Anibal Sanchez hands his no-hitter over to the Tigers’ bullpen in the seventh

By Bill BaerOct 12, 2013, 10:57 PM EDT
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Tigers starter Anibal Sanchez no-hit the Red Sox through six innings in ALCS Game 1, but he will not be allowed to complete it. Sanchez threw 116 pitches, prompting Tigers manager Jim Leyland to lift him from the game with the larger goal in mind. Reliever Al Alburquerque will be the first out of the bullpen tasked with preserving the no-hitter. He is slated to face Mike Carp (pinch-hitting for Will Middlebrooks), Jarrod Saltalamacchia (pinch-hitting for David Ross), and Jacoby Ellsbury.

Sanchez’s final line reads: 6 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 6 BB, 12 K.

The Tigers chased Red Sox starter Jon Lester with one out in the seventh. Lester hit Jose Iglesias with a pitch, then gave way to reliever Junichi Tazawa, who recorded two outs to send the game to the bottom of the seventh with his team down 1-0.

Yankees, Mariners expressing interest in J.A. Happ

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By Craig CalcaterraJun 18, 2018, 11:29 AM EDT
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Jon Morosi of MLB Network reports that the Yankees and Mariners are both expressing interest in Blue Jays starter J.A. Happ.

Happ is posting a 3.48 ERA and a 94/25 K/BB ratio in 82.2 innings across 14 starts and has been stingy with the hits as well. Between that, the Blue Jays’ lack of contention and the fact that Happ is in the walk year of his three-year, $36 million deal, all signs point to the Jays trading them.

In normal circumstances you might not expect the Jays to make a trade with the Yankees, but at this point it sort of doesn’t matter, does it? It’s not like Happ in New York on a couple month rental will impact the 2018 Jays too much. And, given his pending free agency, it’s not extraordinarily likely that he’d haunt the Jays from the Bronx long term either.

There’s not a ton of elite pitching currently available, but as the trade deadline approaches — a little over a month to go on that score — the talk about Happ, Cole Hamels, Francisco Liriano and others will heat up. Figure the Yankees will be linked with any and all available starters.