Jon Lester flirts with no-hitter, ends 10-start winless streak
Take a look around the league with Big League Stew’s daily wrap up. We’ll hit on all of the biggest moments from the day that you may have missed, while providing highlights, photos and interesting stats.
On a hot and humid night in Atlanta, Chicago Cubs left-hander Jon Lester put the Braves’ bats in the deep freeze and ended a personal 10-start winless streak in Chicago’s 4-0 victory.
The 31-year-old veteran flirted with history as well, carrying a no-hit bid into the eighth inning. Longtime Cubs nemesis A.J. Pierzynski broke that bid up with a clean single leading off the frame. Had Lester gone the distance, he would have become just the 28th pitcher in MLB history to throw multiple no-hitters.
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The circumstances would have been unusual, too. Lester’s no-hit bid seemed to disappear almost immediately, as Atlanta’s Nick Markakis reached base in the first inning on what was originally scored a single. However, just before the sixth inning, official scorer Jack Wilkinson changed it to an error on third baseman Kris Bryant, putting Lester back on track.
With Lester’s pitch count on the rise, he nearly saw the no-hitter disappear again in the seventh when Jonny Gomes hit a rocket to the left-field corner that just hooked foul. The ball had home run distance, but was nothing more than a strike.
Lester finished the outing with two hits allowed over 7 1/3 scoreless frames. The victory was his first since May 16 and just his fifth this season.
KERSHAW FANS 14 AS DODGERS EVEN SERIES
It didn’t take Clayton Kershaw long to get over his loss in the All-Star game. The Los Angeles Dodgers ace was absolutely on fire Saturday, striking out a season-high 14 in a 4-2 win against the Washington Nationals.
Washington had next to no chance against Kershaw, mustering just three hits during his eight scoreless innings. Kershaw fanned exactly two batters in each of the seven innings, which on its own is impressive. That streak was snapped when Kershaw failed to K a batter in the eighth. Overall, Kershaw had struck out at least one batter in 18 straight innings.
That begs a question.
We know who Bryce Harper might pick though. He went 0-for-3 against Kershaw on Saturday. With Kershaw gone in the ninth, he launched a two-run shot off Kenley Jansen, his 27th this season.
The weekend series is now split with Zack Greinke set to face Max Scherzer at 1:35 p.m. ET on Sunday. If you have other plans, cancel them.
GARRETT RICHARDS TWO-HITS RED SOX
The dominant pitching continued later Saturday as Angels right-hander Garrett Richards fired a two-hit shutout in their 3-0 win against the Boston Red Sox.
Richards allowed just three baserunners overall and retired Boston’s final 15 hitters in order to complete the Angels’ second shutout is as many days. Los Angeles won the series opener 1-0 on Mike Trout’s walk-off home run. Richards struck out six in the outing and needed 113 pitches to go the distance.
Offensively, the Angels were quiet as well, collecting just five hits in the game. Kole Calhoun had three of them, including a pair of solo home runs off Red Sox starter Rick Porcello. Pablo Sandoval had both hits for Boston.
With the win and a Houston loss on Saturday, the Angels’ lead in the AL West lead is now a season-best 1 1/2 games.
ROBINSON CANO GOES DEEP TWICE IN NEW YORK
If the Seattle Mariners have any hopes of making a second-half run, they’ll need a major bounce back from Robinson Cano.
With that in mind, Saturday’s results had to be very encouraging. The former New York Yankees second baseman returned to Yankee Stadium and tore up his old squad, delivering a pair of home runs and driving in all four runs in Seattle’s 4-3 victory.
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Indeed, that has all the making of a desperately needed breakout game. Both of Cano’s home runs were two-run shots and both came off Yankees starter Michael Pineda. The first was a shot to straight-away center field in the first inning. In the sixth, Cano visited the short porch in right. Not that the Mariners will be picky about such things, they’re just happy to get the production and the victory.
The multi-homer game was the 14th of Cano’s career and his first since signing with Seattle last offseason. Cano now has 22 home runs overall (eight this season) in 245 games for the Mariners. Obviously, they were counting on more power production, but maybe, just maybe, a corner was finally turned.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
