Cole Hamels no-hit the Chicago Cubs for the first time since Sandy Koufax accomplished the feat a half-century ago.
The Philadelphia Phillies ace struck out 13 and walked two en route to a 5-o victory at Wrigley Field on Saturday afternoon. Ryan Howard homered in the third, driving in three runs on the game.
Despite Philadelphia shopping the starter, the team allowed Hamels to throw 129 pitches to nail-down the no-no. Last season, Hamels combined with three Phillies relievers to hold the Atlanta Braves hitless. Then manager Ryne Sandberg replaced Hamels with a pinch hitter in that effort after the pitcher allowed multiple walks and hit a batsman. Sandberg’s replacement, Pete Mackanin, ignored the pitch count on Saturday and permitted Hamels to pitch into the record books.
The performance may prompt Philadelphia to rethink placing Hamels on the trading block or, alternatively, push teams to redouble their efforts to land him. The durable lefty has pitched all of his ten seasons at the major-league level for Philadelphia. At 36-64, the Phillies rank as the lowest team in the standings by a longshot. So, they look to get better by getting worse in the short term through a trade of their most marketable commodity for prospects.
Hamels joins Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals and Chris Heston of the San Francisco Giants in throwing a no-hitter this season.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.