Nearly another no-no
ARLINGTON, Texas — The Texas Rangers flirted with the sixth no-hitter in the majors this season. Joe Mauer turned it into another near no-hitter.
Mauer became the fifth player this season to spoil a no-hit bid in the ninth inning, ruining the effort of starter Rich Harden and three relievers with a clean single off All-Star closer Neftali Feliz in the Rangers' 4-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Monday night in a meeting of division leaders.
Rangers president Nolan Ryan threw two of his record seven no-hitters for Texas, and he was in the owner's box rooting for another one.
Then he saw Mauer, hitting .330, in the batter's box.
"When I looked at who was hitting in the ninth I worried about Mauer because he's a good hitter and with Feliz's fastball you feel like if he leaves a ball in the hitting zone that he's going to have a shot at it," Ryan said.
Harden, who was activated from the disabled list earlier in the day, went 6 2-3 innings before being lifted after throwing 111 pitches. Matt Harrison got the final out of the seventh. Darren O'Day pitched the eighth and Feliz got one in the ninth before Mauer broke through.
"I felt like I made a great pitch but he was able to make the adjustment and hit it," Feliz said through an interpreter.
Mauer broke up a no-hit bid by Gavin Floyd of the Chicago White Sox on May 6, 2008 with a one-out double in the ninth.
"We had some opportunities where Harden walked a couple guys and we just couldn't get that hit to get a couple runs across the board," Mauer said. "But you definitely don't want to get no-hit. It's nice to get a hit up there but we want runs."
Harden had the longest no-hit outing in Rangers history among starters who didn't finish the game.
Afterward, he was philosophical rather than angry.
"That's baseball," he said. "We had Feliz, who's one of the best closers in the game facing Mauer, who's one of the best hitters in the game. That's the way it goes."
Texas fell two outs shy of its first no-hitter since Kenny Rogers' perfect game against California on July 28, 1994.
There have been five no-hitters this season, including perfect games by Oakland's Dallas Braden and Philadelphia's Roy Halladay. The last no-hitter was Matt Garza of Tampa Bay against Detroit on July 26.
The home plate umpire Monday night was Jim Joyce. He was the first base umpire who made the incorrect call with two outs in the ninth inning that cost Detroit Armando Galarraga a perfect game.
