Dodgers’ Hill loses perfecto in 9th, gives up walk-off HR for only hit
Josh Harrison ended Rich Hill’s no-hit bid with a walk-off home run in the 10th inning, giving the Pittsburgh Pirates a 1-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday night.
Harrison lifted a 2-1 pitch over the left-field wall. After Hill (9-5) began with eight perfect innings, third baseman Logan Forsythe committed an error with no outs in the ninth, allowing Jordy Mercer to reach.
Hill threw just 99 pitches in the game, 75 of them strikes.
Dodgers left fielder Curtis Granderson made a fearless attempt to preserve the no-hitter, banging into the wall going for a catch. When the ball sailed inches past his outstretched glove, Harrison sprinted around the bases after his 16th home run while Hill (9-5) slowly walked off the field after being handed his first loss in nearly two months.
Seattle ace Felix Hernandez threw the last of the 23 perfect games in the big leagues, in 2012 against Tampa Bay. Since then, three pitchers have lost perfect game tries with two outs in the ninth – Yu Darvish for Texas and Yusmeiro Petit for San Francisco in 2013 and Max Scherzer for Washington in 2015.
Miami’s Edinson Volquez has pitched the only no-hitter in the majors this year, in June against Arizona.
Hill became the first pitcher since Pedro Martinez in 1995 to take a no-hit try into extra innings. Martinez, then with Montreal, lost his perfect game in the 10th at San Diego. Hill finished nine innings with a “0” in the hit column but it doesn’t count as an official no-no.
Red Sox 6, Indians 1
Mitch Moreland and Eduardo Nunez homered, and four Boston pitchers combined for a three-hitter in defeating Cleveland.
Moreland hit a solo home run off Corey Kluber in the fifth inning, and Nunez belted a two-run shot off Bryan Shaw in Boston’s four-run ninth. The Indians’ Edwin Encarnacion homered in the eighth off reliever Addison Reed.
Drew Pomeranz (13-4) pitched 51/3 innings and gave up two hits, with nine strikeouts and four walks.
Cubs 9, Reds 3
Kyle Schwarber hit a three-run homer and Tommy La Stella added a two-run shot as Chicago won its fifth straight.
Mike Montgomery (4-6) allowed four hits in six shutout innings. The Cubs played without third baseman Kris Bryant, who was hit on the hand by a pitch during the ninth inning on Tuesday night. Bryant was replaced by La Stella, who reached base four times.
Yankees 10, Tigers 2
Gary Sanchez continued his power surge with his third homer in two games as New York rolled past Detroit.
Sanchez hit a solo homer in the first inning and added a two-run single in the third. He has homered in six of the past nine games, and he has nine long balls over the past 14 contests, giving him 26 for the season.
Blue Jays 7, Rays 6
Toronto hit six home runs, five of them solo, and Kevin Pillar’s shot in the eighth inning gave Toronto the victory over Tampa Bay.
The teams combined for nine home runs, matching the most in a Rays game. Tampa Bay came back from a 5-0 deficit to tie the game in the seventh, only to leave the bases loaded and see the Blue Jays snap a four-game losing streak.
Mets 4, Diamondbacks 2
Chris Flexen tossed a career-high six innings, and fellow rookies Brandon Nimmo and Dominic Smith combined to score all four runs in New York’s victory over Arizona.
Flexen (3-2), making his sixth career start, allowed two runs, six hits and four walks while striking out five.
Orioles 8, Athletics 7 (12 )
Zach Britton’s American League record streak of consecutive saves ended at 60, but Baltimore still emerged with a victory over Oakland on a game-winning homer by Manny Machado in the 12th inning.
Britton had not blown a save since September 20, 2015.