New York Yankees ace Max Fried didn’t lose his no-hitter Sunday against the Tampa Bay Rays in the conventional sense — he lost it due to a controversial scorer’s decision.
Heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, Fried had a no-hitter going against the Rays on the road, until the official scorer decided to overturn an error from two innings prior.
In the bottom of the sixth, Yankees first baseman Paul Goldschmidt booted a ground ball hit by Rays rookie Chandler Simpson, one of the fastest players in the league. Goldschmidt was about 10 feet off the bag when the scorer initially recorded it as an error.
Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay blasted the decision to take away the error and end Fried’s no-hit bid.
“I am absolutely flabbergasted, ladies and gentlemen. The official scorer here at Steinbrenner Field, a man by the name of Bill Matthews, has changed the Simpson E3 into a hit, while the Yankees were in the dugout,” said Kay. “Just unfathomable. Either you call it when it happens, you don’t wait three innings to go by. It’s just unbelievable.”
The controversy was quickly overshadowed when Fried surrendered a clean hit to Jake Magnum — the first batter he faced in the bottom of the eighth.
In the end, Fried threw a masterpiece in New York’s 4-0 win — going 7⅔ innings, giving up two hits, two walks, and striking out two, while lowering his ERA to 1.42.
