Reds 1, Pirates 0: Homer Bailey recorded his first career no-hitter and the seventh this season in Major League Baseball as visiting Cincinnati continued its push toward home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
Bailey (13-10), who struck out 10, induced Alex Presley to pop out to shallow center field on his 115th pitch to give Cincinnati its first no-hitter since Tom Browning's perfect game against the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1988. The right-hander walked just one batter and received an assist from catcher Ryan Hanigan, who threw out Andrew McCutchen in his bid to steal third base in the seventh inning.
Bailey made Todd Frazier's sacrifice fly in the first inning stand up to improve to 5-0 at PNC Park and 8-2 overall versus Pittsburgh. He also registered his third career complete game - all against the Pirates.
The Reds moved into a tie with Washington for the best record in the National League. The Nationals fell 12-2 to St. Louis later on Friday.
Pittsburgh's hard-luck loss clinched its 20th consecutive year without recording a winning record.
Cincinnati wasted little time getting on the scoreboard. Brandon Phillips led off the first inning with a single and advanced to second on a wild pitch from A.J. Burnett (16-9). Zack Cozart singled to move Phillips to third before he came around to score on Frazier's sacrifice fly to right-center field.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Eight no-hitters were recorded in 1884 and seven were posted in 1990 and 1991. ... Despite injuring his left knee on Thursday, McCutchen competed and went 0-for-2 to see his average dip to .330. San Francisco's Buster Posey went 2-for-4 in Friday's 3-1 win over San Diego to raise his National League-leading average to .334. ... Burnett, who suffered his fourth straight home loss, permitted one run on seven hits in eight innings.
Cincinnati | Pittsburgh | |
Homer Bailey | Player | A.J. Burnett |
Win | W/L | Loss |
9.0 | IP | 8.0 |
10 | Strikeouts | 5 |
0 | Hits | 7 |
0.00 | ERA | 1.12 |
Cincinnati | Pittsburgh | |
Scott Rolen | Player | Chase d'Arnaud |
2 | Hits | 0 |
0 | RBI | 0 |
0 | HR | 0 |
2 | TB | 0 |
.667 | Avg | .000 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Cincinnati | 7 | 0 | 7 | .233 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Pittsburgh | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |