Cubs’ Lilly loses no-hitter in 9th on pinch-hit single
Published 1:02 am Monday, June 14, 2010
CHICAGO — Ted Lilly took a no-hitter into the ninth inning before pinch-hitter Juan Pierre led off with a single, and the Chicago Cubs held on to beat the White Sox 1-0 Sunday night at a revved-up Wrigley Field.
On a night when the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks were saluted for their Stanley Cup championship, Lilly and Gavin Floyd put on a splendid display of pitching.
Floyd flirted with a no-hitter of his own for the White Sox before Alfonso Soriano doubled with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. Chad Tracy followed with a single, producing the game’s only run.
That took care of Floyd’s run at history — but Lilly was still going and the tension began to mount as he inched closer to the 14th no-hitter in franchise history and first since Carlos Zambrano’s gem against Houston on Sept. 14, 2008, in Milwaukee.