Catcher jumps on pitcher to end perfect game bid

CHICAGO -- Drew Smyly hustled off the mound and reached down to grab the baseball bouncing in the grass up the third-base line. Cubs catcher Yan Gomes was also in pursuit, leading to a clash with history.

Gomes jumped over Smyly's back in an effort to avoid the pitcher, who dropped to the ground under the catcher's weight. And with that improbable infield hit off the bat of the Dodgers' David Peralta, a perfect game slipped from Smyly's grasp at the outset of the eighth inning on Friday afternoon.

In a 13-0 victory, Smyly had been confounding, inducing constant weak contact with his heavy mix of fastballs and knuckle-curves. Still, the Wrigley Field fans roared when Smyly walked off the hill, and the pitcher pounded his glove and raised his cap toward the light-blue sky in appreciation.

Seven years removed from Jake Arrieta's no-hitter in a 16-0 romp over the Reds, Smyly flirted with the 18th no-no in the annals of Chicago's long, storied franchise. Milt Pappas remains the last Cubs pitcher to hurl a no-hitter at the Friendly Confines, achieving the feat in 1972. No Cubs pitcher has thrown a perfect game.

https://www.mlb.com/news/drew-smyly-perfect-game-broken-up