Cubs Pitcher Drew Smyly Misses Out On Perfect Game After Being Plowed Into By Catcher

Perfect games are tough to come by — arguably the most difficult thing to accomplish in sports — and Chicago Cubs pitcher Drew Smyly appeared to be on his way to one Friday afternoon against the Dodgers.

Well... he was until he had a very unfortunate run-in with his own batterymate.

It happened with the end in sight, at the top of the eighth inning with no outs and Dodgers outfielder David Peralta at the plate and the Cubs annihilating them 13-0. He got a piece of the 0-1 offering and it dribbled down the third base line.

Sounds like a recipe for a relatively out. Well, it is, but the special ingredient here was catcher Yan Gomes plowing into Smyly.

Both seemed fairly shaken up on the play, whether that was from the collision or just disbelief at what had happened only they know.

Someone, somewhere at Wrigley Field definitely was saying "perfect game" and jinxed him, right? There's no other explanation for a stroke of luck this bad.

You've got to feel for Smyly, unless you're a Dodgers fan, in which case this was probably pretty cool.

Also, Poor Yan Gomes. He'd better show up to Wrigley tomorrow with a case of Smyly's favorite beer.

That went down on the sheet as a single for Peralta and ruined Smyly's perfect game. He was pulled later that inning and replaced with Jeremiah Estrada. Smyly finished the game with 10 strikeouts and no walks through 7 and two-thirds innings.

The Cubs won this one 13-0, but all the talk will be about what could have been.

Follow on Twitter: @Matt_Reigle

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Matt is a University of Central Florida graduate and a long-suffering Philadelphia Flyers fan living in Orlando, Florida. He can usually be heard playing guitar, shoe-horning obscure quotes from The Simpsons into conversations, or giving dissertations to captive audiences on why Iron Maiden is the greatest band of all time.