Left-hander Parker Messick flirts with history, Guardians open series with 4-2 win over Orioles

CLEVELAND — Through the first 10 starts of his career, Parker Messick was largely unknown outside of Cleveland. In No. 11 Thursday night at Progressive Field, the rookie left-hander nearly introduced himself to the rest of the world. In his fourth outing of the season, Messick came three outs shy of becoming the 12th Cleveland pitcher — and first since Len Barker's perfect game in 1981 — to throw a no-hitter. Messick's magnificence helped lift the Guardians to a 4-2 victory in the series opener against Baltimore, which rallied for two runs in the ninth after the pitcher allowed his first hit on the first pitch of the inning. "Pretty much about the sixth inning on, I prayed between pretty much every inning," the 25-year-old Messick said. "I was telling myself, 'I'm leaning on the Lord's strength,' and then following that prayer it was just, 'Execute, execute, execute.' That's all that was going through my head. "Obviously, I'd be lying if I said it's not disappointing. You want to finish that game. It sucks, but it's baseball. It might happen for me one day if the Lord wills. I'll have plenty more years to pitch in baseball games." "That was very special what we got to watch tonight," manager Stephen Vogt said. "That's an unbelievably talented lineup that he took a no-hitter into the ninth against. He just continued to attack, continued to give them different looks throughout the whole game. "That was a beautiful game." Messick, who beat out Logan Allen for the final spot in the rotation, allowed only two baserunners through the first eight innings, walking the first batter of the game and retiring 15 straight before another leadoff walk in the sixth. He matched a career high with nine strikeouts, six within the first four innings. Catcher Austin Hedges had a front row view of Messick's brilliance. "You just get to watch the game, try to pay attention to what hitters are trying to do," Hedges said. "They've gotta have a good plan against him. He's got such good stuff, executes every pitch. We've got six or seven pitches to work with, throwing everyone of them to righties and lefties. "Hitting's hard already, but when you've gotta cover that many pitches, that many speeds, that many shapes executed, you're gonna get nights like tonight." Leody Tavares started the ninth by shooting a grounder into right field for the Orioles' first hit. Blaze Alexander followed with another single to end Messick's night. He was replaced by closer Cade Smith, who allowed a single to Taylor Ward, a sacrifice fly to Gunnar Henderson to score the Orioles' first run, followed by an RBI double to Pete Alonso. Baltimore had the tying runs on base when Smith got pinch hitter Colton Cowser to ground to Juan Brito at second for the final out. Jose Ramirez's third home run in six games — a two-run shot in the first — provided the only runs through the first four innings. Steven Kwan's two-out base hit scored Brayan Rocchio in the fifth, with Rocchio just beating the tag at the plate to make it 3-0. The Orioles challenged but the call stood. Cleveland added a run in the sixth, putting the first three aboard and going up 4-0 on George Valera's base hit to score Ramirez. Valera, Kwan and Ramirez each had two hits, while Ramirez produced his 464th career multihit game to move past Omar Vizquel for seventh place on Cleveland's all-time list. Ramirez also chipped in defensively to assist Messick, making a backhanded play to end the fifth and snaring a foul ball just inside the net to start the eighth. Kwan also made a nice catch at the wall in center on a drive from Taylor Ward to end the third. "After that Ward ball got caught, I was like, 'I don't think we're giving up a hit tonight,'" Hedges said. Vogt had a similar mindset. "I really thought (Messick) was going to do it tonight," he said. Messick's outing marked the longest no-hit bit by a Cleveland pitcher since Gavin Williams (8 1/3 innings) against the Mets in New York two years ago. He is the fourth to take a no-hitter into the ninth since Barker, joining Williams, John Farrell (eight innings in 1989) and Carlos Carrasco, who came an out away from accomplishing the feat at Tampa Bay in 2015. Bob Feller (three) and Addie Joss (two) are the only pitchers in franchise history to throw more than one no-hitter. When told it had been 45 years since Cleveland's last no-hitter, Messick kept his sense of humor. "I did my best, guys. Maybe next time," he said. Contact Chris Assenheimer at (440) 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter @CAwesomeheimer.