Brame Walks Seven,
Allows Zero Hits

Erv Brame does not look like a no-hit pitcher. He came into Thursday's start with an ERA north of five, a record of 7–6, and the kind of season line that suggests a back-end innings eater doing back-end innings eater things. He left with 155 pitches on the gun, seven walks on the ledger, and zero hits allowed. Not one. The Kansas City A's sent 32 men to the plate and not a single one found a gap, beat out a roller, or dropped one in. Every ball put in play found leather.

It was not clean. It was not surgical. Brame walked the leadoff man in the first inning, threw a wild pitch in the second, and put two runners on in two separate innings. He needed 155 pitches to record 27 outs, the kind of count that would have gotten most pitchers pulled in the sixth. He survived because the Kansas City lineup kept putting the ball on the ground and into the air at exactly the wrong times, and because the Motel California defense turned the double plays that kept the zeroes intact.

9.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 7 BB, 5 K, 155 pitches. A 4.70 ERA that says this was never supposed to happen.

The first inning set the tone for the afternoon. Charlie Hemphill walked to lead off, and Ed Stone grounded to Bobby Brown at third — force at second, Stone to first. Then Logan Morrison hit a tailor-made double-play ball to Hubie Brooks at short, who turned it through Bill Barrett to Deron Johnson. Three batters, one walk, zero damage. Brame's afternoon in miniature.

The second inning was worse. Matt Mieske flied out to center, but Catfish Metkovich walked, and Brame uncorked a wild pitch that moved Metkovich to second with one out. Starlin Castro walked. Two on, one out, and Steve Boros coming up. Boros struck out. Derek Norris flied out to center. Brame bent but did not break — a phrase that would apply to roughly half the innings he pitched.

From there, the rhythm settled into something almost predictable. The third was three up, three down: Harris to center, Hemphill struck out, Stone struck out. The fourth: Morrison grounded out, Mieske walked, Metkovich popped out, Castro lined out. A walk, a shrug, and three outs. The fifth was perfection: three batters, three outs, none of them close. The sixth was the same — Hemphill to short, Stone to right, Morrison to second. Three outs on three ground balls.

Motel California scratched across the game's only run in the bottom of the fourth. Vin Campbell walked, Mark Trumbo grounded out to short to move Campbell to second, Johnson struck out, and then Barrett — hitting .220 and not anyone's idea of a clutch threat — lined a single to center to plate Campbell. That was it. One run. Barrett's single was the difference between a historic win and a historic loss.

The seventh was quick: Mieske struck out, Metkovich popped out to third, Castro flied to center. Three more zeroes. But the eighth nearly ended everything. Boros and Norris went quietly — groundout to second, groundout to the mound — and it looked like Brame might coast. Then Brendan Harris walked. Then Hemphill walked. Two on, two out, the tying run at second, and Ed Stone at the plate. Stone had already struck out once. He made it twice. Brame punched the air somewhere inside his chest and walked off the mound with the no-hitter alive.

The ninth started with a walk. Of course it did. Morrison worked a free pass, and Kansas City sent Barry Bonnell in to pinch run — the tying run at first, nobody out, the heart of the order due up. Mieske grounded to Brown at third, who forced Bonnell at second. One on, one out. Metkovich stepped in. He grounded it to Brame, who threw to Brooks at short, who turned to Johnson at first. Double play. Ball game. No-hitter.

Jean Dubuc deserved better. The Kansas City starter went eight innings, allowed four hits, one earned run, and struck out three. His 4.23 ERA after the loss tells you he pitched well enough to win most games. He did not pitch in most games. He pitched in this one.

Brame's ERA after nine hitless innings: down to 4.70. Nine frames of zeroes and it still reads like a back-of-the-rotation arm. He walked seven. He threw 155 pitches. He allowed exactly nothing that matters.