Cobb comes 1 out shy of hurling no-hitter vs. Reds
Cobb carried a no-hit bid into the ninth and took the mound along with his pitch depend at 113, 4 greater than his earlier season excessive. He retired Noelvi Marte on a flyout earlier than issuing a stroll to Nick Senzel, giving the Reds solely their second baserunner of the sport. He then coaxed one other flyout from TJ Friedl earlier than his bid for historical past was spoiled by Spencer Steer, who delivered an RBI double into the right-center-field hole to lastly put the Reds on the board.
The Giants didn’t have anybody else warming within the bullpen, so supervisor Gabe Kapler caught with Cobb, who proceeded to strike out Elly De La Cruz for the ultimate out, ending with a career-high 131 pitches. He allowed solely the one hit whereas strolling one and hanging out eight in his sixth profession full sport and second of the season.
“It’s still fun,” Cobb stated. “I wasn’t mad or sad. It was just, ‘All right, let’s finish it off.’ At least [I got] the CG out of it. So many things have to go right for those things to happen.”
Cobb practically completed off the feat with the assistance of heart fielder Austin Slater, who made a spectacular diving catch on Will Benson’s sinking liner to left-center discipline for the ultimate out of the eighth. Benson’s fly ball had an anticipated batting common of .480, however Slater got here sprinting in and laid out to make the seize, which was upheld following a replay evaluate.
“I was just thinking, ‘I’m not letting this drop,’” Slater stated. “I really wanted it for Cobber. I knew what was at stake. It was a do-or-die play, and everything was on the line, so I just went for it.”
Cobb instantly thrust his arms up within the air in a present of appreciation for Slater, who obtained a standing ovation when he got here as much as bat within the backside of the eighth.
“When Slates made that catch, I started to think maybe it was going to be one of those nights,” Cobb stated.
Cobb beforehand carried a no-hit bid into the eighth inning whereas pitching for the Rays on Sept. 11, 2014, however he misplaced it after surrendering a one-out double to the Yankees’ Chris Young. The Giants haven’t had a pitcher full a no-hitter since Chris Heston twirled one towards the Mets on June 9, 2015.
With the win, the Giants (69-63) moved previous the D-backs into the third National League Wild Card spot by a half-game and pushed the Reds to 2 video games again. San Francisco additionally gained the season collection towards Cincinnati by taking 4 of their first six conferences, securing the head-to-head tiebreaker within the standings.
Cobb, leaning closely on his signature splitter, which he threw 63 % of the time, retired the primary eight batters he confronted earlier than Senzel reached on a throwing error by third baseman Casey Schmitt within the third. Schmitt ranged to his proper to make a backhanded seize on Senzel’s chopper down the third-base line, however he made a excessive throw to first baseman J.D. Davis, permitting Senzel to achieve safely and provides the Reds their first baserunner of the sport.
Senzel was initially credited with an infield hit, however official scorer Chris Thoms modified the ruling to an error within the prime of the fourth, holding Cobb’s no-hit bid intact. Cobb stated he didn’t even discover the change till the highest of the seventh inning, which helped take a few of the strain off for a lot of the night time.
“I was thinking about trying to go throw a one-hitter and then challenge the play and get a no-hitter in like a week,” Cobb joked. “It kind of worked to my advantage that I was able to go out and attack the zone and not worry about it.”
Cobb obtained early run help from the Giants’ offense, which scored twice off Reds left-hander Brandon Williamson within the second after which added one other three runs within the third. Patrick Bailey capped the latter rally with a two-run blast to right-center discipline, which was practically robbed by Friedl, who had the ball within the tip of his glove however dropped it as soon as he hit the bullpen wall.
Cobb admitted that he felt “dead” when he got here again out for the ninth, however he drew a second wind as heard his walkout track, “Intro” by The xx, blare over the audio system and tried to trip the adrenaline rush from the roars of the followers in attendance.
While he fell agonizingly wanting finishing the no-hitter, he stated he thanked Kapler afterward for giving him an opportunity to complete it off, at the same time as his pitch depend started to climb into uncomfortable territory.
“I think he knows where I’m at in my career and how special a night like that [is] to myself and my family,” Cobb stated. “I was thankful he let me do that.”
