Kris Bubic’s no-hit bid for the Kansas City Royals on Monday ended with an official scoring change.
The left-hander hardly let that bother him.
Bubic made a run at an historic homecoming before settling for seven shutout innings of two-hit ball in a 3-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants.
Photo: AFP
“I knew it was happening, but I wasn’t nervous about it,” Bubic said. “I wasn’t really thinking about it. In my head I was just thinking, hey, keep attacking guys. Keep getting ahead of guys.”
Bubic initially got through six innings without allowing a hit — only to have an error charged to Royals second baseman Michael Massey changed to a single before the start of the seventh inning.
With two outs in the sixth, Wilmer Flores hit a grounder toward second base. Massey moved to his left and was in position to make the play, but slipped to the ground at the edge of the grass as the ball rolled past him into the outfield.
The play was initially ruled an error by official scorer Michael Duca, and Bubic then struck out Lee Jung-hoo to end the inning, but moments later, after reviewing video, Duca changed his call to a base hit for Flores.
Casey Schmitt’s clean double down the left-field line with one out in the seventh was the only other hit off Bubic (5-2). He struck out five, walked three and lowered his ERA to 1.47.
That is the second-lowest mark for a Royals pitcher through his first 10 starts of a season. Zack Greinke was at 0.84 in 2009, when he won the Amercian League Cy Young Award.
Vinnie Pasquantino, who hit a two-run homer off reliever Tyler Rogers (2-2) to break a scoreless tie in the eighth inning, raved about Bubic.
“Hitters getting to first base, talking about how frustrating it is facing him,” Pasquantino said. “That’s what you’re looking for. He was ridiculous again tonight.”
In his past four starts, Bubic has permitted one run over 25-1/3 innings.
This outing came in the ballpark where Bubic grew up rooting for the Giants. .
“I’ve probably sat in every area in this ballpark,” he said.
The 27-year-old Bubic estimated he had 30 to 40 family members and friends in attendance.
“You always want to do well in front of them. It makes life a little easier for everybody,” Bubic said.
He referenced the fact that he had made two previous starts at Oracle Park, including when he pitched six scoreless innings in a 3-1 loss on April 9, 2023. Bubic said that experience kept away the jitters.
“I treated this like any other game,” he said. “It’s cool to be able to pitch in front of friends and family, and I’m glad they got to see a win.”
Spain starlets Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams dazzled on Thursday as La Roja beat France 5-4 in a thriller in Stuttgart, Germany, to set up a UEFA Nations League final with Portugal. Yamal bagged a brace, while Williams scored and provided an assist as the two wingers cut France’s makeshift defense to ribbons. Mikel Merino and Pedri were also on the score sheet for the UEFA Euro 2024 champions. Kylian Mbappe netted a second-half penalty, but Spain were 5-1 up and cruising, before Les Bleus suddenly woke up as their opponents took their foot off the pedal. France’s three late goals — a
Italy crashed to a 3-0 loss away to Norway, as the four-time FIFA World Cup champions made a disastrous start to their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign on Friday, while Belgium had to settle for a draw in North Macedonia. Alexander Sorloth, Antonio Nusa and Erling Haaland all scored in the first half in pouring rain in Oslo as Norway made it a night to forget for Italy, who missed out on the past two World Cups. “I have no explanation. Our supporters don’t deserve this kind of match. We need to do some soul-searching. It’s unacceptable,” Italy captain and goalkeeper Gianluigi
The Crusaders yesterday produced a clinical performance in difficult conditions to beat the Queensland Reds 32-12 and claim home advantage in next week’s Super Rugby semi-finals. Lock Scott Barrett and prop Tamaiti Williams scored first-half tries to reward an outstanding performance from the Crusaders’ forwards in wet, slippery conditions and bitterly cold temperatures. Scrumhalf Noah Hotham defied the conditions in the second half to score a superb solo try and, after kicking a conversion and penalty to make the score 22-0 at the hour mark, flyhalf Rivez Reihana scored a try which took the game beyond the Reds. “Typical Christchurch weather, cold, wet
Badminton world No. 3 Anders Antonsen clinched his first Indonesia Open title yesterday after beating Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen, while South Korea’s An Se-young won her second championship in Jakarta. The 28-year-old Dane sank world No. 7 Chou at the Indonesian capital’s Istora Senayan arena, winning 22-20, 21-14 in a 60-minute match to secure the prestigious Super 1000 event. Antonsen came out on top in a tightly contested first game before cruising to victory in the second. In a more closely fought women’s singles final, South Korean ace and world No. 1 An fought back from one game down to beat China’s
RSS