Minor Leaguer Luis Mendoza Has No-Hitter Taken Away Two Days Later
Imagine you were a pitcher. Now, imagine you had a no-hitter going into the ninth and a ball was ripped to left field, bouncing off the left fielder’s glove. Now, imagine said play was ruled an error even though it looked like a hit, keeping your no-hitter intact. Next, imagine the official scorer overturning his initial ruling and scoring the play a hit, leaving you an inning short of the no-no. And finally, imagine the official taking two full days to decide to overturn the play.
Was that a roller coaster of emotion or what? For Kansas City Royals minor leaguer Luis Mendoza, that roller coaster was a reality. Mendoza took a no-hitter into the ninth inning on Monday when his teammate, David Lough, was ruled to have made a welcomed error on a ball hit to left. You can see a video of the play here.
To me, that is clearly a double. Had Lough caught the ball it would have been a tremendous play. That doesn’t excuse John Guinozzo, the Memphis scorekeeper, from making the wrong call and taking two days to correct it. In addition, I know no team wants to be no-hit but did Memphis really need to request a review after the fact? It’s over, the other guy caught a break, let it go. At least when an umpire blew Armando Galarraga’s no-hitter he did it instantly.
