ATLANTA -- When a starting pitcher is a late scratch around this time of year, there’s reason to wonder if the decision is tied to a pending trade. The late fill-in certainly isn’t expected to make a bid for history.
But that’s exactly what Martín Pérez did when given the chance to create some good news after yet another injury enhanced the Braves’ need to add a starting pitcher before Monday’s 6 p.m. ET Trade Deadline.
Pérez carried a no-hit bid into the seventh inning and helped the Braves claim an 8-3 win over the Nationals on Saturday night. Making his impressive effort more remarkable was the fact that he wasn’t slated to pitch until scheduled starter Reynaldo López sustained a left knee injury approximately 90 minutes before the first pitch.
Brady House’s two-out single to right field in the seventh inning ended Pérez's bid to become the first Braves pitcher to throw a no-hitter since Kent Mercker on April 8, 1994. The veteran hurler entered the seventh inning having thrown just 59 pitches.
Pérez allowed just the one hit while recording six strikeouts over seven scoreless innings. His season-long effort marked just the 10th time a Braves pitcher completed seven-plus innings this year and just the second time since May 20. Chris Sale (five times), Bryce Elder (three times) and JR Ritchie (once) are the only other Atlanta pitchers to last at least seven innings this year.
Pérez retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced and pitched around a pair of Jim Jarvis errors within the first four innings. He had retired nine straight before House’s single.
Matt Olson secured his fifth career 30-homer season and both Dominic Smith and Ronald Acuña Jr. hit solo homers to help the Braves claim their fourth straight win and strengthen their lead atop the NL East standings.
A blowout win combined with a great start didn’t appear to be on the horizon around 6:39 p.m. ET, when the Braves announced López had been scratched because of the knee discomfort he felt while he was in the clubhouse doing his warmup routine.
Ritchie could serve as Atlanta’s starter in Sunday’s series finale against the Nationals. Ritchie was scratched from his scheduled start for Triple-A Gwinnett on Saturday. Given the game was scheduled to start at 6:45 p.m. ET, he likely was told before he would have started his 30-minute pre-start throwing program.