First Combined No-Hitter in Franchise History!
Maybe it was the change of scenery. Maybe it was the hype of the Mexico Series. It could have been the fact that the Padres have struggled on both the mound and at the plate this year. Or maybe it was the celebratory first pitch thrown out by “El Toro” himself. Whatever it was, the deities were kind to the Dodgers’ rookie and the struggling bullpen last night as they combined for the first combined no-hitter in franchise history and MLB-best 23rd no-hitter in franchise history.
1st Inning
Chris Taylor began the historical game with a lead-off walk in the top of the first followed by a line drive single by Kike Hernandez that would advance Taylor to third. Matt Kemp came up to bat next and hit a high pop fly behind second base that was lost in the lights and dropped in between three defenders that would score Taylor and give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead. The baseball gods were showing signs of things to come.
2nd Inning
With two outs in the top of the second inning, “CT3” scorched a home run to left-center field, his fifth of the season, to increase the lead to 2-0.
Next up was Hernandez who would go back-to-back and hit a homer of his own to put the Dodgers up 3-0.
6th Inning
Chase Utley lead off the top of the 6th with a triple down the right field line. Two batters later, Alex Verdugo lined a single to left field to score Utley and put the Dodgers ahead 4-0.
Walker Buehler would finish his spectacular outing tossing 6.0 innings allowing no-runs, no-hits, and 3 walks on 93 pitches.
7th/8th/9th Innings
Tony Cingrani would pitch in relief in the bottom of the 7th inning and would get Christian Villanueva to line out to left field. Cingrani, who has been dealing with arm numbness, would walk the next two batters but would strike out Matt Szczur and get Freddy Galvis to ground out to end the inning and keep the no-no alive.
Yimi Garcia would take the mound in the bottom of the 8th and would retire the side including two strikeouts of his own.
With the game and the no-hitter on the line, Adam Liberatore would pitch the bottom of the 9th and would also be blessed by the deities. He would begin the inning with a strikeout to Eric Hosmer. Liberatore would then get Villanueva to fly out to left field and, on a 2-2 count, would get Franchy Cordero to strikeout to end the game and make history in Mexico!
The Dodgers (15-17) have now won three consecutive games and appear to have found new life in their previously depleted bullpen. They will turn to Kenta Maeda today to keep the winning streak alive as they take on Bryan Mitchell and the Padres (11-22) in the second game of the series at 4:10pm PST.
“May the Fourth” be with the Dodgers…always.
BakoBoyInBlue
