Official scorer frosts Brewers

PITTSBURGH (AP) — To the Milwaukee Brewers, CC Sabathia pitched a no-hitter. The official scorer disagreed.

The Brewers are going to try to change his mind.

Sabathia limited the Pirates to Andy LaRoche’s infield single leading off the fifth inning, on a play Milwaukee manager Ned Yost argued was an error on the pitcher, and the Brewers beat Pittsburgh 7-0 Sunday for their eighth victory in nine games.

“He accomplished a no-hitter and wasn’t given what he deserved. That should have been a no-hitter,” Yost said. “That’s a stinking no-hitter we all got cheated from. I feel horrible for CC.”

The Brewers said they plan to send a DVD of the play and send it to Major League Baseball, asking that the call be overturned. However, according to baseball’s rulebook, only the official scorer may change a judgment scoring call.

If official scorer Bob Webb were to decide to change the call, it would be the first time in major league history a no-hitter was awarded retroactively.

LaRoche’s softly hit grounder on a 2-2 pitch rolled about 45 feet between the plate and the mound before Sabathia picked it up barehanded, only to drop it. The ball may have been hit too softly for Sabathia to get LaRoche at first, even if he had made the play cleanly.

Webb, a major league official scorer for 20 seasons, immediately ruled a hit, explaining he watched LaRoche out of the batter’s box and the runner was two-thirds of the way down the line as Sabathia was picking the ball up. Yost and several Brewers players disagreed — strongly.

“That’s a joke. That wasn’t even close. Whoever the scorekeeper was absolutely denied Major League Baseball a nice no-hitter right there,” Yost said. “They threw hit up on the board even before LaRoche hit the bag. That’s a play CC makes easily, throws him out by 10 feet — to me it’s a no-brainer.

“That’s sad. It really is sad.”

The Brewers’ Ryan Braun said, “There’s no question that’s a no-hitter.”

Despite the Brewers’ protests, the play in question is often called a hit and fielders often get angry when they are called for errors on easier plays. The Associated Press polled eight writers from both cities who have reported on the majors for 10 years or more, and six would have called it a hit.