The Milwaukee Brewers want CC Sabathia to be awarded the first retroactive no-hitter in major league history.
After Sabathia tossed a 1-hitter on Sunday in which the only hit was an infield single that could have been called an error, the Brewers vowed to send a DVD of the play to Major League Baseball, asking that the call be overturned.
“He accomplished a no-hitter and wasn’t given what he deserved. That should have been a no-hitter,” manager Ned Yost said after the Brewers’ 7-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday. “That’s a stinking no-hitter we all got cheated from. I feel horrible for CC.”
There’s nothing the league can do about it officially. According to baseball’s rulebook, only the official scorer may change a judgment scoring call.
If official scorer Bob Webb were to decide to change the call, it would be the first time in major league history a no-hitter was awarded retroactively.
In other NL games on Sunday, it was the New York Mets 6, Florida 2; Philadelphia 5, the Chicago Cubs 3; the Los Angeles Dodgers 8, Arizona 1; Houston 3, St. Louis 0; Cincinnati 9, San Francisco 3; San Diego 2, Colorado 1; and Washington 8, Atlanta 4.
At Pittsburgh, Sabathia limited the Pirates to Andy LaRoche’s infield single leading off the fifth inning.
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.
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 as Sabathia was picking the ball up.
“The way the ball came off the bat, it was spinning, and it went to the left of the mound with a left-handed pitcher going to get it. It’s a difficult play,” Webb said. “The definition requires standard effort, and that would have taken more than an ordinary effort. The runner was well down the line.”
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. “They threw hit up on the board even before LaRoche hit the bag. That’s a play CC makes easily, throws him out by 10 feet – to me it’s a no-brainer.
“That’s sad. It really is sad.”
The Brewers’ Ryan Braun said, “There’s no question that’s a no-hitter.”
As it stands, Sabathia (9-0) pitched the majors’ fourth one-hitter this season and couldn’t have come much closer to a no-hitter, with no Pirates batter except for LaRoche threatening to get a hit during the team’s 10th consecutive loss.
Sabathia accepted the scoring call calmly, blaming himself for LaRoche getting on.
“The ball was still rolling and I probably should have picked it up with my glove. We probably wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Sabathia said. “I think if I pick it up with my glove, I get him.”
Sabathia got the only run he needed when Ricky Weeks led off the game with his 11th homer, on a 3-2 pitch by starter Jeff Karstens.
Karstens (2-4) is 0-4 since pitching 7 1-3 perfect innings against Arizona on Aug. 6, though two of the three runs against him Sunday came after he left the game.
The Brewers finished off a three-game sweep – they’ve won their last nine against the last-place Pirates – and have won 18 of 23. They went 20-7 in August, a year after falling apart while going 9-18 for the month.
Mets 6, Marlins 2
At Miami, Pedro Martinez (5-3) pitched six innings for only his second victory since July 7.
Back-to-back home runs in the third inning by Nick Evans and David Wright put the Mets ahead to stay. Carlos Beltran added his 21st homer.
Phillies 5, Cubs 3
At Chicago, Jayson Werth hit another home run against the Cubs and 45-year-old Jamie Moyer (12-7) got his 12th win, helping Philadelphia salvage a split of their four-game series.
Werth hit a two-run double in the first and a solo drive in the fifth for his 21st homer of the season. Werth, who went deep twice and drove in four runs in Philly’s 5-2 win Saturday, is 11-for-21 with four homers and 10 RBIs against the Cubs this season.
Astros 3, Cardinals 0
At Houston, Ty Wigginton hit his 12th home run of August and four Astros pitchers combined to shut out St. Louis.
The Cardinals fell 6 1/2 games behind the Brewers in the wild-card race. Before the weekend, they were 3 1/2 games back.
Nationals 8, Braves 4
At Washington, Aaron Boone failed to lay down a sacrifice, then slammed a three-run, eighth-inning home run to lift Washington to its season-high sixth straight win.
Called on to bunt after a single by Ryan Zimmerman and a walk to Elijah Dukes, Boone popped Elmer Dessens’ first offering foul. Boone sent the next pitch from Dessens (0-1) into the left-field bullpen for his sixth homer, his first since May 27.
Reds 9, Giants 3
At Cincinnati, Joey Votto went 4-for-4 with four RBIs, Bronson Arroyo (13-10) turned in another impressive start and the Reds beat San Francisco to complete their first three-game sweep of the Giants at home in 14 years.
Padres 2, Rockies 1
At San Diego, Trevor Hoffman (3-6) blew the save after a terrific outing by Jake Peavy but Luis Rodriguez singled in the winning run in the ninth to give San Diego a victory.
Dodgers 8, Diamondbacks 1
PHOENIX (AP) – Andre Ethier and Casey Blake hit first-inning homers, and Los Angeles roughed up Brandon Webb and climbed within 2 1/2 games of the Diamondbacks in the NL West.
Derek Lowe (11-11) tossed six shutout innings for the Dodgers.
Webb (19-6) failed in his second bid to become the majors’ first 20-game winner. He allowed six earned runs, eight hits and five walks in 3 1-3 innings.
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