@Rangers 8, Red Sox 0 — Paging Mike Mussina and Dave Stieb … Shaking off the strange events two innings back, Yu Darvish came within one out of a no-hitter. But on his 126th pitch, David Ortiz ripped a hard grounder past the diving second baseman/short-right-fielder, foiling Darvish for the second time on history’s doorstep.

The Texas ace dominated from the start, fanning eight of the first 11 men, six straight from the 2nd to the 4th, that streak ended by Papi’s fly. The Rangers scored early off Clay Buchholz, then knocked him out with a 5-run 5th, shifting all drama onto Darvish. He stayed perfect, punching out Jackie Bradley, Jr., to end the 6th with 10 Ks, and starting the 7th with two routine outs in front of Ortiz.

Big Papi took three pitches off the plate, then the obligatory strike. At 3-and-1, Yu might have flashed on their one prior game encounter, last May. He struck out 14 that day, but didn’t win, thanks mainly to a mammoth blow that Ortiz loosed on a gut-high 3-1 fastball. This time, the heater came at 93, mid-thigh, inner half, and Ortiz popped it up a mile, in shallow right field. Alex Rios converged with second baseman Rougne Odor (in his second big-league game), who was twenty feet onto the outfield grass in the common Papi shift. Either of them could have, should have caught it. But signals crossed, neither touched it, and Ortiz was on, perfection gone. The big crowd groaned. But how would it be scored?

Minutes passed slowly as anxious watchers wondered. Some knew the rule; most knew the custom: A ball untouched is (almost) always scored a hit. But then the scoreboard flashed “E-9.” The no-hitter was alive.

Mike Napoli walked on a full count, but Grady Sizemore flied out to Rios. Another full-count walk began the 8th, but Darvish settled with two quick infield outs, and then whiffed Bradley for the third time, with a nasty 3-2 slider. To the 9th: A bouncer to third, then a third K on Shane Victorino. And finally, Ortiz — one of two Sox who put the ball in play each time. On 2-and-1, a fastball aimed for the knees came over just below the belt. Big Papi met it just above the level, driving a topspin bouncer off the firm Texas ground. Odor, in the shift once more, raced six steps to his right and dived, but he was too late. Ron Washington jogged out to pull Darvish after his third-highest pitch count, his apparent date with destiny deferred once more.

The hit made the scorer’s decision moot, but it was clearly within bounds. Here’s the main rulebook guidance on charging errors, which keys on the term “ordinary effort”:

It is not necessary that the fielder touch the ball to be charged with an error. If a ground ball goes through a fielder’s legs or a fly ball falls untouched and, in the scorer’s judgment, the fielder could have handled the ball with ordinary effort, the official scorer shall charge such fielder with an error…. The official scorer shall charge an outfielder with an error if such outfielder allows a fly ball to drop to the ground if, in the official scorer’’s judgment, an outfielder at that position making ordinary effort would have caught such fly ball.

[emphasis added]

What is ordinary effort in that situation? Communication was the key to the play; what did Rios and Odor say to one another? It’s presumed that both speak Spanish; Odor is Venezuelan, while Rios was born in Alabama but grew up in Puerto Rico. Crowd noise didn’t seem to be a factor. The play belonged to Rios, the outfielder coming towards the ball. We don’t know who said what, but Rios never seemed to call for it, and he stopped short, seeing Odor still drifting back. Can’t a failure to make the needed effort at communication be deemed a lack of “ordinary effort”? Ultimately, I side with what Mitch Williams said on the MLB Network: “If a ball is in the air for half an hour, some big league player has to catch that ball.”

• Chris Bosio was last to no-hit Boston, in 1993. Dave Righetti did it on July 4, 1983, whiffing Wade Boggs to end it.
• No searchable perfecto ‘gainst the BoSox. Walter Johnson was close in 1920, but Bucky Harris made an error.

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@Reds 4, Rockies 3 — No win for a deserving Johnny Cueto, but Joey Votto washed out the taste of that blown lead with a game-winning blast on 3-and-0 from Boone Logan, a dose of “How ya like me now?” for critics of his “too-patient” approach.

