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.