A near no-hitter (and not the good kind) in crowd reactions

It was the bottom of the ninth inning, with one out and Jean Segura at first. Mitch Haniger swung on the first pitch he saw from Joakim Soria, who had come in to replace starter Dylan Covey, who had allowed just two hits in eight and a third innings. The 91 MPH fastball collided with Haniger’s bat, soaring up, up, and away...into 27-year-old utility player Leury Garcia’s outstretched glove.

This game stunk, so instead of dwelling on the fact that Dee Gordon recorded the first hit of the night on his single in the sixth, or the fact that, before Gordon’s hit the Mariners had made Covey throw just 49 pitches (the most pitches Covey threw in a single inning was 15), the game will be told in individual reactions from this catch.

Innings 1-3:

Felix Hernandez rolled through his first three innings, at one point retiring six of the last seven batters he faced, and striking out six. Per Ryan Hueter, of the Mariners Baseball Information Department, this was just his fourth 1-2-3 first inning in 20 starts this season. Minus a Haniger walk, the offense was incapable of getting on base, but the King’s Court was rocking, Félix looked like his old self, and everything felt fine. Until...

Inning 4:

A single, a HBP, and a changeup to Avisail Garcia that lingered too long over the plate, and suddenly the Mariners were in a 3-0 hole.

A double, followed by a single from Leury Garcia (the Garcias (no relation to each other) really went to town tonight) made it a four-run deficit.

Top of the 6th:

Dylan Covey, he of the 5.69 ERA/4.53 FIP, has not yet allowed a hit.

Thank goodness for Dee. No-hitters are super cool and fun and exciting, but being no-hit by the 33-63 White Sox is in no way super cool, fun, or exciting.

Innings 7 and 8:

Inning 9:

The Mariners lost to the White Sox 5-0. They’ll play again tomorrow at 1:10 PM.