In light of Major League Baseball making every game from 2018 and 2019 available to stream for free on MLB.TV, DodgerBlue.com ranked the best selections for those involving the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Coming it at No. 5 on the list is the combined no-hitter the Dodgers tossed against the San Diego Padres on May 4 in Monterrey, Mexico. The Dodgers only won one of the three games in the series against their division rivals, but they did so in dramatic fashion.
Rookie Walker Buehler got the start and looked dialed in early, tossing a 1-2-3 first inning with two strikeouts. He maintained that excellence throughout the course of his outing, not allowing a hit through six innings while striking out eight and walking three.
The only problem was that his pitch count had already climbed up to 93, so Dodgers manager Dave Roberts decided to pull Buehler and let the bullpen finish out the no-hitter.
Meanwhile on the offensive side of things, the Dodgers got Buehler a few early runs of support. Matt Kemp drove in Chris Taylor with a single in the first inning, and then Taylor and Kiké Hernandez hit back-to-back home runs off Padres starter Joey Lucchesi in the second.
When Alex Verdugo singled home Chase Utley in the sixth inning to give the Dodgers a 4-0 lead, that was more than enough for the bullpen to finish the job.
Tony Cingrani was the first reliever out of the bullpen in the seventh and despite walking two hitters, he was able to escape a jam and complete a hitless inning.
Yimi Garcia then pitched the eighth and tossed a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts, handing the ball off to Adam Liberatore with just three outs to go to complete the combined no-hitter.
Liberatore did not have any issues completing the job, also pitching a perfect inning with two strikeouts as his teammates mobbed him at the mound to celebrate the accomplishment.
It’s no secret that combined no-hitters aren’t the same as when one pitcher completes it. But that was especially the case for this one as Cody Bellinger later revealed that some players on the team didn’t even realize it was happening throughout the course of the game.
Regardless, the no-hitter will go down as the 26th in franchise history, and the first of the combined variety.
Best Dodgers games of 2018
No. 6: Game 163 to decide National League West
No. 7: Matt Kemp delivers clutch pinch-hit home run against Arizona Diamondbacks
No. 8: Yasiel Puig hits three home runs against St. Louis Cardinals
No. 9: Rout of San Francisco Giants to complete sweep and set stage for Game 163 to decide NL West
No. 10: Record seven home runs hit in extra-innings win against New York Mets
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