Darvish twirls 8 2/3 no-hit innings

Yu Darvish came within one out of throwing the first no-hitter in franchise history for the Poovey Farms, shutting down the league's highest-scoring team over 8 2/3 innings.

Darvish mowed down the first 15 Vancouver batters with ease, 11 by strikeout including 8 straight.

The right-hander didn't hit many bumps until the 6th inning. With one out, he walked two straight batters -- the free-swinging Scott Schebler, the No. 8 hitter, and Stephen Vogt. Charlie Blackmon grounded to second, advancing the runners, before Josh Reddick flied to left to end the inning. Through 6 innings, Darvish had 12 strikeouts, 2 walks but zero hits.

The game was a scoreless tie until the 8th inning. After a leadoff walk by Xander Bogaerts, the Dairy Cows strung together three straight singles, including two pinch-hits, to plate the only two runs of the game and take a 2-0 lead.

Darvish got the first two batters to begin the 9th, and was looking for out No. 27 in the form of Reddick, Vancouver's No. 2 hitter and the league's current batting leader (.345). The lanky right-hander issued his 3rd walk of the game that's when Manager Don Mattingly went to the mound. After 124 pitches (76 for strikes, 62 percent), 15 strikeouts and 3 walks, Darvish was finished for the night.

Mattingly called on left-hander Kevin Siegrist, who entered the game as the league leader in inherited runners scored percentage (.028, 1-36) to get the final out for what could be the second combined no-hitter this season but also to seal the 2-0 win. His job was to get J.D. Martinez, who ranked 8th in the league in slugging percentage but has struggled a little more than expected versus left-handers this season. The home crowd erupted as the Iron First slugger managed to poke a single into shallow right for the first and only hit. With the tying runs on base, John Jay came on to pinch run for Martinez but Siegrist got Jake Lamb to fly to center to end the game.

The 15 Ks by Darvish probably would have been a record for most strikeouts in a no-hitter and it matched the league's high this season. Max Scherzer of Hoboken struck out 15 in a two-hitter of Livingston in April for a Game Score of 97. Darvish recorded a game score of 96, striking out the side in the 3rd, 4th, and 7th innings, toying with a Vancouver offense that was averaging a league-best 5.5 runs a game. He still earned the win in the Dairy Cows' 2-0 shutout.

The Japanese import evened his record to 6-6 in 17 starts this season with a 4.90 ERA and 1.41 WHIP. Aaron Sanchez took the loss for Vancouver, falling to 8-8. He went 7 innings, giving up 2 runs on 5 hits, while walking 4 and striking out 6.

Poovey Farms improved to 56-58 to stay in the hunt for the playoffs with less than 50 games remaining. They cut Vancouver's Hernandez Division lead to 14 1/2 games as the Iron First fell to 72-45, and remained 9th overall, 5 games back of a wild card spot.