Cleveland Indians ace Trevor Bauer had it working for his team Thursday night against the Toronto Blue Jays. Despite walking six batters, the veteran had a no-hitter through seven innings.
Those walks led to a high pitch count. Manager Terry Francona ultimately pulled Bauer before the eighth inning.
In the end, Toronto broke up the no-hitter and shutout with three hits in the ninth inning.
In talking about the decision to pull Bauer, Francona had this to say.
“I didn’t want to take him out. He said he knew it was the right thing I told him I hate it,” Francona told reporters after the game. “I just have an obligation to do the right thing even when it’s not the funnest thing to do.”
The championship manager is known for being player-friendly. It had to hurt him to pull the team’s ace in that situation.
Unfortunately, Bauer had thrown 117 pitches. It was going to be hard for him to collect those final six outs.
In the end, Cleveland came out by the score of 4-1 to reach .500 on the young season. Coupled with Bauer’s health, that’s the biggest takeaway here.