Madison Bumgarner loses no-hit bid in 6th inning of D-backs loss
Sep 17, 2021, 7:26 PM | Updated: 9:13 pm
Madison Bumgarner had a no-hitter in seven innings earlier this year that didn’t count, and he nearly got a real one on Friday in a 4-3 loss for the Arizona Diamondbacks against the Houston Astros.
The lefty lost the bid in the sixth inning on a two-run homer by Jose Altuve.
Bumgarner was up 0-2 in the count and Altuve skied a high fastball out of the zone into the left-field seats to put Arizona down 2-1.
The D-backs’ Bumgarner should have been going for a perfect game earlier too.
The lone baserunner to reach before that was on a throwing error by third baseman Josh Rojas in the top of the fourth. Altuve reached base on first before Bumgarner quickly got him off the basepaths with a double play.
But earlier in the sixth, Bumgarner walked Houston left fielder Jose Siri, so that “what if?” went out the window and made it a deficit for the D-backs when Altuve homered as well.
Bumgarner was in a great position to go after the no-hitter if he got deeper into the game, as his pitch count was at 52 through five innings.
A solo dinger for D-backs designated hitter Kole Calhoun, also in the sixth, represented the D-backs’ lone run in six innings that Arizona had left seven runners on base in.
Bumgarner exited the game after seven innings at 82 pitches. He gave up one walk and hit for those two earned runs with three strikeouts.
A Josh VanMeter infield single for the D-backs in the eighth inning tied the game up at 2-2, putting a no-decision down for Bumgarner.
A scoreless next two innings for D-backs relievers J.B. Wendelken, Noe Ramirez and Joe Mantiply sent the game to extras. David Peralta’s RBi single in the 10th put the D-backs ahead, only for Arizona closer Tyler Clippard to let Houston get the equalizing run in the bottom half.
Clippard later loaded the bases and then hit pinch-hitter Chas McCormick to make it the ever rare walk-off hit by pitch.
The D-backs finished the game 2-of-14 with runners in scoring position.
