Kansas City Royals right-hander Jorge Lopez nearly made MLB history Saturday night at Target Field.
Lopez, in his seventh big league start, fell three outs short of a perfect game against the Twins. He walked Max Kepler to lead off the ninth inning, ending the perfect game bid. The next batter, Robbie Grossman, shot a hard-hit ground ball single back up the middle to end the no-hit bid.
Interestingly enough, Lopez struck out only four batters in his perfect game bid, so he needed plenty of help from his defense. Alex Gordon made several stellar plays in left field, most notably. Jorge Bonifacio also made a nice running catch in right. Reliever Wily Peralta allowed one of the runners he inherited from Lopez to score before closing out the win (KC 4, MIN 1).
Lopez became only the second pitcher in Royals history to start a game with seven perfect innings, joining Bret Saberhagen. Saberhagen retired the first 21 Mariners he faced on June 22, 1985, before allowing a leadoff single in the eighth. There have been four no-hitters in Royals history:
- Bret Saberhagen: August 26, 1991 vs. White Sox
- Jim Colborn: May 14, 1977 vs. Rangers
- Steve Busby: June 19, 1974 vs. Brewers
- Steve Busby: April 27, 1973 vs. Tigers
Kansas City acquired Lopez from the Brewers a few weeks ago in the Mike Moustakas trade. Saturday was his fourth start with the Royals and, going into this game, Lopez had allowed 13 runs and 32 baserunners in 20 1/3 innings with Kansas City.
The Royals still have never been involved in a perfect game in franchise history, win or lose. The Twins have twice been on the losing end of a perfect game. Catfish Hunter got them in 1968 and David Wells got them in 1998. Minnesota was last no-hit by Jered Weaver back in 2012.
Felix Hernandez is still the last pitcher to throw a perfect game. He got the Rays on August 15, 2012. Hernandez, Philip Humber, and Matt Cain all threw perfect games in 2012, and there has not been one since.
James Paxton threw 2018's only no-hitter back in May, against the Blue Jays.
