Braves 25-year-old left-hander Sean Newcomb came within one pitch of twirling a no-hitter against the Dodgers on Sunday in Atlanta. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, however, Dodgers shortstop Chris Taylor with two outs and a 2-2 count singled to left to break it up.
At that point, Newcomb was lifted with a pitch count of 134. Before recording the final out, reliever Dan Winkler allowed a hit to score Taylor, and the Braves won 4-1 (box score). In doing so, they snapped a four-game losing streak and picked up just their eighth win of July.
Here's Newcomb's work for the day:
That, of course, is the kind of effort that will get you a hero's send-off from the hometown crowd:
Braves Country is proud of you @SeanNewk! 👏👏👏#ChopOn pic.twitter.com/Il1oSiLoLV
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) July 29, 2018
Newcomb came close to completing the fourth no-hitter of the 2018 season and the first by a Braves pitcher since Kent Mercker no-hit those same Dodgers in April of 1994. As for the Dodgers, they were last no-hit in September of 2015 by Jake Arrieta, then of the Cubs.
As for Newcomb, he's been huge for the Braves this season. He's now pitched to a 3.23 ERA with 110 strikeouts in 119 2/3 innings. His gem on Sunday, it should be noted, came against what was perhaps the NL's best offense even before Manny Machado was added to the lineup.
