Inside The Padres

Padres' Minor League Club Tosses Combined No-Hitter

J.P. Hoornstra|
Baseball fans enjoy a game at Parkview Field in Fort Wayne s central business district. Home to the Class A Fort Wayne TinCaps, an affiliate of Major League Baseball's San Diego Padres, Parkview Field has been recognized numerous times as one of the best minor-league ballparks in the United States. It also is the site of more than 400 non-baseball events each year.
Baseball fans enjoy a game at Parkview Field in Fort Wayne s central business district. Home to the Class A Fort Wayne TinCaps, an affiliate of Major League Baseball's San Diego Padres, Parkview Field has been recognized numerous times as one of the best minor-league ballparks in the United States. It also is the site of more than 400 non-baseball events each year. | Jeffrey Nycz, Visit Fort Wayne, Palm

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San Diego Padres

Pitcher Henry Baez threw six perfect innings as the Padres' advanced Class-A affiliate Fort Wayne TinCaps completed the fourth perfect game in franchise history on Friday.

Baez, the Padres' No. 30 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, allowed a run in the seventh inning of the game but did not allow a hit in Fort Wayne's 9-1 win over the Great Lakes Loons. Will Geerdes and Jose Geraldo completed the no-hit effort. Colton Bender caught all nine innings.

Baez struck out four batters in seven innings. The 21-year-old right-hander threw 79 pitches, 48 for strikes. He recorded 10 groundouts and two flyouts. According to the TinCaps' website, he mixed a mid-90s fastball with a curveball and a splitter.

Fort Wayne allowed its only run after Loons center fielder Chris Newell walked to lead off the seventh. Baez attempted to start a double play by throwing to second base, but the throw was errant and went into center field, allowing Newell to advance to third. When the next batter, Kyle Nevin, hit into a double-play groundout, Newell scored from third.

Neither Geerdes nor Geraldo allowed a hit in their only innings of work.

Fort Wayne's last no-hit effort came just last year, on May 16 in Dayton, Ohio. They previously tossed a combined no-hitter against Great Lakes in 2013. The first no-hitter in franchise history was a solo effort by Simón Castro against Dayton on Aug. 19, 2009.

Baez has a 2.88 ERA and 1.07 WHIP across 16 High-A starts this year.

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J.P. Hoornstra
J.P. HOORNSTRA

J.P. Hoornstra is an On SI Contributor. A veteran of 20 years of sports coverage for daily newspapers in California, J.P. covered MLB, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Los Angeles Angels (occasionally of Anaheim) from 2012-23 for the Southern California News Group. His first book, The 50 Greatest Dodgers Games of All-Time, published in 2015. In 2016, he won an Associated Press Sports Editors award for breaking news coverage. He once recorded a keyboard solo on the same album as two of the original Doors.

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