CLEVELAND (AP) 鈥 Slade Cecconi didn’t need anyone in Cleveland’s dugout to tell him he was throwing a no-hitter. He found out on his own.
Stealing a glance at Progressive Field’s giant scoreboard in the fourth inning, Cecconi noticed something unusual.
鈥淚 was like, huh, a lot of zeros up there on our side,鈥 he said.
He kept it like that for a while.
Cecconi took a no-hitter into the eighth before Kansas City’s Micheal Massey hit a leadoff single to spoil the right-hander’s bid to throw the majors鈥 first no-hitter this season and finally end Cleveland鈥檚 four-plus-decades-long drought without a no-hitter.
But that hardly mattered as the Guardians rolled to their fourth straight win, 10-2 to jump the Royals in the standings.
Leaning on a slow curve ball manager Stephen Vogt said had surprising 鈥渢eeth,鈥 Cecconi dominated the Royals over the first seven innings before Massey lined a 2-1 fastball into left-center for Kansas City’s first hit.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 even want to look,鈥 Cecconi admitted.
After Massey’s hit dropped, the right-hander received a nice ovation and Cecconi stepped off the mound, took off his cap and soaked in the roars.
His performance came at an optimal time for the Guardians, who moved into second place ahead of the Royals in the AL Central. Cleveland entered the four-game series 2 1/2 games behind Seattle for the final wild-card spot.
鈥淓verybody in that locker room believes that we鈥檙e a playoff team and we鈥檝e believed that since the day we showed up to spring,鈥 said Cecconi, who was lifted after the eighth. 鈥淭here鈥檚 not a guy in that locker room that doesn鈥檛 believe that we belong in October.鈥
Making his career-high 20th start and first against Kansas City, Cecconi, who was acquired in an off-season trade from Arizona, was in command from the outset. He needed just eight pitches to get through the first.
He got a big defensive stop from second baseman Bryan Rocchio in the fourth and center fielder Daniel Schneemann raced into the gap to make a catch on the warning track in the third to keep Cecconi’s no-no intact.
Once he got through seven, Cecconi had gone further with a no-hitter at home than any Cleveland pitcher since 2019.
Cecconi couldn’t remember the last time he got so deep.
鈥淚鈥檇 have to look back into high school to be honest with you, to really find another one,鈥 he said. “I remember in college I had one. I think I went out for the fifth and took a line drive off the face that wasn鈥檛 fun, broke up the no-hitter.
鈥淏ut I think this is definitely the furthest I鈥檝e taken in a game in the big leagues by far.鈥
The Guardians, previously known as the Indians, have been here before.
They haven’t had a no-hitter since Len Barker’s perfect game in 1981. Their dry spell between no-hitters in the longest current one in MLB 鈥 and fourth longest all-time. It’s a shocking gap considering the franchise’s rich pitching history with five Cy Young Award winners over the past 44 years.
Cleveland had a close call earlier this season as Gavin Williams took a no-hitter into the ninth at New York before it was broken up by Juan Soto鈥檚 one-out homer.
鈥淚t鈥檚 certainly something that sticks out,鈥 Cecconi said of Cleveland’s drought. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an anomaly, especially because we鈥檝e seen so many people come close. So many guys come through that have won Cy Youngs and done that and you got to look at the whole picture. You can鈥檛 just look at one little stat like that. And I鈥檓 sure somebody will. Shoot, I mean maybe tomorrow, who knows.鈥
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