SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Kris Bubic’s no-hit bid for the Kansas City Royals ended with an official scoring change Monday night.
The left-hander hardly let that bother him.
Bubic made a run at an historic homecoming before settling for seven shutout innings of two-hit ball in a 3-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants.
“I knew it was happening, but I wasn’t nervous about it,” Bubic said. “I wasn’t really thinking about it. In my head I was just thinking, hey, keep attacking guys. Keep getting ahead of guys."
Bubic initially got through six innings without allowing a hit — only to have an error charged to Royals second baseman Michael Massey changed to a single before the start of the seventh.
With two outs in the sixth, Wilmer Flores hit a grounder toward second base. Massey moved to his left and was in position to make the play but slipped to the ground at the edge of the grass as the ball rolled past him into the outfield.
The play was initially ruled an error by official scorer Michael Duca, and Bubic then struck out Jung Hoo Lee to end the inning.
But moments later, after reviewing video, Duca changed his call to a base hit for Flores.
Casey Schmitt’s clean double down the left-field line with one out in the seventh was the only other hit off Bubic (5-2). He struck out five, walked three and lowered his ERA to 1.47.
That’s the second-lowest mark for a Royals pitcher through his first 10 starts of a season. Zack Greinke was at 0.84 in 2009, when he won the AL Cy Young Award.
Vinnie Pasquantino, who hit a two-run homer off reliever Tyler Rogers (2-2) to break a scoreless tie in the eighth, raved about Bubic.
“Hitters getting to first base, talking about how frustrating it is facing him,” Pasquantino said. “That’s what you’re looking for. He was ridiculous again tonight.”
In his past four starts, Bubic has permitted one run over 25 1/3 innings.
This outing came in the ballpark where Bubic grew up rooting for the Giants. He went to Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose and then to college at Stanford.
“I’ve probably sat in every area in this ballpark,” he said.
The 27-year-old Bubic estimated he had 30-40 family members and friends in attendance.
“You always want to do well in front of them. It makes life a little easier for everybody,” Bubic joked.
He referenced the fact that he had made two previous starts at Oracle Park, including when he pitched six scoreless innings in a 3-1 loss on April 9, 2023. Bubic said that experience kept away the jitters Monday.
“I treated this like any other game,” he explained. “It’s cool to be able to pitch in front of friends and family and I’m glad they got to see a win.”
Bubic underwent Tommy John surgery in 2023 and was strictly a reliever in 27 appearances last season.
He made one start with a longer no-hit bid: On Aug. 21, 2021, Bubic threw six hitless innings against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.
After a weather delay, he allowed a walk and then a home run to Patrick Wisdom. Bubic gave up just that one hit over 6 1/3 innings in the Royals’ 4-2 win.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
Kansas City Royals pitcher Kris Bubic throws against the San Francisco Giants during the first inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Monday, May 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Kansas City Royals pitcher Kris Bubic (50) reacts after San Francisco Giants' Tyler Fitzgerald lined into a double play during the seventh inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Monday, May 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Kansas City Royals pitcher Kris Bubic (50) throws against the San Francisco Giants during the sixth inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Monday, May 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Glenn Hall, a Hockey Hall of Famer whose ironman streak of 502 starts as a goaltender remains an NHL record, has died. He was 94.
Nicknamed “Mr. Goalie,” Hall worked to stop pucks at a time when players at his position were bare-faced, before masks of any kind became commonplace. He did it as well as just about anyone of his generation, which stretched from the days of the Original Six into the expansion era.
A spokesperson for the Chicago Blackhawks confirmed the team received word of Hall’s death from his family. A league historian in touch with Hall’s son, Pat, said Hall died at a hospital in Stony Plain, Alberta, on Wednesday.
A pioneer of the butterfly style of goaltending of dropping to his knees, Hall backstopped Chicago to the Stanley Cup in 1961. He won the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the playoffs in 1968 with St. Louis when the Blues reached the final before losing to Montreal. He was the second of just six Conn Smythe winners from a team that did not hoist the Cup.
His run of more than 500 games in net is one of the most untouchable records in sports, given how the position has changed in the decades since. Second in history is Alec Connell with 257 from 1924-30.
“Glenn was sturdy, dependable and a spectacular talent in net,” Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “That record, set from 1955-56 to 1962-63, still stands, probably always will, and is almost unfathomable — especially when you consider he did it all without a mask.”
Counting the postseason, Hall started 552 games in a row.
Hall won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 1956 when playing for the Detroit Red Wings. After two seasons, he was sent to the Black Hawks along with legendary forward Ted Lindsay.
Hall earned two of his three Vezina Trophy honors as the league's top goalie with Chicago, in 1963 and '67. The Blues took him in the expansion draft when the NHL doubled from six teams to 12, and he helped them reach the final in each of their first three years of existence, while winning the Vezina again at age 37.
Hall was in net when Boston's Bobby Orr scored in overtime to win the Cup for the Bruins in 1970, a goal that's among the most famous in hockey history because of the flying through the air celebration that followed. He played one more season with St. Louis before retiring in 1971.
“His influence extended far beyond the crease," Blues chairman Tom Stillman said. “From the very beginning, he brought credibility, excellence, and heart to a new team and a new NHL market.”
A native of Humboldt, Saskatchewan, Hall was a seven-time first-team NHL All-Star who had 407 wins and 84 shutouts in 906 regular-season games. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1975, and his No. 1 was retired by Chicago in 1988.
Hall was chosen as one of the top 100 players in the league's first 100 years.
Blackhawks chairman and CEO Danny Wirtz called Hall an innovator and “one of the greatest and most influential goaltenders in the history of our sport and a cornerstone of our franchise.”
“We are grateful for his extraordinary contributions to hockey and to our club, and we will honor his memory today and always,” Wirtz said.
The Blackhawks paid tribute to Hall and former coach and general manager Bob Pulford with a moment of silence before Wednesday night’s game against St. Louis. Pulford died Monday.
A Hall highlight video was shown on the center-ice videoboard. The lights were turned off for the moment of silence, except for a spotlight on the No. 1 banner for Hall that hangs in the rafters at the United Center.
Fellow Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur, the league's leader in wins with 691 and games played with 1,266, posted a photo of the last time he saw Hall along with a remembrance of him.
“Glenn Hall was a legend, and I was a big fan of his,” Brodeur said on social media. “He set the standard for every goaltender who followed. His toughness and consistency defined what it meant to play.”
AP Sports Writer Jay Cohen in Chicago contributed to this report.
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
FILE - Glenn Hall, second from left, stands with fellow former Chicago Blackhawks players Stan Mikita, former general manager Tommy Ivan, Bobby Hull, Bill Wirtz and Tony Esposito during a pre-game ceremony at the Chicago Stadium in Chicago, Ill., April 14, 1994. (AP Photo/Fred Jewell, File)
FILE - St. Louis Blues goalie Glenn Hall, top right, is pinned to his net waiting to make a save on a Montreal Canadians shot as Blues' Noel Picard (4) tries to block the puck while Canadiens' John Ferguson (22) and Ralph Backstorm wait for a rebound in the third period of their NHL hockey Stanley Cup game, May 5, 1968. (AP Photo/Fred Waters, File)
