Saturday, 16 June 2012:

Major League Baseball rejected an appeal by the New York Mets on Friday of the official scoring in a victory over the Tampa Bay Rays, ending their long-shot bid to obtain a no-hitter for R.A. Dickey.

Dickey, a knuckleball-throwing right-handed pitcher for the National League club, was officially given a one-hit victory over the Rays on Wednesday.

The Mets wanted officials to reverse the official scorer's decision on a first-inning infield single by Tampa Bay's B.J. Upton, arguing that Mets third baseman David Wright committed an error on the play.

Dickey retired the next 22 Tampa Bay batters, striking out 12 without issuing a walk, until an actual error by Wright in the ninth, and never allowed another hit.

But Joe Torre, Major League Baseball's executive vice president and the US manager for the 2013 World Baseball Classic, upheld the scorer's decision and rejected the appeal on Friday.

Dickey's effort would have been only the second no-hitter in the Mets' half-century history. The first was pitched by Johan Santana only two weeks ago against the St. Louis Cardinals.

AAP