Although they both fell short of the finish line, the Mets' Jacob deGrom and Giants' Jake Peavy were in hot pursuit of history at Citi Field.
Before the wheels came off in the seventh inning for Jake Peavy, he and the Mets' Jacob deGrom were in a pitching duel for the ages: a perfect game and no-hitter (respectively) for the first six-plus innings of Saturday night's game between the Giants and Mets at Citi Field. The game ended with deGrom's Mets winning 4-2.
If they had been able to make it to the ninth inning, the two pitchers would have replicated the May 2, 1917 performances of the Cincinnati Reds' Fred Toney and Chicago Cubs' Hippo Vaughn. Toney would get the win and the no-hitter as Vaughn "imploded" in the 10th, giving up two hits and a run.
While the hit -- a Daniel Murphy double over the head of left fielder Michael Morse with one out in the sixth -- off Peavy would open up the floodgates, deGrom pitched very well even after allowing a hit. The 26-year-old had his best game in what's been a breakout season, striking out seven and only allowing one walk in 7 1/3 innings.
Peavy seemed to be derailed when third baseman Pablo Sandoval -- who broke up deGrom's no-hit bid the half inning before -- had to be patched up after crashing into the left field wall trying to run down a foul tip, stopping the game for several minutes. Soon after, Peavy surrendered his first hit of the day. Then a second misplay by Morse would send him into a tailspin and the Giants into the losing column.