If Cole Hamels is leaving Philadelphia in the next six days, he's going out with a bang.
Making perhaps his final start for the Phillies against a Chicago Cubs team that has shown interest in his services, Hamels fired his first complete game no-hitter in Philadelphia's 5-0 victory at Wrigley Field.
The no-hitter was capped by a wild play. Center fielder Odubel Herrera seemed to lose his footing on the warning track while tracking Kris Bryant's deep fly ball. Herrera's went to the ground, but amazingly kept his concentration and held on to the ball for a ridiculous final out.
Herrera made a similarly awkward catch one inning earlier to keep David Ross' deep drive from reaching the ivy.
Those two fly balls were by far the closest calls on the afternoon.
Hamels, who was coming off a brutal two-start stretch in which he allowed 20 hits over just 6 1/3 combined innings, was the starter for Philadelphia's combined no-hitter last Sept 1. against the Atlanta Braves. On Saturday afternoon, he did it all himself and looked every bit the part of a dominant ace in the process, mowing down the Cubs en route to 13 strikeouts and the 13th no-hitter in Phillies franchise history.
Even more noteworthy, it's the first time the Chicago Cubs have been no-hit since Sept. 9, 1965, a span covering 7,920 games. Milt Pappas pitched the last no-hitter at Wrigley Field back on Sept. 2 1972. That's quite a feather in Hamels' cap, and, if nothing else, some strong reinforcement that he's still among the best pitchers in the big leagues.
The 31-year-old left-hander was already drawing strong interest from just about every corner of the league. The Yankees were the most recent team to call the Phillies. The Dodgers, Cubs, Rangers and Giants are also considered in the mix, with the Astros and Red Sox hanging around the periphery. That number may rise now, which can only be a good thing for Philadelphia's bargaining position.
Hamels is also considered a valuable commodity because he's under contract through 2018, with a team option for 2019. He's expensive, with at least $70.5 million still owed following this season, but that's a drop in the bucket for many of his suitors even if they take on the full contract.
As for Saturday's outing, Hamels was barely threatened. The only man to reach was Dexter Fowler, who walked in both the first and sixth innings. Hamels faced just two batters over the minimum, whle throwing a season-high 129 pitches.
Hamels helped himself out at the plate as well, smacking a double to left field in the eighth inning. The time on the bases did not seem to impact Hamels.
Overall, the no-hitter was the third in MLB this season. Chris Heston fired the first back on June 9 against the New York Mets. Max Scherzer came up one pitch short of a perfect game against the Pittsburgh Pirates on June 20 before settling for a no-hitter. Now we add Cole Hamels to the list while considering the possibility of him challenging Johnny Vander Meer's consecutive no-hitters mark in an entirely different uniform. Perhaps he'll even be a Cub.
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