Slade Cecconi didn’t need anyone in Cleveland’s dugout to tell him he was throwing a no-hitter. He found out on his own.
Stealing a glance at Progressive Field’s giant scoreboard in the fourth inning, Cecconi noticed something unusual.
“I was like, huh, a lot of zeros up there on our side,” he said.
He kept it like that for a while.
Cecconi took a no-hitter into the eighth before Kansas City’s Micheal Massey hit a leadoff single to spoil the right-hander’s bid to throw the majors’ first no-hitter this season and finally end Cleveland’s four-plus-decades-long drought without a no-hitter.
But that hardly mattered as the Guardians rolled to their fourth straight win, 10-2 to jump the Royals in the standings.
Leaning on a slow curve ball manager Stephen Vogt said had surprising “teeth,” Cecconi dominated the Royals over the first seven innings before Massey lined a 2-1 fastball into left-center for Kansas City’s first hit.
“I didn’t even want to look,” Cecconi admitted.
After Massey’s hit dropped, the right-hander received a nice ovation and Cecconi stepped off the mound, took off his cap and soaked in the roars.
His performance came at an optimal time for the Guardians, who moved into second place ahead of the Royals in the AL Central. Cleveland entered the four-game series 2 1/2 games behind Seattle for the final wild-card spot.
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