The team that invented openers very nearly got a no-hitter out of one

ST. PETERSBURG -- The Rays are synonymous with pitching innovation, and on Thursday afternoon they very nearly reached the pinnacle. Tampa Bay came two outs from no-hitting the Royals while starting the game with an opener in an eventual 13-2 victory at Tropicana Field that clinched a split of the four-game series.

Craig Kimbrel gave up Kansas City’s first and only hit with one out in the ninth inning, a no-doubt two-run homer from catcher Carter Jensen.

Reliever Casey Legumina started the game for the Rays, going 1 1/3 perfect frames, and Ian Seymour took the reins from there. The lefty did not allow a baserunner until walking Starling Marte in the sixth inning, and he ultimately went 6 2/3 innings without giving up a hit. Seymour had seven strikeouts along with the one walk.

Kimbrel then entered to try to polish it off. He walked the first batter (Marte again), then struck out Tyler Tolbert before allowing the homer to Jensen.

“I hate that I wasn’t able to close it out," Kimbrel said. “It was an unbelievable job by Seymour. Sometimes, you want to see a guy keep going [and pitch the ninth inning], but to see him go out there and do that, it was pretty awesome."

Seymour (4-1) was at 90 pitches (67 strikes) after the eighth inning. That was enough for Manager Kevin Cash, who said he didn’t consider sending Seymour out for the ninth.

“We talked about, ideally, if we could get [Seymour)] at 80 to 90 pitches, that’s getting to the point where he’s built up, ready to go as a starter, and he certainly did that," Cash said. “The efficiency is what allowed it to happen.

“Look, if his pitch count would have been a little lower, then maybe there’s more consideration to [Seymour pitching the ninth]. But we’re still building him back up. A month ago, he was a one or two-inning reliever, throwing maybe 30 pitches an outing. We’ve got to be really responsible and smart with that. That was a pretty easy decision once he got to that 90 mark."

Seymour said he was just happy to win the game while consistently throwing strikes.

“When you control the count and throw in the strike zone -- good things happen," Seymour said. “It comes down to the reps that longer outings allow you to have. From a delivery standpoint, you just feel a little more crisp.

“We won the game, so that’s really where the focus was at. It would’ve been cool [to pitch the ninth] at the end of the day. I probably would’ve been disappointed if I had started it, but I came in for a bulk appearance. I trust [the Rays’ staff] to always put my best interest forward. If I hadn’t walked [Marte], it would’ve been a little bit of a different situation."

There has never been a combined perfect game -- and only 24 perfect games total.

Regardless of the outcome, it was a confidence-building outing for Seymour, who became the third MLB pitcher since 1980 to throw at least 6 2/3 innings of hitless relief, joining Felix Pena (July 12, 2019, against the Mariners) and Jake Westbrook (April 19, 2004, against the Tigers).

“He’s deceptive," Royals manager Matt Quatraro said of Seymour. “The ball gets on you pretty quickly. He did a good job of mixing and kept us off the barrel. I think when we were looking soft, he went hard and vice versa. He pitched exceptionally well."

The Rays remained stuck on one no-hitter in their franchise’s history, an impressive effort from Matt Garza on July 26, 2010.

Junior Caminero provided the bulk of the offense in the blowout victory, with his first career three-homer game. It started with a two-run home run in the bottom of the first, followed by a solo shot in the fifth before a three-run blast off shortstop Tyler Tolbert, who was pitching, in the eighth inning.

After Caminero's performance, the Rays are the second team in at least the expansion era (1961) to have an eight-plus inning no-hit bid and an individual three-homer game in the same game. The only other instance was Cincinnati on June 27, 2025, with Nick Martinez taking a no-hitter into the ninth to go along with Spencer Steer's three-homer day.

There has never been a no-hitter and an individual three-homer game in the same game.