puig at first base.
The 1-2 pitch to Taylor in the ninth was close to a game-ending strikeout, but the umpire was correct in calling it a ball, both Newcomb and catcher Kurt Suzuki said afterward. The pitch was high, they agreed.
“I was crushed,” Suzuki said of his reaction to Taylor’s hit. “It felt like we lost, like that was a walk-off hit.”
“Any time you’ve got (two out and) two strikes in the ninth inning and a no-hitter, that’s pretty good,” Snitker said. “It’s just a shame he couldn’t get it.”
The Braves, who had scored a combined four runs in the first three games of the series against the Dodgers, all Atlanta losses, scored four in the first three innings Sunday. Three consecutive twoout hits — a single by Fred- die Freeman and doubles by
Nick Markakis and Suzuki — scored two runs in the first inning. A two-run homer by Markakis in the third inning made it 4-0.
During the game, some offe n sive social-media posts from Newcomb’s past resurfaced on Twitter. The homophobic, racist and sexist tweets that came to light Sunday were posted by Newcomb in 2011 and 2012, when he was 18 years old.
About a half-hour after talking to the media, Newcomb reappeared in the clubhouse to address a very different subject.
“I just want to apologize for any insensitive material,” Newcomb said. “It was a long time ago — six, seven years ago — saying some stupid stuff with friends. I know I’ve grown a lot since then. I didn’t mean anything by it. It was just something stupid that I did a long time ago.”
Newcomb said he saw that his tweets had resurfaced on social media when he looked at his phone shortly after Sunday’s game.
His teammates had left the stadium by the time he discussed the issue with the media.
“I think people that know me know that’s not the kind of person I am,” Newcomb said.
Major League Baseball said it will have Newcomb take part in diversity training.