Brewers cry foul over Sabathia’s one-hitter
To the Milwaukee Brewers, CC Sabathia pitched the no-hitter that wasn’t.
Sabathia may have been the only player in their clubhouse who wasn’t upset that the best-pitched game of his career will go down as a one-hitter.
Sabathia limited the Pirates to Andy LaRoche’s infield single leading off the fifth inning, on a play Milwaukee manager Ned Yost argued was an error on the pitcher, and the Brewers beat Pittsburgh 7-0 Sunday for their eighth victory in nine games.
LaRoche’s softly hit grounder on a 2-2 pitch rolled about 45 feet between the plate and the mound before Sabathia picked it up barehanded, only to drop it. The ball may have been hit too softly for Sabathia to get LaRoche at first, even if he had made the play cleanly.
Bob Webb, a major league official scorer for 20 seasons, immediately ruled a hit, explaining he watched LaRoche out of the batter’s box and the runner was two-thirds of the way down the line before Sabathia picked the ball up. Yost and several Brewers players disagreed — strongly.
“That’s a joke. That wasn’t even close. Whoever the scorekeeper was absolutely denied major league baseball a nice no-hitter right there,” Yost said. The Brewers’ Ryan Braun said, “There’s no question that’s a no-hitter.”
Despite the Brewers’ protests, the play in question is routinely called a hit and fielders often get angry when they are called for errors on easier plays.
Sabathia accepted the scoring call calmly, blaming himself for LaRoche getting on.
Other N.L. highlights
•Phillies 5, Cubs 3: At Chicago, Jayson Werth hit a home run and 45-year-old Jamie Moyer got his 12th win for Philadelphia, which remained a game behind East-leading New York. The Cubs’ Central lead was trimmed to 4 1/2 games over Milwaukee.
•Mets 6, Marlins 2: At Miami, Pedro Martinez pitched six innings for only his second victory since July 7, and New York homered three times to beat Florida. The first two batters to face Martinez scored, but those were the only runs he allowed.
•Dodgers 8, Diamondbacks 1: At Phoenix, Andre Ethier and Casey Blake hit first-inning homers, and Los Angeles roughed up Brandon Webb and Arizona, climbing within 2 1/2 games of the Diamondbacks in the West.
American League highlights
•White Sox 4, Red Sox 2: At Boston, Jim Thome tied Mickey Mantle for 14th place with his 536th career homer and Gavin Floyd won his fifth straight decision. The White Sox maintained a half-game lead in the Central over Minnesota. Boston leads the Twins by 2 1/2 games in the wild-card race.
•Rays 10, Orioles 4: At St. Petersburg, Fla., James Shields allowed one run over seven innings and Jason Bartlett hit his first homer in over a year to help Tampa Bay complete a three-game sweep over Baltimore. The Rays lead second-place Boston by 5 1/2 games.
•Twins 12, Athletics 4: At Oakland, Calif., Justin Morneau homered and drove in four runs, Scott Baker won for only the second time since the All-Star break and Minnesota beat Oakland to split a four game series.