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Cincinnati Reds pitcher Homer Bailey threw the second no-hitter of his career in a 3-0 win against the San Francisco Giants before 27,509 fans on Tuesday night at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.

Bailey threw his first no-hitter in a 1-0 win against the Pittsburgh Pirates on September 28.

“You have to have an I-don’t-care attitude in the late innings,” Bailey said after the game, as reported by C. Trent Rosecrans, Reds beat writer for the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Bailey had a perfect game through six innings, retiring 18 batters in a row. He had seven strikeouts on 69 pitches.

After retiring his first 12 batters, the Cincinnati Reds tweeted that Bailey had a perfect game through four innings, and fans’ expectations began growing. He stayed perfect through the fifth and sixth innings.

Bailey got some breathing room when Brandon Phillips hit a two-run home run after Joey Votto singled to center in the bottom of the sixth inning, extending the Reds’ lead to 3-0.

He walked Gregor Blanco to start off the seventh and the perfect game disappeared, but the no-hitter was still alive. Marco Scutaro grounded out to third, then Buster Posey grounded into a fielder’s choice to first while Blanco was tagged out at third after a baserunning mistake. Bailey struck out Pablo Sandoval swinging to end his half of the seventh.

Bailey had the no-hitter going into the eighth inning with eight strikeouts, one walked batter and 89 pitches.

Bailey got Hunter Pence to pop it up to lead off the eighth, and he was five outs away from his second no-hitter. Brandon Belt and Andres Torres both flied out, and Bailey was three outs away.

Bailey entered the ninth inning with the no-hitter intact.

He picked off a bouncing ball hit by the first batter, Brandon Crawford, and threw him out for the first out of the inning. He struck out Tony Abreu to move within one out of the no-no. He got Blanco to ground out to third for the final out, and history was made.

He threw his arms up into the air with the final out as his teammates swarmed him and gave him a Gatorade bath near the pitcher’s mound. 

It was the first no-hitter in the majors this season and also the first no-hitter since Bailey did it last season.

He finished the game with nine strikeouts and one walk.

What a historic performance.

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The Cincinnati Reds (44-30, second in NL Central) have headed out west on an eight-game road trip and are set to take on the NL West-leading Arizona Diamondbacks (39-33) in a three-game series starting on Friday night at Chase Field in Phoenix.

The Reds are playing well overall, but they need to improve offensively to complement the solid work of their pitching staff.

Cincinnati’s pitching staff is tied for first in the majors in WHIP (1.18), third in strikeouts (617) and opponents’ batting average (.239), fourth in ERA (3.35) and sixth in saves (22).

Its offense is in the bottom half of the majors in batting average (.251, ranked 16th), tied for eighth in strikeouts with 579 and is 13th in OPS (.724). Some positives are that the Reds are third in walks (267) and ninth in RBI (316).

The Reds are 18-16 on the road this season while the D-backs are 19-15 at home.

Cincinnati is 6-4 in its last 10 games and Arizona is 4-6.

The Reds hold the second-best record in the majors, but enter the series 3.5 games behind the NL Central- and major-league-leading St. Louis Cardinals (47-26).

Pitching

Friday, June 21 at 9:40 p.m. ET

Johnny Cueto (4-0, 2.08 ERA) is 3-0 in his last four starts, giving up five earned runs on 13 hits while striking out 19 over 26 innings of work.

Saturday, June 22 at 7:15 p.m. ET

Mike Leake (7-3, 2.64 ERA) is 2-1 with a 2.25 ERA and 12 strikeouts over 20 innings in his last three starts. According to MLB.com, he has “allowed one earned run or less in six of his last seven starts for a 1.15 ERA.”

Sunday, June 23 at 4:10 p.m. ET

Mat Latos (6-1,3.20 ERA) is 1-1 with a 4.50 ERA and 18 strikeouts over 18 innings in his last three starts. His 21-game streak of starts without a loss came to an end against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday, when he gave up three runs before retiring 14 of his final 15 batters.

Thing to Watch on Offense

Joey Votto is still first in the majors in walks (54) and second in on-base percentage (.438). He is tied for fifth in the majors in runs scored (53) and leads the Reds with a .324 batting average.

Shin-Soo Choo is still second in the majors in walks (49) and third in OBP (.426).

Brandon Phillips leads the Reds and is tied for fifth in the majors in RBI (57).

Jay Bruce leads the Reds in home runs with 15, hitting five of those in the last seven days. He is fifth in the majors in doubles (22) and tied for 12th in RBI (50).

All stats courtesy of MLB.com

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The Cincinnati Reds are set to take on the Milwaukee Brewers in a three-game series starting Friday night in Cincinnati.

Both teams are coming off of series wins. The Reds won three of four against the Chicago Cubs while the Brewers won two of three against the Miami Marlins.

The Reds swept the Brewers over Mother’s Day weekend in Cincinnati in May.

Cincinnati is 18-13 against the NL Central while Milwaukee is 10-18.

The Reds are 22-11 at home and the Brewers are 11-18 on the road.

Pitchers

Friday, June 14, at 7:10 p.m. ET

Bronson Arroyo (6-5, 3.35 ERA) gave up six hits and two earned runs while striking out four over six innings in a no-decision against the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday. He got a win against the Brewers on May 12 when he threw six and two-thirds innings of shutout baseball while giving up five hits and striking out five.

Saturday, June 15, at 4:10 p.m. ET

Homer Bailey (4-4, 3.47 ERA) went eight innings without giving up a run while striking out eight on Monday against the Chicago Cubs. He is 1-1 with a 4.82 ERA and 20 strikeouts over 18 and two-thirds innings during his last three starts.

Sunday, June 16, at 1:10 p.m. ET

The Reds have not announced the starter for Sunday’s game but hope that Johnny Cueto can start, according to C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Tony Cingrani started in place of Cueto, who is on the disabled list with a right shoulder strain, on Tuesday.

Things to Watch on Offense

Todd Frazier hit home runs on Tuesday and Wednesday against the Cubs after going homerless for about a month-and-a-half.

Joey Votto and Shin-Soo Choo are still first and second in the majors in walks with 51 and 47, respectively. They are also still second and third in on-base percentage at .437 and .430, respectively. Votto is tied for first with the Colorado Rockies’ Carlos Gonzalez in runs scored with 52. He leads the team with 11 home runs.

Brandon Phillips is fifth in the majors in RBI with 54.

Jay Bruce is second in the majors in doubles (21) and 13th in RBI with 45.

All stats courtesy of MLB.com

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