Saturday, May 22, 2010

1991 Score #706 Terry Mulholland

Red Sox 5, Phillies 0
Game 42 - Saturday Night, May 22nd in Philadelphia

At least the Phillies weren't no-hit. Daisuke Matsuzaka flirted with history, no-hitting the Phillies through 7.2 innings, and the Red Sox won the game, 5-0.

There were a few hard hit balls in the 7th and 8th innings that should have ended the no-hitter earlier, if not for some fine defense. Jayson Werth's screamer up the middle in the bottom of the 7th was actually behind Matsuzaka when he somehow stuck out his glove and snared the ball. In the 8th, third baseman Adrian Beltre dove at a full extension to his left to catch a Carlos Ruiz line drive, doubling up Raul IbaƱez at first in the process. But Juan Castro's soft pop up to shallow left, with 2 outs in the 8th, just eluded the outstretched glove of shortstop Marco Scutaro, landing for the Phils' first hit of the night.

Phillies starter Kyle Kendrick threw a lot of pitches through the first 4 innings, but he was 1 out away from getting out of the 5th inning with the Red Sox ahead, 1-0. A few minutes and 3 hits later, the Red Sox led the game 5-0 and Kendrick was heading for the showers.

No-Hitters: Jenna reminded me of a poster we both had back in the day showing Dick Perez renderings of the 4 Phillies pitchers to have thrown no-hitters between 1964 and 1991 - Jim Bunning (6/21/64 - a perfect game), Rick Wise (6/23/71), Terry Mulholland (8/15/90) and Tommy Greene (5/23/91). Nothing against Matsuzaka, and I hope he gets his no-hitter one day, but I'm glad he didn't join the no-hit club tonight.

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