Angels 3 Indians 1
CLEVELAND — Sharp from his first pitch, Ervin Santana came full cycle against the Cleveland Indians.
Santana threw the first solo no-hitter for the Angels in nearly 27 years and exacted some long overdue revenge, leading Los Angeles over the Indians 3-1 Wednesday.
This was the first no-hitter at Progressive Field, a ballpark that opened as Jacobs Field in 1994. And it marked quite a bit of role reversal for the 28-year-old righty.
Santana made his big league debut on this very same field on May 17, 2005, and the Indians gave him a rude welcome. The first four batters he faced in the majors teamed up to hit for the cycle — Grady Sizemore led off with a triple, Coco Crisp doubled, Travis Hafner singled and Ben Broussard homered.
Asked to recall that rough outing, Santana smiled and shrugged.
“It’s part of life,” he said. “We’re here today, we don’t know tomorrow.”
Santana struck out and 10 and allowed only two runners — there was an error on the leadoff batter in the first inning and a walk in the eighth. Just once was Santana’s gem in jeopardy and second baseman Howie Kendrick’s nifty play saved it in the sixth.
This was the third no-hitter in the major leagues this season, yet another sign that this, indeed, is another Year of the Pitcher. Minnesota’s Francisco Liriano did it against the Chicago White Sox on May 3 and Detroit ace Justin Verlander beat Toronto on May 7.
Santana (6-8) was certainly hot in Cleveland this time while throwing the Angels’ first complete-game no-hitter since Mike Witt pitched a perfect game on Sept. 30, 1984, against Texas. Mark Langston (7 innings) and Witt (2 innings) combined to hold Seattle hitless on April 11, 1990.
Santana said he began to think a no-hitter was within reach after he got through the eighth.
“Lots of guys get to five, six innings, but that’s when things get a little complicated,” Santana said.
He would know. Because in his last start, Santana took a no-hit bid into the sixth inning against Baltimore.
Overall, it was the ninth no-hitter in Angels’ history. Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan threw four of them from 1973 through 1975. The last pitcher to hold the Indians hitless was Jim Abbott of the New York Yankees on Sept. 4, 1993.
Angels manager Mike Scioscia vividly remembered Santana’s major league debut, too. When a post-game interviewer started to quiz Santana about that day, Scioscia playfully interrupted.
“Do we have to talk about that one?” Scioscia said.
“His command is like night and day,” he said. In that first game, Scioscia said, “those guys were teeing off on him. He used that start as a stepping board.”
Still, Santana hadn’t done much better against the Indians since then. He came into this outing 0-6 with a 4.98 ERA in 10 career starts versus them.
“I never get a win against this team,” he said.
“I’ve been pitching good against them,” he said. “I just didn’t have any luck, but I got it today.”
The closest Cleveland got to a hit came when rookie Jason Kipnis led off the sixth with a grounder past Santana. Kendrick made a diving, backhand stop, threw from his knees and first baseman Mark Trumbo scooped out the low throw for the out.
“I knew the situation. We all did,” Kendrick said. “I wanted to get to that ball and at least knock it down. I was happy to play a part.”
“It’s my first no-hitter, too,” he said. “What a day. I had goosebumps walking off the field.”
Santana threw 105 pitches, 76 for strikes. He had 0-2 counts nine times.
The Dominican pitcher said he was pretty loose for much of the afternoon. He kept talking to his teammates in the dugout, not worrying about breaking any superstitions.
“I was goofing around, talking to them. Around the seventh or eighth, it got a little more intense,” he said.
Said Scioscia: “It’s anything but tension.”
“There was excitement. When you see a guy get within nine outs, then six outs, then three outs ... your focus is winning the game, but past that, you’re looking for that cherry on top, which Ervin delivered. It was fun to watch.”
The crowd of 21,546, many on extended lunch hours for the noontime start, cheered loudly when Lonnie Chisenhall walked with one out in the eighth. Otherwise, the fans nervously sat in expectation of watching history.
Santana quickly took care of business in the bottom of the ninth. He got pinch-hitter Travis Buck to look at strike three, retired the speedy Ezequiel Carrera on a routine grounder and ended it by inducing Michael Brantley to lift an easy fly ball to centre-fielder Peter Bourjos.
“He was on, we weren’t,” Brantley said. “It’s disappointing we didn’t win the game. We’ll just say congratulations to him and move on.”