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Nomo narrowly misses second no-hitter | |||||||||||||
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BOSTON (AP) – Hideo Nomo's bid for his second no-hitter in 23 days slipped off the edge of right fielder Darren Lewis' glove. Lewis raced in and slid for Torii Hunter's low drive on the first pitch of the seventh inning of Boston's 2-0 win over Minnesota on Thursday night. It ticked Lewis' glove, hit the ground and was immediately ruled a single -- the only hit allowed by Nomo -- by official scorer Bob Ellis before he checked a video replay. The crowd booed when the decision was posted on the scoreboard. "The rules of scoring call for ordinary effort. That was not an ordinary effort," said Ellis, scoring his first Red Sox game after spending the last five seasons as the scorer for Class-A Lowell of the New York-Penn League. "I felt confident from the moment I saw the play." Ellis, a radio host substituting for regular scorer Charles Scoggins from The Sun of Lowell, said he became more sure of his decision after viewing several replays. Players agreed with the call even though Lewis, an outstanding defensive outfielder, started back before charging in. "I was fooled by the swing," Lewis said. "I make that play 99 percent of the time." The Twins had no doubt that the call was correct. "When a guy dives for a ball and it hits off his glove, it is definitely a hit," Corey Koskie said. Having thrown 102 pitches and with his no-hit bid gone, Nomo (3-1) was replaced by Derek Lowe to start the eighth. Lowe, who has struggled, earned his third save after allowing a single in the ninth to Doug Mientkiewicz. Nomo struck out eight and walked five but missed becoming the fifth pitcher since 1900 to throw two no-hitters in a season. "I'm not disappointed at all," he said. "I'm very happy the team won." Boston scored in the second on Mike Lansing's RBI single off Eric Milton (3-1) and in the eighth on Shea Hillenbrand's RBI double off Hector Carrasco. Nomo pitched a no-hitter April 4 at Baltimore in his debut with Boston, but catcher Jason Varitek said Nomo had a better splitter Thursday. Nomo has allowed 11 hits in 30 innings and leads the majors in lowest batting average by opponents, .109. The four pitchers with two no-hitters in a season are Johnny Vander Meer with Cincinnati in 1938, Allie Reynolds with the New York Yankees in 1951, Virgil Trucks with Detroit in 1952 and Nolan Ryan with California in 1973. Boston (15-7) broke a tie for the AL East lead with Toronto. Minnesota (15-5) leads the AL Central by three games over Cleveland. Nomo stayed cool and got out of the seventh by striking out Jacque Jones and A.J. Pierzynski, then retiring Luis Rivas on a fly to left. "I was sitting on the splitter and just trying to make contact," Hunter said. "I saw him slide and said, 'Please, let it drop."' Nomo picked a historic occasion to flirt with a no-hitter -- the 100th anniversary of the first AL game by a Boston team. The Boston Americans lost to the Baltimore Orioles 10-6 on April 26, 1901. Milton pitched seven strong innings for Minnesota, allowing one run and seven hits. Boston scored in the second as Dante Bichette led off with a single, took second on a walk to Varitek and came home on Lansing's single. The Red Sox added a run in the eighth on a walk to Manny Ramirez and a double by Hillenbrand. Nomo walked the first two batters of the game, then retired the next six. He walked Rivas starting the third, then retired the next nine hitters as the Twins remained hitless through five innings. Nomo issued his third leadoff walk in the sixth, to Matt Lawton. With one out, Lawton stole second and third. Koskie struck out, but Ortiz walked. Mientkiewicz struck out to end the inning. After Hunter's hit, left fielder Bichette made an excellent running catch to end the seventh. "If Darren Lewis couldn't get (Hunter's liner) nobody could have gotten it," Bichette said. "If it's to me, I'm playing it on three hops." Game notesRamirez has reached in all 22 games. He singled and walked Thursday. ... Milton is 2-5 against the Red Sox in his career. ... The Red Sox avoided losing consecutive games for the first time this year. ... Lawton has reached base in 19 of his 20 games. ... Boston is 4-0 in shutouts this year.  Send this story to a friend
| RECAPS Kansas City 6 Tampa Bay 0
Boston 2
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