PITTSBURGH (AP) — Nick Kingham carried a perfect game into the seventh inning in his major league debut to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to their fifth straight win, 5-0 over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday.
Kingham, a 26-year-old rookie right-hander, retired 20 straight before Paul DeJong singled down the left-field line with two outs in the seventh. He finished with one hit and nine strikeouts on 98 pitches (72 strikes) after being recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis earlier in the day.
Kingham joined Johnny Cueto as the only pitchers in the last 100 years with one hit allowed, at least nine strikeouts and zero walks in a debut.
Luke Weaver (2-2) took the loss after allowing four runs and six hits with six strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings.
Photo credit – Gene J. Puskar / Associated Press / Pittsburgh, PA
