Philadelphia Phillies’ Cody Asche scores on a Ben Revere sacrifice fly as Atlanta Braves catcher Gerald Laird handles the late throw in the third inning of the game on Monday in Atlanta.
Cole Hamels set up a combined no-hitter for the Philadelphia Phillies as they beat the Atlanta Braves 7-0 at Turner Field in Atlanta on Monday.
Starter Hamels struck out seven and walked five in six no-hit innings before leaving the game, and the three members of the Phillies bullpen kept the no-hitter intact.
Hamels said he did not mind being replaced in the midst of a no-hitter.
“I understood coming around the sixth inning that it was going to be a short game (for him),” he said.
“It was nice to see what we could do together. It was fun to watch them and create something very special.”
On a hot afternoon, Hamels threw 108 pitches before Jake Diekman, Ken Giles and Jonathan Papelbon each pitched one inning in relief to complete the fourth no-hitter in the majors this season.
“It seemed like against one guy he (Hamels) couldn’t throw a strike, he’d be all over the place, and then against the next guy, he’d be boom, boom, boom and he’s dotting up on you,” said Atlanta’s Phil Gosselin.
“So it was one of those effectively-wild days where he had the good stuff and couldn’t control it with everybody.”
San Francisco’s Tim Lincecum no-hit the San Diego Padres on June 25 after the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw threw a no-hitter against the Colorado Rockies on June 18 and Dodgers team mate Josh Beckett held the Phillies hitless on May 25.
It was the first combined no-hitter in the 132-year history of the Phillies franchise and the first combination effort in the major leagues since six Seattle Mariners no-hit the Dodgers in a 1-0 victory in June 8, 2012.
The Phillies have now had 12 no-hitters in their history, including Roy Halladay’s gem in Game One of the 2010 National League Division Series.
Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg had no hesitation in removing Hamels after six innings.
“He was pretty much spent ... and he wasn’t going to go nine (innings),” Sandberg told reporters.
“It’s a big moment for the team. We got to do a little champagne toast.”
In the ninth inning, Papelbon got pinch-hitter Jose Constanza to fly out to left fielder Domonic Brown, Chris Johnson grounded out up the middle to Jimmy Rollins and Gosselin hit a soft line drive to first baseman Darin Ruf to end the game.
Elsewhere, Denard Span homered twice, guiding the Washington Nationals to a 6-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
In a matchup of clubs with the best records in the National League, the East-leading Nationals (78-58) won for the third time in four games, and handed the West-leading Dodgers (77-61) their third setback in four games.
Dodgers starter Roberto Hernandez (8-10) served up a career-high four home runs to the Nationals, giving up five runs on five hits in 4 1/3 innings.
The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-4 to go top of the National League Central for the first time this year.
Matt Holliday’s RBI single in the bottom of the seventh snapped a tie and gave the Cardinals (73-63) a come-from-behind win as they moved one game ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central.
Holliday is 7-for-11 in the last three games with three homers and 12 RBIs.
Catcher Welington Castillo went 2-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs as the Chicago Cubs beat the slumping Milwaukee Brewers 4-2.
The Brewers (73-64) lost their sixth straight to fall into second place in the NL Central. They had held or were tied for first since the season’s opening week in early April.
The San Francisco Giants scored two runs in the eighth inning to beat the Colorado Rockies 4-2 in a game that was completed more than three months late.
Right fielder Hunter Pence doubled home the tie-breaking run and scored on pinch-hitter Travis Ishikawa’s broken-bat single to short right field.
The game had been suspended by rain on May 22 with the score tied at 2-2 in the bottom of the sixth.
The Colorado Rockies erased a five-run deficit, blew a two-run lead in the ninth and yet ended up beating the San Francisco Giants 10-9 on Charlie Blackmon’s walk-off single. The loss halted San Francisco’s six-game winning streak.
Designated hitter Adam Dunn hit a two-run homer in his first at-bat for Oakland as the Athletics beat the Seattle Mariners 6-1 and halted a four-game losing streak.
One day after being traded to Oakland from the Chicago White Sox, Dunn went 2-for-3 with his 21st home run of the season and 461st of his career as he tied Boston’s David Ortiz for 35th on baseball’s all-time list.
Dunn became the 12th player in Oakland history to homer in his first at-bat for the A’s.
Miguel Cabrera had four of Detroit’s 20 hits and belted two of its five home runs as the Tigers routed the Cleveland Indians 12-1.
The two home runs by designated hitter Cabrera ended his career-long 27-game homerless streak.
Detroit left-hander David Price pitched seven innings to get the win. He held Cleveland scoreless on six hits over his last six innings.