3 takeaways from Cobb's near-no-hitter

This story was excerpted from Maria Guardado’s Giants Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Alex Cobb knew he had a tough act to follow after watching rookie Kyle Harrison strike out 11 batters in his dazzling home debut on Monday night.

“I was watching his game, and I was like, ‘I can’t believe I have to follow this outing,’” Cobb said. “Electric fans, hometown kid, punched out every single player he faced. Here I come the next day. I have to throw these sinkers down the middle, and he’s blowing 97 [mph] by people.”

Cobb, of course, ended up delivering an unforgettable performance of his own, falling one out shy of throwing the 18th no-hitter in Giants history in a 6-1 win over the Reds on Tuesday night.

Aided by a scoring change and a heroic catch by center fielder Austin Slater, Cobb didn’t give up a hit until Spencer Steer lined a two-out RBI double into the gap in right-center field in the ninth. The 35-year-old veteran ultimately settled for his second complete game of the season, allowing only three baserunners and throwing a career-high 131 pitches.

• Pitchers who've lost no-hitters on the final out

“I kind of feel for Alex, but I think you have a sense of pride for what he accomplished,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “It’s an amazing feat to pitch a no-hitter. It’s also an amazing feat to go within an out of a no-hitter.”

Here are a few more notes from Cobb’s gem:

• Eighty-three of Cobb’s 131 pitches were splitters, the most thrown by any pitcher in a start since the pitch-tracking era began in 2008. The Reds took 46 swings against Cobb’s signature pitch and whiffed 18 times.

Seven of Cobb’s eight strikeouts came on his splitter, but he also lost his no-hit bid on the pitch, with Steer driving his 125th pitch of the night past right fielder Luis Matos’ outstretched glove to finally get Cincinnati on the board in the ninth.

“The split is what got me to that point, so I was going to live and die with it,” Cobb said. “I hadn’t pitched out of the stretch very much. I think that was a little bit of a challenge to try to get my groove going in the stretch. It probably wasn’t one of the best splits I threw.”

“Just hats off to him,” Steer said. “He pitched unbelievable. His fastball, his splitter, everything was moving a ton, and he was living on the corners all night. He was unbelievable tonight. I feel like we’ve got a pretty good lineup, and to do that against us is pretty tough.”

• Cobb earned his first career All-Star nod after recording a 2.91 ERA over 16 starts in the first half, but he struggled out of the break, logging a 5.48 ERA in his first eight starts of the second half. Cobb said he felt “lost” with his delivery and credited pitching coaches Andrew Bailey and J.P. Martinez with helping him get back on track following his start against the Braves at Truist Park on Aug. 18.

“I had really lost my delivery after the All-Star break and had some physical things that I was trying to battle through,” Cobb said. “I probably changed my delivery a little bit and was lost. Both of those guys took that work home with them, watched video, sent me clips and tried different drills. They went through all the frustration I was having and handled it great. Something just clicked right around that Atlanta start that led me on the right track to getting my stuff back.”

• A couple of weeks ago, Cobb pulled three baseballs out from the drawer at the bottom of his locker and snapped a picture to commemorate a few of his accomplishments from this season. One was from his six-hit shutout against the Cardinals on April 24. Another was from his 1,000th career strikeout. His favorite remains the one from his first All-Star appearance in Seattle.

The ball he kept from Tuesday’s game had the potential to top them all, but Cobb said he’s simply grateful that he’s still able to reach these milestones after grinding through so many injuries earlier in his career.

“There've been so many moments, ups and downs, throughout my career where I kind of didn’t even want to play anymore,” Cobb said. “It was that difficult and that challenging overcoming injuries and the toll it takes mentally, physically. My wife keeps pushing me to keep playing. It’s special when you had those thoughts, and then you’re able to keep doing it and keep collecting all these memories that you’re going to have for the rest of your life.”