Corbin’s no-hit bid for D-backs ends in 8th on check-swing infield single
Apr 17, 2018, 8:41 PM | Updated: 10:28 pm
Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Patrick Corbin throws in the first inning during a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants, Tuesday, April 17, 2018, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
(AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Patrick Corbin nearly made it eight full innings without giving up a hit Tuesday night against the San Francisco Giants.
Corbin made it through six innings on just 61 pitches. He was able to keep his pitch count low with quick at-bats. Of the 19 batters he faced in the first six innings, only five of them took an at-bat to at least five pitches and none of those at-bats went over five pitches.
His walk issued to Joe Panik in the fourth was his only baserunner allowed.
D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said after the game that around the fourth inning is when he figured out what Corbin’s max pitch count could be, sensing a certain presence in the left-hander.
The highlight of the bid would come in the seventh inning when Buster Posey hit a line drive to centerfield with two outs.
A.J. Pollock would track the ball, first backing up and looking over his shoulder before then realizing he would have to lay out to his left quickly to make the catch. He did.
Patrick Corbin is through 7 no-hit innings thanks to this outstanding play by A.J. Pollock.
Catch the end of the game on FSAZ or FOX Sports GO: https://t.co/wEkQsjcWW5 pic.twitter.com/qbIUcZpKHq
— FOX Sports Arizona (@FOXSPORTSAZ) April 18, 2018
Corbin couldn’t help but react, holding both his arms up as he walked to the dugout. That catch, in fact, is when Corbin said he really started thinking about the no-hitter.
“Seems like every time something like [a no-hitter] happens there’s always a play,” he said, thinking when Posey hit it that the ball was going off the wall.
The bid would end in frustrating fashion the next inning.
In the eighth with two outs, Giants first baseman Brandon Belt had an aggressive shift played on him as he usually does. D-backs shortstop Nick Ahmed was the only infielder on the left side, so that made it difficult when a check swing from Belt went right where a third baseman normally would be.
Ahmed did his best, quickly tracking the ball down and firing an off-balance throw to first, but Belt beat it out. The no-hitter was gone.
“That’s a tough way to have it happen,” Lovullo said.
Corbin’s bid was the longest in the majors this season. His 7.2 innings of no-hit baseball marked the seventh time in franchise history a D-back starter made it at least seven hitless innings.
“It was fun,” Corbin said. “Just felt locked in the whole game.”
The D-backs would need Corbin’s outstanding performance, as Giants starter Johnny Cueto also did not allow a run and just two baserunners in seven innings.
David Peralta’s RBI single in the eighth off Giants reliever Tony Watson would be all Corbin needed, as he shut down the ninth for a complete-game shutout and a 1-0 D-backs win. It was Corbin’s first career complete-game shutout and it took exactly 100 pitches.
There have been two no-hitters in the history of the franchise. Edwin Jackson did it on 149 pitches against the Rays in 2010 and Randy Johnson struck out 13 in 2004 against the Braves for a no-hitter and a perfect game.
Corbin’s no-hitter would have been the first at Chase Field by a D-back. Former St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Jose Jimenez has the only no-hitter in Chase Field history. He did it in 1999 on 101 pitches with two walks.
Comments