|
“DIARY OF A WINNER” |
THE BEST RED SOX TEAM EVAH! ... April 21, 2018 ... Sean Manaea might’ve been the only person at the Oakland Coliseum who didn’t realize he was still working on a no-hitter. After a dropped popup in the fifth inning, the Athletics lefty figured it was over. Because it was ruled an error, his shot at history remained intact. Manaea became the first pitcher to throw a no-hitter against the Sox in almost exactly 25 years, with an overturned call on the bases preserving the gem Oakland’s 3-0 win over the sizzling Red Sox. Manaea struck out 10, walked two and threw 108 pitches to finish off Oakland’s first no-no since Dallas Braden tossed a perfect game against Tampa Bay in 2010. Manaea got Hanley Ramirez to ground out to complete the first no-hitter versus the Red Sox since Seattle’s Chris Bosio did it on April 22, 1993. The Sox looked as if they had a hit with two outs in the sixth. Andrew Benintendi hit a grounder to the right side, tried to dodge a tag by first baseman Matt Olson and was called safe. Benintendi ran onto the grass in foul territory to get around Olson. The umpires then conferred and, without going to replay, ruled Benintendi was out for going wide of the baseline. Sandy Leon reached in the Red Sox fifth when A’s shortstop Marcus Semien ranged into shallow center field and dropped a popup trying to make an over-the-shoulder catch. The play was scored as an error. In Manaea’s mind, it was a single. A few innings later, he noticed what everybody else already knew. He still had his no-hitter in progress. Manaea (3-2) had been battered by the Sox in three previous starts, going 1-2 with a 13.50 ERA. But the 26-year-old cooled off a Red Sox team that had won eight in a row and 17 of 18. The Sox began the game with a major league-best .293 batting average. Manaea retired 14 straight batters after walking Mookie Betts leading off the game. A lot of Red Sox fans were in the announced crowd of 25,746, and many rose to their feet when Manaea took the mound in the ninth. Betts hit a ball to the warning track with one out in the ninth. After Benintendi walked with two outs on a full count, Ramirez hit a grounder to Semien, for an easy force play at second. Manaea pitched his first complete game in 58 big league starts. He improved to 22-21 in his three-season career. It was the 12th no-hitter by the Athletics franchise and the 12th thrown against the Red Sox. This was the first no-hitter in the majors since Miami’s Edinson Volquez pitched the only one of the 2017 season against Arizona on June 3. Chris Sale (1-1) struck out 10 and gave up three runs on six hits and one walk in seven innings. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
 |
 |
