Cincinnati Reds pitcher Homer Bailey threw the second no-hitter of his career in a 3-0 win against the San Francisco Giants before 27,509 fans on Tuesday night at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.
Bailey threw his first no-hitter in a 1-0 win against the Pittsburgh Pirates on September 28.
"You have to have an I-don’t-care attitude in the late innings," Bailey said after the game, as reported by C. Trent Rosecrans, Reds beat writer for the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Bailey had a perfect game through six innings, retiring 18 batters in a row. He had seven strikeouts on 69 pitches.
After retiring his first 12 batters, the Cincinnati Reds tweeted that Bailey had a perfect game through four innings, and fans' expectations began growing. He stayed perfect through the fifth and sixth innings.
Bailey got some breathing room when Brandon Phillips hit a two-run home run after Joey Votto singled to center in the bottom of the sixth inning, extending the Reds’ lead to 3-0.
He walked Gregor Blanco to start off the seventh and the perfect game disappeared, but the no-hitter was still alive. Marco Scutaro grounded out to third, then Buster Posey grounded into a fielder’s choice to first while Blanco was tagged out at third after a baserunning mistake. Bailey struck out Pablo Sandoval swinging to end his half of the seventh.
Bailey had the no-hitter going into the eighth inning with eight strikeouts, one walked batter and 89 pitches.
Bailey got Hunter Pence to pop it up to lead off the eighth, and he was five outs away from his second no-hitter. Brandon Belt and Andres Torres both flied out, and Bailey was three outs away.
Bailey entered the ninth inning with the no-hitter intact.
He picked off a bouncing ball hit by the first batter, Brandon Crawford, and threw him out for the first out of the inning. He struck out Tony Abreu to move within one out of the no-no. He got Blanco to ground out to third for the final out, and history was made.
He threw his arms up into the air with the final out as his teammates swarmed him and gave him a Gatorade bath near the pitcher's mound.
It was the first no-hitter in the majors this season and also the first no-hitter since Bailey did it last season.
He finished the game with nine strikeouts and one walk.
What a historic performance.
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com
- Login to post comments