Guardians Baseball Insider

June 2, 2018

A week earlier, nine days to be exact, Shane Bieber came within just an error of throwing a perfect game, albeit a rain-shortened, seven inning no-hitter in the end.

On this date, the Columbus Clippers with Adam Plutko on the mound, hosted the Syracuse Chiefs and this one went the distance.

Plutko faced the first 25 batters in this contest and sat them all down in order.

With one out in the ninth inning he walked the Chiefs eighth hitter on six pitches. He recovered from a 3-1 count after throwing a first pitch strike but ended up walking him. Plutko retired the next two hitters on a fly out and a strikeout the clinch the no hitter.

Plutko had just been sent back to Triple-A after two good starts in Cleveland and actually went on to fire a three hitter in his next start, after which he was called up back to Cleveland.

At UCLA, Plutko carried a no-hitter through four innings in his last collegiate game before the College World Series. Plutko was a real star for the Bruins, pitching on what ended up being an injured shoulder to a CWS title, something they didn’t even accomplish with Trevor Bauer and Gerritt Cole in the same rotation a few years earlier.

Columbus fan favorite OF Brandon Barnes backed Plutko with three hits and two RBI. Francisco Mejia, Eric Haase and Nellie Rodriguez all had two hits apiece and every Clipper collected a hit in the win.

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