Sunday was a bittersweet day for the Arkansas Travelers, Double-A affiliate of the Mariners. The good news? The Travelers walked off with a win over the Tulsa Drillers (Dodgers). The bad news? The Travelers were no-hit!
Thanks in part to the extra-innings tiebreaker rule, Arkansas catcher Joseph Odom worked a bases loaded walk in the 10th inning to give the Travelers the win. Check out the line score:
| FINAL | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
TULSA | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | |
ARKANSAS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Extra-innings in the minors begin with a runner at second base, which makes for ugly baseball but does protect young arms. The primary goal in the minors is development, not winning, and there's no need to put young players in danger by overworking them in extra-innings.
Arkansas scored their 10th inning run without even putting a ball in play. After starting the inning with a runner at second, Tulsa hurler Louis Head got two quick outs before going hit batsman, walk, walk to lose the game. Arkansas batters drew seven walks in the game despite being no-hit, so they had traffic on the bases throughout the game.
We've seen a few no-hitter losses at the MLB level over the years, most recently in 2008, when errors by Jered Weaver and Jeff Mathis allowed the Dodgers to win 1-0 despite getting zero hits. It's not unprecedented and, frankly, the extra-innings rule makes it easier than ever to win while being no-hit in the minors.
Last season the Clearwater Threshers (Phillies) won a game despite not getting a hit or drawing a walk thanks to the extra-innings rule. An error and a run-scoring ground ball fielder's choice to the first baseman gave them the win.