Cueto’s blazing start has made his outings must-watch stuff, even if play-by-play is all you have. For extra juice, Johnny put his .132 opponents’ batting average up against Nolan Arenado’s 28-game hitting streak, and stiffed him all three chances. Colorado’s first hit was a Jhoulys Chacin double in the 3rd, but he expired peacefully. Tulo soloed in the 4th, and two hits made a tying tally in the 5th, just the second of Cueto’s 10 runs not from a HR. Five hits and 2 runs through five threatened various Cueto streaks. But he held the line by putting down his last 11 batters, Tulo grounding out on pitch #101 to end the 8th.

Billy Hamilton doubled for Cueto in the home half, and came around by bunt & flyout. Arenado got one last shot against Jonathan Broxton, who started 0-and-2 but walked him. Justin Morneau doubled on 1-2 to tie the game, leaving Cueto with just a 3-2 record for his ethereal 1.43 ERA and eight straight games of 7+ IP and 2 runs or less.

• Votto doesn’t often swing on 3-0. Almost 3/4 of his career PAs starting thus have gone for walks, and this was just his 14th ball put in play on 3-0. Results are posivite: eight hits, four HRs.
• First 3-0 walk-off bomb since 2008, Atlanta’s Yunel Escobar off Logan Kensing. There are now 13 searchables, this one the first by a Red; but complete pitch data go back just to the mid-’80s. All 13 games were tied before the 3-0 blow.

Streak-checking:

• Unhittable: Cueto’s the first to start a year with 8 straight games of 7+ IP and 5 hits or less (games searchable since 1914). Just one other reached 6 of those, Tom Seaver, 1973. Yes, those marks are cherry-picked for Cueto. But even raising the hits limit to 6 yields just three other streaks of 8, all by multiple-Cy Young Award winners — Pedro, Seaver and Denny McLain — with Cueto’s hits rate best of all (30 hits in 63 IP, 4.29 H/9).
• Five straight games of 8+ IP and 2 runs or less: Four others this century, Verlander last in 2011. Last one to 6 was Clemens, 1997.

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Angels 4, @Blue Jays 3 — Erick Aybar’s leadoff triple in the 9th set up Raul Ibanez for the go-ahead sac fly, and LA stopped Toronto’s 5-win streak in a game of back-and-forth, up-and-down, and sideways. After Thursday’s launch-fest, the Jays’ first two runs tonight resulted from three wild ones by Garrett Richards, jumping ahead in the 1st, then tying in the 3rd to offset Mike Trout’s whomp. Dustin McGowan uncorked one of his own to score Ibanez, putting the Angels back on top in the 5th — but wait — call reversed! (Hmmm…)

But Toronto found another way to donate the lead, one they’ve put a brand on: Two relievers issued three straight walks in the 7th to force in a run. Two down, a man on second, IBB to Albert. Ibanez walked on a full count to fill ’em, and then Steve Delabar came in and missed four straight to Howie Kendrick. Jose Reyes tied it leading off their 8th with his 3rd HR, third hit this game. But their 4th-9th hitters generated just a single and a walk in 23 trips, the last three in order against Ernesto Frieri.

• I still can’t see clear and convincing evidence to overturn the call on Ibanez. This is a weakness of the replay rule as applied in all the major sports that have it, which my brother points out with frequent phone calls. None of the angles I saw showed a certain tag before Ibanez touched the plate. I think it’s highly likely that such tag occurred, but I’d say there’s a 10% chance that it didn’t — and that doesn’t meet my interpretation of “clear and convincing.” To me, there’s more convincing evidence on this play that the ball was still moving in Albert’s glove when Chris Getz touched first base, but the out call stood.
• Richard has 18 wild pitches since 2013, ranking top-5, and in less than 190 IP.

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Giants 3, @Dodgers 1 — Yasiel Puig won the game with a solo homer off Madison Bumgarner. Or maybe not; I’m just reading body language. There might have been an even bigger hit in the game, but who can tell such things when a player won’t preen?

• LHB Brandon Crawford is 16 for 38 off LHPs this year, with 3 HRs, 2 triples, 3 doubles, 10 RBI. Last year, he hit .199/.546 off southpaws.
• Giants now 6-2 vs. LA, who’ve lost 5 of 6 overall.

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@Pirates 6, Cardinals 4 — Best part of this clip of Neil Walker’s decisive 3-run homer: Yadier Molina hangs his head, after Carlos Martinez hung the 2-2 slider.

• I root for Neil Walker ’cause he’s from Pittsburgh, and took a little long to make it after they drafted him 11th overall in 2004.
• Francisco Liriano still looking for the winner’s circle, just 3 for 8 in quality starts so far. Allen Craig’s 3-run shot wiped out his 2-0 lead in the 4th, before rain stopped play. Last year, Liriano was 4-2, 1.75 after seven outings.

