Cobb masterful in near no-no

With all my fussing about rookies and phenoms I may have lost sight of a grizzled vet or two. Alex Cobb will be 36 in October, and that's old in baseball years, but he's pitching at the top of his game. After youthful Kyle Harrison's big start in the first game of the series, Cobb topped it with the best performance of his career (228 G, 1310 IP). He came agonizingly close to a no-hitter, losing it with two outs in the 9th, but he carried on and got the strikeout to complete the game. Cobb retired the first 17 batters before an error by Casey Schmitt (originally scored a hit) gave the Reds their first base runner. In the 8th, having blown past his career-high in pitches, Cobb's gem was saved by a diving catch on a blooper from Austin Slater. In the 9th he walked a batter with one out who later scored on Spencer Steer's two-out double. Cobb finished with 131 pitches!

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