The New York Yankees were no-hit for 10.1 innings by the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium and they still won in what was one of the zaniest games of the 2023 season.
After battling back to overturn a 1-0 deficit in the 11th inning and trailing 3-1 entering the bottom of the 12th inning, Giancarlo Stanton hit a lead-off, two-run home run to tie it up off Brewers reliever Andrew Chafin before Kyle Higashioka walked off the 4-3 victory with a double, allowing the Yankees (71-72) to avoid a sweep at the hands of Milwaukee — which leaves New York letting a golden opportunity at history pass by.
Corbin Burnes, Devin Williams, and Abner Uribe combined to no-hit the Yankees over 10 innings with the ace Burnes accounting for eight of them, but the Brewers’ inability to generate anything against New York star righty Gerrit Cole ultimately derailed a third no-hitter in franchise history
Oswaldo Cabrera spoiled the Brewers’ no-hitter and the shutout in the bottom of the 11th inning to tie the game at one apiece off reliever Joel Payamps with a one-out double down the right-field line. The Yankees had the winning run 90 feet away with the bases loaded and two outs after the Brewers decided to intentionally walk Aaron Judge, but Gleyber Torres grounded into a fielder’s choice to force the game into a 12th inning.
Tyrone Taylor’s 11th-inning single off Nick Ramirez put the Brewers ahead after they were shut down by Cole and a trio of Yankees relievers, recording just three hits over the first 10 innings.
Brewers right fielder Sal Frelick looked as though he’d play the role of Milwaukee’s biggest hero of the day when he bailed out Uribe in the bottom of the 10th by making a two-out, leaping catch at the wall on an Anthony Volpe fly ball while colliding with the center fielder Weimer — who got a bloody lip out of the deal — to make the temporary no-hitter-preserving catch.
Milwaukee’s combination of Burnes and Williams kept the Yankees’ hit column at zero over the first nine innings — the starter going eight innings with seven strikeouts and two walks before getting the hook after 109 pitches. But Cole helped the Yankees avoid being on the wrong end of history, as a seven-inning, nine-strikeout, three-hit gem of his own kept the Brewers off the board and the game scoreless.
Had the Brewers scored just once off Cole or relievers Wandy Peralta and Clay Holmes over the regulation nine innings, there would have been a realistic chance of Burnes going out to complete a solo no-hitter for the first time in his career. He was part of a joint no-no in 2021.
It would have been the first time since Hall-of-Famer Hoyt Wilhelm of the Baltimore Orioles blanked New York in 1958 that a singular pitcher recorded a no-hitter against the Yankees.
Burnes’ afternoon partially overshadowed another gem from Cole, who continued to strengthen his standing as a 2023 American League Cy Young Award favorite with seven scoreless innings in which he allowed just three hits with nine strikeouts and zero walks.
It allowed him to leave with a no-decision — a fate that usually is not afforded to a pitcher on the other side of a no-hit bid.
With his afternoon, Cole lowered his season ERA to 2.79, which is tops in the American League.
Burnes’ lone blemishes came in the fifth inning, working around a lead-off walk to Giancarlo Stanton and a two-out free pass to Everson Pereira.
There was initial concern about whether or not Burnes would be able to go out for the eighth inning. He was slow to get up after making a falling, lunging stop on an Isiah Kiner-Falefa comebacker to end the seventh, which also upped his total to 96 pitches on the day.
He needed just 13 pitches to get through a clean eighth, which put him at 109 pitches for the day — a number deemed too high by manager Craig Counsell to go out for the ninth inning considering Milwaukee’s offense did nothing to support their ace.
Peralta and Holmes kept the Brewers off the board in the eighth and ninth innings, forcing the visitors to go to Williams for the bottom of the frame to ultimately force extras.