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Twins 2, @Tigers 1 — Kurt Suzuki’s 2-run single broke the scoreless duel with two outs in the 7th, and Detroit’s late rally died with the equalizer on second. No walks let Phil Hughes work past 8 hits in his first six frames — three in the 4th with dipster interruptus, and Miggy flied out with two on in the 5th. Given the lead, Hughes put ’em down in order in the 7th, for his first scoreless start in just over a year (not counting a 4-out injury game).

Justin Verlander hadn’t lost to the Twins since April 2010, and set down 12 of 13 into the 7th. But with two outs, Danny Santana singled and Brian Dozier walked to soak the sacks, and Suzuki punched one up the middle for a pair. Alex Avila trimmed it to one with a one-out double in the 9th, Detroit’s 10th hit but first in a ribby spot. But Glenn Perkins got the last two easily to preserve Hughes’s fourth straight winning start (2.05 ERA, one walk in 26.1 IP).

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@Atlanta 3, Cubs 2 (10 inn.) — Held to one hit through eight by Julio Teheran, Chicago scratched the tying run off Craig Kimbrel. But Jason Heyward’s leadoff walk and steal (against a pick-off throw) set up Three-Hit Freeman’s winning stroke, giving him a MLB-best 8 walk-off hits since 2011. Atlanta scored 3 runs or less for the 7th straight game, tying their longest since 1997, and were held to singles for the third time in that streak, but won their first such game since last July thanks to timely hits. Chris Johnson’s 2-run single with two outs in the 3rd offset the 7th HR by Mike Olt-or-Nothing. Teheran clamped onto that lead, retiring 17 straight between the HR and a 2-out walk to Olt in the 8th.

• With 8 straight quality starts, Teheran has 58 IP, 36 hits and 11 walks. All 5 runs in his last 5 games came on solo HRs.
• Olt has homered in three straight games. For the year, 7 HRs, 7 singles, 7 walks, 29 Ks. He had a big 2012 at double-A, but has hit under .200 in over 500 ABs at higher levels.

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Cleveland 6, @Tampa 3 — Michael Brantley’s tying homer in the 7th bookended with a 3-run shot by Mike Aviles in a 5-run frame, and Cleveland ran their first 3-game win streak up to four. Tampa’s late rally off John Axford was not enough to duck their 4th straight loss. Axford had a 4-run lead and caught the first two looking, but a hit kept the Rays alive. Axford missed four straight to Ryan Hanigan, then three to David DeJesus, who stroked his third double of the night to bring up Ben Zobrist as the tying run. Axford fell behind him 3-0, battled back, and lost him, bases loaded. Cody Allen came in for the save, popping up James Loney on a full count.

Tampa’s Jake Odorizzi fanned 11 in 5 shutout innings, tying the total Ks of his two best efforts. But that plus 8 baserunners burned up 101 pitches. Asdrubal Cabrera attacked the relief quickly, halving the Rays’ lead with his 3rd homer. The next two reached and moved up on a bunt, but Jake McGee put out that fire. Not so the veteran Joel Peralta, who served up his 4th homer and saw his ERA soar to 7.07 in Cleveland’s big rally.

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Yankees 5, @Brewers 3 — I promised my friend Doug, a Yankees fan, that I would say this once: Professor Toru Tanaka slugged it out with the Crew and came away with his 5th win, remaining unbeaten in major bouts, with big boosts from Yangervis Solarte and some questionable Brewer baserunning. The switch-hitting rookie, batting around .300 from both sides, belted a 3-run shot off Yovani Gallardo to kick off New York’s 4-run 4th. Milwaukee halved the lead with three straight hits to start the 6th, but Aramis Ramirez hit into a 6-6-3 DP to clear those decks. Logan Schafer’s single in the 7th sent off Tanaka with men on the corners and one down. But Schafer ran on Adam Warren’s 2-2 pitch to Lyle Overbay, and the SO/CS stranded Jean Segura on third and Carlos Gomez in the on-deck circle.

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@Padres 10, Marlins 1 — Homeboy Jose Fernandez got a road trip to the woodshed, courtesy of Jedd Gyorko’s 2 HRs that scored all 6 runs Jose allowed in his 5 innings. San Diego scored more than 6 runs for the first time in their 37th game this year, third-longest streak from season’s start since 1920. The 1985 Dodgers set the bar at 48 games (23-25)… and finished with 95 wins and the division crown.

