Ginn’s Near-Perfect Outing Falls Short in Seventh as Athletics Blank Nationals

Oakland Athletics right-hander J.T. Ginn came tantalizingly close to baseball immortality Saturday night before Washington Nationals catcher Keibert Ruiz lined a clean single to center field with one out in the seventh inning, ending the no-hit bid. Manager Mark Kotsay promptly removed Ginn from the game, and the pitcher acknowledged the crowd’s standing ovation as he departed with his team holding an commanding 8-0 lead in West Sacramento, California.

Ginn’s dominant performance included seven strikeouts and three walks across 82 pitches, 50 of which were strikes. Prior to Ruiz’s hit, Washington’s offensive struggles were evident, with baserunners reaching only via a pair of two-out walks in the second inning and another two-out walk in the fifth. The Nationals’ inability to generate offensive momentum stood in stark contrast to their explosive Friday performance, when they accumulated a season-high 21 hits in a 23-4 demolition of the A’s.

The closest Washington came to breaking through before Ruiz’s seventh-inning single occurred in the fifth when Dylan Crews appeared to have beaten out an infield single to third baseman Joshua Kuroda-Grauer. However, the Athletics successfully challenged the safe ruling, and a replay review overturned the call for the final out of the inning. Kuroda-Grauer also contributed defensively with a diving catch on a popup by CJ Abrams in the fourth inning.

Ginn’s latest near-miss recalled a heartbreaking May 18 outing against the Los Angeles Angels, when he carried a no-hitter into the ninth inning before allowing a leadoff single to Adam Frazier and a two-run homer to Zach Neto, resulting in a 2-1 defeat. That Angels game marked the only complete game of Ginn’s three-year major league career. Entering Saturday, the pitcher held a 7-6 record with a 3.67 earned run average this season.

The Athletics’ last no-hitter came from Mike Fiers in May 2019 against the Cincinnati Reds while the franchise was still based in Oakland. Across major league baseball this season, only three Houston Astros pitchers combined for a no-hitter, blanking the Texas Rangers 9-0 on May 25.