Salt Lake Bees 4, Tacoma Rainiers 0

Cheney Stadium on a lovely Sunday afternoon, July 18, 2021

My Sweetie, the Official Scorer and I have seen many hundreds of baseball games together over the last 30 years and have yet to see a no-hitter. We typically lament that "We never get to see a no-hitter" once both sides have put a safety up on the board. We didn't get to see a no-hitter yesterday at Cheney Stadium, either, but it was closer than we usually get as the Rainiers fell to the Salt Lake Bees 4-0.

Brian Johnson

Big Salt Lake southpaw Brian Johnson retired the first 13 batters he faced before Tacoma designated hitter Jantzen Witte grounded an eight-hopper up the middle. Bee shortstop Gavin Cecchini made a game attempt, but the ball tipped off the end of his glove. I was certain that My Sweetie, usually pretty strict about these things, would rule an error, but both she and the Rainiers official scorer credited Witte with a single. He was immediately erased when Tacoma catcher José Godoy grounded into a 5-4-3 double play, preserving the perfect game (which, under My Sweetie's rules, means facing the minimum regardless of how many runners reach.)

Meanwhile Tacoma lefty Ian McKinney was having a pretty decent outing himself, allowing just three hits in the first six innings while walking three and striking out 10 with some sneaky slow stuff and a fastball that touched 92 at times. We arrived at the seventh inning in a 0-0 tie.

Salt Lake third baseman Jake Gatewood led off against McKinney, worked a full count, fouled off a couple of two-strike pitches, and then blasted a long, majestic home run well over the wall in left center field and it was 1-0 Bees. When first baseman Preston Palmeiro hit a warning-track fly ball to right, Tacoma manager Kristopher Negron decided McKinney's day was done.

Daniel Zamora got the final two outs of the seventh with no trouble, but things fell apart in the eighth. After one out, Zamora walked Jo Adell and gave up a single to José Rojas. Vinny Nittoli was summoned from the pen and uncorked a wild pitch that moved the runners to second and third. A walk loaded the bases. Salt Lake catcher Anthony Bemboom lifted a sacrifice fly to right deep enough to advance all three runners, and Gatewood lined a single to plate the final two runners and end the scoring.

Johnson continued his excellent work. With the score 1-0 in the bottom of the seventh he allowed his second hit of the game, a leadoff dunker to center by Jake Hager. Taylor Trammell followed with a walk and the Rainier faithful stirred, hoping for a comeback. But José Marmolejos whiffed and Witte bounced into a 6-4-3 double play, and that was that. Johnson ended up pitching eight innings, allowing the two hits and one walk and striking out five. Tacoma got just four baserunners and bounced into two twin killings. They really didn't hit anything hard all afternoon.

Box score

Family ties

Preston Palmeiro is the son of former big-league slugger Rafael Palmeiro. Preston was a seventh-round draft pick of the Orioles in 2016 and bounced around their minor league system for several seasons. He signed as a free agent with the Angels organization this spring and his playing his first season at the Triple-A level.