Darvish denied perfection by a 2-out, 9th-inning hit
Source: AFP |
April 4, 2013, Thursday
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TEXAS Rangers' Japanese hurler Yu Darvish came within one out of pitching a rare perfect game on Tuesday, retiring 26 batters before surrendering a ninth-inning single to Houston's Marwin Gonzalez.
Darvish struck out 14 in a 7-0 victory, but his bid for a slice of Major League Baseball history was foiled by Gonzalez, who smacked a single up the middle that rolled between the pitcher's legs.
Texas shortstop Elvis Andrus couldn't stop it either, and with Gonzalez on base Darvish - who had thrown 111 pitches - was relieved by Michael Kirkman.
"I think my teammates were more disappointed than I was," said Darvish, who left the field to a standing ovation from the crowd of 22,637.
"I didn't want to be the last out," Gonzalez said. "I was trying to look for a good pitch to hit and put it in play. That's all I was thinking."
Ian Kinsler hit a two-run home run for Texas, which notched 12 hits.
Darvish, 26, struck out nine of the first 12 batters he faced and baffled the Astros with a blistering fastball and an array of breaking balls in Houston.
Darvish's narrow miss of the perfect game left Hideo Nomo, who did it twice, as the only Japanese-born pitcher to throw a no-hitter in the US major leagues.
Darvish became the first pitcher to miss out on a perfect game at the last out in the ninth since Armando Galarraga on June 2, 2010. Galarraga was denied on a notorious botched umpire's call.
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