CLEVELAND -- A standing ovation greeted Slade Cecconi as he walked off the mound after the top of the eighth inning on Monday night at Progressive Field. A smile came across the right-hander’s face, and he doffed his cap and waved to offer his appreciation.
Cecconi flirted with franchise history on Monday, when he carried a no-hit bid into the eighth inning of the Guardians’ 10-2 win over the Royals. The right-hander was six outs away from becoming the first Cleveland pitcher to throw a no-hitter since Len Barker, who tossed a perfect game on May 15, 1981.
Michael Massey recorded Kansas City’s first hit in the eighth, when he hit a leadoff single to left-center field. Cecconi bounced back by getting Carter Jensen to ground into a 5-6-3 double play and Kyle Isbel to ground out to end the frame.
Cecconi allowed just the one hit and three walks with three strikeouts over eight scoreless innings, as the Guardians (73-70) went on to record their fourth straight win. They passed the Royals (73-71) in the American League Wild Card standings and are 2 1/2 games back of the Mariners (76-68) for the final spot.
“It was pretty special,” Cecconi said of that moment in the eighth. “Seeing the crowd get on their feet and hearing my walk-out song and walking off, just taking all that in in the brief few seconds that I was able to, it was pretty special.”
Cleveland’s active streak of 7,016 games without throwing a no-hitter is the fourth longest all-time, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. What’s more, Monday was the second time a Guardians pitcher carried a no-hitter deep into a game this season. Gavin Williams had an 8 2/3-inning bid on Aug. 6 against the Mets.
While Cleveland’s no-hit drought will continue, Cecconi and the Guardians can take solace in the right-hander delivering one of the best starts of his career.
“At least I had a rep at it, so it wasn't the first time going through it,” manager Stephen Vogt quipped, alluding to Williams’ close call. “Slade was outstanding. That was a lot of fun to watch.”
Cecconi threw eight pitches in a 1-2-3 first inning and faced two over the minimum through three. He said he first noticed he had not allowed a hit in the fourth. Cleveland scored six runs on six hits and two walks while sending 11 hitters to the plate in the bottom of that frame, so Cecconi had more time than usual between innings.
Cecconi said he paced up and down the dugout to keep his mind active without being overly focused on the intensity of the game.
“We scored so many runs that I looked up at our scoreboard just to see what the score was. I kind of noticed, and I was like, ‘Huh, a lot of zeros up there on our side,’” Cecconi said with a chuckle. “You put that thought in the back of your head, and whenever it tries to creep back in there, you shove it a little deeper. Just focus on the task at hand, which is executing one pitch at a time.”
Cecconi recalled a few previous no-hit bids he’s had in his life. Last season with the D-backs, he went 4 2/3 innings on April 21 vs. the Giants. He recalled one bid in college that he took to the fifth, but he was hit in the face by a line-drive single.
Monday’s bid was spurred along by some strong defense by the Guardians. In the second inning, Brayan Rocchio made a diving stop on a Salvador Perez ground ball up the middle. The 108.7 mph smash bounced off the mound, and Rocchio had plenty of time to throw Perez out at first.
“You feel that extra adrenaline going on, and you don't think about them getting a base hit,” Rocchio said through interpreter Agustin Rivero. “You make sure that you can execute everything that goes your way.”
In the third, center fielder Daniel Schneemann tracked down a Statcast-projected 379-foot liner off the bat of Maikel Garcia in the left-center gap to make an inning-ending catch. In the fifth, Rocchio made a slick backhanded stop to record a fielder’s choice putout at second.
After Massey lined a 91.9 mph four-seamer on the outer half toward the outfield for the Royals’ first hit in the eighth, Cecconi shot into a squatting position and hung his head.
“I didn’t even want to look. I just was like, ‘No,’” said Cecconi with emphasis. “Rocchi saved the no-hitter twice, and Schneemann saved it once. So hats off to those guys for even helping me get to that point, because I only punched out three. That means my defense was working.”