Jonathan Sanchez’s father chose the right time to see his son take the mound at AT&T Park in San Francisco, California. Sanchez threw the first no-hitter of the season on Friday night and was oh-so-close to a perfect game. Chase Headley was the only Padre to reach base…only because of a fielding error by Giants third baseman Juan Uribe.
Sanchez struck out 11 en route to his third victory of the season; he didn’t walk a single batter. He is only the sixth MLB pitcher to ever record 11 strikeouts and zero walks; however, he is the only one of those six to not record a perfect game.
After the game, Sanchez said, “Right now I’m just going to go home and hang out with my dad. I was pumped that he was here watching the game.”
In the top of the 9th inning, Sanchez nearly lost his no-hitter, but Gold Glove center fielder Aaron Rowand made a leaping catch in front of the center-field fence to preserve the no-hitter.
“I was going to go up and over and land on the other side of the fence if I had to, to try to make the catch,” said Rowand. After all, he once made a catch while slamming face-first into the wall.
Photo Source: www.espn.com
