Sean Manaea provided the first No-Hitter of the current MLB season on the Mound des Coliseum in Oakland. The pitcher of the Athletics (10-11) showed a brilliant performance against the so far so strong Boston Red Sox (17-3) and did not allow a single base hit in his 108 pitches.
“Oh, man, my heart was racing,” said Manaea after his gala performance. “I’ve always tried not to let that get to me.” The 26-year-old scored ten strikeouts at two walks throughout the game. “I was also lucky that the defense showed some good plays.”
The left-handed man allowed a walk against the first battery, Mookie Betts, but sent the next 14 hitters back to the Red Sox dugout. In the fifth inning Sandy Leon got on base, because A’s-Shortstop Marcus Semien couldn’t control a popup. The action was evaluated as an error.
The most controversial scene followed in the sixth inning when Andrew Benintendi originally seemed safe on the first base with an infield single. After long discussions, however, the referees decided to eliminate the Red Sox Left Fielder, as it deviated significantly from the direct route to first base.
He violated Rule 5.09(b)(1), which states that Base Runners may only dodge for a thrown ball, not for a day on the way to first base.
The offense of the Athletics provided with three runs, one each in the first, third and fifth innings against Red-Sox-Ace Chris Sale (7.0 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, BB, 10 SO) for a 3-0 home victory. Shortstop Marcus Semien made a home run in the fifth inning.
Manaea has played an outstanding season so far, allowing at most one run in four of his five appearances and scoring an ERA of 1.23. On Saturday he crowned himself 297th MLB No-Hitter.
It was the twelfth No-Hitter in the history of Athletics, the seventh since the A’s moved to Oakland and the first since Dallas Braden to interview Manaea for CNBC in May 2010.
With a 3-0 defeat, the Red Sox ended their winning streak of eight wins in a row and suffered their third defeat of the season. Boston have made 34 runs in the past four games.
This article was published without previous view by the Major League Baseball.