... comes to us from St. Louis, where Cardinals' rookie pitcher Daniel "Greatest Name In Baseball" Poncedeleon had a no-hitter going through seven innings against the Cincinnati Reds. And then, well, didn't.
This is because the Cardinals' interim manager, Mike Schildt, lifted Poncedeleon after the seventh, because he'd thrown 116 pitches and baseball today is obsessed with pitch counts. Poncedeleon was well over his, so even though he clearly wasn't struggling, Schildt yanked him and sent in the Cardinals' rag-armed bullpen.
Who promptly surrendered two runs in the last two innings and allowed the Reds to escape with a 2-1 win.
"We weren't in a situation where he would have been able to finish that game with a no-hitter,'' Schildt said later, articulating the prevailing wisdom (or lack of same). "It was his time.''
Somewhere Old Hoss Radbourn, who once pitched 73 complete games in a single season, just elbowed Walter Johnson, who pitched 30 or more complete games seven times in a career that lasted 21 seasons. They both rolled their eyes and laughed.
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