Greinke loses his no-hitter with 1 out in 9th, Astros blank Mariners

SEATTLE — Zack Greinke still believes there would be some hassle if the day ever comes he throws a no-hitter.

But he wants one, especially after coming agonizingly close to the first of his career.

“There is some hassle to it, but I think I would have liked to have done it,” Greinke said.

Greinke came within two outs of pitching the third no-hitter by the Houston Astros this year, losing his bid on a single by Seattle rookie Austin Nola in the ninth inning of a 3-0 win over the Mariners on Wednesday night.

Greinke (18-5) was in complete control in his closet attempt ever for a no-hitter, only to see the bid ended two outs short of making history.

Earlier this season Greinke had a no-hit bid earlier this season against Washington broken up in the seventh inning. After that no-no disappeared, Greinke said, “I don’t really think about (no-hitters) that much. I just assume I’ll never throw one.”

“Just probably be more hassle than anything,” he said.

And after coming closer than any other point of his career?

“It would have been nice,” Greinke said. “Felt good out there and then the last couple of innings I guess might not have been as sharp there.”

Houston posted its franchise-high 104th win and moved one step closer to home-field advantage throughout the postseason. The Astros nearly became the first team in major league history to throw three no-hitters in a season while Seattle barely avoided becoming the first team to be no-hit three times in a year.

When he took the mound to start the ninth, Greinke thought it was going to happen. He drew cheers from the orange-shirted Astros fans as he walked to the mound and retired Tom Murphy on a grounder.

Nola, in an 0-for-16 slump, was up next and dumped a liner into shallow left-center field. Center fielder Jake Marisnick made a diving attempt but came up well short and pounded his fist on his leg.

“I watched him all game. He was unbelievable,” said Nola, who came on in the eighth inning. “I don’t think he threw many balls over the middle of the plate. I was just going up there looking for somewhat of a decent pitch. I knew I wasn’t going to get much good stuff. It all worked out.”

Greinke gave up another single to Tim Lopes and was replaced after throwing 108 pitches. Will Harris got his third save, striking out Shed Long and retiring J.P. Crawford on a lineout.

Greinke was the first Houston pitcher to have a no-hitter broken up in the ninth inning since Mike Scott in 1988.

Houston Seattle

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Springer rf 4 1 1 0 Long lf 4 0 0 0

Altuve 2b 4 0 0 0 Crawford ss 4 0 0 0

Bregman ss 4 1 3 1 Seager 3b 3 0 0 0

Alvarez dh 4 0 1 1 Lewis cf 3 0 0 0

Gurriel 1b 4 0 0 0 Narvaez dh 3 0 0 0

Tucker lf 3 1 1 1 Vogelbach 1b 3 0 0 0

Chirinos c 4 0 1 0 Murphy c 3 0 0 0

Toro 3b 4 0 0 0 Gordon 2b 1 0 0 0

Marisnick cf 4 0 0 0 Nola 2b 1 0 1 0

Lopes rf 3 0 1 0

Totals 35 3 7 3 Totals 28 0 2 0

Houston 200 000 001 — 3

Seattle 000 000 000 — 0

DP—Houston 1, Seattle 0. LOB—Houston 6, Seattle 2. 2B—Bregman 2 (37), Alvarez (26), Chirinos (22). HR—Tucker (3). SB—Tucker (5).

IP H R ER BB SO

Houston

Greinke W,8-1 81/3 2 0 0 1 9

Harris S,3-42/3 0 0 0 0 1

Seattle

Kikuchi L,6-11 6 6 2 2 0 4

Warren 1 0 0 0 0 1

Guilbeau 1 0 0 0 0 1

Magill 1 1 1 1 0 0

HBP—Kikuchi (Tucker). WP_Kikuchi.

Umpires—Home, Sam Holbrook; First, Jim Wolf; Second, Roberto Ortiz; Third, Manny Gonzalez.

T—2:33. A—10,916 (47,943).