https://twitter.com/whygavs/status/612323532333260801
With that out of the way, what else can I really say? Max Scherzer is excellent; he’s probably been the best pitcher in baseball over the last three years. Pretty much any time a team that strikes out like the Pirates runs into a pitcher that strikes hitters out like Scherzer, there’s a risk that something like this could happen. Scherzer’s last two starts now have been mind-bendingly good: 18 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 R (obviously) and 26 Ks. If the Pirates are going to get no-hit by anyone, I’m happy that it’s the best pitcher in baseball and not some random guy having a good night.
Somehow, Jose Tabata managed to use this game to elbow out a small place for himself in baseball’s history books by getting hit by Scherzer as the game’s 27th hitter, with two outs in the top of the ninth inning. The slow-motion replay of the at-bat makes it look a lot like Tabata leaned into the pitch (if you haven’t seen it, his elbow drops down to be hit by the ball), but I think it’s pretty hard to measure intent that way. Getting out of the way of a pitch requires a lot of sudden movement of a lot of body parts and Tabata didn’t do anything hugely out of the ordinary. You could go back and forth on this for forever — maybe he could’ve done more to get out of the way, but then, a fringe big leaguer taking an intentional HBP is a dangerous gambit even with that elbow guard. And even if he could’ve done more, how perfect is a perfect game that requires an opposing player to change his style of play to complete it? This is a rabbit hole, and it’s a rabbit hole that the talking heads must be happier about than a perfect game would’ve made them.
The Pirates were flattened by a great pitcher today. It happens sometimes, especially in 2015. I’m more worried about the larger trend of the Pirate offense the last couple of weeks than I am by a single result. And of course, congrats to Max Scherzer; it’s always nice to see a great pitcher get to check the “no-hitter” box on their career resume, even if it’s tough to watch it happen to your favorite team.
Image credit: Rob Carr, Getty Images
