Rays remove Eovaldi from no-hitter in 1st start since 2016

Tampa Bay Rays right-hander Nathan Eovaldi, making his first start since undergoing Tommy John surgery nearly two years ago, held the Oakland Athletics hitless for six innings on Wednesday but was removed after 70 pitches with his no-hitter intact.

"I haven't gone seven innings in a really long time," Eovaldi said after the outing, according to MLB.com's Bill Chastain. "There was no way, (Cash) said, I was going to be able to go nine today, so why take the chance? We played it safe. ... I understood the process, but I still would have liked to have gone back out there in the seventh inning, got my pitch count up a little higher."

He was replaced by reliever Wilmer Font, who lost the no-hit bid with one out in the seventh inning on a Jed Lowrie single - the only hit allowed by the Rays in their 6-0 win.

(Video courtesy: MLB.com)

Eovaldi was making his first start in the majors since Aug. 10, 2016 - some 657 days ago - when he was a member of the New York Yankees. He suffered a major elbow injury during that one-inning start, and underwent Tommy John surgery for the second time in his career along with having a procedure to repair a torn flexor tendon.

Related: Nathan Eovaldi opens up about his 2nd journey through Tommy John surgery

The 28-year-old was on track to make the Rays' rotation out of spring training before needing surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow in April that delayed his return until Wednesday.

Font's inability to keep the combined no-hitter going meant the Athletics' streak of avoiding being no-hit was extended yet again. Oakland hasn't been no-hit since July 13, 1991 - a span of 26 years, 10 months, and 18 days that's the longest active streak in baseball, according to NoNoHitters.com.

Tampa Bay has thrown just one no-hitter in its 20-year history, belonging to Matt Garza in 2010.