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Phillies 3, @Mets 2 (11 inn.) — Pass. (Hey, I watched this two-team debacle; I’m not compounding that waste by writing about it.)

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Late Thursday

Giants 3, @Dodgers 1 — It’s the 10th inning; do you know where your game-breaker is? Bruce Bochy knew. When LA walked the pea patch with one out in the 10th (Pagan, Pence & Posey), Bochy tapped the game’s most dangerous .264 hitter — a man with 8 career home runs, and seven whiffs for every walk. As usual, Hector Sanchez got it done. His long fly to the right-field track (just missed it) brought the lead and furthered the insurance, and Sergio Romo wrapped up the bullpen’s standard effort (nine batters, eight outs) for his 11th save.

• Sanchez in extra innings, game tied: 10 for 13, 11 RBI, one walk and this sac fly. Tied in the 9th or later: 14 for 20, 13 RBI, four instant winners.
• Sanchez is #1 with 11 go-ahead events in the 9th or later since 2012, whether tied or trailing at the time. (Next is Adrian Beltre’s 9.) All 11 were RBI events for Sanchez.

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Lucky for him, pitcher wins are overrated: [This note has been corrected, thanks to Richard Chester.]
Ian Kennedy is the third pitcher in the searchable era to hit a home run, strike out 12 or more, and not get a win. Bob Gibson did it on August 30, 1972, and Warren Spahn on June 14, 1952.

Gibson tied his game with a solo in the 6th, his 5th HR that year. But he lost on 2 runs in the 9th. Spahn led 1-0 to the 9th, but gave up a tying shot to Cubs 3B Bill Serena. Hal Jeffcoat beat him in the 15th with a 2-run triple; Johnny Klippstein got the win, for 8 scoreless relief innings. Spahn’s 15-IP CG loss was the 2nd-longest of his career, after the famous duel with Juan Marichal.

• Side trips are half the fun of searching: Billy O’Dell’s 9-inning “complete game” in relief, with a career-high 13 strikeouts.

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Through Thursday, 16 intentional walks had been issued in the first three innings of a game and not to 8th-place hitters. These all occurred with one or two outs. It’s a small sample, but these ploys have not worked well, overall. Only six helped the issuing team escape the inning with no further damage (one such escape only because a runner was thrown out at home on a base hit). The other ten freebies were followed by 22 total runs, including five of the passed batters.

Particularly ineffective were those to the three players who’ve had more than one:

• Two went to Robinson Cano, both from lefty pitchers, and both backfired. One came with two outs, man on third; the subsequent hit scored the game’s only run. The other was with two outs, men on third and second, M’s ahead 1-0; the next man hit a 3-run double, Seattle won 8-3.
• Three went to Giancarlo Stanton, in a five-day span. One filled the bases with one out, after the pitcher had fallen behind, Fish already ahead 4-0; it was followed by a forceout, then a 2-run single, and Miami won 11-2. Another came with a man on second, two outs, Fish up 3-2, and was followed by a hit, runner thrown out at home; Miami won 8-4. The third was with no score, a man on third, one out, and was followed by a ribby hit; Marlins won that one 7-0.
• Two went to Prince Fielder, on consecutive days, both in the bottom of the 1st with no score yet. One came with man on second and two outs; the next two men got hits, scoring three, and Texas won 8-6. The other came with men on third and second, one out, setting up a possible DP; but the next man singled for a run, and then a scoring groundout, and Texas went on to a 12-0 win.

In total for these 16 passes, the average change in win expectancy was -5% for the issuing team, from before the IBB to the end of the inning. But those numbers split sharply based on outs at the time:

• One out: Seven IBBs — Three were followed immediately by a DP (two by catchers). The other four walks were followed by seven total runs. These seven event chains were collectively neutral as to win expectancy.
• Two outs: Nine IBBs — Two were followed by an out, another by a hit and a runner nailed at home. The other six innings produced 15 total runs. These nine event chains averaged -10% in win expectancy for the issuing team.

These out-based results tend to support “Question 5” of Joe Posnanski’s Intentional Walk Rage System. Again, it’s a small sample, and flipping a few of the worst outcomes would paint a different picture. But there’s more grounds than this to question what is clearly an unconventional move and goes against general run expectancy measures.