Rich Hill lost a perfect game Wednesday night after a teammate committed an error in the 9th inning, and then he lost a no-hitter on a walk-off home run in the 10th. It was an absolutely brutal result for a pitcher who did nearly everything he could to win the game.
Even though Hill gave his Dodgers a great chance to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, he put the blame on himself for the 1-0 defeat. Hill said the loss fell on him and blamed himself for throwing Josh Harrison “a bad pitch.”
Rich Hill: "It falls on me, on this one. One bad pitch."
Told this line of thinking was crazy, Hill replied, "No, it was a bad pitch."
— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughTimes) August 24, 2017
Though Hill was hard on himself, his teammates had his back. More of them felt badly that they weren’t able to deliver for him, causing him to lose his perfect game. Take a look at what Austin Barnes and Corey Seager said:
Corey Seager: "It sucks. … We left 11 on base. I don't really have words for that. It just sucks that we couldn't do that for him"
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) August 24, 2017
When you’re a pitcher and you don’t allow a hit for nine innings, and the only baserunner allowed comes on an error, you’ve done your job. Hill has nothing to be ashamed of after Wednesday’s game, contrary to how he feels.
