Rays' Drew Rasmussen loses perfect game in ninth inning vs. Orioles originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
Jorge Mateo did not want to be on the wrong end of history on Sunday.
The Baltimore Orioles had gone 24 up, 24 down through eight innings against Tampa Bay Rays starter Drew Rasmussen on Sunday. At just 79 pitches, Rasmussen came out for the ninth inning with perfection in sight.
Mateo came up as the leadoff batter in the ninth and put an end to those hopes. The Orioles shortstop pulled the first pitch of the inning ball down the left field line and reached second for a double, making him the team’s first baserunner of the game.
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Rasmussen got Terrin Vavra to ground out in the next at-bat. Mateo then came in to score the Orioles’ only run on a wild pitch from Rasmussen, who was quickly pulled. The righty ended his afternoon with a final line of 8 1/3 innings pitched, one hit, one earned run and seven strikeouts on 87 pitches. Jason Adam got the final two outs for the Rays, who picked up a 4-1 win.
Rasmussen’s outing landed one day shy of the 10th anniversary of MLB’s last perfect game, which came from Felix Hernandez on Aug. 15, 2012 – against the Rays. Rasmussen had a chance to earn the 24th perfect game in MLB history and the first in franchise history for Tampa Bay.
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Rasmussen is the third pitcher this season to lose a no-hitter in the ninth inning. St. Louis’ Miles Mikolas lost a no-no with two outs in the ninth on June 14 and Los Angeles Dodgers starter Tyler Anderson came two outs shy of a no-hitter the following night.
So far, there have been four no-hitters across the big leagues in 2022. Reid Detmers of the Los Angeles Angels is the only pitcher to complete a solo no-hitter, with the other three no-nos taking a group effort.
