Reds spoil Giants P Alex Cobb’s no-hitter with one out to go on 125th pitch

Alex Cobb was so close on Tuesday night.

But on his 125th pitch of the game, his moment of glory fell short.

The Cincinnati Reds spoiled what would have been the fifth no-hitter of the MLB season, and the first for the Giants since 2015, on Tuesday night at Oracle Park in San Francisco. Spencer Steer hit a two-out, RBI double to center field in the ninth inning to give the Reds their only hit, and only run, of the night.

That ended Cobb’s no-hit bid when he was just one out away.

Cobb still got the win, and a huge standing ovation, as the Giants rolled to a 6-1 victory in the Bay Area. Cobb threw 131 pitches in the outing, and had eight strikeouts in his complete game.

“It’s still fun,” Cobb said, via The Associated Press. “I wasn’t mad or sad, I was just like, ‘Let’s just finish this thing off.’ That kind of thing. So many things have to go right for it to happen.”

The Reds nearly ended the no-hitter in the eighth, too, though Austin Slater made an incredible diving catch after Will Benson hit a ball to short center field to end the inning.

There have been four no-hitters across the league this season. Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Michael Lorenzen threw the most recent one earlier this month against the Washington Nationals in what was just his second start with the franchise after they traded for him ahead of the deadline.

Framber Valdez threw a no-hitter for the Houston Astros this season on 93 pitches while facing the minimum 27 batters against the Cleveland Guardians. Matt Manning and the Detroit Tigers combined for a no-hitter in July, and New York Yankees pitcher Domingo Germán threw a perfect game in June against the Oakland Athletics.

Cobb entered Tuesday’s game with a 3.74 ERA and a 6-5 record this season, during which he picked up his first career All-Star nod. He earned a win over the Phillies last week, which snapped a three-game losing skid for the 35-year-old. Cobb is in his second season with the Giants after previous stints with the Los Angeles Angels, Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays.

Alex Cobb was so close to throwing the fifth no-hitter of the MLB season on Tuesday night in San Francisco. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

The Giants scored two runs in the second after on a pitcher disengagement violation and a Luis Matos RBI double. They picked up three more in the fifth after Slater scored on a wild pitch and then Patrick Bailey hit a two-run homer to center. Slater scored again in the eighth on a Thairo Estrada RBI double, which gave the Giants a 6-0 lead going into the ninth.

The win marked the Giants’ second over the Reds this series, and their fourth in their last six games. They trail the Los Angeles Dodgers by 13.5 games in the NL West, though they took control of the final wild card spot in the National League with Tuesday’s win. The Reds, on the other hand, have now lost three straight and five of their last seven. They trail the Milwaukee Brewers by seven games in the NL Central and are two games back from the last wild card spot.