Chicago Cubs pitcher Drew Smyly was only six outs away from a perfect game against the Los Angeles Dodgers before disaster struck when his catcher somehow tackled him, allowing Dodgers player David Peralta to reach base, first according to CBS.
Smyly had pitched a perfect seven innings, not allowing a single runner to reach base, CBS reported. Then on his 94th pitch of the game, he threw a curveball that was bunted down the third-base line at 32.9 miles per hour, the outlet continued. Video shows Smyly pursuing the ball, potentially prepping himself to throw Peralta out at first when he collided with catcher Yan Gomes, who was also going after the ball.
Drew Smyly was 6 outs away from a Perfect game… then he lost it on this @StoolBaseball pic.twitter.com/BgeTJAR2Na
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) April 21, 2023
“It was a tough way to end it,” Smyly told reporters, “Yan wanted it just as bad as I did.”
Smyly ended up throwing 103 pitches and was taken out of the game after retiring the next two hitters according to CBS.
The Cubs have had 17 no-hitters in franchise history, the most recent coming in 2022 when Alec Mills accomplished the feat against Milwaukee, according to CBS. As for a perfect game, which means no baserunners reach base, there have been only 17 in MLB history, none of them coming from the Cubs, ESPN reported.
The Cubs ended up beating the Dodgers with a dominating 13-0 score. The Dodgers finished with one hit in the entire game — the one that resulted from the collision.