Tigers' pen loses no-no in 9th, but Detroit wins it in 10
For the second time in a month, the Detroit Tigers couldn't finish off a no-hitter in the ninth inning.
By the end of Tuesday night, they were just happy to get a win.
Rajai Davis' two-out triple in the 10th gave Detroit a 2-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox, one inning after the Tigers lost what would have been the first combined no-hitter in franchise history.
Instead, they got their third walk-off win in five days.
"It is nice just to be able to win," Davis said. "I wish we could have gotten the job done an inning earlier, but we still got it done in dramatic fashion. It is unbelievable."
Anthony Gose drew a two-out walk from Zach Duke (3-6) in the 10th. Davis sliced a 3-1 fastball into the corner in right field and Gose easily beat Trayce Thompson's throw to the plate.
"I think it was a two-seamer away," Davis said. "He has good movement on his pitches and I was just trying to do something with it."
Blaine Hardy (5-3) got the win with a scoreless 10th.
On Aug. 26, Justin Verlander lost a no-hit bid when Chris Iannetta of the Los Angeles Angels led off the ninth with a double. On Tuesday, it was Tyler Saladino's triple with one out against Neftali Feliz, Detroit's fifth pitcher, that broke up the no-hitter.
Feliz was making his debut as the Tigers closer after Bruce Rondon was sent home earlier in the day. Starter Daniel Norris was limited to five innings by a pitch count.
Saladino tripled into the left-center field gap, and Adam Eaton, who had broken up Detroit's attempt at a perfect game by being hit with a pitch in the seventh, tied the game with a single.
"Maybe it is just me, but all I was thinking about was that we were down to our last chance to score," Saladino said. "When I got the triple, I didn't think about breaking up a no-hitter. I just wanted someone to drive me in, and Adam came through."
There have been only 11 combined no-hitters since 1901, but Tuesday's managers played against each other in one of them. Brad Ausmus was the catcher for Houston when they used six pitchers to no-hit the Yankees on June 11, 2003, while Robin Ventura was the New York third baseman.
Both managers talked about that day in their postgame interview.
"I'm surprised there has never been one in Tigers history," Ausmus said. "I was part of the one with Houston, and as long as the Tigers have been around, I would have expected there to be one."
Ventura said the Astros-Yankees game was why he was paying close attention on Tuesday.
"I was very aware they had a no-hitter going, because we had one of those thrown against us by Houston once," he said.
Norris, who was on a limit of 60 to 65 pitches in his second start back from an oblique injury, threw five perfect innings before being lifted. Norris was the second Tigers starter this year to be pulled before allowing a hit; Alex Wilson threw three hitless innings in a bullpen start on May 27.
"I felt really good, especially as I got deeper into the game," Norris said. "My fastball was pretty good and everything fed off that."
Buck Farmer replaced Norris and kept the perfect game going through six innings, then turned the game over to Ian Krol for the seventh.
Krol ended the perfect game drama by hitting Eaton with his second pitch, but got through the rest of the inning without allowing a hit.
Meanwhile, the Tigers weren't able to put anything together against Jose Quintana until the bottom of the seventh. With one out, J.D. Martinez singled, took second on Nick Castellanos' hit and easily beat Eaton's throw when James McCann lined a single into center.
"It's a shame that Q doesn't get anything out of that game," Ventura said. "He was great out there tonight, but we couldn't get anything going against Norris or anyone else."
Drew VerHagen pitched a perfect eighth, although a replay review was needed to overturn a throwing error by Castellanos.
TRAINER'S ROOM
White Sox: Chicago has only used eight starting pitchers this season, tied for the fewest in the majors, but Monday's double-header means they will need to use a ninth: rookie Frankie Montas will start Wednesday.
Tigers: Detroit sent Rondon home for the season for what Ausmus said were "effort" issues. Rondon inherited the closing job after Joakim Soria was sent to Pittsburgh at the trade deadline, and converted five of nine chances.
UP NEXT
The teams finish the four-game series with Montas (0-0, 1.13) facing Verlander (3-8, 3.46). Montas has allowed one run in eight innings over five relief appearances since making his major league debut on Sept. 2.
