Mariners’ Ray loses no-hitter on grounder off his own glove

SEATTLE (AP) — Mariners left-hander Robbie Ray lost a no-hit bid with two outs in the seventh inning against the Los Angeles Angels when he let a ground ball bounce off his glove.

Max Stassi hit a high chopper Friday night toward the mound that went right over Ray’s head. The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner didn’t jump, and the ball skipped off the top of his glove, giving Stassi time to beat out an infield single.

Ray immediately looked toward the outfield scoreboard to see the ruling from the official scorer. He smiled when Stassi was awarded a hit.

Ray had retired 18 straight hitters. He finished the seventh with 10 strikeouts and one walk, with Seattle ahead 8-0.

Seattle’s ace walked Mike Trout in the first inning, let Matt Duffy on via fielder’s choice and then hit Luis Rengifo with a pitch. He got out of the inning on Stassi’s groundout and didn’t allow another runner until Stassi reached in the seventh.

Ray has been off to a rocky start in his first season with Seattle on a $115 million, five-year deal. After winning the Cy Young Award with Toronto last year, he entered Friday 5-6 with a 4.52 ERA.

Ray struck out a pair of batters in the second and third innings, and then struck out the side in the fifth, with Brandon Marsh, Juan Lagares, and Andrew Velazaquez all going down swinging.

In the sixth inning, Ray got Jack Mayfield to fly out to center field, induced a pop-out from Taylor Ward, and then struck out Trout.

There have been two no-hitters in the majors this season. Tylor Megill and four New York Mets relievers combined for one on April 29 against Philadelphia. Los Angeles Angels rookie Reid Detmers tossed one against Tampa Bay on May 10.

Seattle’s last no-hitter was thrown by James Paxton on May 8, 2018 at Toronto.

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