ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The Tampa Bay Rays lost a combined no-hitter against the Kansas City Royals when Carter Jensen hit a two-run homer off Craig Kimbrel in the ninth inning on Thursday.
Opener Casey Legumina retired all four batters he faced through 1 1/3 innings before Ian Seymour took over in the second. Seymour struck out seven batters. Kimbrel started the ninth and allowed a walk to Starling Marte before Jensen went deep with one out.
Tampa Bay was leading Kansas City 13-0 to start the ninth behind a franchise record-tying three home runs by Junior Caminero, who drove in six runs in the 13-2 win.
The Rays retired the first 16 batters they faced before Marte drew a one-out walk on a full count in the top of the sixth before Seymour retired Tyler Tolbert and Jensen to end the inning.
Left fielder Chandler Simpson made a running catch near the foul pole to track down a fly ball off the bat of Salvador Perez in the fifth to keep the perfect game intact. Simpson also caught a hard line drive off the bat of Ian Collins to end the eighth.
The Rays have never thrown a perfect game in franchise history. Matt Garza has the only no-hitter in Tampa Bay history on July 26, 2010, against the Detroit Tigers.
This would have been the second no-hitter in the majors this year, following the Astros’ combined no-hitter against the Rangers on May 25.
Kimbrel himself finished a combined no-hitter for the Chicago Cubs against the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 24, 2021, at Dodger Stadium.
Tampa Bay has been no-hit six times in franchise history, the most recent on May 10, 2022, against the Los Angeles Angels’ Reid Detmers. The last time Kansas City was no-hit was May 19, 2008, against Boston’s Jon Lester.
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