Tigers lose no-hitter, but edge White Sox in 10 innings

DETROIT Bruce Rondon was not available.

He was not around; not in the home bullpen at Comerica Park, not present in the Tigers’ clubhouse any longer, his locker cleaned out hours before Tuesday’s game against the Chicago White Sox, and he was not an option to lock down the first combined no-hitter in franchise history.

The closer was canned, and one out into the ninth inning so, too, was that no-hit bid, when right-hander Neftali Feliz allowed a triple to White Sox third baseman Tyler Saladino.

One batter later, the Tigers’ win went out the window as well, as Feliz blew his sixth save of the season and third with the team, when Adam Eaton singled home Saladino to right field.

But on a day they lost their closer, the Tigers won the game when Rajai Davis tripled home Anthony Gose to right field with two outs in the bottom of the 10th for a 2-1 win.

The combined no-hit bid started with left-hander Daniel Norris, who pitched five perfect innings before leaving the game on a strict pitch count (it was his second start since returning from the disabled list).

It continued with Buck Farmer, who pitched a perfect sixth inning. Then Ian Krol, who lost the team’s combined perfect-game bid which would have been the first in baseball history, according to research on Baseball-Reference.com by hitting Eaton with a breaking ball to lead off the seventh inning.

Krol kept the no-hit bid alive by stranding Eaton on first base.

James McCann hit a RBI single in the seventh inning to break up the scoreless tie and give the Tigers a 1-0 lead. Then Drew VerHagen threw a hitless eighth inning before Feliz retired the first batter of the ninth, pinch-hitter J.B. Shuck, on a groundout. Then he allowed the triple to Saladino.

Marking his second start since returning from the DL with a right oblique strain, Norris set the tone early. He struck out four batters over 63 pitches, smack dab in the middle of his 60-65 pitch range.

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