Pirates' Jose Tabata on hit by pitch that ended perfect game: 'I did my job'

Jose Tabata's very subtle movement altered history, forever entangling him with Max Scherzer's no-hitter for all the wrong reasons.

With two out in the ninth inning, the Washington Nationals starter was one strike away from throwing a perfect game.

The Pittsburgh Pirates inserted Tabata as a pinch hitter, and after fighting off seven pitches, he got hit on the elbow by a Scherzer slider, saddling the righty with a no-hitter.

(Courtesy: MLB.com)

Related: Scherzer loses perfect game in 9th, throws 1st career no-hitter

Since that moment, there's been much debate over whether Tabata intentionally leaned into the inside pitch - or whether he leaned into it at all.

But if you ask him, it was nothing more than a memorable moment.

"It's a good experience ... you come to the bench and that happens and you feel like, 'OK, I did my job,' so it's a good experience," Tabata told reporters after the 6-0 loss.

When asked if he thought about moving out of the way in order to preserve history, Tabata said he treated it like any other at-bat.

"You gotta stay with your approach," he said. "I'm waiting for the slider to break to the middle, but like I said, the slider it stayed there, it stayed in."