SAN DIEGO (AP) — Michael Wacha of the San Diego Padres took a no-hitter into the eighth inning before allowing Michael Massey's leadoff single and struck out a career-high 11 in a 4-0 victory against the Kansas City Royals on Monday night that snapped a five-game losing streak.
Massey's hit to right field came on Wacha's 103rd pitch and manager Bob Melvin immediately came out to pull the right-hander, who left to a standing ovation from the sellout crowd of 43,828. Nick Martinez came on and retired the side and then finished the combined two-hitter.
There were a few moments of confusion at the end as a fan ran onto the field just as Nick Pratto took a called strike three. The umpires huddled and ruled that the pitch from Martinez counted.
Wacha (4-1), signed as a free agent on Feb. 16, walked one. He had a perfect game going before hitting Edward Olivares with a pitch with one out in the fifth. He walked Bobby Witt Jr. with two outs in the sixth before first baseman Jake Cronenworth made a terrific diving stop of Vinnie Pasquantino’s grounder to preserve the no-hit bid.
Joe Musgrove threw the Padres' only no-hitter on April 9, 2021, in his second start with his hometown team.
Fernando Tatis Jr. had two hits, scored a run and drove in another as the Padres took advantage of Brad Keller's wildness to fix their offensive woes, for one night, at least.
Tatis singled leading off the first and advanced on Machado's groundout and Keller's error. Keller then threw a wild pitch to the backstop that allowed Tatis to score.
Keller (3-4) walked four and hit a batter with a pitch to load the bases three times in the second, but the Padres were able to score only two runs. Tatis hit an RBI single and the other run came in when Manny Machado was hit on the hand by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Tatis tried to score when a pitch briefly got away from Salvador Perez, but the catcher gathered it in and tagged him out. Juan Soto reloaded the bases with a walk before Xander Bogaerts grounded out weakly to end the threat.
Keller was pulled after issuing consecutive walks with two outs in the fourth, giving him eight for the night, against just two strikeouts. He aloowed three runs, two earned, and three hits.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Padres: Machado came out of the game in the fourth. ... LHP Drew Pomeranz (elbow, neck) was transferred to the 60-day injured list.
TRANSACTION
Padres: Selected RHP Drew Carlton from Triple-A El Paso. Optioned LHP Ryan Weathers to El Paso.
UP NEXT
Royals RHP Brady Singer (2-4, 7.71 ERA) and Padres RHP Seth Lugo (3-2, 3.18) are scheduled to start Tuesday night in the middle game of the series.
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