Outside The Confines: No no? Oh no!

I just want to say that taking 4 out of 6 on a West Coast road trip would have felt good in 2016. It feels great in 2022.

• Reds pitchers Hunter Greene (7⅓ innings) and Art Wallen (two-thirds of an inning) combined to keep the Pirates hitless over eight innings, but the Reds still lost to the Pirates, 1-0. It’s not officially a no-hitter since MLB has decreed that all official no-hitters have to go at least nine innings and the Pirates did not bat in the bottom of the ninth. But everyone is still saying “The Reds threw a no-hitter and lost.”
• David Schoenfield examines the decision by Reds manager David Bell to send Greene out to pitch the eighth inning after having already thrown 103 pitches and also looks at the five other times that a team lost despite allowing no hits.
• Charlie Goldsmith got the reaction from the Reds and Greene. He said that he was just going to “trust the process.”
• C. Trent Rosecrans and Rob Biertempfel write that Greene’s brilliance should not get lost in the joke that the Reds have become. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Justice delos Santos reports on the game from the Pirates point of view and notes that Bucs infielder Josh Van Meter predicted that Pittsburgh would get no-hits and win anyway.
• Hannah Keyser talks to fans of the Reds, Pirates, Orioles and Athletics about their team’s poor performance and low attendance figures. Most of them blame their team’s owner, although some Orioles fans said that they think things are finally turning around.
• There was another incredible pitching performance over the weekend, although this was by the minor league Dunedin Blue Jays. Dunedin pitchers struck out 24 Tampa batters in a nine-inning game. Unlike the Reds, however, Dunedin won 1-0.
• Cardinals battery of Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina set a MLB record when they recorded their 203 career win together, breaking the mark of 202 set by Braves players Warren Spahn and Del Crandall.
• Also in that game, Albert Pujols pitched. He allowed four runs in one inning, including home runs to Luis Gonzalez and Joey Bart. Don’t quit your day job, Albert.
• Shohei Ohtani hit his 100th career home run on Friday. He’s since hit HR number 101.
• David Adler ranks the best 10 home runs of Ohtani’s career.
• Ken Rosenthal looks at the Angels starting rotation, how well it’s held together and whether the Halos will try to add another starter before the trade deadline. (The Athletic sub. req.) Plus a bunch of other little tidbits from the sportswriter they call Robothal.
• The Padres have signed veteran infielder Robinson Canó.
• Jay Jaffe looks at what the Padres can expect out of Canó and whether or not he has anything left in the tank.
• The trade that sent Canó to the Mets also sent top prospect Jarred Kelenic to the Mariners. Kelenic has struggled this season and was sent back down to the minors over the weekend, but his career is far from over. Zach Crizer writes that the trade will always be evaluated by how good Kelenic turns out to be.
• The Astros and Giants made a deal as San Francisco sent utility player Mauricio Dubón to Houston in exchange for minor league catcher Michael Papierski.
• Tim Keown profiles Gabe Kapler, the Giants’ “non-conformist” manager.
• Kumar Rocker, the Mets’ first-round draft pick from last season who did not sign, has signed a deal with the independent Tri-City ValleyCats. Rocker is eligible to be drafted again this summer.
• Chelsea Janes has another story on the weird baseball of 2022. Janes looks at the reasons why the ball isn’t traveling this year and what the pitchers are saying about the seams and the grip.
• Joon Lee notes that after some initial reluctance, pitchers and catchers are finally warming up to the PitchCom system. (Maddie Lee also has a story on how the Cubs players are starting to use it and like it, although it’s not universal among Cubs pitchers. Mychal Givens hates it and Kyle Hendricks will only use it with a man on second. Drew Smyly loves it though. Justin Steele was using it yesterday and said he likes it.)
• Andrew Simon examines the seven most improved hitters of 2022.
• Anthony Castrovince looks at five teams off to slow starts and whether they can rebound and make the postseason.
• Jayson Stark documents the “weird and wild” of the past week of baseball as only he can. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Former Cub Taylor Davis, now with the Pirates Triple-A affiliate in Indianapolis, talks to David Laurila about his desires to manage or work in a front office. I’ve always thought that Davis had the skills and mentality to be a broadcaster, but I think he could do either of those two jobs as well.
• J.J. Cooper lists what the new minor league facilities standards are. (Baseball America sub. req.) These are the standards that all minor league affiliates have to meet for their ballpark and facilities by 2025 or risk losing their team. The Smokies are getting a new ballpark in Knoxville to get up to code, for example.
• Ben Clemens looks at what happens when a pitcher throws a changeup for the first pitch of the game. Also at Kyle Freeland, who is the pitcher who does that the most.
• Hall-of-Famer Nolan Ryan is surprised that people still want to talk about his fight with Robin Ventura in 1993. Ryan said it was no big deal.
• And finally, this:

And we’re going to have a better day tomorrow than today, Buster.