The Colorado Rockies lost a combined no-hitter in the top of the ninth inning. But they came back to walk it off in the bottom of the inning.
Starting for the Rockies against the San Francisco Giants was 35-year-old Chase Anderson, who threw seven no-hit innings while yielding five walks and one run. The Giants' only run off Anderson came after two walks and an RBI groundout to Anderson himself. Manager Bud Black pulled him after seven, presumably due to his 101 pitches thrown, with the Rockies trailing 1-0. But Colorado's offense saved him from a loss late.
If this score holds, Chase Anderson will become just the 9th player in MLB history to have his statline be 7+ innings, 0 hits, and a loss
— McCovey Chronicles (@McCoveyChron) September 16, 2023
Unfortunately for Anderson, the Giants' Logan Webb, a dark horse NL Cy Young candidate, matched Anderson with 7 1/3 strong innings of his own, giving up one run on four hits. He was pulled after an RBI single in the eighth inning. Both performances were especially impressive given that Coors Field is the most hitter-friendly ballpark in the Majors.
The Giants finally got a hit in the top of the ninth inning, when J.D. Davis notched a leadoff double. After a walk to LaMonte Wade Jr., Patrick Bailey recorded an infield single. Fittingly, the Giants took the lead on a bases-loaded walk to Wilmer Flores.
But Colorado pulled the win out when Charlie Blackmon doubled off closer Camilo Doval and subsequently scored on an Elehuris Montero single. When the throw home hit Blackmon's leg, center fielder Nolan Jones scored from first to win it.
Elehuris Montero grounds it through the left side and the throw by Mike Yastrzemski gets away from Patrick Bailey allowing Nolan Jones to score the winning run in a 3-2 Rockies win vs the Giants pic.twitter.com/aq8GhUsp2X
— MLB Clutch Moments & Walk Offs (@MLBWalk_Offs) September 16, 2023
Anderson has flirted with no-hitters in the past. In 2015, he took a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the Giants. He threw seven no-hit innings against the Chicago Cubs in 2016, before Ben Zobrist doubled to lead off the eighth. He repeated the feat of seven no-hit innings in 2017 against the Arizona Diamondbacks, losing it again in the eighth inning.
There's been just one no-hitter in the 31-year history of Coors Field: Hideo Nomo in 1996.
Hideo Nomo is still the only pitcher in MLB history to throw a no-hitter at hitter-friendly Coors field.
— Doug McKain (@DMAC_LA) June 28, 2023
The Rockies had a .343 BA at home that season. What an incredible feat. #Dodgers
pic.twitter.com/IPtdERii1Q
The lesson? It's very hard to win at Coors Field when you get no-hit for seven innings. Even two hits usually won't do it.
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