Baseball Twitter lit up in the middle of a college football Saturday, which is how you know something crazy was happening.
Rich Hill has been a fantastic comeback story since he returned to the majors with the Red Sox at the end of last season. This year, he dominated for Oakland before being traded to the Dodgers, where a blister issue has kept him off the mound for most of his tenure. On Saturday in Miami, though, he was back, and dominating.
How good was he?
Well, he was perfect through 7 innings while throwing just 89 pitches. That’s incredible. He was aided by this fantastic Yasiel Puig catch in left to end the seventh:
Yasiel Puig.
That is all. pic.twitter.com/CXUtQtbgqC
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 11, 2016
Good lord, what a play to preserve the perfecto. So, with just 89 pitches on his arm, Hill had a really good chance at completing his effort, right?
Wrong.
Dave Roberts pulled Hill after the seventh, citing concerns with a potential blister recurrence:
Roberts said there was "heat" on Hill's finger, a sign of the blister resurfacing.
— Andy McCullough (@ByMcCullough) September 11, 2016
Despite this, Hill was (understandably) upset:
https://twitter.com/dave_schilling/status/774782491106443264
Roberts brought in Joe Blanton for the 8th, and he promptly blew the perfect game. The Dodgers held on to win, and in theory they saved some wear and tear on Hill’s finger for the playoffs, but man…it’s a PERFECT GAME!
https://twitter.com/keithlaw/status/774781703336390656?s=07
If it were a no-hitter, even, I wouldn’t have a problem with taking him out. But a perfect game, at just 89 pitches…that’s a tough one, even with the potential heat on the blister. Hopefully Hill gets a chance to shine in the postseason, otherwise this decision might bother him for a while.
