Oakland Athletics reliever Sean Newcomb recorded his first win of the year Friday night with no batters faced. So how did he do it?
With the A's tied at 5 against the Minnesota Twins with two outs in the eighth inning and a man on first, Newcomb entered the game from the bullpen.
After reaching the count of 1-1, the left-hander decided to throw to first, but the runner was left without a run.
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Sean Newcomb of the A's pitches against the Seattle Mariners on June 4, 2024 at the Oakland Coliseum in California. (Brandon Vallance/Getty Images)
Eventually, Austin Martin was eliminated, ending the inning. Statistically speaking, a batter is “faced” if the at-bat results in an out, either by the batter or a runner via a fielder's choice.
However, since it was Newcomb's pickoff that resulted in the out, no batter was “faced.”
Then, in the bottom half of the inning, Shea Langeliers hit a two-run homer off Jhoan Duran to give Oakland a 6-5 lead.
Then, with the lead, Oakland brought in their flamethrowing closer, Mason Miller, and he recorded the save, thus giving Newcomb the victory, despite throwing two pitches.
Sean Newcomb of the A's pitches against the San Diego Padres at RingCentral Coliseum on September 15, 2023 in Oakland, California. (Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
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It was the first time in the A's 124-year history that a pitcher achieved victory without facing a batter. He's still listed as a third starter on the stat sheet.
It was Newcomb's fourth appearance of the season, but the previous two had not gone well. He had allowed five earned runs in his previous two outings combined in just 3.1 innings.
But it's early days for Newcomb, who had a 3.00 ERA for the A's last year and is in his eighth major league season. He spent his first six years with the Atlanta Braves before going to the Cubs during the 2022 season.
Sean Newcomb of the Oakland Athletics poses during photo day at HoHoKam Stadium on February 23, 2024 in Mesa, Arizona. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
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The A's improved to, albeit miserably, 29-49 with the win, but Minnesota got its revenge with a 10-2 victory on Saturday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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