Minnesota Twins: Kenta Maeda flirts with no-hitter, settles for no-decision

Minnesota Twins pitcher Kenta Maeda sees bullpen squander lead after giving up no hits and striking out 12 in first eight innings.

Minnesota Twins right-hander Kenta Maeda flirted with the first no-hit game of the year in the Twins 4-3, 12-inning win over the Milwaukee Brewers on August 18 at Target Field in downtown Minneapolis. A soft liner over the head of Twins second baseman Ildemaro Vargas by Milwaukee third baseman Eric Sogard to lead off the ninth inning ended Maeda’s no-hit bid.

But the Brewers were hardly done, making Maeda’s masterful performance a moot point. They would score three runs off of the Twins bullpen in the top of the ninth caused in part by a throwing error by defensive replacement Vargas, just the Twins third error all season. Minnesota would win their first extra-inning game of the 2020 season in the 12th when Jorge Polanco hit an infield dribbler over the mound scoring Byron Buxton.

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Sogard’s hit in the ninth was just the second ball hit to the outfield in eight-plus innings off Maeda, who finished with 12 strikeouts on 115 pitches. It was the most pitches Maeda had ever thrown in the major leagues.

“I don’t think he is coming out for the ninth,” said Hall of Fame pitcher and Twins TV color commentator Bert Blyleven on the Minnesota broadcast. He walked two and had thrown 113 pitches through eight innings. He struck out every batter in the Brewers starting lineup except for catcher Omar Narváez, but Twins manager Rocco Baldelli elected to send Maeda out for the ninth inning. He was replaced by lefthander Taylor Rogers after the Sogard hit.

Maeda went from notoriety to a no-decision in a matter of minutes. Earlier in the game, Maeda set a Twins franchise record with eight consecutive strikeouts, besting the previous record of seven held by Francisco Liriano in 2010 and Jim Merritt in 1966. Minnesota’s last no-hitter was by Liriano in 2011 against the Chicago White Sox.

Before the Polanco game-winning infield single, the Twins scored on an RBI double by Miguel Sano in the fifth inning, a single by Polanco in the seventh and on a perfectly executed squeeze play by Ehire Andrianza in the eighth inning.

A 32-year-old from Senboku-gun, Japan, this is Kenta Maeda’s first season with the Minnesota Twins after four seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers.