Source: Seattle Times

John Jaso, the Mariners' backup catcher, was asked what his dugout was like in the ninth inning of Saturday's no-hitter by Chicago's Philip Humber.

"What was their dugout like?" Jaso asked rhetorically. "That's what I'd want to know."

Well, the Sox's dugout was rife with anticipation. And the M's, well, they were anxious, as their ninth-inning at-bats reflected. It was that way with leadoff hitter Michael Saunders and with the last hitter, Brendan Ryan.

But on this day, Humber wasn't just any pitcher out there, either.

"We were talking about it from the fifth, sixth inning on," Saunders said. " 'Hey, you guys, this guy's throwing a no-hitter, a perfect game. Come on, let's go.'

"We clearly don't want to be no-hit, we don't want to have a perfect game thrown at us. But these things happen. Hats off to him."

Humber, who hadn't had a three-ball count all day, went to 3-0 on Saunders, who then took a strike and figured fastball. He got one.

"I feel I got a little amped up on that pitch," Saunders confessed. "It was ball four. I knew a heater was coming. I saw it down the middle of the plate and took a good swing, but obviously it was up.

"I swung at ball four, unfortunately. But I'm not looking to walk in that situation."

Then Humber surprised Saunders, who was looking fastball, by throwing a slider on the inside part of the plate and Saunders fanned.

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