Baltimore Orioles pitcher David Hess tossed 6.1 no-hit innings against the Toronto Blue Jays. He never got a chance to finish the job.
After Hess retired Toronto’s Brandon Drury to start the seventh inning, Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde went to the mound to get Hess. The 25-year-old pitcher tried to talk his way into staying, but Hyde was having none of it.
We’re guessing that the 82 pitches Hess had thrown must have been right around the pitch count that Hyde had in mind.
Hess did not appear to be laboring in any real way. He had struck out eight and walked only one. Getting pulled from a no-hitter isn’t unprecedented. But it is rare. Even more notable is that the game was not hanging in the balance. The Orioles had a 6-0 lead at the time.
The chances of a combined no-hitter quickly went by the wayside. Pedro Araújo relieved Hess and after walking Justin Smoak, served up a two-run homer to Randal Grichuk. Rowdy Tellez followed that with a clean single. But Araújo then got out of the jam by getting Teoscar Hernandez to hit into a double play.