OAKLAND — There have been eight no-hitters thrown within the A's 57-year history in Oakland. On Wednesday night, Joey Estes fell nine outs in need of throwing one other — and possibly final — no-hitter for the franchise leaving town.
Estes, making just his eighth profession appearance, was perfect against the American West-leading Seattle Mariners until JP Crawford hit his first pitch off the middle field wall for a double within the seventh inning. Four relievers, including closer Mason Miller, who earned a save with five outs, helped secure the A's 2-1 victory before a crowd of 9,735 on Dollar Hot Dog Night on the Coliseum.
Fans gave the 22-year-old right-hander a round of applause after his try and throw the A's first no-hitter since Mike Fiers in May 2019 was thwarted by the Mariners' leadoff man.
“You kind of know what's happening, but nothing changes,” Estes said. “It's the same game. I guess you kind of see it, but it doesn't eat me up.”
It was the longest perfect game by an A's rookie since Brett Anderson held the Angels runnerless for six 2/3 innings on July 19, 2009.
Second baseman Zack Gelof continued to shake off his slow start by extending his hitting streak to 6 – and giving Estes and Co. the one runs they needed with a third-inning home run off Mariners starter Logan Gilbert. It was Gelof's fifth home run of the season, but second in three games.
The A's took a 2-0 lead within the fifth inning after Daz Cameron hit a single, moved to 3rd on a wild pickoff throw from Gilbert to first base, and scored on a passed ball a couple of pitches later.
That became an enormous run when Mariners star centerfielder Julio Rodriguez hit a 102 mph fastball from Miller over the middle field wall to open the highest of the ninth inning. After a walk brought the potential tying run to first base, Miller struck out Ty France and ended the sport by getting Victor Robles to hit a double play.
Estes joined the A's newly formed rotation in early May and was 1-1 with a 6.10 ERA in his first 4 starts. But the right-hander had limited the Rays to 2 hits and one run in five innings in his previous start. Estes, who was signed to the Braves within the Matt Olson deal ahead of the 2022 season together with catcher Shea Langeliers, outfielder Cristian Pache and pitcher Ryan Cusick, was even higher against the Mariners.
Estes needed just 70 pitches to get through the Mariners' lineup twice unscathed before Crawford's first pitch hit a fastball out of reach of Cameron, the A's right fielder, and past the bottom of the outfield wall.
“If it's a little shorter than a pop fly, that's an out,” Estes said. “But he could have gotten it and it could have gone even further, so it's just one of those things where you just have to trust your throws. I can only control what happens after I throw the ball.”
Estes retired the subsequent batter, Josh Rojas, but was then faraway from the sport by manager Mark Kotsay after throwing just 78 pitches, leaving Austin Adams to face Rodriguez.
“He's such a fighter,” Kotsay said of Estes. “It's hard to take the ball away from him in that situation, but Julio had hit a ball to center in his second at-bat. There's no point in leaving it in and giving him a chance to not get a win. The way Adam is playing, I felt really good about it.”
Adams walked Rodriguez six times and hit France with a pitch to load the bases with two outs, but TJ McFarland got Mitch Garver to hit a 3-2 pitch on a groundout to shortstop Max Schuemann to finish the threat and keep the Mariners scoreless.
Estes ended up allowing only one hit and striking out five in 6 ⅓ innings, dropping his ERA to 4.67. It was the third time in five starts this season that he didn’t allow a walk.
Estes struck out five of the primary nine batters he faced, and the Mariners didn't really put a single ball in play until Cal Raleigh hit a pointy line drive to center fielder JJ Bleday within the fifth inning for the primary out.
One batter later, the possibility of an ideal game was tested again when France hit a chopper in front of the plate that Langeliers caught after which threw to the primary baseman for the second out. With one out within the sixth inning, first baseman JD Davis stopped Dominic Canzone's sharp grounder with a diving catch and threw it to Estes, who got to base in front of the Mariners' right fielder.
Kotsay said Estes' performance – and his potential profession path – reminds him of Tim Hudson, one in all Oakland's famous Big Three starters within the early 2000s.
“That was literally going through my mind tonight when I saw him go out and pitch,” Kotsay said. “The way he pitched, the aggressiveness of his fastball, the attacks on the batters. Huddy was that kind of pitcher.”
– The A's finish three games against the Mariners on Thursday at 12:37 p.m.
JP Sears, the A's only starter who hasn't missed a start because the starting of last season, faces Bryan Woo.
With the A's moving to Sacramento after this season, Woo will likely be the last Oakland-born pitcher to begin on the Coliseum, barring a trade or other transaction later within the season.
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