Last night, Jason Hammel pitched the first complete-game one-hit shutout for the Orioles since Mike Mussina dominated the Twins on
August 1, 2000. Like Moose, Jason had a no-hitter going until serving up a two-out single in the seventh inning. In 2000, it was Ron Coomer that played the spoiler; last night it was Jason Heyward ruining the fun. There was still plenty to enjoy, as the first-year O's starter ran his record to 7-2 while striking out 8 batters and walking a pair. It took him just 103 pitches, and was already his second no-hit bid of the year following seven hitless innings
on Easter Sunday. To offer the cherry on top, this afternoon Wei-Yin Chen also earned his seventh win, collaborating with four relievers to blank Atlanta again in a 2-0 squeaker. In taking 2 out of 3 in the weekend road series, the Orioles' pitchers kept the Braves off of the scoreboard for 20 straight innings dating back to Friday. It's June 17, and the Birds are 39-27 and 1.5 games back of the first-place Yankees. If the season ended today (which would be silly and arbitrary), they would host the Rays in the wild card game. The surging Angels are still two games back of Tampa Bay and four behind the O's in the playoff "race", if you will. There's still a lot of games left to play, but less and less all the time. 66 down, 96 to go. This is fun.
At first I thought you forgot about Daniel Cabrera's 1 hitter, holding the Yankees hitless until 1 out in the ninth. I remember listening to that game on the radio. But then I looked it up, and he was the victim of his defense and his wildness, giving up an unearned run on two ground ball errors and two passed balls.
ReplyDeleteI remember watching that game as it happened...closest I've ever come to seeing an O's no-hitter. I don't know what in the world I was doing during some of Moose's near-misses.
ReplyDeleteYou guys play my Mets tonight. This is the first time in three years I won't be attending a Mets/O's game in one form or another. I am still rooting for a '69 rematch.
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