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SAN FRANCISCO — Alex Cobb’s late-career renaissance reached another peak on Tuesday night, when the 35-year-old veteran came within one out of tossing the 18th no-hitter in Giants history in a 6-1 win over the Reds at Oracle Park.
Cobb brought a no-hit quote into the ninth and took the mound with his pitch count at 113, 4 more than his previous season high. He retired Noelvi Marte on a flyout prior to releasing a walk to Nick Senzel, providing the Reds just their 2nd baserunner of the video game. He then coaxed another flyout from TJ Friedl prior to his quote for history was ruined by Spencer Steer, who provided an RBI double into the right-center-field space to lastly put the Reds on the board.
The Giants didn’t have anybody else warming in the bullpen, so supervisor Gabe Kapler stuck to Cobb, who continued to start out Elly De La Cruz for the last out, ending up with a career-high 131 pitches. He permitted just the one hit while strolling one and starting out 8 in his 6th profession total video game 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 almost rounded off the task with the assistance of center fielder Austin Slater, who made an incredible diving catch on Will Benson’s sinking liner to left-center field for the last out of the 8th. Benson’s fly ball had actually an anticipated batting average of .480, however Slater came running in and set out to make the grab, which was supported following a replay evaluation.
“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 right away thrust his hands up in the air in a program of gratitude for Slater, who got a standing ovation when he came near bat in the bottom of the 8th.
“When Slates made that catch, I started to think maybe it was going to be one of those nights,” Cobb stated.
Cobb formerly brought a no-hit quote into the 8th inning while pitching for the Rays on Sept. 11, 2014, however he lost it after giving up a one-out double to the Yankees’ Chris Young. The Giants haven’t had a pitcher finish a no-hitter considering that Chris Heston twirled one versus the Mets on June 9, 2015.
With the win, the Giants (69-63) moved past the D-backs into the 3rd National League Wild Card area by a half-game and pressed the Reds to 2 video games back. San Francisco likewise won the season series versus Cincinnati by taking 4 of their very first 6 conferences, protecting the head-to-head tiebreaker in the standings.
Cobb, leaning greatly on his signature splitter, which he tossed 63 percent of the time, retired the very first 8 batters he dealt with prior to Senzel reached on a tossing mistake by 3rd baseman Casey Schmitt in the 3rd. Schmitt varied to his right to make a backhanded grab on Senzel’s chopper down the third-base line, however he made a high toss to very first baseman J.D. Davis, enabling Senzel to reach securely and provide the Reds their very first baserunner of the video game.
Senzel was at first credited with an infield hit, however main scorer Chris Thoms altered the judgment to a mistake in the top of the 4th, keeping Cobb’s no-hit quote undamaged. Cobb stated he didn’t even observe the modification up until the top of the seventh inning, which assisted take a few of the pressure off for the majority of the night.
“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 got early run assistance from the Giants’ offense, which scored two times off Reds left-hander Brandon Williamson in the 2nd and after that included another 3 runs in the 3rd. Patrick Bailey topped the latter rally with a two-run blast to right-center field, which was almost robbed by Friedl, who had the ball in the pointer of his glove however dropped it as soon as he struck the bullpen wall.
Cobb confessed that he felt “dead” when he returned out for the ninth, however he drew a 2nd wind as heard his walkout tune, “Intro” by The xx, shriek over the speakers and attempted to ride the adrenaline rush from the roars of the fans in presence.
While he fell agonizingly except finishing the no-hitter, he stated he thanked Kapler later for providing him a possibility to complete it off, even as his pitch count started to climb up into uneasy area.
“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.”
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