Rays’ bid for first combined perfect game foiled in ninth
The Tampa Bay Rays took a combined perfect game into the ninth inning before Hanser Alberto beat the shift with a leadoff single against Ryan Yarbrough, wrecking history in the making and taking some of the edge off their 4-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday.
Ryne Stanek pitched the first two innings before Yarbrough took over. Yarbrough was literally unhittable until the ninth.
Tampa Bay’s try for the first combo perfect game in the majors came two days after a pair of Angels pitchers teamed up for a no-hitter.
Alberto pushed a grounder to the right side, precisely where the second baseman usually stands. Stevie Wilkerson followed with a single, and an RBI single by Anthony Santander off Oliver Drake enabled Baltimore to break up the shutout.
Emilio Pagan struck out Trey Mancini for his sixth save.
Yarbrough (8-3) allowed only five balls out of the infield by Baltimore, all of them becoming routine outs.
ANGELS WIN, BUT TROUT INJURED >> Rookie Matt Thaiss hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the eighth inning, and Los Angeles completed a three-game sweep. Mike Trout left the game before the third inning due to right calf tightness, but the Angels (48-46) kept rolling two days after their cathartic no-hit victory in their first home game since the death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs.
HALL OF FAMER GIBSON HAS CANCER >> St. Louis Cardinals great Bob Gibson is fighting pancreatic cancer. The St. Louis PostDispatch said the 83-year-old Hall of Famer was diagnosed with the cancer several weeks ago and revealed the news Saturday to the other living Hall of Famers. Gibson’s longtime agent, Dick Zitzmann, told the Post-Dispatch that Gibson has visited The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and has been hospitalized in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, for the past two weeks. Zitzmann said chemotherapy is likely to begin today in Omaha.