Sabathia nearly tosses a no-hitter

PITTSBURGH -- To the Milwaukee Brewers, CC Sabathia pitched a no-hitter. The official scorer disagreed.

Milwaukee is going to try to change his mind.

Sabathia limited the Pirates to Andy LaRoche’s infield single leading off the fifth inning, on a play Milwaukee Manager Ned Yost argued was an error on the pitcher, and the Brewers beat Pittsburgh, 7-0, on Sunday for their eighth victory in nine games.

“He accomplished a no-hitter and wasn’t given what he deserved. That should have been a no-hitter,” Yost said. “That’s a stinking no-hitter we all got cheated from. I feel horrible for CC.”

The Brewers said they plan to send a DVD of the play to Major League Baseball, asking that the call be overturned. According to baseball’s rule book, only the official scorer may change a judgment scoring call. If the call is changed, it would be the first time in major league history a no-hitter was awarded retroactively.

LaRoche’s softly hit grounder on a 2-and-2 pitch rolled about 45 feet between the plate and the mound before Sabathia picked it up barehanded, only to drop it. The ball may have been hit too softly for Sabathia to get LaRoche at first, even if he had made the play cleanly.