For the second time in his career, the Texas Rangers’ Yu Darvish lost a no-hitter on the final batter, giving up a ninth-inning base hit Friday night to Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz.
A couple of innings earlier, Big Papi killed Darvish’s perfect game. With two out in the seventh, Ortiz lofted what appeared to be a routine fly ball between right field and second base. Right-fielder Alex Rios should have taken charge and called off second-baseman Rougned Odor, but the two failed to communicate and the ball dropped between them. It was ruled an error on Rios.
Darvish last April threw 8 2/3 innings of perfect baseball against the Houston Astros – including 14 strikeouts – before Marwin Gonzalez drilled a base hit up the middle.
The Rangers’ last no-hitter was on July 28, 1994, when Kenny Rogers threw a perfect game against the California Angels for a 4-0 victory.
The last time the Red Sox were no-hit was on April 22, 1993, when the Seattle Mariners’ Chris Bosio dominated Boston 2-0.