Chicago Cubs pitcher Drew Smyly flirts with a perfect game and settles for a combined 1-hitter in a 13-0 rout of the LA Dodgers

Drew Smyly pitched seven perfect innings Friday in the Chicago Cubs’ 13-0 win against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Wrigley Field.

Smyly’s bid for perfection was spoiled in the eighth on an infield hit that resulted in a collision between Smyly and catcher Yan Gomes. Smyly (2-1) finished with 7⅔ one-hit innings, striking out 10 with no walks in a 103-pitch outing.

Smyly was attempting to become the first pitcher in franchise history with a perfect game and the 18th with a no-hitter. The left-hander was at 93 pitches entering the eighth when he fielded David Peralta’s swinging bunt leading off the inning. Gomes ran out to field it and fell on top of Smyly while trying to get out of his way, preventing a throw to first from the pitcher.

Two outs later, Smyly was removed and left to a standing ovation from the Wrigley crowd.

The closest a Cubs starter has come to a perfect game was Milt Pappas, who walked San Diego’s Larry Stahl on a 3-2 pitch with two outs in the ninth on Sept. 2, 1972. Pappas competed the no-hitter against the Padres but was livid over a call by plate umpire Bruce Froemming that denied him the perfect game.

Cody Bellinger, Trey Mancini, Patrick Wisdom and Nico Hoerner homered in the rout, and everyone in the starting lineup had at least one hit. Hoerner finished with four of the Cubs’ 17 hits, while Mancini had three hits and 3 RBIs.

The Cubs improved to 12-7 with their eighth win in their last 11 games.

Before the game, the Cubs optioned Javier Assad to Triple-A Iowa to stretch out as a starter while calling up Iowa reliever Jeremiah Estrada, who relieved Smyly in the eighth. Estrada walked two and struck out three in 1⅓ innings.

The Cubs will stick with a four-man rotation thanks to an off-day Monday and won’t need a fifth starter until April 30 in Miami.

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