Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Patrick Corbin
Patrick Corbin had hitters chasing sliders in the dirt and made up a 65 mph pitch on the fly. Arizona’s defense had a pair of spectacular plays behind him, the kind that end up in the highlight reel when history is made.
A buzz filled Chase Field as the left-hander inched closer to the Arizona Diamondbacks’ third no-hitter.
One check swing ended Corbin’s bid. No history, but one awfully dominant performance.
Corbin lost his no-hit bid on a checked-swing infield single with two outs in the eighth inning but finished a one-hitter to lift the Diamondbacks over the San Francisco Giants 1-0 yesterday [Macau time].
“It was really great stuff from him all night,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. “It was a fun night to be a baseball fan, a special night.”
Corbin (3-0) walked one but otherwise was cruising toward joining Edwin Jackson and Randy Johnson in Arizona’s no-hit club. Brandon Belt ended it with a softly hit ball to the left side of Arizona’s shifted infield, beating shortstop Nick Ahmed’s throw by a step to send a groan across Chase Field.
“I hit one earlier in the game, they took it away from me with a good diving play,” Belt said. “It just happens sometimes. The shift takes a lot of hits away, but every now and then you will get one back.”
Corbin shook off the squib hit to finish his first complete-game shutout, throwing 100 pitches and striking out eight. It was the first home shutout by an Arizona left-hander since Johnson in 2003 against the Colorado Rockies.
The Diamondbacks have tied the best start in franchise history (with 2000, 2008) at 12-4.
“That was fun,” said Corbin, whose previous longest no-hit bid was 5 1/3 innings against Florida in 2013. “I feel like I’d feel the same if I had a no-hitter. To come away with a win was huge.”
Corbin locked into a pitching duel with San Francisco’s Johnny Cueto, who struck out 11 and allowed two hits in seven innings after being reinstated from the DL.
The Diamondbacks struck when the San Francisco right-hander exited.
Tony Watson (1-1) walked Jarrod Dyson with one out in the eighth and Corbin moved him over with a sacrifice bunt. David Peralta then lined a single up the middle to score Dyson for the game’s only run.
“He was really good, too,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of Cueto. “This is what makes it even tougher.”
Corbin struck out at least eight his first three starts of the season — a first in his career — but did not factor in the decision his last time out, allowing three runs in 5 1/3 innings of Arizona’s 5-4 loss to the Giants.
Corbin walked Joe Panik in the fourth inning and kept the Giants off-balance until Belt’s single.
He had some help.
Diamondbacks third baseman Daniel Descalso made a diving stop from the right side of second base to rob Belt of a hit in the third inning. Center fielder A.J. Pollock saved another hit in the seventh, spinning around to making a diving catch on Buster Posey’s deep ball over his head.
“It seems like anytime there’s a no-hitter, there’s a play like that,” Corbin said.
He didn’t get it, but it was special nonetheless. AP
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