Kenta Maeda almost made history for his new team on Tuesday night.
After eight in-no-hit attacks, startup Maeda of the Minnesota Twins allowed his first hit to the Milwaukee Brewers in the ninth, when Eric Sogard took the lead with a single that ran just above second base.
Maeda threw 115 pitches – surpassing his own career height of 111 pitches, and the 2020 height of 112, thrown by Derek Holland and Max Scherzer in this short season. The 32-year-old right-hander, who is in his first season with the Twins after being traded by the Dodgers, looked tired as he sat the Brewers in eighth.
Manager Rocco Baldelli sent Maeda out for the ninth, which was no guarantee, given the way managers rarely allow pitchers to go too deep these days – especially this season. In the ninth, Sogard took Maeda’s first strike, but ended on a substitution.
The Twins then went to the bullpen and it didn’t take long for their 3-0 lead to disappear. A double from Avisail Garcia followed, then Christian Yelich and Keston Hiura ran singles to bring Sogard home. When Jedd Gyorko landed on the shortstop, the Twins attempted a double play of a game-seal, but a throwing error caused two Brewers runes to score and tie the game.
This went from possible no-hitter to Twins disaster in about 10 minutes.
The last no-hitter in MLB came September 1, 2019, when Justin Verlander did not hit the Toronto Blue Jays. In all, four no-hitters were thrown into the big leagues in 2019 – two of which were combined no-hitters. Maeda has previously thrown a no-hitter, just not into MLB. In April 2012, Maeda fired a no-hitter in his native Japan, for the Hiroshima Carp.
Related
