Joey Butler spoils Carlos Carrasco’s no-hit bid with two outs in ninth

The Butler did it on Wednesday night. Not once, but twice.

Of course, we’re talking about Tampa Bay Rays left fielder Joey Butler, who in one game managed to spoil Carlos Carrasco’s bid for a perfect game and no-hitter in two separate late-inning plate appearances.

Carrasco entered the seventh inning having retired all 18 batters he’d faced to that point. He made it 19 straight when he retired Kevin Kaiermeir leading off the inning, which led to an epic battle with Butler. After eight pitches, including four two-strike pitches, Butler ended up drawing a walk to end the perfect game.

Carrasco’s bid for his professional no-hitter would continue in the ninth inning. Despite a rough start to the inning — Asdrubal Cabrera walked and Brandon Guyer was hit by a pitch — Carrasco moved to within one out of history. Only Joey Butler stood in his way again, and Butler spoiled it again, lining a two-strike single just out of the reach of a leaping Jason Kipnis at second base.

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Oh, the heartbreak.

Oh, the pain.

Actually, Carrasco didn’t express those emotions outwardly. Instead, he smiled and applauded Kipnis’ effort before manager Terry Francona elected to remove him from the game. Carrasco walked off to a standing ovation from the respective Rays crowd, and then watched as Austin Adams recorded the final out in Cleveland’s 8-1 victory.

Carrasco’s final line was 8 2/3 innings pitched with one run and one hit allowed, He walked two and hit one, while striking out a career-high 13 batters. His 124 pitches were also a career high.

Carrasco, who inked a four-year, $22 million extension during the offseason, has definitely emerged as a top flight pitcher over the past two seasons. He’s considered a late-bloomer, because it wasn’t until his age 27 season that everything began to click. But now that it’s clicking, he’s become a threat to dominate any offense on any given night.

On Wednesday evening at Tropicana Field, it just so happened to be the Rays in his way. Though to be honest, the Rays have been poised to be on the wrong side of history for the better part of two weeks now. In each of the previous two games in this series, Cleveland starters carried no-hit bids deep into the game. On Monday, Cody Anderson lost his bid in the seventh inning. On Tuesday, Danny Salazar carried a no-hitter into the sixth. Going back to last week, Toronto’s Marco Estrada had a perfect game against Tampa into the eighth inning.

A lot of things have to come together for a pitcher to go the distance with a historic performance, but an offense as cold as the Rays’ right now certainly helps.

That’s something we should keep in mind for Thursday, as the Rays will wrap up the series aganst 2014 AL Cy Young award winner Corey Kluber.

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