OH, NO-NO! BEDARD IS BRILLIANT!

Black Mesa—On the road in Arizona, the visiting Worcester Eliminators had perhaps the greatest moment in their franchise history, as ace lefthander Eric Bedard threw the club’s first-ever no-hitter, blanking the host Anomalies 10-0 in a game that many thought would not be played.

The scheduled start was pushed back more than an hour due to heavy rains, leading to a scratch of scheduled Anomalies starter Justin Verlander. When the rain abated, the Anomalies turned to John Maine, who was credible at first, allowing only two runs through the first five on Alex Rios’s third homer of the year. But the Elims got to him and the Anomalies pen big-time in the sixth, scoring seven times in a rally that even featured an RBI single from Bedard himself.

As for Bedard, he entered the eighth with a 10-0 lead having thrown only 81 pitches and was quite fresh. In fact, Bedard seemed to relish the conditions, getting just a bit extra break on his curve ball following the heavy rain. He allowed a leadoff walk to Adam Dunn to begin the eighth, but stifled the next three hitters. Then, in the ninth, some considerable drama: pinch-hitter Ian Kinsler reached on a throwing error by Garrett Atkins, who took second on the play. On the very next pitch, Robinson Cano booted a ground ball off the bat of Paul LoDuca: two on, nobody out.

But Bedard got Rafael Furcal to line into a double play, and when Jeff Kent grounded harmlessly to Jeter, pandemonium ensued: Bedard, on 102 pitches, had shrugged off two walks and two errors by his teammates to pitch one of the few no-hitters so far in BARB play! He improved to 4-4 with a 3.20 ERA in the win, while swing man John Maine (3-4, 4.40) took the loss.

"It’s a tremendous accomplishment," acknowledged BARB Commissioner Scott Hatfield, "and a confirmation of what Worcester GM Matt Caskey has been saying, which is that Eric Bedard is truly one of the better pitchers in the league, ready to move into elite status."