Cubs pitchers combine for MLB's seventh no-hitter of 2021 season in win over Dodgers

Zach Davies started the game and was relieved after six innings and 94 pitches. Cubs manager David Ross said his pitch count was too high to leave him in the game. 

"The hard part is taking out a guy that hasn't given up a hit," Ross said, according to ESPN's Jesse Rogers. "I didn't see him going nine for sure."

Ryan Tepera entered for the seventh inning, allowing just one walk before Andrew Chafin took over in the eighth. Craig Kimbrel then finished off the 17th no-hitter in Cubs history in the ninth inning by striking out the side. 

Chafin said after the game that none of the Cubs relievers knew the Dodgers were hitless when they entered to pitch. 

"The whole bullpen had no idea," Chafin said. "It was completely oblivious. In our defense, from that bullpen, our perspective on the field, all we can see is like batting averages and the count and stuff like that."

Kimbrel added that he didn't know what had been accomplished because there was a lot of traffic on the bases throughout the game. The Cubs walked eight batters, the most in a no-hitter since 2010. 

"There was a lot of traffic on the bases," Kimbrel said. "When there's a lot of traffic on the bases you don't assume they're all walks. You kind of figure one of them is a single or something like that."

Thursday's game marked the first time the Dodgers had been no-hit since 2015, and it was the 20th time in franchise history, the most in MLB history.