KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The score was bad. How they got down by so much was worse. And they held their breath as the big man lumbered down the bases.
Snuffing out the possible added indignity of not only being shellacked, 10-0, but also no-hit, well, that had to happen as soon as possible. So in the top of the seventh inning on frigid night at Kauffman Stadium, the Mariners needed Daniel Vogelbach to be fast — something that he isn’t and never expected to be.
When Vogelbach’s hard ground ball up the middle was initially knocked down and nearly gloved behind second base by a diving Alcides Escobar, it seemed like it could be the traditional great play that saves a no-hitter.