The debutant took a no-hitter into the seventh.
Noah Cameron was outstanding in his big league debut for the Kansas City Royals, while the bullpen provided enough support to shut out the Tampa Bay Rays in a 3-0 game.
Kansas City quickly got started in the first against Drew Rasmussen. With one out, Bobby Witt Jr. singled the other way to run his hit streak to 21 games. Up next, Vinnie Pasquantino did not wait around, getting a first pitch middle-middle four-seamer and crushing it into the seats in right-center to give the Royals a 2-0 lead. Rasmussen retired the next two batters, but the Royals had given Cameron a lead before making his MLB debut.
It took Cameron just five pitches to get through his first big league inning. Chandler Simpson popped up a bunt to Pasquantino, Yandy Díaz was robbed of extra bases on a lovely catch at the wall by Hunter Renfroe, and Christopher Morel grounded out 5-3 on the first pitch. He was on pace to throw a perfect game on just 45 pitches! The perfecto would end when he walked Brandon Lowe in the second inning. Not getting the benefit of the doubt on borderline pitches, Cameron then walked Danny Jansen. But he managed to escape the jam when Maikel Garcia picked a hot shot off the bat of Curtis Mead to start an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play.
Rasmussen settled in some after that. Kansas City was unable to take advantage of a leadoff single by Kyle Isbel in the third and a two-out double by Garcia in the fourth. In the fifth, Cavan Biggio walked and Jonathan India reached on an infield single when a grounder clanked off the third base bag. That brought Witt to the plate with a couple baserunners. He went down 0-2 before ripping a four-seamer into right field for a single that scored Biggio and gave Witt 1000 total bases in his career. Pasquantino flew out to end the inning, but Kansas City led 3-0.
Meanawhile, Cameron was cruising, retiring the side in order in the third and fourth innings. He wasn’t missing any bats, but he was getting early count swings and letting the defense work behind him. There was a brief lapse when Biggio biffed an easy grounder off the bat of Lowe to lead off the fifth. Cameron then coaxed popups from Jansen and Mead before walking José Caballero. Fortunately, Taylor Walls is a bad hitter and hit a soft liner to Garcia to end the inning.
Tampa Bay turned to the bullpen in the sixth, bringing in Mason Englert. Salvador Perez singled to lead off the inning before Garcia ripped what should have been a single to left. However, Morel booted it, allowing Perez to go to third and Garcia to hustle to second. With two runners in scoring position, Drew Waters whiffed on three changeups for the first out. Not to be outdone, Renfroe also struck out on three pitches. The rally opportunity would go unfulfilled as Biggio flew out to the warning track.
It was only when Chandler Simpson lined out to lead off the sixth inning that I realized Cameron had a no-hitter going. He was only at 56 pitches, so he was absolutely in position to go the distance. He promptly walked Díaz but struck out the free-swinging Morel and Junior Caminero to end the inning.
Unfortunately, the fun ended in the seventh. With one out, Cameron walked Jansen for the lefty’s fifth base on balls of the evening. Mead followed by yanking the first pitch he saw down the left field line for a single. With two runners on and one out, Matt Quatraro made the call to the bullpen, summoning John Schreiber to escape the jam. Escape he did, battling with the pinch-hitting Jonathan Aranda to coax a flyout and retiring Walls to end the threat.
Lucas Erceg was the next man up in the bullpen, entering for the eighth inning with the top of the order coming up. It was a rocky inning, with Díaz singling with one out before Erceg plunked Morel with 96. After a short delay, Erceg put away the next two hitters on a flyout and popup to halt the rally. Carlos Estévez was summoned in the ninth to lock down the save. Like Erceg, his inning wasn’t smooth sailing. Kameron Misner ripped a single with one out before Aranda poked one the other way to put runners on first and second. Fortunately, that brought up Walls, who still cannot hit. He watched strike three go by. The lineup turned over to Simpson, who hit an easy flyout to left to end the game in a 3-0 Royals victory.
The win improves the Royals to 16-15, giving them their third consecutive series victory and putting Kansas City over .500 for the first time in almost three weeks. They will go for the sweep tomorrow afternoon in Tampa.
Noah Cameron: 6.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 5 BB, 3 K, 0 HR
Drew Rasmussen: 5.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 1 HR
Vinnie Pasquantino: 1-4, HR, R, 2 RBI
Yandy Díaz: 1-3, BB