The Kansas City Royals optioned Noah Cameron back to Triple-A Omaha on Thursday, one day after the left-hander took a no-hitter into the seventh inning in his big league debut against the Rays in Tampa Bay.
Cameron was called upon to make a spot start for staff ace Cole Ragans, who has been dealing with a sore groin. He did not allow a hit until Curtis Mead's one-out single down the left-field line in the seventh. Royals manager Matt Quatraro promptly took him out of the game, and the Kansas City relief corps finished off the 3-0 victory over the Rays.
“You can’t put it into words,” said Cameron, who grew up rooting for the Royals in St. Joseph, Missouri, about an hour's drive north of their home at Kauffman Stadium. “It is something I’ve always dreamed about, especially with this team. And it is just crazy. Not what you would expect, but I’m glad to get out of there with what happened. You just can’t make it up.”
No pitcher has thrown a no-hitter for Kansas City since Bret Saberhagen on Aug. 26, 1991, a span of 5,244 games that represents the third-longest active no-hit drought in the majors. Only the Guardians and Blue Jays have gone longer.
"I thought he was going to do it,” Quatraro said. “The pitch count was really manageable. ... We know he throws strikes, and he was challenging guys. He had a good mix. Just really impressive.”
Kansas City delivered three defensive gems to help Cameron's bid. In the first inning, Hunter Renfroe’s leaping catch against the right-field wall robbed Yandy Diaz of extra bases. Maikel Garcia stabbed Mead’s hard-hit grounder in the second to start a double play. And in the third, Bobby Witt Jr. snagged Jose Caballero’s grounder in the hole and threw him out at first.
The 25-year-old Cameron wound up throwing 79 pitches, allowing that one hit with five walks and three strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings. He's the first player to throw that many hitless frames in his big league debut since the Blue Jays' Nick Kingham, who got two outs in the seventh inning against the Cardinals on April 29, 2018.
The splendid start by Cameron shouldn't have come as a complete surprise. He is widely considered among the organization's top five prospects, and he was 2-0 with a 3.22 ERA over his first five starts for Omaha this season.
In corresponding roster moves Thursday, the Royals selected right-hander Taylor Clarke from Omaha to provide some additional depth in the bullpen, and they transferred right-hander James McArthur to the 60-day injured list.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
Dave Skretta, The Associated Press
