Zambrano No-Hits Astros, Lilly Almost
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The Chicago Cubs tacked together 16 scoreless no-hit innings on Sunday and Monday against the Houston Astros at Milwaukee’s Miller Park, designated as a neutral location, but with the Astros as the hometeam, due to Hurricane Ike which had battered Houston.
In Sunday’s game, when Houston leftfielder Darin Erstad led off the game getting ahead of Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano in the count, little did anyone surmise that Zambrano would go the full nine innings and pitch a shutout 5-0 no-hitter.
Zambrano had been suffering from a sore rotator cuff in early September and there was a lot of talk about an MRI for his arm.
But Zambrano got Erstand to ground out on his 3-1 pitch and went on to complete the Cubs 1st no-hitter in since Milt Pappas turned the trick on September 2nd, 1972 against the San Diego Padres and only the 2nd no-hitter of the season. Boston’s Jon Lester threw the other one on May 19 against the Kansas City Royals.
ESPN provides a list of no-hit facts and a highlights video here and MLB provides an out-by-out video of Zambrano’s masterpiece here.
A few notes on the game from ESPN’s pitch-by-pitch; Zambrano actually was within a few pitches of tossing a perfect game.
In the Houston fourth inning, centerfielder Michael Bourne walked after getting ahead 3-1 in the count with one out. Bourne was then rubbed out on a doubleplay to end the inning. Until Bourne’s walk, Zambrano had retired the first 10 Astros in a row. With 2 out in the fifth, Zambrano was ahead in the count, 1-2 to rightfielder Hunter Pence before Pence was hit by a pitch.
After hitting Pence, Zambrano retired the final 13 Astros consecutively.
Zambrano brought his “A” stuff to the game and showed no hints of rotator cuff woes in mowing down the Astros on 110 pitches, 73 of them for strikes while recording 10 strikeouts enroute to his first complete game since June, 2007 vs the San Diego Padres and his first shutout since April, 2004 against the Colorado Rockies.
Zambrano was also flawless on defense covering 1st base on a number of occasions and making a nifty play on a third inning chopper along the 1st base line where he threw off balance to 1st base for the out at an angle obstructed by the runner approaching 1st. He also charged after and caught Hunter Pence’s pop foul on the 1st base side in the eighth.
AP Sports writer Chris Jenkins notes other highlights of Zambrano’s gem for Yahoo sports;
The Astros only once came close to a hit. David Newhan lined a drive that first baseman Derrek Lee jumped to catch to end the fifth inning.
Zambrano said he also fretted when Geoff Blum sent a fly ball toward the right-field corner to lead off the eighth, but Mark DeRosa tracked it down to make the catch.
Zambrano also made an offensive contribution in the Cubs’ four-run third inning, singling and then chugging home from first on Lee’s double. The Cubs chased Randy Wolf (10-12) in the third, his shortest outing of the season.
On Monday, lefthander Ted Lilly seemed headed for a virtual repeat of Zambrano’s gem as Chicago coasted to a 6-1 win over the Astros.
After walking Lance Berkman leading off the Houston 2nd inning, Lilly retired the next 14 Astros in a row before a fielding error and a single by 2nd baseman Mark Loretta put 2 Houston runners on with none out in the seventh inning. Lilly then retired the final 3 hitters he faced to end the threat and the inning.
The Cubs, meanwhile, coasted to a 6-0 lead, 5 runs charged against starter Brian Moehler. They scored on a first inning sacrifice fly RBI by 3rd baseman Aramis Ramirez, a solo homer by centerfielder Jim Edmunds in the fifth and a couple of 2 run shots in the sixth inning by 1st baseman Derrek Lee and catcher Geovany Soto.
Lilly threw 85 pitches in 7 innings while stiking out nine to win his 15th game of the season. AP sports reporter Colin Fly noted these comments from Lilly for Yahoo sports
“There were a couple of guys before the game that let me know I had a lot of work to do to try and follow up ‘Z’,” Lilly said. “There’s so many things that it takes to go into a no-hitter for it to take place and so my expectations were just to go out there and try and make good pitches and be aggressive.”
“After what ‘Z’ did last night, it would have been fun to do something I’m not sure has been done—yet,” Lilly said. “You don’t know if you’ll ever have that opportunity again, but I’ll take tonight the way it was.”
The Cubs finished off the two-game stand at Miller Park, filled with Cubs fans who made the 90-mile trek from Chicago.
Lilly was replaced by reliever Jeff Samardzija who surrendered Houston’s only run in the eighth inning, on 2 walks, a wild pitch and pinch hitter David Newhan’s sacrifice fly RBI to rightfield.
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